Are we all getting a little "blogged out"?
Richard's been doing his physio, walking around, blowing in this little tube game-like thingy (technical term) trying to cough and generally being a good boy. It's paying off and his breathing is alot less congested sounding to me...no rattling chest. All his functions are good and he's gaining more strength every day. Just an hour or so ago after his shower, dressings changes and new clothes Francois and I walked with a tubeless Richard (they just disconnect the food bag) around the ward corridor, stopped in to say hi to Paul, another patient of Prof Hanna's who's had the same op and who thinks he's being discharged today, carried on down the lift to the reception area for a breath of air, strolled back to the ICU ward where he got a hug from Googoo, one of his magnificent nurses and then went back upstairs to the room. 20-25 minutes of good exercise. I took his blood saturation levels when we got back and they were at 94-95...excellent. He's still having to take a tiny bit of oxygen when he's laying down as lungs don't operate at full capacity in that position.
Richard slept more last night. About three hours from 10:30 - 1:30 and then probably another hour or so in there til 7am. So that's getting better. No strangled/coughing in the night either, thank goodness.
The outpouring of loving concern expressed in flowers, plants, cards, crystals, rose water sprays, books, etc is overwhelming! It has made a very beautiful physical display on his wide window sill. Visits are flowing with a healthy, reasonable pace...we just wish we had some more chairs!
Richard is scheduled to go to the Wellington Hospital at 2:30pm, this coming Monday for an assessment of his swallowing function in the specialist unit. Haley, his Speech and Language Therapist, comes from there and it is where they can then see via xray and some special liquid what's actually happening and then be able to treat it with specific exercises. My feeling is that they are also just giving it time to repair naturally, as the inner bruising of the controlling nerve and muscle tissue subsides. He gets to ride there in an ambulance which he's quite looking forward to!
Claire, his physiotherapist told him today that he was doing well and to keep up his hourly blowing/sucking exercises, keep walking and to stretch his limits just a little each time being careful not to overdo it.
There's supposed to be a training meeting with his nutritionist this afternoon so we can be prepared for the eventuality of his eating and drinking at home even if that, for the moment, is hooking up the nutribag.
All seems to be moving in a positive direction.
What a relief Rick that things seem to be going in the right direction now. xx
ReplyDelete