Ice Chips are better than nothing

Dear family and friends,

Each day we see improvement in Gary.  Today he looks much better and is talking more as well as wearing his glasses (he hadn't wanted them before this).  At the moment he is napping but he's already walked, had several visitors (thank you men for coming and also for my cup of coffee) and has been awake for quite awhile (compared to how little he has been awake since surgery).  By the time we got to visit him on Sunday, his temperature was gone and they had had him up and walking with a walker once around the nurses station (he took another walk around the nurses station with us when we came).  They also have gradually been building up the amount of time he spends in a chair and between the walking and the chair he becomes quite exhausted.  He still has a lot of pain, but it has been overall decreasing which is good since he doesn't enjoy the "dreams" that come as an after effect from some of the pain medication.  They had to reposition the GI tube through his nose this morning because of the pain that he has every time they put some of his medicines down it -- some go through IVs and some through the tube.  We've also seen lots of progress with his "breathing exercise" and he has gotten much better at it although he'd much rather NOT do it at all.

He's very thirsty and tries to bribe his way into getting more ice chips although at the moment he is allowed one small Styrofoam cup of ice chips every 8 hours and they give him half at a time so that it's spread out a bit.  Now that he can feed it to himself, it disappears much faster. When his ice is gone, we can only sponge his mouth. They can't give him more until more of the gas from anesthesia leaves his body.  This morning when taking a walk, he decided to walk 2 laps around the nurses station instead of one, and tried to talk the nurse into a 3rd lap if he could get some ice chips.  She wouldn't agree to that.  She had already been teasing him that he took the 2nd lap to impress the 2 men who were waiting to visit with him.  So, if he asks you for ice find out from us or his nurse first, to see if he's allowed any.  They are hoping to take out the GI tube tomorrow so maybe then he will be able to have more. 

Today I've had fun talking to some of his Doctor's (usually the nurse) and hearing their excitement at the "special gift" Gary (and we) have received.  None of them are on UIC staff and one of them he was supposed to see this coming Wednesday, so we needed to cancel that appointment.  Not really sure what will be happening in the future Doctor wise, but I'm sure we'll find that out as we go along.  I already know that a lot of his medications will change, so when I refilled our pill boxes for the week, I didn't even bother with his, since at the moment, we don't know what he'll be taking.  When the pharmacy called us that his prescriptions were ready, we asked them to put them on hold, because we don't know if he'll even need those particular ones -- I can handle those kinds of changes.  I've also realized that I can probably take down all the sheets of papers I have hanging in my kitchen cupboards right now with what he can and can't eat, what has high potassium and phosphurus and what doesn't, how much can he have or not of certain foods, etc., etc., but those are changes we look "forward" to and will be learning as we go, I'm sure and we'll have time to do that then.

I'm here by myself today.  Peter brought me on his way to work and will come here after work -- it's not exactly on his way since the hospital is in Chicago and he works in Wheaton, but we weren't sure how the parking would be on a week day and walking long distances is still hard for me as well as carrying along anything I may need. This way, too, Andrew and Stephanie had a vehicle to go to and from school and no one has to worry about picking them up after their practices especially since they both felt they feel that they will probably have too much homework to come up tonight.  We'll evaluate each day as we go.  The Transplant ICU floor here at UIC has been quite busy since we've come (I think I heard 3 transplants yesterday and 2 already today -- and they're running out of room) but we've found the staff to be very good, caring, and friendly (Gary may not always agree when they make him move, work, or give him medication, and not give him ice cubes).

He's awake again and his new nurse helped him into the chair, and of course, gave him his next 1/2 cup of ice.

To clarify what hospital Gary is in, he's at UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago) on Taylor street and is on the Intensive Care Transplant floor.  Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.  They are very much appreciated.  We thank the Lord for how well Gary is doing so far.  Some specific things you can pray for is that the pain will continue to diminish and that the thirst and dry mouth won't be so hard for him.

Love,
Nelly