Dear Family and Friends,
This morning when I got to Gary's room, I wondered what had happened. The door was wide open and the curtain quite wide open, both of which usually were closed and pulled when I had come this week. He was laying there sleeping in a disheveled bed with leg "pumpers" on his legs (not quite sure on the correct name) that had been on his legs after surgery, but only for a short time, and a package of white stockings that had been opened but just laying there as if forgotten as someone left in a hurry, no C-Pap machine on, and no breakfast tray (wasn't sure at the moment if it had come and gone already and he hadn't even had a chance to eat or if it still was coming). I thought to myself, what happened during the night and what were we in for today.
His nurse for the day walked in right behind me. She had not been his nurse during this hospitalization, although she had been one of his nurses before, for which I was thankful. She asked me what I knew of how he was so I told her how things had been when I left last night but wondered what had happened since. We together cleaned things up as Gary was waking up and told us that he had been awake already and the C-Pap had been taken off him. He also commented that the Doctors had already been in. Never did find out why the leg "pumpers" (for lack of a better name) were on or why there were stockings for him, but at least things were beginning to look much more "normal" as we cleaned up and the breakfast tray was delivered.
The day went better from there. Although he was still needing the oxygen and the IVs, by afternoon, the IVs were off and he hasn't been needing to wear the oxygen. As the day has progressed, he's also eating and drinking more. He also has taken several walks, each time a little longer -- by the time the last one was over, his nurse said now it's time to slow it down, not overdue it, and start again tomorrow. He's also been sitting up more, which yesterday was a battle -- we kept trying to encourage it and he kept telling us it was too painful. Thankfully his pain level has gone down considerably. Although most things have been getting better, his temp started climbing again tonight so that now he again has a low grade temperature.
There has been some talk by his transplant surgeon that he might again go home tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see -- this morning I thought it was crazy, and this afternoon I was getting more comfortable with the possibility, but tonight, with his low grade temp, I'm a little more hesitant again. Yes, I would love for him to go home and not have to come down here every day, and I definitely won't miss these very warm yellow gowns, but yet I don't want him to come home too soon that we end up having to come right back, but then we don't know from day to day what will happen in any of our lives.
Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Nelly and family
Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
~ ~ Psalm 100:3 NIV
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