Progress

My tablet is malfunctioning which fits the theme of my life....malfunctiong car (fixed), malfunctioning husband (in the process of being fixed). So I'm typing this on my cell phone so please forgive any errors and I don't think there will be any links.

Carlos came off the ventilator around dinner time last night. I was not there for that...had to go home and relieve the babysitter (thanks Beth). He was very happy apparently. He could talk though only for a few minutes at a time due to being so weak and exhausted. They are keeping him very busy with PT/OT. I wasn't feeling fabulous last night despite the good news. I was just feeling sad and pissed off at the world.

Today, was late coming here to the Batcave. Got some issues with the car resolved. I did speak with him on the phone this morning. He said he was ready to go. LOL! I said, you got some work to do first. He can't get out of the ICU until he gets down to one < inotropes(the primacor). Once he does that he will be transferred to the fourth floor, perhaps in the next 2-3 days. They just shut off the Nipride and they will switch the amiodarone to pill form. That just leaves the dobutamine to wean off. The nurse says he will probably be on the primacor for awhile. They will give him oral antihypertensives if need be to maintain his blood pressures.

He had a swallow study a bit ago and was given the ok to have a mechanical soft diet. Probably regular diet by tomorrow. When they asked him what he wanted and he asked for chicken noodle soup!

OT came by and worked him out. They started with range of motion exercises a couple days ago. Today I guess they had him sitting on the side of the bed! By tomorrow he will likely be standing up. The nurse said they are asking him to use his arms and hands as much as possible. Apparently he asked the therapist to do more so I'm very happy he remains very motivated.

X-ray did show a pleural effusion so they did a thoracentesis shortly before I got here. He feels like he can breathe better. They got out about 300mls, which isn't much. But his breathing has definitely slowed down.

He lost about 6 pounds overnight! Only another 12 to go.

So things are progressing faster now it seems!