Yesterday was the beginning of a new journey--Dad with his shiny, new liver. Well, Dad with a "very nice" liver from a donor that just provided Dad with a shiny, new future. It does not get more generous than that: giving someone--particularly a stranger--a second chance at life. Wow, pretty crazy to really let that one soak-in--I'm still processing that part of the past couple of days.
The last 30 hours or so have been a whirlwind for me, but I have spent the past 20 hours in a TICU room with Dad and watched him start the recovery process. Modern medicine is amazing and the staff at IU is great. Dad is also quite a patient {sarcasm}!
Last night I made it to the room around 9pm and watched Dad try to open his eyes as the anesthesia was wearing-off. He still was breathing on a ventilator and mostly unconscious. Around 11pm last night, Dad started breathing on his own, although they left the breathing tube in. This meant that they also kept his arms restrained to the bed so he wouldn't try pulling the breathing tube out. I decided to stay the night since he seemed to be not only waking-up, but feeling frustrated every time he was temporarily aware of what was going on. I would have, too, with the breathing tube and restraints on. Nothing too funny about that situation, for sure.
Dad woke-up gradually more and more throughout the night and by 6am was mostly awake and trying to get someone to take the tube out and restraints off. It was such a tough thing to watch since he seemed so uncomfortable, but seeing his personality start coming through meant that he was starting to recover from a huge surgery. By 7am, he had his breathing tube removed, the restraints removed, and a PCA pump hooked-up to his central line in his neck to control his pain.
Today has been an interesting and long day, for sure. All things considered, he is really doing great. He has been awake and talking a lot of the day. Dad even got out of bed and into a chair for a little while (with some help). He has been enjoying drinking juice and has asked for food and milk shakes (although, he can't have those yet), which is a good sign so soon after surgery that he's hungry. Most importantly, all of the reports from the various physicians and nurses that come in throughout the day have been good. The surgeon that came-in first thing this morning called his surgery 'boring'--can't ask for a better report from a surgeon after a complicated procedure like this.
In the meantime, Dad has been cracking-up the various nurses, doctors, respiratory techs, and lift teams whenever they come into the room with his sarcasm. He wants everyone to know that he's ready to go home already. I don't blame him, but I don't think we're quite there at Day 2. The Cynic is only optimistic when it comes to leaving the hospital early.
After a morning with a decent amount of pain from the surgery site and an afternoon with some agitation followed by intermittent rest, I hope he can get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is the second (planned) surgery as part of this process: he goes in for abdominal fascial closure. Supposedly, he will be in more pain from that surgery than he was today, so I'm planning on getting extra rest tonight myself to prepare for what's ahead tomorrow and Thursday. I am certainly hoping that he can continue to make people around him laugh the next few days....
The last 30 hours or so have been a whirlwind for me, but I have spent the past 20 hours in a TICU room with Dad and watched him start the recovery process. Modern medicine is amazing and the staff at IU is great. Dad is also quite a patient {sarcasm}!
Last night I made it to the room around 9pm and watched Dad try to open his eyes as the anesthesia was wearing-off. He still was breathing on a ventilator and mostly unconscious. Around 11pm last night, Dad started breathing on his own, although they left the breathing tube in. This meant that they also kept his arms restrained to the bed so he wouldn't try pulling the breathing tube out. I decided to stay the night since he seemed to be not only waking-up, but feeling frustrated every time he was temporarily aware of what was going on. I would have, too, with the breathing tube and restraints on. Nothing too funny about that situation, for sure.
Dad woke-up gradually more and more throughout the night and by 6am was mostly awake and trying to get someone to take the tube out and restraints off. It was such a tough thing to watch since he seemed so uncomfortable, but seeing his personality start coming through meant that he was starting to recover from a huge surgery. By 7am, he had his breathing tube removed, the restraints removed, and a PCA pump hooked-up to his central line in his neck to control his pain.
Today has been an interesting and long day, for sure. All things considered, he is really doing great. He has been awake and talking a lot of the day. Dad even got out of bed and into a chair for a little while (with some help). He has been enjoying drinking juice and has asked for food and milk shakes (although, he can't have those yet), which is a good sign so soon after surgery that he's hungry. Most importantly, all of the reports from the various physicians and nurses that come in throughout the day have been good. The surgeon that came-in first thing this morning called his surgery 'boring'--can't ask for a better report from a surgeon after a complicated procedure like this.
In the meantime, Dad has been cracking-up the various nurses, doctors, respiratory techs, and lift teams whenever they come into the room with his sarcasm. He wants everyone to know that he's ready to go home already. I don't blame him, but I don't think we're quite there at Day 2. The Cynic is only optimistic when it comes to leaving the hospital early.
After a morning with a decent amount of pain from the surgery site and an afternoon with some agitation followed by intermittent rest, I hope he can get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is the second (planned) surgery as part of this process: he goes in for abdominal fascial closure. Supposedly, he will be in more pain from that surgery than he was today, so I'm planning on getting extra rest tonight myself to prepare for what's ahead tomorrow and Thursday. I am certainly hoping that he can continue to make people around him laugh the next few days....
No comments:
Post a Comment