The good morning, good night thread

[Ed]

Ed, I respectfully disagree with the statement about female doctors. At least over here, and with my experience. I tried three different female obgyns and they were all rude and harsh and cold. Female nurses, on the other hand, seem to be angels.

Maybe they had an above normal level of testosterone in them -- needed it to get where they were?

[Pharosian]

Excellent news! Hubby's meds were changed today, and the change appears to have been very beneficial. When I walked in this afternoon, he opened his eyes briefly and squeezed my hand (weakly) when I asked him to. He can't keep his eyes open for long, but for the first time I get the sense he knows I'm there.

They're planning to wake him up completely and do a breathing trial in the morning. His nurse thinks it will be successful this time because while I was out, the attending physician came by during the drug switch (when hubby was off the old stuff but wasn't fully on the new stuff). He woke up enough to be able to track a moving finger with his eyes and move on command. And he didn't get as agitated as when they tried waking him after the first and second day.

In addition, his food has been changed to something with more calories, and he's getting more of it. They will ramp up the amount he receives over the course of the next few hours (assuming he continues to tolerate it).

This is very positive and very exciting!

[starktheground]

Definitely a positive! Yay! I hope everything just goes up from here!

[Ed]

Phew -- I bet you feel like it's safe to breathe again. That's great news

[marc_chagall]

Oh, that is good, positive news. 

[Pharosian]

The breathing trial didn't actually occur until yesterday, but he did well and they extubated him around 10 AM. Getting the tube out and the straps that held it in place improved his appearance 100%! Unfortunately, they wouldn't let him have any water or ice chips at first (had to be evaluated to see if his swallow reflex was working), so he had to put up with that sticky feeling of just having awakened (after a week!) for a few more hours.

He didn't feel up to talking, but managed to whisper a bit, though not as much as I wanted. His language skills seem to be intact; he asked for pizza and OJ in the evening, and said he just wanted to go home. They did give me some OJ to feed him through a straw, but the other two are off the table for a while yet. Should be a lot better today.

[starktheground]

Sounds like he's improving beautifully!

[Ed]

You must be feeling very relieved. I bet you can't wait to get him home

[Grillmeat]

Nice news. Hope he keeps getting better.

[marc_chagall]

Asking for pizza sounds like an excellent sign of moving in the right direction. Great to hear.

[Rook]

Just seeing this now, Pharo--

So glad your hubby is on the road to recovery.

Lots of hugs, and I'll keep you and your husband in my thoughts.

[fnord33]

Glad to hear he's doing better. Did they figure out what caused it?

[Pharosian]

Glad to hear he's doing better. Did they figure out what caused it?

As far as they know, it was a combination of family history and hypertension.

He was finally moved to what they call the "step-down" unit, which is much more restful than ICU. He's had most of the tubes and wires removed, and has been cleared for solid food. He still gets tired easily, but he's had some physical therapy and speech therapy. The latter revealed some gaps in his mental function, and he's shown signs of confusion, but they put much of that down to a condition known as "ICU psychosis," which is brought on by residual effects of sedation, lack of proper sleep, and having one's normal rhythm completely screwed up.

He should be moving to a rehab facility early next week.

So things are looking WAY up from a week ago! 

[starktheground]

That's great news! I'm so happy for you!!

[delboy]

Excellent news