We wear name tags here. The lady at the front desk knows me but the Drs, nurses and aides (oh my) change so they need to see me in a name tag so they know where I belong. I put the room number on the tag in case I get lost.
He is gagging and choking. I hate seeing him like this. They have taught me how to suction his mouth. That helps some. I put lotion on his toes, the rest of the foot was in an ace bandage. He is still wearing the dog collar. That must be horrible to sleep in.
PT came in, the chair Bruce sat in yesterday is being used. So the plan is to sit him up on the edge of the bed and see what he can tolerate. The chairs cost about $5000. I said we need a wealthy donor. They agreed. They only have six ICU patients. They have 40 beds and 34 patients.
They are moving his hands and arms. He had a shoulder spasm. Yesterday he did thumbs up. They move his foot up and down to flex his feet.
They had him sit on the side of the bed for about 30 min. He was wobbly at first but then he controlled it. They massaged his scapula on the right side (shoulder blade) They were worried it would stick and not be as mobile, He is still on pain meds. They said not to pull on his arm.
I wiped the boogers out of his eyes and eyelashes. His left hand is swollen. They put it up on pillows. The PT lady showed me how to touch and swipe down his arm to help with the circulation.
Carma and her lovely daughter Kelly and granddaughter Presley rescued me for a an hour. We had some retail therapy. Found a sale then to McD's for a smoothie, almost healthy. I think I can get to the mall by myself now. Kelly cut my bangs for me in the parking lot. The owner of the car next to us is going to wonder why there is hair on the back seat window... Thank you Kelly!
Bruce is breathing on his own and not gagging. He is sleeping. I think I will close my eyes for a bit too.
They put the voice box in, his words of wisdom for the day:
"What do I have to do to get out of here?"
"Why am I so cold?" "Why do I ache all over?" "I am freezing".
The nurse raised the temperature from 68 to 72 and brought another heated blanket.
He is still pretty loopy from the pain medication. I'll let you know when he is coherent enough to remember your visit. I hope he won't remember any of this.
It is raining and drizzling here.
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