Sunday 09/06/09
I was surprised to talk to Tom, who works days, this morning. He will be working for the next 3 night. He said that Mike was moving around a lot. Bette said that he had quite a time with moving about yesterday. She said he would wave his arms around and his legs would come off the bed and he just wouldn't settle down. Tom finally figured out that Mike was itchy, not in pain. So after a little benadryl, he calmed down. The last four hours have been better and a lot of it was due to the patience of the nursing staff in trying to effectively communicate with Mike. One thing that he is not happy about is that they won't give him a drink of water. Bette says that with all the junk he's coughing up, it is hard to get it out. When they use the pink sponges for oral care, Mike grabs onto it with his teeth and sucks out the moisture.

Bette went to lunch with Aunt Edna at the hospital cafeteria and got a phone call. It was Uncle Ted and Mary on the other side of the cafeteria calling her. They went up to see Mike for a little while and Ted said he looked really good. Ted was there the day after Mike first got to the hospital. Thank God for family and friends.

His blood work is shaping up, except for the sodium, chloride, and potassium levels. The kidney function labs are much better and his urine output is great. His oxygenation is pretty good. It sounds like they are working on a lot of areas. One spot that they have figured out that bothers Mike is his back. The donor spots on the back can be painful and don't heal as well because the donor sites are difficult to dry out and they get macerated (mushy) even with frequent dressing changes.

When they get him comfortable, and pressure supported vent settings, blood work shaping up, ....... then they will send him back to surgery on Tuesday. The process sounds like a dog chasing his tail to me. Once they get things shaping up, back to surgery, back to paralytics, back to vent settings being raised, back to no water, (did I mention he hates that part?) oh yeah, he hasn't had a drink of water for three weeks. They are giving him water through his tube now to help with the electrolyte imbalance. (NOT the same thing!) So the next time you get a drink of water, be sure to think of Mike at least once, waiting for his first drink.

More later,
and so we go
JaCee