Billy has had several visitors in the last couple of days, which is very good for him. If you are interested in visiting, please contact me so that we can work out the best time. He is still pretty vulnerable to infection, so I would like to spread people out a bit.
Today I spoke with his physical therapist and she showed me some exercises I can do with him to keep his hands and feet limber. Apparently ICU patients only get PT twice a week (!!!) which is not really acceptable to me. This appears to be a staffing issue not necessarily a philosophical issue on the part of the hospital. Regardless of why, I think he should move more. Physical therapy means that there is a reason for you to move, and moving means going places, and going places means living. Bill was an incredibly active guy and I can only imagine what coming to a screeching halt has done to his endorphins. Anyway, I don't have clearance to move any limbs, but he will have the most limber hands and feet he can when he goes to rehab! He did have a full PT session today and the sat him upright in his bed for the first time in since the accident (17 days, but who's counting?) It was pretty uncomfortable for him and his blood pressure plummeted, but it's a start. This is very difficult for quads to do because sitting up engages all of your abdominal muscles and he doesn't have any control of those now. He wore a safety harness sort of thing so he wouldn't cough and lose his balance and fall. Sitting upright is good for a bunch of reasons and we are going to work toward 3-hour periods. In a sense, he will get a jump start on rehab if he can do it by the time he gets there.
He also had another bronchiostomy today to remove the mucus from the depths of his lungs. This procedure seems to work well for him and is usually followed by several days of easy breathing. Speaking of breathing, we are still working on weaning back the ventilator. We didn't make major headway today, but we also didn't lose any ground. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
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Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you remember us but my son Sean was a Summer babysitter for you and Bill when Bill was two years old out on Whipple run. I am also a long time friend of Bill's friend George Hood.
I have been keeping up with this blog since you started it thanks to George giving me the link. I have also been talking to Roger some. My Son Sean lives near Atlanta and he is also keeping tabs on your blog. Our whole family is rooting for Bill and we discuss his situation just about every day. Jill, my wife, is an RN and she is able to understand the stuff you write in your blog. Keep up the good work as long as you can.
Dave