Day 2 of Recovery

So I had kind of a rough evening. The crying thing didn't go so well. Samantha is having a hard time with it and it's hard to watch her cry. She was happy when Uncle Kevin arrived. But he walked into the door and she started sobbing in his arms.

I can't stand not seeing Al so I went up with my mom this morning. Kevin got a crash course in babysitting my girls. (He did fantastic.)

We arrived after 10. He had been moved to another room--still in ICU Level 4. There was one nurse for two patients rather than a nurse for each, so it was a bit less chaotic. He looked a million times better than yesterday. He had only 4 IVs, down from 7 yesterday. He was sitting up a bit in bed since it's terribly painful to lay down. His arms were no longer swollen so he could move around a bit more. He said that he got out of bed and sat in the chair for 2 to 3 hours this morning while he nibbled on his breakfast.

They were hoping to transfer him to the lower level ICU today but they needed to get him off the blood pressure IV and get that controlled with pills instead. They were planning on removing one drainage tube--he has two. Overall he looked really good. He smiled and even joked with us. They kicked us out after about half an hour.

Al said the irony of the entire experience was that he finally found out his blood type--it's "Be Positive" (B+).

Stanford is aiming to send him home on Tuesday or Wednesday. It'll take approximately 6 weeks for the sternum to heal and overall about 3 months until life is normal. The first 6 weeks are going to be the hardest. He cannot lift or drive, of course, but only stand for about 15 minutes at a time. They recommend visits of no more than 15 minutes for the first few weeks after he comes home. He's very hoarse and it takes a lot of energy and oxygen to talk. Even drinking water takes his breath away.

I'm nervous about having him home and not sure yet about the bed situation. I guess we'll get that all straightened out in the next few days. So much to think about . . .