Thursday, May 21st

"Promising" is probably the best word to describe Dad's progress today. When we first arrived at the hospital, the curtain to his room was shut and we could hear all kinds of movement. As they rolled back the drapes, his nurse told us that they had gotten him to stand. Although just for a moment, it is a huge improvement from where he was a week ago. Today he was just as alert as yesterday; answering questions by shaking his head, pointing, or speaking without sound. I feel like I'm in Special Intelligence trying to read lips all day... Kidney's are working very well so far, partly thanks to the Lasix. Ultrasounds were performed on his arms, legs, and neck today to check for any blood clots. He was free of anything serious there. Again today he was constantly thirsty. We were actually able to give him ice chips today since his swallowing is improving. His extreme thirst isn't actually because of dehydration, but instead is due to his potassium, sodium, and protein levels being low (this is because of the Lasix). Dad went off the ventilator for 40 minutes straight today...I think they're going to slowly increase his time off every day so he can breathe on his own again. One last thing. The surgical team checked on his back incision and changed out the gauze. While they were doing this, I swung around behind and snuck a peak at it. It's still not healed over very well and he still has about 6-8 inches of skin that isn't healing together very well. Just another thing for us to keep an eye on... I'll be heading home for the weekend again so hopefully Heidi will keep you all posted while I'm away.