Monday May 4

I cannot even tell you how much progress dad has made in the past couple of days. Except for one little problem today. Which dad caused himself. For whatever reason he pulled out his trachea tube. Yeah, the part that goes into his neck so he can breathe. It isn't stitched in and is usually held in by an inflated balloon but the nurse had just deflated the balloon because of what was to come a little later in the day. If the balloon had be inflated dad would have caused a major problem by pulling it out, but lucky for him it wasn't inflated. yay.

Today was a big day for dad. I had no idea this was going to be happening today.

Today dad got a visit from a speech therapist, physical therapist, and an occupational therapist. Whew, that's a lot of people and things to do.

The speech therapy will help dad learn how to talk with the trachea tube still in.

An occupational therapist helps you to relearn how to do things with your smaller muscles -- like brushing your teeth or writing --how to take care of yourself basically.

The physical therapy works with your larger muscles -- arm, legs, etc.... -- so this will help dad with regaining his strength and getting back on his feet.

Because dad pulled out his trachea tube this morning the speech therapist wasn't able to do his/her job in helping dad to talk. The nurses/doctor thought it best to let the area rest and make sure there was no real trauma from dad pulling the tube out. (And because he did this they put his hands in restraints again.) Hopefully all is well and tomorrow they will be able to put the add on to dad's trachea tube and start teaching him to talk with it. (I was told what this is called but it was the technical term and I have no idea what they said)

Dad is doing good. He is getting stubborn and wants what he wants when he wants it. So that has to mean he is getting better right?

Don't get me wrong, dad still has a LONG way to go. He will be in ICU for a while longer and I am sure dad will hate every minute of it. Dad has no idea how far he has come. He doesn't remember coming to the hospital, at least not yet. But that's ok. If he will just loosen up and not be so darn stubborn he may get better faster.

Keep those prayers going up for dad and me.

Kathy