Eventful Halloween

It was a pretty eventful Halloween. The day started with Jim and his swallow test. Megan gave him the test and he passed. Yeah. (Megan is the woman in the middle photo on the layout.) That meant that he got lunch and dinner. Neither one of them thrilled him very much. He drank all of the milk, water and fruit juice. He picked at the meat, mashed potatoes and veggies.

After lunch I took him down to the Halloween party in the cafeteria. They were having a party for the staff and visitors. They even had a pumpkin decorating contest. My sister and I were the judges. After this I took Jim outside for a little fresh air. He has not been outside since May except to get in and out of an ambulance. He liked being outside except for the heat. Said it was pretty humid. On my second visit of the day I took in Misty with her halloween scarf.

So we are still taking some small steps but at least we are going up and not down. Hope everyone had a great day.

Happy Halloween

Not much is really new today. The swallow test is scheduled for 8:00 tomorrow morning. If he passes he will get breakfast. I am crossing my fingers. This pumpkin has been in Jim's room for the last couple of weeks. It has a light bulb in it so it glows. I have also put some candy out for the nurses.

Jim is still off the vent and feeling comfortable and he is trying to stay off the pain meds. They make him groggy and grumpy.

Halloween party at the hospital tomorrow. They have a pumpkin decorating contest going on. Guess what, they've asked me to be the judge. I'll have photos tomorrow.

Boo to all. Happy Halloween.

Busy Monday

Today was really busy. First it was my digital scrapbooking class. The lessons come in every Monday morning. I did not get to this until 11:00 at night but I am really pleased with how it came out. I am really learning how to do this. I have tried to do it on my own for about 6 months to no avail but with these lessons I am finding it really easy to do. Jack I hope you like this page of you.

At the hospital today I was lucky enough to be there for all of the important doctor/tech meetings.

1. Wound care nurse report: The wound on the butt is showing fresh tissue. About a third of the wound is growing fresh tissue. She says this is a great indication that we are going in the right direction. The chest wound is also going forward. She does caution me that she does not know what is happening underneath because she can not see this but the machine is drawing out the secretions and that is good. The stomach wound is almost healed. It now has a very small dressing.

2. Resporatory: Lungs are showing great impovement. Jim was off the vent the entire night. Chest x-ray shows practically no fluids.

3. Speech therapy: (eating) If Jim continues off the vent she will schedule the swallow test for 8:00 Wed morning. She wants to wait until Wednesday so that Jim will have the most opportunity for success. She does not want to start him eating and then backtrack. I trust her judgement.

4. Dr. Hume: Jim is amazing is what he said. He continues to improve and he is very stable. Since Jim is so close to eating he is holding off on the topical anti depressants because this process is so expensive. He said another 2 days will be ok. Dr. Hume is opptomistic and hopes that the progress continues. All procedures will continues and he will be watching him closely.

So it looks like Jim is improving. Keep the prayers coming because we are not out of the woods yet. Jim was a little fiesty today. He's hungry, which is a good sign, but Megan and Dr. Hume talked to him about this so he said he would be patient. He told Megan he wanted a pizza on Wednesday.

We lost power for three hours today. I came home from the grocery store and wouldn't you know it no power. I put the stuff away and went back to the hospital. They have air conditioning. Jim's room is always cool.

Misty Shares with Jim

The funniest thing happened at the hospital today with Jim. (Well it wasn't funny at the time but it is now.) Misty and I went to visit Jim. We had been there about an hour and so I took Misty out for a potty break. When we came back in Jim asked if she was a good girl and I told him yes. I got the treats out of the closet and asked him if he wanted to give her one. He said no so I gave it to her. A few minutes later he asked me to give him one. Thinking nothing about it I gave him one. You know what he did. He popped it in his mouth. He's never done this. I freaked out because he has not passed the swallow test and he could apsiciate on this. I called the nurses by running out in the hall. They came running and we tried to get it out but it was gone. He ate it. They suctioned him and swabbed his mouth . . . nothing. Julie asked him how it tasted. He said bad. so she told him that she would tell Megan tomorrow. He may have passed the swallow test.

Football Sunday is always good for JIm. He loves watching the games and it keeps him busy. WE watched the Miami game. I really thought they might win. Jim and I are both still in the loser's pool. I took SF and Jim took the Jets. We were the only ones that picked these teams. We have never lasted this long in the pool. I guess that is because there have not been very many upsets this year.

I am continuing to paint the guestroom/scraproom. I am more than halfway now.

Nancy, Caroline and Cathy, Jim is so excited that you may come to visit. He said, I've got to get better because my sisters are coming. That's the spirit I like to see.

It's still raining in Florida

Nothing makes Jim smile more than looking at photos of our grandchildren. He really liked this photo. To Teresa: Jim says, "he needs a haircut." Where have you heard this before.

Jim was very content today. He was off the vent and talking and smiling. However he was sleeping a lot. He seems to have switched his days and nights. WE are not sure why but he has. It may be that we have not seen the sun in 3 days and for Florida that is really unusal. It just keeps raining. This makes the room darker and that is why he thinks it is night. He is progressing with little tiny baby steps. The pulmanists are going to talk to the lung doctors on Monday about keeping him off the vent at night. This is the next big step.

Nancy, Bob, and Caroline, Jim loved the card. It was so funny. Keep them coming.

I did not blog yesterday and it was because the day got away from me. But I'll share my big clumsy act with you today. As you know I am painting the guest room/Scrap room. Well yesterday I was on the ladder with the paint tray in front of me on the ladder. I moved, the tray moved and suddently it was on the floor upside down. What a mess. All clean now but I hope I never do that again.

Resolving Issues today

Yes Bob Chocolate is misspelled but I can not figure out how to fix it. I have emailed by online digital scrapbook instructor to figure out how to fix the word. I got this photo today and have already sent it over to Walgreens. I'll pick it up in the morning and take it to Jim. He'll love it.

I have listed several issues here on the blog that I have been having with Healthsouth. I think today we resolved several of these. One was the antidepressant drug. Jim is not able to take a pill and these drugs do not come in liquid form. So the doctor ordered this two weeks ago and he still has not been able to take them. Today I met with Linda Johnson the case manager. She was able to get with the doctor and have the doctor submit a topical prescription to the pharmacy. The pharmacy then called a lab to have the topical cream made. This will be delived to Healthsouth tomorrow and he will get it. Basically what happens is they crush the pills and put it in a cream and then rub this on Jim's arm and it is absobed into the body. They start with a low level to make sure it does not irrate his skin. He needs this because there are times he is really depressed as any of us would be.

My second issue was with the call button. I have tried to get a workable nurse call button for Jim. This has been an ongoing issue. They have a very sensitive one but it is being used by another patient. This is not acceptable. He needs to have a way to call the nurse. He may be off the ventelator all night tomorrow and this is for his safety. Well I got through to them finally. They have ordered another one and it will be there tomorrow. I told them this was a safety issue and if something was not done I was going to call the state agency that regulates the facility. After three months this got them hopping.

I also got them working on the broken window blinds.

My new issue may be with Blue Cross Blue Shield. They are making noises about JIm's need to be in this facility. Linda told me not to worry but she was just giving me a heads up.

Well you are probably wondering how Jim is. He's doing just fine. He was off the vent for 12 hours today. He was awake and he wanted pizza and coffee. I know he is feeling better when he wants food. He was not seeing things today so that is good. He had his wound care and there was a small improvement. He watched an entire day of Law and Order: CI. on USA channel.

Still on the Mountain

Well today was a repeat of yesterday. Jim was alert and talking. He was off the vent the entire day. They were going to put him back on tonight to make sure he gets the rest he needs but tomorrow they may start a try at the 24 hours. It's a little scary but he looks really good. We did have some rough moments today. He wanted out of bed. Now this is a man that has not been out of been (except when they lift him out) in 5 months. He actually was able to get himself sitting straight up but then his neck would not cooperate and it hurt him.

He told nurse Mary last night that he felt like he had woken up from the dead. He has lost the past month. Everything from his last stay at Sarasota Memorial is basically a blur. Before that he remembers. So we will work with what we have.

Today we watched two movies and he was awake the whole time. This is a first for quite a while. Normally he doses off and on. I'll take it.

Looking forward to tomorrow . . . what Jim will I have.

Climbing the Mountain

I am reminded these days of a line from a song, "Climbing the mountain and then down a small revine..." Well that is exactly what my days are like. This weekend Jim looked awful and was doing awful. He was having a really rough time and he couldn't even get off the full vent status. Today I walked into his room and he was sitting up, he was off the vent and he was smiling and fully alert and he said to me, Hi Honey, how are you! I looked at the nurse and said what's up. She just looked at me and said, He's doing great. They took approximately 2 gallons of water out of him in the last 15 hours. This made such a tremedous change I couldn't believe it. Jim asked me how long he had been out. The last week was a total blur to him.

He was able to talk to Jack and Josh today and he got a real kick out of that. I wish I had had my camera with me because he was all smiles. He read the newspaper and checked out the sports page. Wow I never know what is going to happen with him. It creates real highs and lows for me. But I like the highs so much better.

Remember I told you I was taking a digital Adobe Elements class online. Today I learned out to change a photo to sepia and the colorize a portion of the photo. I am so proud.

Went to bingo tonight and no I did not win again. My sister did though.

Everyone wish son Bob Happy Birthday. I forgot and I am so sorry. Bob I hope it was a good one and that the chocolate cake was great. Jim did not forget. He told Jack to wish Bob a happy birthday. It is amazing that he knew it was Bob's birthday.

Monday Blues

No that does not mean that I'm down. It means I have started painting my scraproom blue. That's right I have to have something to paint so I am now working on the scraproom. Some of you may think this is a guest room but . . .

I am taking a 4 week digital scrapbooking class online. Here is my layout for week 2. I was not able to get the florish working but the rest of it does not look too bad. This is done in Photoshop Elements and I'm enjoying the class.

Jim was a little more alert today. I think that was because they had him on the full vent at 40% overnight. They backed this up to pressure support this afternoon and he seemed to be doing fine. The cultures have not come back yet but his fever is back to normal. Dr. Hume said we have to expect these adjustments. We watched TV most of the afternoon. My mom came to visit and he gave her a big smile when she got there.

Thank you Jackie for making dinner tonight. Thanks for the uplift and the surprise dinner.

Sunday Update

I spent the afternoon with Jim. We watched the Bucaneers on TV. As we all know from Friday Jim and I had different thoughts on this game. Sadly for me they lost but it just means Jim is still in the Loser Pool. So am I but I picked Minnesota to lose and we were able to watch this game also.

Jim slept on and off today. He has a fever of 101.7. The sent out some blood tests and they all came back normal. They did a urine culture but that is not back. They have also cultured the bedsore. They believe this may now be infected. It has a bad odor and this is one indication. He did not want any pain meds today and no anexiety medication. He also did not want to try to go off the vent. He was comfortable and looked really relaxed and comfortable. This is what I want for him. There is no need for him to be in pain if he doesn't need to. He is able to decide what medications he wants and which he doesn't.

I saw a little fear in his eyes today. I don't want to see this so I keep my terror to myself and put on a cheerful face.

He just held my hand today and we shared some quiet time together. Right now this is important to us. Being together and loving each other. I'm content knowing that Nurse Gwen is taking care of him tonight. She is really good.

Reality Check

In the past several weeks Jim has made great strides in getting better. I was waiting for the other foot to drop and today we took some backward steps. Remember I told you that he was off the vent for 10 hours yesterday. Well this really knocked him out today. He could not get off the vent. They tried several times but he could not go more than 15 or 20 minutes. He was short of breath and his rate was over 30. They like it between 20 and 24. He was also in a lot of pain. He asked for morphine and acupril. None of this bodes well for him.

Nurse Donna told me today that he is really tired. He has worked hard to fight this battle and he is not winning. The bedsore on his butt is worse. She does not know how this is ever going to get better. He needs a flap but that is surgical and he just can not handle that. Plus he has the neck situation and he is not ready for surgery for that either. I want and believe sometimes that he is getting better but he is really sick. Today when I looked at him and could not get him to respond to me very much it just made my heart break. I just want to get in bed with him and just hold him and tell him how much I love him. I know he knows but he is so alone and has just me ( plus my sister and mom) I want I want him to know that I am there with him every step of this horrible jouney.

The MIRSA continues in his chest. There is no telling where that is. He is still on the wound vac for this. All that can be done is being done.

My reality check today is that Jim may never come home. I spent a lot of my day today crying and trying to figure out how to face today and then tomorrow. Beyond that I can not look more than a day at a time.

Jim Had another good day.

Jim had another really good day. He was off the vent for 10 hours. This is the best he has done since his relapse. We are going to go for 12 hours tomorrow. He was really tired at the end of the 10 hours. They are pushing him harder on getting off the vent and they are making him work at this. This is good for him. It is too easy to just leave him on the vent. They need him to work at it and he is really being a trouper about it. Midafternoon today he was really tired and so was I so I just crawled into the other bed with my head at the bottom of the bed. I could watch him from this vantage point but in actuality I fell asleep too. The nurses left us alone and I had a hour and a half nap. I couldn't believe it.

The wound changes were a little hard on him today and he needed some pain meds for that. He doesn't ask often for drugs so when he does ask you know that he really needs them. He was in good spirits and is working to come off the vent. What this means for him is that he will be able to eat and drink and he really needs the nutrients this will provide.

I am taking a digital scrapbooking class for the next four weeks so tonight I tried doing one of the homework pages. This is the page I did. I can't seem to get rid of the red lines but I am working on it. Have a great weekend. Go Notre Dame. Go Bucs. Go Bears.

Misty Gets A Haircut

Misty went to the dog groomers yesterday and got her first big girl Westie haircut. She does not even look like the same dog. She gave them a little trouble with the bath but she did fine during the haircut. She was so glad to see me when I went to pick her up. Jim just loved her with her new haircut. They had a great time playing. He was hiding treats from her and so they had a great time. She sits on his bed and is really good with him. The nurses all guss over her so she loves going to the hospital.

Jim is looking pretty good. (You can see that in this picture) Today he was off the vent most of the day. We are working up to the magic 24 hours. Not there yet but we are getting there. Dr. Hume was in and said that Jim is very Stable! He has down had any downword turn. There is healing going on. The peg site is almost healed. The chest wound has some healing so it seems like the wound vac is working. The bedsore is still a problem but they are working on it.

I do have some reservations about his brain. He picked Tampa Bay to lose this week. I tried to talk him out of it but there wasn't any changing his mind.

Rutgers beat the University of South Florida tonight in a very close game. But Bull's fans everywhere are not giving up. We will come back next week.

Swallow Test Tomorrow

You should have seen Jim smiling today. I had the pictures printed that Bob sent last night and I had the family photo blown up to 8 x 10 and framed it for his room. He loves it. I showed him all of the other photos and you could really see the joy in is face. I also took him in a lighted pumpkin to brighted his room. We have to be festive and upbeat to get him over this.

Jim is going to have another swallow test tomorrow. He looked great today. He was alert and talking and interested in everything around him. They have decided that he may be able to eat even though he might have to have some vent support at night. He gets a little anxious at night without the vent. It has become his security blanket. So tomorrow they are going to try and see if they can get him to eat. This will make him stronger. I'll snap a photo tomorrow so you can see how good he looks. His chest wound is getting smaller as parts of it heal. They are going to culture it on Friday and see where it is going.

We had a meeting today about his care and the issues we have been having with the CNA staff. I believe we have resolved these problems and things will get better. It is hard to keep good CNA's because they are so in demand here and it is just who pays the most that gets the good ones.

No bingos for any of us tonight but we did have fun. Misty is going to get her first haircut tomorrow. I hope it goes well.

It's Fall Somewhere

Last week we had a cold fron that came through. The temperature dropped to 85 degrees. Come on guys this is not fall weather. Fall weather requires you to wear a jacket. I'm still wearing flip flops and shorts. I can even still go to the pool. I received this picture today and fall has arrived in Chicago. This is one of the things I miss most. Cool weather (not cold mind you) and the changing of the leaves. Oh yes I really miss the three boys in this picture and of course their parents. The boys are getting so big and I miss them so much.

Jim had a very restless night last night. He didn't sleep much which meant he slept most of the day. I was trying to wake him up today and gave him a kiss and he bit my lip. Needless to say he was a little fiesty today. After his dressing changes today the CNA's were changing his sheets and they were really rough with him. They are new and I guess they need some more training. They actually knocked his trach out 3 times and began to bleed. I was furious and went and got the charge nurse. He's kinda of a wimp so I will have to deal with this more tomorrow with the nurse manager. There is no excuse for this type of care.

Respirtory came in and they were furious. They cleaned out his trach and gave him an extra treatment to make sure everything was OK. He was off the vent several times during the day. The stomach wound is almost healed and so is the back.

I went to our homeowners meeting tonight but not much went on.

Working on getting off the vent

Today Jim had another good day. He was off the vent for quite awhile.When he's off the vent he can talk and that is so much better than trying to figure out what he is trying to say. We had two TV's going again and he loves doing that. We watched most of the Buc's game together. Yeah they won. Jim continues to have wound issues but they are working on them. If we can get him off the vent then he can eat. He really needs the nutrients that food provides. The liquid food can only do so much.

On another football note. Go USF. The University of South Florida is having a great year and for us alums it is fantastic. Everyone has always thought that USF is this small school in Florida. But . . . I believe it is now the largest school in Florida and they now can play football. They play at the Bucaneer stadium and they are drawing huge crouds. They might even be ranked nationally.

I had quite a weekend. I took a stamping class on Saturday and this is the layout I made. I'm still catching up on Lucas. This class was taught by Nicki and what a fantastic teacher she it. On Friday night I went to a crop and was working on this great book on Jim and I. I'll share more of it when I get it done. It is really great to go to these crops and just unwind. I really need this time away from the hospital and all of my worries.

Tonight I had dinner with two great old friends from college. They have recently retired and moved to Florida. It was great catching up and laughing about old times. We also talked about our other close friends and we all hope to see them sometime in the future. Tonight made me realize that it is really true that the friends you make in college are your friends forever. We scatter after college, have careers and have families but it is always wonderful to see each other again.

Dr. Liggett Gives Good Report

Dr. Liggett was in today. Her and Dr. Hume are partners and they have both been taking care of Jim. Jim calls her the pretty doctor. She always gives him a kiss on the cheek for that. I asked her to give us a real update on how things are going. She said, the key here is that Jim has not gotten any worse. She said that an infection can run rampant in your system if not checked by antibiotics. He has now been on antiobiotics for 4 weeks and there is no indication of any spreading of the infection. She feels that Jim is actually beating the infection. She said it may take awhile but it really looks good. She said 4 weeks ago she would not have given him hardly a chance but now she is very hopeful that he will beat this.

She also said that the action taken by nurse Mary the other day has really helped also. Mary changed Jim's catheter. He is now peeing like a racehorse as Jim is know to say. You can tell the difference in his face and hands. Dr. L. said there must have been a sediment blockage and that is why he was retaining fluids. Between the new tube and the lasix the fluids are now manageable. Dr. L is also going to prescribe some antidepressants for Jim since he has now having a bout of depression. Dr. L said this is perfectly normal for anyone going through what Jim is. She is also going to have a phycologist come see Jim and this may help him some. I really like Dr. Liggett because she really talks to both Jim and I.

Jim watched the Notre Dame game and another loss for the Irish. He had Nascar on tonight.

I actually cooked dinner tonight for my sister, my mom and our friend Barbara. We toasted my new kitchen and dinning room. Afterward we played cards. As you can see in the picture, Misty was helping me. Thank you Barbara for the wonderful violet bathroom rug and violets.

Thank you niece Cathy for the card and to all the Canul children. Jim really appreciates all of you.

Quick Note

It's after midnight and I just got home from a 9 hour scrapbook crop. I was with Jim for several hours today and he slept the entire time. He had a rough night with coughing most of the night. This pretty much wore him out. He was on minimal oxygen and were trying to wein him. They gave him Atavan at 11:30 last night so he was out for most of the day. I checked with the nurse about 7:00 and he was then awake and watching TV. He was more himself. They had done the dressing changes and he was just chilling. Doctor says everything is stable with very little change today. More tomrrow.

Quiet Day for Us

Jim and I had a quiet day today. He slept on and off and I read the paper and worked some puzzles. Jim's pulminary doctor was in and said that Jim's lungs are improving. He continues to need support but they are working on getting him off the vent. He had greatly improved in the past several weeks. He was off the vent for almost 6 hours today. He did not ask for any pain medicine today but did ask for Adavan to relieve the anexiety of being off the vent. He wanted to take a nap so he would be awake to watch Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty.

Had a little scare tonight. Misty's leash snapped tonight on our walk. She say a rabbit and darted after it and snap when the leash. Now we had two pieces. I called to her but she was after the rabbit. We were very close to mom's so I went there and called to her and said do you want to visit grandma and she came running. Mad that scared me because it was really dark and I could not see her.

Played cards this afternoon and won. Yeah me. Thank you Bob, Nancy and Carline. Jim loved your card. Also Bob and Debbie he loved your card yesterday.

Jim Was Calling Me Today

Today Jim really missed me. I went in to see him about 11:00 and they took him off the vent. We had a really good visit and then he decided he needed to sleep. I told him I'd be back around 6:00. Well at 6:05 he had the nurse call the house for him. Of course I wasn't there because I was on my way to the hospital. He missed me - how great is that. So many times he's sleeping and does not much care if I'm there or not. He was off the vent again and we had a nice time together. He wanted me to message his hands. They have been hurting him. About 8:00 he decided it was again time to sleep. That's OK because he had had a great day. Pain meds only once. Off the vent about 6 hours. Wound vac change and two dressing changes. All of this can tire a guy out.

I went to the scrapbook store for my weekly scrap and dash. (One hour work on a predetermined layout for $5. A little chit chat and goofing off. Fun way to spend an hour. Here is the layout I did. I'm trying to catch up. Poor Lucas needs more pages for his alblum.

My only mishap for the day was the telephone wire. In remodeling the kitchen I had taken down the 15 year old phone jack. Yesterday I bought a new one so I cut the phone cord and tried to install the new one. Woops. It does not work. Consequently my TV phone cord is stretched across the living room and plugged into the sun room phone jack. Oh well I'll think about this tomorrow.

Jim says to say thanks to Demaris and Chuck for the card. It was really funny.