Praise the Lord! He is off the vent and breathing on his own! He's also pretty uncomfortable from laying in basically the same positions. They turn them every 2 hours but they aren't turning much, just kind of shift. He finally convinced them he needed to be more on his side than his back. Of course they are limited by how much he can be turned by all of the tubes. He has finally gone to sleep so maybe he'll rest for a little while now.

In a couple of hours he'll be able to have some clear liquids if there isn't any swelling in his throat. He says he's really thirsty.

There is one thing going on that is baffling everyone so far. His left hand and arm are very swollen and he says his arm is very painful. There are no IVs in that arm but it is where his arterial line is, although that looks ok. It's swollen as far as his bicep. So, it's elevated with some warming packs on it. The dr. has been called but hasn't come in yet. We're all hoping that it isn't the result of a clot moving but that is a possibility. He's also still running the low-grade fever. It's staying right around 99 and still no explainable reason.

He now has his lung exercise machine and made it to 1000 on the first try. So that's the goal today. He also has his heart pillow. Now that he's off the vent and having to cough he's feeling the pain of the incision. At least he has the wound binding on which gives a little additional support.

There's where we are right now. I decided to stay in the room with him today so maybe he will rest a little more. He actually thought that it had been a long time but it's only been 48 hours, almost exactly. Dr. Alvarez the lung doctor said that he's actually been the easiest patient right now.

All for this morning, more when something more takes place.