Progress is being made every day now! Bill had his pacemaker check yesterday morning and everything is fine with it. He doesn't have to have it checked for another month if we are still here, or at home once we get there.

He was walking some yesterday without the walker and we walked down to the picnic area and back without it. He got a little wobbly a couple of times but did ok.

Today he walked around the house without his walker all day. A couple of times he was a little unsteady but he righted himself. His thigh that is still numb was bothering him today, but the shin and ankle looked much better. The discoloration is almost gone but the ankle is still swollen.

We were both tired today, although we shouldn't have been. We went to bed around 10:30 and didn't get up until 9:30. We were both awake about 7 but it was raining and we just covered back up and went back to sleep. Maybe we got too much sleep!

Going to make a pot of stew tomorrow. It's supposed to be cool again, although cool here is in the high 60's! Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday!

We've had a couple of breakthroughs the last couple of days!

Yesterday at therapy Bill was able to do his 6 minute walk and "graduated" from physical therapy to cardiac rehab! He also walked everywhere we went instead of using a wheelchair. He was pretty tired by the time we got home but we were there from 8:30 until 2:30 and in 2 of the 3 buildings.

His leg is better and the doctors have admitted they don't know what is wrong with it. Dr. Hosenpud was pleased with the way he looked and the way he moved. He also said that his bloodwork had improved and took him off of 2 of his meds.

The bed here is bothering his back and he did wake up in a foul mood with a back-ache. But he managed to switch himself to batteries and get dress without any help this morning. I think it actually did it out of spite, but he proved that he could do it!

We didn't do much today. Took a very short walk but his drive line was hurting so we cut it short and did his dressing change to see what the problem was. The way Tina had wrapped the line yesterday was pulling against the stitch and movement was pulling it even more.

We went to McDonalds for supper and he managed to eat a cheeseburger and some fries. Ice cream is now topping off his evening while he's watching the baseball game.

We have another easy day tomorrow, only a pacemaker check. It's an early appointment, 8:30, and it should only take about an hour at the most. So we will have the rest of the day free. Going to take care of some business with the car and maybe go to the bank and buy some groceries. I think the goal of the week-end will be to walk some without the walker. He's starting to get dependent on it somewhat. But, maybe we'll let it go a little longer.

All for tonight, have a good evening!

Been a busy two days! Yesterday therapy went very well. Because of his leg he will be limited to what he can do, but he is able to work on a couple of the machines. The therapist thought that he might need another neuro consult, so that was scheduled for today.

We did get our supplies delivered yesterday...all 3 boxes! They take up 5 shelves in the closet! I don't know where we're going to put them at home. We'll have to do some major rearranging of closets!

Today we had the neuro consult and he didn't think that the leg problem was caused by any nerve damage, or neurological problems. His thinking was that there was an infection somewhere in his body. The discoloration is due to dead tissue in his leg from whatever the problem is. He thought it could be an infection in the shin bone so he has scheduled a bone scan and a consult with an infectious disease doctor. Those appointments are not until the end of November. We're going to see if Tina and Dr. Hosenpud can't get them moved up. It seems to me that if there's an active infection somewhere more damage could be done by waiting that long. But, I'm not a doctor.

The wound nurse said it could take months for his heel to heal and gave him a foam rubber boot to wear at night and while he's sitting to keep any pressure off of his foot.

Of course all of this pushes back his rehab and recovery and is somewhat discouraging, especially to Bill. He's made several comments that he's not getting any better and he wants to go home. But, overall he seems to be some better. He looks better through his face and his appetite is slowly coming back. He's gaining weight, and we are making sure it's not just fluid.

All for today. We have a very long day tomorrow...rehab at 8:30, labs at 10:30, Tina at 12:30, and Dr. Hosenpud at 2. The longest of these is the rehab which will take an hour. The others won't take long at all. Just a lot of waiting around. As long as I have my nook, I'll be fine!

Good morning! Hope everyone had a good week-end!

We've had a decent week-end. Didn't do much of anything. Stayed in most of the time and watched movies.

We did go to Walmart yesterday and Bill walked around for awhile until he needed to sit down. So, I settled him in at McDonalds with a milkshake and I finished the shopping. He did much better than I thought he would do.

His leg is not swollen anymore, and it is not red. But there is a knot in the area and it is still very painful to touch or to walk on. His pressure ulcer on his heel looks much better so maybe he'll be able to start rehab before long. He starts physical therapy today so he'll probably be working on some of the machines.

After therapy we have no real plans. Hopefully we will get our dressing supplies today. We got an emergency shipment on Saturday and it was supposed to be for 5 days. But, there were only enough 4 x 4 packages for 1 change. There were supposed to be 2 boxes in the shipment and there were 2 packages. I managed to get some separated without compromisint the sterility. So, hopefully the UPS driver got his head on straight or got his glasses fixed so that he can see the sign on the apartment with the number on it and deliver the boxes. He said they were undeliverable because there was no apartment number on the building! Not only is there a number outside the condo, there is a sign at each stairwell listing the apartments in each stairwell!

Have a great day everyone! I'll let you know how therapy goes!

It's been a boring week-end so far and boring can be a good thing.

Bill's leg is still very sore and bothered him all night, and although the discoloration is mostly gone, there is now a knot in that location. It could just be the way he walks on it that has caused that since they can find no cause for the problem. The pressure ulcer on his heel looks better too. He has been "dangling" it over a pillow so that it doesn't have any weight on it at all. I'm really thinking that he had an infection in the leg but the Keflex is taking care of that.

His appetite is coming back some and he seems to be feeling better. He's not sleeping as much in the day as he was.

We're going to try to go to Walmart for some things tomorrow. Don't know how he will do there, probably make it to McDonalds and sit and wait for me. Hopefully we can find a really close parking spot. We shall see.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Didn't get this updated after his appointments yesterday so will try to get the highlights from both days in today.

Dr. Hosenpud and Tina, the VAD nurse, are both concerned about Bill's leg. It is swelling some again and it isn't exactly bruised but it is discolored. He also has a bad pressure ulcer on his heel on the same leg. Dr. Hosenpud found that they had not done an ultrasound of his leg when he was at the er Saturday so he ordered one yesterday. It was negative for blood clots, so that is not the problem. We've asked about infections and they told us that since he is on Keflex already that would take care of any infection. But, it is going to hold his rehab back some.

We met with rehab today and again there was a lengthy discussion about his leg. It was not swollen this morning, but by the time of his appointment it was and it was warm to the touch, although the discoloration was not as dark as it had been. It was decided to have him see a wound specialist for the pressure ulcer along with a podiatrist and he is going to see physical therapy for his rehab instead of cardiac rehab. At least that's the plan for now. He was also told to keep his shoe off whenever he's not going to be walking and to keep the leg elevated with the heel hanging over the edge of the pillow.

Of course since they told him that he has done just the opposite, kept his shoe on with his legs crossed. When we were getting ready for his dressing change I took his shoe and sock off and the foot is really swollen again. So it's on a pillow and is probably uncomfortable. He was also complaining that he would have to sleep on his back.

I've decided tonight that I'm going to have to treat him as a child in some respects. He's not drinking enough, even being on the fluid restriction. This is keeping him too dry vascularly which in turn leads to the dizziness and nausea. I don't know if he thinks that he can't drink much because of the fluid restriction so he won't drink or what. But, I'm going to show him how many ounces it is. Tina even told him yesterday to drink more than the restriction even though he has some swelling in the legs. He needs it for the pump to work properly.

I'm also going to have to make him go to the bathroom whether he wants to or not. He went to the bathroom about 9 this morning and I had to tell him to go again at 9:30 tonight and he had not gone at all through the day. This is also contributing to the UTI. He keeps telling me that he doesn't have to go, but he goes when I tell him to. I think this is a result of having the catheter in for so long. It's still hard for his bladder to realize that it is full. (He would be horrified if he knew that I was writing this and I know that it is more info than most of you want to know. But it helps me collect my thoughts on things.)

His wound looked good tonight. The drainage was much less than it had been. The area that is still stitched is looking a little angry now and Tina and Lorraine went back and forth about taking the stitch out. The only reason the stitch is there is to keep the drive line from moving too much until the skin grows around it. It has closed on about 3/4 if the site, but one part is still open. But, if the stitch area gets too irritated it will have to come out. We're hoping it can wait until next Wednesday when he sees the nurses again.

So, that's it. The wrap-up for the past 2 days. We shall see what tomorrow brings as far as the foot goes.

Sorry about no post again yesterday. It was a crazy evening.

Bill had a much better day yesterday. Ate better and just seemed to feel better. I got him a donut pillow to sit on and it has helped his bottom some too. He was also moving around a little easier. All in all a pretty dull day.

But, the excitement started when Emily called to tell us that someone had kicked our front door in and stole the TV. The cops were already at the house with our neighbor Joe. Apparently there was a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood. The police were actually responding to an alarm at another house down the street when they saw the guy who broke into our house walking down the street carrying the TV! He put it down across the street from the house and took off running. It actually turned into a comedy of errors from there with foot pursuits, escaping on a bicycle, and 2 gas stations in the area robbed. Emily said nothing else in the house was touched, the mail was still where she put it, and he took the time to disconnect the satelite! Needless to say, we're ready to go home!!!

Back to our journey, Bill starts his dr. visits again today so maybe something can be done about his leg. Once he can put some pressure on that ankle I think he'll start really improving. The movement is about the only thing that's going to make him start feeling better. We're also supposed to get our dressing supplies delivered today and of course we're not going to be home! I don't know if they will leave them or not. We shall see!

Spent the day back in ER. Bill woke up coughing with a fever and dry heaves. When the home health nurse came at 9 she looked at him and called Mayo and Ginny, the transplant ARNP said to have us go to ER, so off we went. We also looked at his leg and it looked terrible.

Got to ER at 10:10 and at 2 we asked the tech to see if we could find out what was going on. We only saw the nurse once and that was to have blood drawn and a shunt put in for an IV. We saw a resident who said they would get some tests done and then he had a chest xray and EKG. After that, nothing. Finally saw the supervising dr. and he said it looked like he was starting to get a urinary tract infection so they were going to start him on antibiotics. He was also a little dehydrated but they gave him nothing to drink and no IV fluids! Dr. Yip was consulted and he is stopping his iron supplement for a couple of days until he sees him Wednesday. Finally left the hospital at 4:45, stopped to get the meds filled and got home at 5:30.

I was just starting his dressing change when Tina, our VAD nurse, called needing some info from his batteries and wanting to check on him. I have to go see her tomorrow because I'm out of dressing supplies and we aren't getting them delivered until Wednesday. Of course we are going to be gone most of the day Wednesday with appointments and I don't know if they will leave them at the door or not. So, I guess I need to check on that tomorrow.

He doesn't seem to be getting any stronger. In fact, he seems to be weaker than before the surgery. He has noticed this and is getting a little discouraged. Of course he did have several complications while hospitalized which doesn't help the healing. But most of the drs. we have seen seem to think he should be further along in recovery than he is. We shall see what rehab thinks when he seems them Thursday. But, watching him makes it hard to stay positive.

All for tonight. Keep the good thoughts and prayers going. There's still a long way to go!

Seemed to have a good night after we finally got settled in. We were finally up and out of the bedroom by 8. Both of us have been medicated and all vital signs and pump readings recorded. We haven't had breakfast yet but the coffee has been poured.

Bill said his stomach is still cramping some but he feels better than he did yesterday. We're going to take the splint and sock off of his foot today to see how swollen it still is. With those socks the hospital give you I can't tell with it on.

I had my hand on his chest this morning and could actually feel the pump whirring. That was a weird feeling. I could also his heart beat from the other side of his heart and it was a good strong beat. I don't know what his current ejection fraction is but I do know it had gone from 15 to 19 while he was still early in the hospital stay. So even though he feels lousy with all the healing process going on and the other complications, the pump is doing its job.

I forgot to put that yesterday was the first unsupervised dressing change. Didn't feel any different than when someone was watching over my shoulder so I guess training process is a good one.

All for now. Today is going to be laundry day and trash day. Will find a service to watch on TV for church and then wait for the baseball game to come on. Have a good day!

Yesterday's good day has been followed by a horrible day today. Bill woke me about 2:30 this morning with leg pain. His right foot was swollen and very painful. I called Mayo and Dr. Yip wanted him to go to ER. So, off we go. We still don't know what the problem is but we do know that there is no blood clot, it's not broken and he doesn't have gout. They are favoring tendonitis. They put a small splint on it and said to stay off it and to keep ice on it.

Got back home about 7 this morning. I slept until 9 and Bill slept until 11 but has felt lousy all day. He has had no appetite and only had some tomato soup to eat. He also has had a bathroom problem, which is compounded by not being able to move fast enough to get to the bathroom.

I finally got him to go to bed so hopefully he will feel better in the morning. He's also very cold now but doesn't feel like he has any fever. I, on the other hand, think it's hot in here even though it really isn't.

So, it has not been a good day. We've tried going to bed but the house phone has rung twice in the last hour. I'm going to give it a try again and maybe we will both get some sleep.

Had a good day today! It felt great not having to get up before dawn. Bill slept until about 8:30. The home health nurse was supposed to come between 11 and 12 but didn't get here until almost 1. But, she was please with the layout of the house and where we had placed the equipment. She also watched me do the dressing change and said that I was doing them correctly. She's only going to come 2 more times next week and then only if we need her.

I left Bill alone for about an hour and bought some groceries. While I was gone he went through all of his old medicines and took them out of the weekly dispensers and put them back in the bottles. We then put his new meds in the dispensers! Ah, the illness way of life!

Bill ate well tonight and after I got the kitchen cleaned up and dinner settled we went for a little walk. We live in the middle stairwell of a 3 stairwell building. We walked down to the end of the building and crossed the parking area and walked back down to our stairwell. He was winded some when we got back but he managed to walk it all and he picked the route. Of course the more he walks the faster he will recover his strength. His leg behaved most of the walk and he only stumbled once. Since the sidewalk was a little rough I kept a hold on the back of his vest and he seemed to do better after that. We're going to try at least 2 walks tomorrow and we have a couple of errands to run.

All for tonight. I'm getting sleepy and I think Bill is too. Have a good week-end!

Bill has been discharged and we finally got to leave the hospital about 5:45. Got the car unloaded (I don't know where everything is going to go when we head home!)and the equipment set up and connected. I connected Bill to the power module and got a read-out so I did it right. We also checked the length of the cables and he can make it to the commode while tethered to the power module.

Home Health is coming tomorrow to make sure we got everything set up right and to watch me do the dressing change. They also have to "look" at the house and the outlets to make sure everything is safe.

He doesn't have any appointments until next Wednesday so we'll both get to rest some and get used to living together again, along with all of the new things we will have to do every day. I feel confident that we will do fine with our new lifestyle, it will just take some adjustments, and maybe some sleepless nights!

He did come home with a walker just to give him a little security and it's a good thing. He was pretty weak by the time we got home and he was having a hard time walking. If I could just get him to slow down he would do better! But we shall see as the days go by.

The posts may not come daily now but keep checking in. I don't know how often I'll be posting.

Our second outing was also a success! We didn't do anything except come to the condo and just sit. We had lunch here and watched TV and then went back to the hospital.

Dr. Yamani said this morning that he was sure we would be able to leave tomorrow. I talked to Bill a little while ago and he said that it will probably take all day to work through the process and it will probably be early evening before we actually get to leave. But they are going to try to get through everything as fast and as early as they can.

Bill is still a little shaky when he is walking and he walked with physical therapy today just to see how he did. They've told him to slow down! Maybe he will listen to them since he doesn't listen to me! They also agreed that he needs the extra security of a walker, at least while we are out somewhere, until he gets stronger. And he is still agreeable to that.

We're trying to see where we are going to put the equipment. It all has to go in the bedroom, but it has to be placed so that he will be able to reach the bathroom during the night if necessary. He doesn't get up much at night and we will probably just keep a urinal by the bed. That may be the easiest solution. But we shall see. We have a couple of options in mind but have to wait until the equipment is here and we can measure the cables.

So, it's 4 weeks tomorrow since he had the surgery and we've come through it so far. We're as ready as we can be to take care of things on our own here as far as the VAD goes. He just has to get started in rehab and get stronger and then we can get home.

All for now, will post when we are settled in tomorrow night.

We were able to have our outing today! We had 2 nurses with us, Amanda and Kari, and went to a seafood restaurant in Jacksonville Beach. Now, for those of you who know I don't do fish, we checked out the menu first and they had some fantastic ribs! I brought half of them home and will probably eat them tomorrow night.

After lunch we came to the condo for awhile and just talked. The girls are both really nice. They are both working on new certifications and are great nurses.

Bill was really tired out and by the time we got back to the hospital he said that his right leg felt like rubber. This is the one that is numb in his thigh. He told the dr. that this evening and he said it will take time for the nerve to come back. He recommends that we have a walker when we come home for a little extra confidence and Bill agrees that he would feel more secure with one, so he was going to take care of talking to physical therapy and our case manager.

Tomorrow we go out by ourselves. We can go anywhere and do anything we want as long as we are back before 5 when the drs. leave. I think right now we are just going to come home and get used to being here together again. Amanda asked me today if I was scared to come home or if I thought we were ready. I told her that I think we're ready. I'm confident with doing the dressing changes and we both know how to switch from batteries to AC power and back. Bill's getting used to wearing the gear, all 13 pounds of it! So, we are as ready as we can be.

If everything goes well tomorrow, he will be discharged on Thursday. All we know is that it will be in the late afternoon, early evening.

All in all it's been a good day. We are both tired and I'm going to bed before long. I think Bill was ready when I left the hospital. We're not even watching the ballgame tonight and for us not to watch a baseball game is unusual.

More tomorrow after the 2nd outing!

I know everyone's been waiting to see what happened on our outing today. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. We had lots of severe weather in the area and a tornado watch so Dr. Yamani wanted it cancelled. Of course, it didn't rain the rest of the day until now!

Bill has had a lot of pain today but he thinks it's just "healing" pain. He's been pretty uncomfortable all day. But he walked 3 times while I was there and was going to walk again before he went to bed. The last time he walked it was totally unassisted. He's still a little unsteady at times, but doing better. We both think that once he's home and able to move at will he will do much better.

So, we'll try again tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes.

Had a pretty good day today! I made it back to the hospital, but was totally worn out by the time I walked from the parking lot! I also cooked breakfast for him and took it in.

He walked 3 times but was pretty shaky on the first one. Jill and I thought it might be the pain med. He was hurting all over today. Said he slept all scrunched up.

Dr. Yamani said he can eat whatever he wants, but eat. So, he had shrimp from Denny's for lunch and I came home and fixed a tuna casserole. Fish seems to go down easier for him, and pasta is easy. BUT, when I came home I thought there was a cat laying in front of my door, until I realized that there was no body and what I thought was the tail was really a SNAKE! It was about 2 1/2 ft long and bigger than a quarter in diameter. Lucky for me the young man across the hall was nice enough to chase it away.

He finally got through to Dr. Yamani about his numb leg and neurology finally came in this evening. She did a really thorough exam and thinks that it is a nerve that gets damaged a lot during surgeries. She said that medication can help with the pain, but the nerve doesn't have any direct impact on the muscle control. That made him feel a whole lot better about it.

Our outing is scheduled for tomorrow, weather permitting. We are supposed to get flooding rains overnight and into the morning. We still don't know where we are going. I'm going to look at some menus online tonight for a couple of suggestions we've had. So we shall see. Bill is really wanting to get out of the hospital and I can't blame him. It will be 4 weeks Thursday.

All for tonight. I'll let you know how the lunch goes.

Didn't go to the hospital today. I went to the Urgent Care Clinic instead. I don't have the flu, which is a good thing, but I do have a sinus infection. Got some antibiotics and should feel better in a couple of days. I'm already feeling a little better so I should be able to go to the hospital tomorrow.

I've talked to Bill a couple of times and he's doing well today. He's been walking and his nurse today is a favorite one so I know he's in good hands.

Our nor'easter has arrived, but the worst of it is supposed to be here tomorrow night into Monday morning. Rain is needed so I don't think anyone is really complaining about it. The temperature is comfortable and I have the door open to our little screen patio. I would love to be sitting out there, but the rain is coming in a little so I'll just enjoy the fresh air.

All for today, unless I hear something from the hospital. Hope everyone is enjoying their week-end.

I talked to Bill a little while ago and he's had a good day. He got his fluid level up and has been able to walk 4 times today. Physical therapy now thinks that he won't need a walker but could get by with a cane until his leg gets strengthened. He said when he was walking that he was pushing a wheelchair instead of a walker to give him some support.

I've slept most of the afternoon, but now I'm running a low-grade fever in spite of the cold meds. So, it's up in the air if I will go to the hospital tomorrow or stay in bed. We'll have to see how the night goes.

Unfortunately our outing has been postponed. Bill has dried out too much again so the dizziness is back and his blood pressure is too low because of the low fluids. Also, my cold is worse and I've come home for the day. But, we've talked to the drs. and the VAD nurse and all agree that we should wait until Monday to try the outing. He's going to drink lots of fluids today and walk around his room instead of the hallway walks to see if that helps. I'm going to drug myself and stay in bed the rest of the day.

So, as short as this is, this will probably be the only post today. Unless, of course something else comes up today.

Today was a great day! The dizziness is gone and he has been walking with only support on his arms, no walkers! He also got his staples removed which will make him feel a whole lot better.

We did get a little scare this morning. His liver enzymes were elevated so Dr. Yip wanted to get an ultrasound to make sure there was nothing going on. He also changed a couple of his medications again. The ultrasound was fine. At first they thought they saw something, but decided on further review that everything was ok.

The best part of the day is that Dr. Yip decided to go ahead and schedule our supervised outing for tomorrow! We are going out to lunch with a nurse, and one of favorite ones is going with us. We can go anywhere we want, Mayo provides a car service, and Bill can eat anything he wants. If this outing goes well then over the week-end he and I can come and go from the hospital alone and if we do well with these then he will be discharged on Monday.

I think Bill is a little apprehensive about the outings. He's not concerned about people looking at him, but about being able to eat. He's still re-adjusting to his dentures and because the pump takes up extra space in his abdomen, he can't eat as much as he used to. But, I think that once we are out he will do fine.

I'm trying to catch a cold so I came home early today to get some medicine to try to knock it out. Hopefully it will work quickly.

We have a nor'easter coming and it is so nice out right now. There is a wonderful breeze and it's a pleasant temperature, but supposed to be raining tomorrow. I have to remember to take Bill's jacket.

Another day of ups and downs. It started well, we both slept well and rested. I fixed Bill an omelet for breakfast and took it to him and he ate every bit of it and some mandarin oranges. Dr. Yip came in and said that he was scheduling our supervised outing for Friday as long as Bill could walk without assistance today and tomorrow. Then, if that outing went well we could take 2 more outings over the week-end alone and then be discharged Monday.

But, when Bill got up to walk, he got dizzy again and said he was seeing double. Our nurse consulted with the doctor and they decided to pump him full of fluids for an hour. He thought they might have dried him out too much from the fluid pills. So, he drank 2 1/2 4 oz. ginger ales and a glass of water in a little over an hour but was still dizzy. All that liquid did was make him sick and he ended up throwing up his lunch!

When Physical Therapy came in we asked if he could go to the exercise room to see if using the nu-step machine would at least strengthen his legs some. She took him down in a wheelchair and he did great in there. This machine has a seat on it and pedals that push back and forth. She didn't put him on the easiest level but the 2nd of 5 to give him some resistance and he did great. He used it for 6 minutes without stopping or getting winded. He also didn't get dizzy moving from chair to chair.

But, when he moved from his recliner to the bed for his dressing change, he was dizzy again. They are now checking everything from meds to inner ear problems. He also didn't want anything to eat tonight, but his tech said they had snacks on the floor if he got hungry.

He's getting a little discouraged with all of the new negative changes. He's also getting a small bedsore on his behind. They have had a pad on it, but it's not been placed in the right place. He's also got a bruise and very sore spot on his right heel. I think that is just from pressure of laying on it, but he was going to have the nurse look at it tonight.

So, don't know now if we will get to have our outing on Friday or not. We'll just have to see how tomorrow goes. On a brighter note, he had visits today from Eileen, the support group coordinator, JR who has a VAD, and Mark who had a transplant on June 27. Mark told us that Tom, who we had met through the group, was transplanted last night and Ralph was to be transplanted tonight. And, in case any of you are wondering, neither of them has the same blood type as Bill.

All for tonight. Now that I'm home I'm totally exhausted so I'm turning in before long. G'night.

Another up and down day and this one was mostly down. We neither one slept well last night. I know I slept, but I must not have rested since I was still tired when I got up. Bill also felt the same way and stay tired all day.

Dr. Yip turned off the oxygen this morning to see how he would do, and he stayed in acceptable ranges all day. But, he was weak today and got dizzy every time he stood. He was only able to walk once since he got dizzy every other time he tried.

It was determined that his fluid levels were too low now (they've been trying to get them down by giving him a couple of different diuretics. So this afternoon he was give some albumen to try to raise them a little. His pump numbers also came up some so it did help.

Dr. Yip is also concerned about his nutrition and has said that I can bring in food now as long as I follow a healthy heart diet and it's not saturated with sodium. So for breakfast I'm taking him an omelet made with egg beaters. Hopefully that will help. Our nurse also told me that Panera Bread offers low sodium soups and heart healthy soups and their menus show the nutrition information on the menu. I have a menu here at the condo from previous tenants so I'm going to look at it tonight. He did eat his dinner tonight and seemed to enjoy it although he said he didn't that he was just eating it because he knew he had to eat.

So, hopefully tomorrow, with some food he likes and the extra oomph from the albumen, he'll feel better and can get back on track.

Today was just a so-so day. Bill was tired all day and became very demanding in the afternoon instead of trying to do things on his own. He walked well for 2 walks this morning but the third one he was a little "wobbly" with his leg.

He's down to .5 liters of O2 still but sometimes has to be bumped up to 1 or 1 1/2. Dr. Yip saw how crazy his numbers were. The monitor showed his saturation was only 70% and he said "I know that's not right". But, the monitor is what they mainly go by. A tech from respiratory came by today and used her hand-held monitor and it was 96%.

We're still having to force him to eat anything. I finally told him tonight that if he did not start eating more they would have to put a feeding tube in. He's blaming it all on his dentures, but I think he's gotten to the point that he's blaming them because it's convenient. His night nurse suggested that we mechanicalize his meals. These are meals where the meat is ground and things are processed a little more to make them easier to chew. Mary-Rose had mentioned this to me before and the only reason I hadn't mentioned it to him is I didn't think he would eat it because it is not going to look very appetizing. But, he called me after I got home tonight and said he had eaten all of his supper and he wanted to try the other way. So, I think we'll try it at lunch tomorrow. Since he knows what it will look like maybe he'll be more agreeable to it.

We've gotten some suggestions on where to go for our lunch outing. We really need to start working on that so that when they say it's time we know where to tell the driver to go. Yes, they are sending a car service for us that day!

All for now. As I've said before, some of these days there's not going to be much news. I'll let you know tomorrow if the mechanicalized food worked.

Another good day. Don and Shirley left about 1:30 and called about 6:30 to let us know they had made it home. I am so grateful to them for coming for the week-end. I really needed the break from the hospital, not to mention the free time to take care of some things.

Physical Therapy came in this afternoon, which is unusual for a week-end. But I had voiced my concerns about Bill's leg to Dr. Yip again and our nurse this morning noticed this morning how unresponsive it it at times. They walked with him with a walker and said that the right leg is definitely weaker than the left but he also thought it was due to the numbness in his thigh. He said it's like walking when you leg is asleep. The stumbling gait and scissoring motion is because he can't feel if his leg is responding to the command to move. Mom, you know what that is like!So, we will definitely come home with a walker and they want him either using a regular walker or a podium walker. They also said that they would rather he walk 10 short walks, even if it is out of his room to the other side of the wall and back again than to try to walk "the circuit". This evening his walk was with a podium walker to the nurses station and back and he was much more stable.

His O2 is down to 1/2 liter when resting and 1 1/2 when he's walking so hopefully by the end of the week we will be coming home, or really close to it. He's really wanting to get out of the hospital, but he really wants to be HOME home, not here. He misses Ron's dog Buddy!

All for tonight. Washing up his shorts that he's wearing under his hospital gown, eating dinner and then going to bed. Goodnight everyone!

We both have had a pretty good day today. Shirley and I went to the hospital early so that I could meet the day nurse and be there when Dr. Yip came in. We got his breakfast ordered and eaten and to the bathroom. After a walk I left when it was time for his nap.

I am please to say that the laundry is done, the floors and bathroom cleaned, all of the dishes put away, and Cousin It will not be making an appearance in the near future!

Bill and Shirley had a good visit. Took a couple of walks and she got him to eat all of his lunch! We changed his dressing and took another walk and then while everyone was napping I decided to come back to the condo. I finished folding the clothes and cooked dinner. All in all, a good day.

We're getting concerned about his right leg. He has complained since he could talk again that his right thigh was numb. All of the doctors and therapists have said that it will go away so he shouldn't worry about it. But Shirley and I both noticed today that while he is walking, the leg wants to go to the left and he seems to have trouble lifting it some. He has also noticed this. So, again, we're going to talk to the dr. and I will probably talk to the therapist Monday. This is probably why they want to have him come home with a walker.

We're still looking at getting home, maybe, this week. He was down to 1 liter of O2 this afternoon, but bumping up to 2 while walking. His tech watched him while he was off the O2 and sitting in his chair and his sat was 93 which is pretty good. So maybe tomorrow they will try to get him totally off it! If that happens they will start planning our outings.

All for tonight. I'm physically tired tonight but in a good way. I feel like I've really accomplished some things today that I think were starting to bother me.