I thought my bad start for the day was going to continue through the entire day. Bill was sitting in his wheelchair with just his undies on, barefoot, no blanket, no call button, no fall alarm. I asked him what was going on and he said he had been to the bathroom and when they got him out they told him to just sit there and someone would be back in! I covered his legs with his blanket, saw that the wound vac had been unplugged from the wall instead of from the vac itself (if does run on batteries) and was sitting in his lap instead of hanging on the back of the chair. I fixed that and it was another 30 minutes before the CNA came in and she was very surprised to see him out of the bathroom since she was the one who put him in there!

She managed to scrounge up some towels but no washcloths and gave him a bath. He was supposed to get a shower, but since she was washing him with a towel it would have been another wait for washcloths and he was ready to get dressed. Complaints have been made about the linen service running so late. Patients want to get up and showered and dressed before therapies start at 9, but if the linens don't get there until 10...well you get the picture. Either the patients don't get showered or everything gets pushed back. I also found out that showers are only done during the day shift, the 3-11 shift will not do them.

Anyway, as she was getting him dressed, I realized something was missing. His Foley catheter had been removed! And, he peed! I've never been so excited about basic bodily functions before! He continued to go through the day, so we know that it's finally working again! One less thing to worry about and 1 more "attachment" gone!

After he was dressed and got his 9 am meds we took a walk around the lake. Well, I took a walk around the lake and he sat and rode! It's probably about a mile around and I was hot and tired when we got back. I'll probably be sore tomorrow. I told him he gets to push me next time and he said he would...into the lake!

He worked with his computer a little through the day and did part of a word search puzzle and then we watched tv. His attention span is still short. We did talk some about his situation. He made the comment about how the whole thing ruined his life. I reminded him that he knew bad things could happen with the transplant and it was just bad luck that the bad stuff happened to him. I also reminded him that he was getting better every day. He then made the comment that he didn't think he would ever leave the center and he was tired of hospitals. That's totally understandable! And, we've come full circle to the conspiracy to not let him eat and they need to fix his swallow. I told him I'm not arguing about that again this week-end!

He's very excited about John coming tomorrow, although he started feeling sorry for himself when I told him he couldn't go to the beach and out to eat. He wants to do the things we would do if he was home and they came to visit. He said all he'll get to do is exercise. I told him all John wants to do is spend time with his dad and it doesn't matter where he is.

He wanted me to spend the night with him tonight, not because he was upset about anything, he just didn't want to be alone. But, I told him the only place for me to sleep was on the mat on the floor and I wasn't going to do that. He may call me in the middle of the night but I hope they give him some Benadryl and he'll sleep. The PA said she would write the order for either Ambien or Benadryl and he could have either.

So, the bad day turned out to be pretty good even with the rough spots. I'm heading to the shower and then to bed. Usually night showers or baths wake me up so I'm hoping that it won't tonight. Have a good night!