What a difference a good nights sleep makes! Bill slept all night and was awake and aware when I got there. He couldn't talk much because the therapist had a lot of air in his collar, but he was in a good mood.

They had taken the catheter out and put the condom catheter on. He had not urinated since they had done it and a bladder scan showed that it had about 500 ccs  in it. But Laura, the nurse, was not overly concerned. So, he and I talked about that and how he needed to say when he felt like he needed to go. He would tell me and I would tell him he could just go ahead and if he needed to hold himself as he would normally, that was OK. He did go some, but the condom wouldn't stay on. She tried several different kinds. It seems like they are geared more for someone who is circumcized. Anyway, one time after he told me he had to go and still hadn't, I asked if he could use a urinal. At first she said only if I was in there with him, but I told her he had been using one in the night at home and she agreed. And he did use them! I think they were going to use an external catheter tonight, just in case he didn't wake up if he had to go.

Dr. Munday came in and, after talking with the respiratory therapist, explained that they have a different protocol for weaning from vents than they do in ICU. Where Bill is, they have the vent doing most of the work. He used his hands like a scale. He said they watch numbers for a day and then lower them to let the lungs work more until they have evened out, or the lungs are doing most of the work. They then go to the trach collar. He said it will probably be about this time next week that he'll be back on it. But, he also said that anytime we wanted to go to trach collar we could. He tried to let a little air out of the inner collar so that Bill could talk, but all he did was cough and choke and set off alarms. I think the actual culprit was the ice chips the speech therapist had given him. Instead of really swallowing, he was just letting it melt down his throat and it had pooled at the top of his throat. So, air was added again and even though he was still coughing some when I left, he was using his mouth suction on his own.

He sat on the edge of the bed with physical and occupational therapy for 5 minutes with minimal support and did a much better job of holding his head up. Chris, the physical therapist who is from Australia, wanted him to sit in a chair but Bill said no, so they put the bed into chair mode. He also combed his hair, washed his face, and cleaned his mouth for the occupational therapist.

(I had this post completely finished and it just turned blue from here on down and it's gone. Of course I don't remember what I had typed either).

All in all it was a good day. I came home a little early because the weather was starting to get nasty. It had rained most of the day and was starting to get foggy. I'm glad I left when I did to get home close to dark, the fog was really bad on the highway, once I got out of the towns. It's supposed to be that way in the morning, but I don't have to go early. I did find Bill's other glasses so brought the pair home to get repaired. I'll go to the eye dr. when they open at 8 and then head down. I left him a reminder note on his white board so he won't panic when I don't show up early.

He asked several times when he could come home and I told him that depended on how hard he worked to get off the vent, lose the trach, swallow so he could eat and be able to walk again. It's a lot of work but I know he can do it. Getting the catheter out was a major step, and came sooner than they thought. I think again, it was a case of them thinking it would be permanent. They just don't know him!

And, now, since I can't remember what else I may have said, I'll stop. If I left out something major, I'll make it up tomorrow. Have a good night, or day, whenever you read this!