Yesterday was a much better day! Bill was in his chair waiting for breakfast when I got there. I thought he would have finished eating by then because I left much later than usual since it was Sunday. But, breakfast was late for some reason, and then it was really messed up. He was supposed to get scrambled eggs, French toast and a banana, along with his Glucerna. Instead he got scrambled eggs and grits. He doesn't like grits much, but I told him to put some sweetener and milk on it and have it like Cream of Wheat and he did. He ate about 1/2 of it, and half of his eggs. He's still wanting to drink more than eat. I don't know if the meds are drying him out, although they are the same meds as home, or what it is. I told the food service woman about the missing Glucerna when she picked up the tray and she told me she would bring extra at lunch.

After breakfast, he got a bath and he tried to shave, got most of it, but now has a lovely goatee, and then we watch TV. The cardiology nurse said from their standpoint there wasn't anything to do except monitor his meds. She again questioned why they were not going to do a bronch since we were at day 9 waiting for a sputum sample. The pulmonology nurse said she was going to look through everything and asked if he was still getting his breathing treatments and using the shaky vest. They both said that the antibiotics were continuing.

Respiratory came in with a breathing treatment and a vest treatment, although she cheated on it and only ran it for 5 minutes instead 10. Bill was glad that it was shorter but I don't know how much good it did in the shorter time. And then PT arrived. He worked really hard with Ethan, doing all of the leg exercises and walked to the bathroom and back twice. He did turn his oxygen up to 9 liters while he was exercising and he didn't drop as low and recovered nicely. He told him to keep doing the exercises at least 3 times a day. We'll see how that goes.

I noticed that his oxygen was at 7 when I got there instead of 6 and I asked his nurse Whitney when it was raised. She said she did it when she got him up because his sats were staying in the mid 80s. But, she was going to start cutting back again now that all of the moving around was done.

He ate better at lunch, almost 1/2 of a chicken breast/wing and most of his mac and cheese. Didn't much of his greens, but he doesn't like them anyway. And of course his chocolate pudding. There were 4 cartons of Glucerna, so I got some stickers and put them in the fridge in the nutrition room, 2 in the fridge and 2 in the freezer. About 2:30 I asked him if he would like one and he said yes so I got him 1 of the frozen ones and he sucked it down! He said they taste pretty good. I did move the other one in the freezer to the fridge since I didn't want it frozen solid and told him if he wanted a snack in the evening to let his nurse know they were there.

When he called me later in the evening, he said he had eaten all of his dinner which was supposed to be beef stew. I did notice during lunch when he said that he was full and he hadn't eaten any chicken I told him he had to eat and cut his chicken apart for him. Then he kept giving me the side-eye to see if I was watching him. He would take a small bite and then look to see if I was paying attention. Pretending to ignore him, I watched him eat most of it. Just like a little kid!

I'm hoping today will bring some decisions on doing the bronch. He really needs cleaned out. He is coughing so the stuff is moving, but his throat muscles are weak from all the time he spent on the vent during the transplant and again this last time. And, although they are stronger from speech therapy, they may never be strong enough to really get a good cough to be expelled. But, what do I know, I'm only his wife!

So, a better day. And I ended up in a better mood. Yesterday morning I felt like I could burst into tears if anyone looked at me sideways, but I worked myself out of that. Bill being in a better mood, and seeming to just feel better helped.

Now, I really have to scramble. I have to leave in 12 minutes and as usual, I'm in pjs and robe still. Until the next time...