And the good days continue! For the third day in a row, Bill was up and eating breakfast when I got there and he was talkative and could hear fairly well. His nurse got him into his chair as soon as he finished with his breakfast and meds and shots. She looked at his feeding tube site and it was a total mess, more on that later.

They said that his sats dropped some in the early morning, but only into the mid 80s, but it was enough for Mike the respiratory tech to have to bump his oxygen blend back to 50. He said they came right back up then. This cannula is going to drive both of us crazy before he's off of it! It won't stay in his nose and the tubing that connects it is thick and heavy and keeps pulling it down some too. They do use alligator clips to keep it attached to his gown to try and prevent that, but the gown he has on is missing several snaps, so it sags, which defeats the purpose.

Now, for the feeding tube. When he was at home, we never kept it covered by anything other than Bill's t-shirt. One reason is the poor instruction we got on the care of it and we got no information on how to give bolus feedings, and how much and all that. Anyway, they keep it covered the way I kept his drive line covered when he had the LVAD. They had cleaned around the site at some point and it was raw. When he had the LVAD, Tina our coordinator told me that the brownish crust that was around the line was new skin and tissue and NOT to wipe it off. That is what would seal the hole. So, that was all growing around the peg line and someone cleaned it all off. When Tyler looked at the bandage Friday it was clean and dry (they don't date it all the time like they're supposed to) but when Jessica looked at it it was nasty. I couldn't decide if it was old blood, and you know they have been suspecting a bleed somewhere, or if it was stomach contents that had overflowed. Bill said it hurt when she cleaned around it and it's still pretty raw. So, she notified Dr. Threlkeld and he's going to look at it today. We definitely don't need another infection!

Bill did ask Dr. Yaranov how long he was going to be in the hospital and he told him that he wouldn't be able to leave the ICU until he was back on regular oxygen. The blended is only used in ICUs. He wasn't too happy to hear that, but he understood it. Dr. Yaranov was pleased with the way he looked and he asked when he had/would have another breathing treatment. It was just about time for one and he could tell listening to him that he was sounding a little coarse in the lower lobes. But, he said overall he looked and sounded better and to stay in the chair, and get up as much as possible. Also to keep eating.

Bill asked if he could have an apple or an orange and he could have both so I went to the cafeteria and got them. He couldn't bite the apple because of the tubing and at 1 point took it out. You know, it's really hard to slice an apple with a plastic knife, so today I'm adding a small paring knife to my knitting notion back with scissors and stuff. He ate the apple and we shared the orange in the afternoon. I also had to take him more peanut butter crackers.

They have come up with a way to keep him in his chair, they just strip is bed and don't remake it for several hours! At least that's what they did yesterday, and it worked. He didn't get back into bed until about 3:30, he had been up 6 hours, a new record!

Hopefully today, since he knows he has to stay in ICU until he can get on regular oxygen, he'll work hard with his breathing apparatus and treatments and then work with Travis in  therapy to get stronger. He did look at his legs and commented on how thin they were, so maybe he'll do more now. He kept saying he needed to get out so that he could go Christmas shopping, something he hasn't done for several years! So, I'm taking a catalog today to show him what I want. He doesn't have to order it, but it may make him feel better.

That's it for this morning. I need to get a move on. It's a little foggy and rainy with some thunder and lightning so it's going to be a lovely drive. But I can't wait until later because then I will be stuck parking on top of the parking garage and I'll miss the early drs. So, today I have to do it in the dark.