Today was an odd day. Bill did 16 hours on trach collar yesterday which was his goal, although one person said he only did 14 so he missed his goal, but I was told the goal was 10-16, so to me he made his goal.

Anyway, it was a rather lazy morning. His nurse did get him into his chair and she said after that she was never using the sling again. It's designed for obese patients and she things Bill can handle being in the Sarah Steady. I've described this before, but it's a device where the seat opens up, the patient stands and takes maybe a step, the seat is closed and the patient sits and then just hold on while it is moved. And he wouldn't have to move far.

He did complain that his IV site hurt and his nurse checked it. She's actually the one who placed it and she said that she could see the catheter in the vein. But, she said we'll just keep an eye on it and move it if necessary. It still flushes, although she had to use a little bit of heparin to start it. They are not using it for blood draws and the poor man is so bruised they won't be able to find a site before long because of the bruising.

His chest x-ray was again unchanged, which is a good thing. Even though it seems he has more secretions now again, it isn't a new pneumonia. The respiratory tech got tired of waiting around for the speech therapist so she brought in the Passey-Muir valve and attached it to the trach. This lets Bill talk and you would think he would have talked and talked and talked. But, no, he barely said anything unless he was asked a question. He didn't have any trouble with it. Sometimes people only cough when wearing it or can't breathe. But, Bill had no trouble and his numbers stayed up. They were going to remove it after I left. For the first few days they don't want him to wear it if he's alone.

He had absolutely no therapy today. As I was leaving I saw Ellen the OT and she said she hadn't even made it to our hallway today. I saw Lisa with speech once and she just talked to the respiratory tech and walked off. And I saw Chris the PT coming out of the mens room and head to another part of the hospital. Bill won't do his leg exercises if I tell him to do them so it's kind of useless for me to try.

I did find out today that Caleb did go up and shave Bill after I had talked to him and Brian that afternoon. Brian said Caleb told him Bill just about jumped out of bed when he saw him with the razor. Someone saw him in the room and asked him if he needed something and he said that he had come up from 2 just to shave him. It must have hit a nerve with someone because Bill was shaved again last night! Maybe Caleb told them Bill liked to be clean shaven. He was off today, so I couldn't thank him.

That's pretty much the day. Bill's hearing aids didn't come again today. The driver didn't even look at the door slip up close. He just saw that it was in the same place. Didn't leave another one just entered that it was delayed until tomorrow. So, when I put the door slip out tomorrow, I'm going to put it signature up. I do have a couple of other choices. I have a friend who is a FedEx driver and I can ask him what to do about it. Or, I can just let them send them back, get the credit back to the card, and then re-order them and have them sent to Emily's office. So, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

We're supposed to get storms sometime in the night and the wind is already howling. It was a lovely tailwind on the way home, but it will be a nasty headwind in the morning. The rain is supposed to be off and on, but heavy, so maybe it won't be raining when I head to the hospital.

I didn't take my cane with me today and for the most part my hip did OK. But, I can tell I walked up and down the hill to the parking garage without it. I'll probably take it tomorrow, especially with the wind and rain. But, my hip is much better.

So, that's the update for today. Maybe Bill will feel like talking tomorrow (I may regret that)!