When I got to the hospital yesterday and asked how long Bill had stayed on CPAP, the respiratory tech said that he was still on from Thursday! And his sats were staying in the upper 90s to 100, with a good heart rate! So, the Dr. won the battle and, if he did well for yesterday and through the night, today he will go to trach collar! What this means is that he will be on regular oxygen with tubing either connecting directly to the trach, or an oxygen mask of sorts will cover the trach. That's usually how it is, but Bill had been on the other one in ICU to help him get more oxygen. Since his lungs have improved so much, I don't know which they will go with. I'll find out about 9 this morning when his 48 hours is up.

He was in a good mood all day and wanted in his chair as soon as I got there. Magin said that all of her patients wanted up early so as soon as meds were all given, they would start in getting them moved. She didn't like the sling (and he was left in it again overnight) so she and I got it out from under him and then did the stand and pivot like Chris does. He also stood 3 more times, to get a bedpan under him, out from under him and to get back into bed. As he was sitting on the edge of the bed, with no support, Dr. Yaranov came in and listened to him and said he sounded the best he had heard him sound.

He worked really hard with speech and occupational therapy. We had a new OT therapist and she really worked his arms and shoulders. She could tell he was getting tired by the time he was finished, but his numbers still stayed up.

We talked some about the future, and he wanted to know when the trach would come out. I reminded him that it may not so that if (when) he gets sick again it will be easier to clean out his lungs and he was OK with that. I told him he'll be able to eat but we would have some changes to make but we had made changes before and could do it again and he nodded. 

I ordered him some hearing aids that have been advertised on TV and they are supposed to be here today. Even with the TV volume maxed out he still tries to turn it up so, even if they help a little it will be worth the money.

So, that's the big news of the day. Hopefully today's news will be that he is on trach collar and having no problems at all! Stay tuned!