We are out now

Holly is home and continues to feel ever better. She had half of a Baja Sol burrito and is enjoying a quiet evening at home.

She will probably be updating the blog soon.

"I'm ready to launch"

Holly just looked up at her Thymoglobulin bag and said "This is so exciting."

(Holly, later: I was actually tapping on the IV tube trying to get it to go faster! Hmm. . . wonder how it is everyone from the patient educator to the PT staffer to the social worker has been telling me not to take things too fast. . .)

It's the last procedure they need to finish before they close up the neck port.

Last day for this...

I had to arrive early enough to get to the exit class with the social worker. We need to form a management team to make sure that this merger will be a long term success. To my surprise Holly was sitting up and actually ... ...chirpy. "Big changes in recovery land" I thought. More morning tests and poking on the way to leaving. This does seem to be the last day. I know this place is getting too familiar for my taste. I came back from my meeting and we talked for a while.

I went home for lunch and to get the computer since I wasn't sure of the schedule today. The "dog fairies" are a bit bemused by what's going on, but they seem to be taking it okay. I came in today and Major the Irish Setter smiled down at me from the top of the stairs. This is something he usually reserves for Holly. I know when she comes home he will have a big smile for her. I took the balloons (Thank you Lillie folk) and Holly's contingency bag of supplies home so we have less to carry when the time comes.

I got back just in time to see Holly finish her lunch of macaroni and cheese and chicken cutlet. She suggested that she would be sleepy from Benadryl but I haven't seen that yet and by now I am a kind of expert at what drugged sleeping looks like. She's a little dozy (Holly helped me with the spelling there) but still with it.

We are waiting for the last I.V. bag of one of the drugs she needs, after that one is done she won't need an I.V. anymore and they can remove the last tube. It was amazing the number of bags and tubes Holly started with on her I.V. tree. As she has made progress one by one they have disappeared. Such are the indications of progress. It really does look like she's ready to go home.

... tomorrow is the first day for that.

Walkies and Wheelies

An "incentive spirometer" -- bringing the fun and games of the fairground to the hospital setting. Breathe in and keep the little ball at the top as long as possible!

So this morning Holly pops out of bed and is grabbing her I.V. pole just as the nurse walks around the corner.Holly says "Oh you caught me! I'm going for a walk." The nurse suggests that she might want a robe. We all agree this is a friendly place but not "that" friendly. So into the robe and away with pole we go. I was surprised by how fast she was going. We made the loop and got back to the room and that was about it for a while.

It looked like she was out for a while so I went for lunch and a walk around and got back to see her head off for an official walk with the therapist. The did some stair steps to see how that went. I said "Hey you haven't blown on your spirometer for while." so she blew on it a couple times until she maxed it out. She hadn't done that before because of the pain which is now diminished enough for her to toot her silent horn.

We are still waiting on labs. The second shift nurse will go over them with us at some point this afternoon. In the mean time more nap time for Holly

Sunday Morning

Holly was pretty sleepy when I got in this morning. Considering she had just gotten another shot of Benadryl that wasn't surprising. Considering she had gone to her exit class at 10 am I was amazed she had the energy to talk to me at all. She enjoyed her oatmeal and is feeling less pain. I missed all this because I finally got a good night sleep. Dr. Dunn, her surgeon, stopped by on her way to somebody else's procedure (the beat goes on). She says Holly is still on track to go home tomorrow. They are waiting on some additional lab results to confirm where she's at. I'm sure the occupational therapist will be here again today for some more work and evaluation. I can't remember ever being so happy to watch someone sleep before this.

The big celebration is that Cheryl is going home this morning. I talked to her and her mother and Cheryl is looking forward to a more relaxed setting.

little by little

Holly has slept most of the day and is catching up. She went for a walk with a walker and came back in a wheel chair. Even so the therapist said it was a good outing for the first time. Holly's disturbed night probably contributed to her fatigue on that outing. All the responsible folk are saying that Holly is doing well. More rest and more attention and more progress.

The day after the next day

It's Saturday I guess. My days are getting a bit confused. I came in to to see Holly this morning and she looked a little rough. She had some nausea last night which interfered with her sleep. Over lunch I looked at the printed out PowerPoint, from the social worker, we missed because of Holly's exhaustion and discovered that all her anti-rejection drugs had nausea as a side effect. That explains that. About the time I got there they administered a more powerful anti-nausea drug and the old stand by benadryl and she was deeply asleep. I sat with her a couple hours went out to lunch and by the time I came back she was up for a short time then back to sleep. Before she fell asleep I read some emails to her. Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers. All the corporeal knitting parties are working hard to repair the rents and cuts and bind in the new tenant.

So hooray for sleep and deep breathing.