Good Evening. J is sleeping peacefully after another long day. The highlight of the day was J's transfer from the bed to a wheel chair. He did this with the help of an occupational therapist, a physical therapist and a transfer board. I was amazed that these two young women (who are tiny) were able to securely support J across the thin, but strong, plastic transfer board. After the transfer, he took a tour around the 8th floor. He said he enjoyed the change of scenery.
We were a little disappointed to learn that the attempt to clear his chest wall of fluid was not as successful as we hoped it would be. A CT scan reveled that there are other lockulated pockets of fluid and air. I believe that "lockulated" refers to the way the body walls off fluid or air that is where it should not be. We spoke to the general surgeon tonight and he would like to have a cardiovascular surgeon come in for a consult. J and I see this as a way to cover all the bases and we are pleased that he is approaching this carefully. We should know more about the plan for getting rid of the fluid and air after we see the CV doc.
The other big event of the day was a barium swallow test. The speech pathologist wanted to see if J was swallowing all of his food, or if some was leaking into his wind pipe. J went down to X-ray where he was filmed swallowing various foods that were spiked with barium. They let me stay in the room to watch the test. It was very interesting to see the epiglottis cover the windpipe and direct the food down to J's stomach. He passed the test and is cleared to eat pretty much anything he would like to eat. I thought this would be a big steak, turns out he is craving fresh fruit.
The social worker who plans discharge came into talk to us today. She teased us with the possibility of moving to a rehab hospital in Fayetteville. A few things are holding this up. One is, as I predicted yesterday, the fluid pockets, the other is the IV. They can't transfer J when he is on IV pain meds. He switched today to oral medications, but needed some morphine to ease the pain that occurs when he is transferred from his bed. So, still no definite day we are leaving Tulsa.
Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.
Love you all,
Cara
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13 comments:
Real food! I know that is a big step in the right direction. And a ride in a wheelchair! It won't be long now. Keep up the good work, J.
Continued prayers from Fayetteville,
Lisa
WOW...A RIDE IN THE WHEELCHAIR!!!!
That is wonderful...and Real Food!!!The news keeps getting better and better!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK J !!!!Fayetteville is come soon!!! hugs and kisses to yall!!:)
Allison
First a wheelchair then a car!
This is wonderful news. God continues to heal J!!
Sugar
Great news! It has become part of my morning routine to stop by the blog to check on J, and then thank God for his healing touch. I pray that there will be nothing but good news from here on out and that the Great Physician will continue to have his hand on J. Blessings, Patty
Tell J that I'll give him a couple of days and then we'll race in the wheelchairs, but this time you'll have to ride with him Cara. LOL. Tell him he won't need to chew any more since he hasn't had it in so long. It's good to hear that every day there is progress. He wanted fruit and not a steak? Better have them check his melon too. Course we've always wondered about his melon anyway. :) Keep on getting better and making progress.
Jim
What? No Steak? I'm shocked, but happy to hear that he moving along. Good work JH3. Keep stepping and we'll see you soon!
Vansandt
What great news!! J is nothing short of amazing!! Keep up the progress and hope you get to come home soon!
Love you both!
Katie
Looks like J had a very busy day. Out checking out the sceneary and getting to eat real food, all in the same day.... WOW!
One step at a time........and J will be back in Fayetteville in no time at all!
Hugs,Kisses, and Prayers!
Julie and the Kids
Jerry and Family,
We are very happy to hear of the progress that Jerry is making. Hang in there soon you all will be back in AR. We are thinking of you guys all the time. See you soon. take care.
The Schmidle Family
Are you sure the fluid in him is not residual beer left over from college? :)
Glad you are doing well-- keep on truckin'!
Good stuff J! Not sure about the fruit. Cara, you are doing a great job! J is lucky to have you. stay strong. You are making amazing progress. We'll continue to pray for you.
Marc
Great to hear more good news. If he is hooked up to a Hospira Lifecare PCA device with 30mL vials of Morphine, please leave him alone. That's my stock going up, up, up. Ha! It is so good to hear he is improving so much. It won't be much longer. He'll get off of that IV Morphine pretty quickly and they can do oral or IM Morphine when he needs it. Just keep the great news coming. See you in Fayetteville soon. We're pulling and praying for you. Take care and God Bless.
Joey York
Great to hear more good news. If he is hooked up to a Hospira Lifecare PCA device with 30mL vials of Morphine, please leave him alone. That's my stock going up, up, up. Ha! It is so good to hear he is improving so much. It won't be much longer. He'll get off of that IV Morphine pretty quickly and they can do oral or IM Morphine when he needs it. Just keep the great news coming. See you in Fayetteville soon. We're pulling and praying for you. Take care and God Bless.
Joey York
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