Bring the Man Food!

What an eventful day we had!  Following the swallow study, Mike was eating by 2:10.

He started with the Oreos, shortbread cookies, and milk they had on the floor.  At 2:30 they brought up a lunch of soup, salad, applesauce, a turkey sandwich and a cookie.  Even though it was hospital food, he managed to eat most of it.  We’ll see what he thinks of the food tonight.  It should be here at any time.  Oh, he also had a Snickers!

Dr. Meyer was finally done with surgeries for the day and stopped by around 4.  He almost sounded optimistic, which is very unusual for him.  Mike is now off of the blood pressure medication and there is very little risk of bleeding.  He will be moved to the regular neuro floor tomorrow.  He’s down to only one bag of medication hooked up to his body.

I had assumed that 5 days in ICU following surgery would put him discharged next weekend sometime.  That does not appear to be the case.  The physical therapist was in at the same time as Dr. Meyer, and he told her that if a bed is available, Mike could move to inpatient rehab on Wednesday or Thursday.  We still have to verify that our insurance will cover it at Mayo, but as of now, this is the plan.  That will only be 6-7 days after surgery, which is what we were originally told.

Mike also had two sessions of rehab today.  The second one showed improvement over the first, so I could see how even a little rehab produces results.  She worked his arm and leg and had him sitting on the on the side of the bed.  When she asked him if he was ready to stop, he said, “Only if you’re ready to give up.”  She eventually had to go pick up her daughter.  It was obvious that Mike will work hard at this.

I’m headed back to the Krueger’s house to spend time with the boys.  I plan to bring them with me tomorrow  and a friend from church will be coming back for a couple of days.   Today really felt like we turned another corner.  We are definitely on the upswing!