We got in on the wonderful excitement today and are so glad that we were there for Tom’s move. We hadn’t seen him since Monday morning before his move out of ICU and down to 6th floor at the Med Center. His change from then was phenomenal. He’s gone from having sat in a chair for an hour or two to moving freely around, showing his sense of humor and being able to express whatever he wants to say. Speaking still doesn’t feel totally comfortable for him, but to the listener it is so much easier to visit. We now have a very good reason to hope for full recovery and his being home for Christmas! Thank you, Lord — and thank you all for your prayers!

Moving day is here.  I arrived at the med center about noon, to find out details for Tom’s move to Immanuel.  We were discharged about 1 pm or so. When Tom and I pulled away from the hospital, he asked  where we were going for lunch?  I didn’t think that lunch was in our plans, but to go straight to Immanuel.  Well, Tom saw Don and Millie’s and thought that would be a much better idea, after all he didn’t get lunch at the med center.  For a guy who was never hungry, suddenly food sounded good.  I think it was being out of the hospital in a month.  Against my better judgement we stopped at Don and Millie’s.  I felt like I was helping a felon commit a crime, it just didn’t feel right.  I thought we should of gone straight to Immanuel.  Tom enjoyed his meal.

We got to Immanuel just fine, and while checking in a nurse from the therapy department called and asked where we were.  I told Tom, “See we should of came straight here”. He said, “Tell them we were Christmas shopping.”  Oh, brother!  We got to Tom’s room just fine.  His new room number is 836A in the main hospital.

Tom decided to change his clothes into comfy shorts.  He remembered to sit down while working with his pants.  After a while, Tom got up to check out the room.  A nurse came in just as he was heading to the door, and asked him if he was the new patient and why was he out of bed.  He replied, “Just looking around”.  She goes, “Oh, I don’t think so and you need to change your socks these floors can be slippery.”  Tom was asked to get back in bed, and he crawled in on his arms and knees and then flipped around fairly well.  The nurse was surprised by his movement and asked why he was there.  Tom will need to be a bit more patient until they give him the okay to move freely around his around and such.  We got a chuckle about everything.

Later the case worker came in and was going over the agenda and such. She too asked if we had had problems getting to the hospital.  No, just a side trip to Don and Millie’s.  She laughed and was glad nothing serious had come up.  Going forward, Tom will begin Saturday his 3 hour a day therapy.  All the people involved will meet Tuesday to discuss his progress, and decide how many more days he’ll need for in house treatment.  After in house is done, Tom will have to come in for 1 1/2 hours three times a week, and I’m not sure how long that’ll be.  Our case worker did say that for every one day in bed, it takes three days to recover what you’ve lost.  I added up the minimum amount of days for Tom, and it’s around 64 days to recover at the least.  Tom has already showed good improvement, and it’s exciting to see the progress come together. Naturally, each person will recover at different rates, and our hope is that Tom will recover enough to be home for Christmas.

The only concerning part about today was talk about a blood clot in his right lower leg.  First I’ve heard of that.  Also, that he had a bleed in the brain.  Hadn’t heard that either.  Dr. Brockman was going to finish reading the information sent over from the med center.  We questioned the accuracy of that information.  His right shoulder seemed to be doing much better today.  When I left, Tom had both arms bent with hands on back of head.  I didn’t say anything to bring attention, but I did notice him moving his right arm more freely.

Tom does share his room with another patient. If you’d like to visit, perhaps after 3 would be best. He’ll be in therapy most of the day.  Tomorrow, Tom is open from 10:30 to 12:30 and after 3:30, Sunday open after 10am, and I believe by 4 on weekdays.  He may have some open spots over noon hour.  The schedule will change daily, but it is posted the night before.

I enjoyed our 1/2 hour date at Don and Millie’s, and I am so glad Tom’s one step closer to coming home.  God is good.  Good night.

Tom had another decent day.  He was up and moving more, showered again, no falls, but the shoulder is still hurting.  He’s be given clearance to gently work the shoulder so it doesn’t lock up, but he doesn’t want to move it because it does hurt.  He decided after Dr. Thorell came to see him, and told him to move his arm, he’d run out of excuses to not move it.

It’s possible that Tom will move to Immanuel tomorrow sometime.  We thought insurance had cleared the way, but I guess not.  We also have to wait for a bed to open up.  Tom is looking forward to therapy.  He worked with the PT again and was amazed at how difficult it was to do some simple footwork.  He realizes he has a way to go.  Speech isn’t bad, but not anywhere it needs to be for work.  OT worked his shoulder and then iced it after they were done.  Tom was feeling better by the time the kids came to visit.  We left so he could get so rest, he still wakes up in the middle of the night.

Prayers for a move to Immanuel and therapy goes well.

Tom’s day began with follow up blood tests and speech therapy.  His right shoulder is still giving him a lot of trouble.  Tom is worried if he takes too much pain killer, it’ll mask the injury and he’ll over work it.  Where he thinks it just needs to rest. I talked  with both OT and PT with Tom present, they both said that no weights or bands will be used just now.  However, movement of the area is necessary to keep the area from locking up.  X-ray showed no fracture, so that should be okay.Tom felt better after I talked with them.  It seems that his memory isn’t quit there, or he just needs re assurance that he’ll be okay.  I cannot even begin to imagine what Tom’s been through and the fear that follows.

PT had Tom up and walking for quite a long time.  He even climb up three steps and down.  When Tom got back he was smiling, and promptly  announced that he only fell once.  I’m like really, and no he didn’t fall. Tom thinks he’s funny.  He did have a couple of missed steps in some turning exercise, but no falls. Pastor Scott, made a great observation in Tom.  He’s noticed that Tom has more a natural smile on his face these days.  His smile sure looks good.  Thank you Pastor Scott for your wonderful words at just the right time.

The nurse told me that we’ve been approved to go to Immanuel’s in house therapy.  Now, we wait for a room to open up.  Tom is off all IV’s(even the saline), and on oral medicines.  We could move as early as the end of the week.  They still need to monitor Tom and make sure he can pass certain assessments before moving on. Tom continues to very tired and sleep comes a bit more easily during the day.  Night time is still some of an issue, and that’s mostly because of his shoulder hurting. It wakes him up.

Until tomorrow….

Tom got to take a shower for the first time in 3 weeks.  I had planned to give him a haircut too, but things didn’t as planned.  We thought we had everything worked out on how to cut Tom’s hair, however, his hair was still damp.  Tom suggested he shave first, okay not a bad idea to give the hair a bit more time to dry.  While beginning to shave, a nurse came in the room to change the bedding.  Tom heard her and for whatever reason decided he needed to put on shorts, rather than just wrap the towel around him.  She wasn’t going in the bathroom.  Well, Tom lost his footing and fell.  That brought the nurse running, and Tom was very embarrassed.  He did not hit his head, he landed on his right hip.  He looked at me and said, “I guess I’m not getting a haircut now”.  Nope, they put him back in bed and did the neuro tests, and called the doctors for direction.  All is okay.  I do believe it stunned Tom a bit, because he wasn’t expecting to fall.

Never for a dull day, Tom’s right shoulder is giving him more pain.  Not from the fall but for the last 5 days or so.  The orthopedic doctors came and looked at it.  Their guess is a torn rotor cuff.  After talking with Tom, he remembered about 10-15 years ago hurting his right shoulder and not using it when he played volleyball.  At the time, he didn’t opt for any type of surgery, just rest and maybe some pain meds.  Not sure.  I’m thinking seriously?   So, they were alternating ice and heat for his shoulder.  The other thought as to why he has pain now, is last week when OT was having Tom work with the Therabands for strength training.  Knowing Tom, he over worked the muscle. Therefore, irritating an old injury. They did do an x-ray of the shoulder to make sure nothing else is going on in there.  The x-ray came back okay.

Tom couldn’t understand why he kept falling asleep today. Well, three weeks of being sleep deprived would do it.  I’m glad that he’s finally allowing himself to sleep.  They still check on him, but at longer intervals.  I left to go pick up Noah from school and when we got back, Tom was sitting in a chair watching TV.  Noah was so excited to see Tom up, he went right over and sat on his lap.. Noah then got out the cards and they played a game or two of trash and some other game Noah created.

Tomorrow, they plan to run some blood work to see how things have progressed.  We’re also waiting to hear from Immanual as to when they can get Tom in for therapy.  Apparently, that can take a bit.  Tom had gotten back into bed before Noah and I left, and feel asleep almost right away.  We left him sleeping peacefully.

Happy Dance time.  Tom made it to the 6th floor.  His new room number is 6820.  Immediately, Tom looked more relaxed.  At the moment, the only issue are the machines. They keep beeping. Tom was very anxious and tired today.  He was so hoping to get moved, and was trying to do whatever to have that happen.  I’m hoping he’ll get a ton of sleep, and not wake up to much during the night. Tom did walk today for the first time in three and half weeks, and the PT said he was ready to be moved.  I didn’t notice any major problems with support from his legs.  Was so wonderful to see him walking.

Not sure what the plan is now as far as how long Tom will need to stay in the hospital. A social worker did talk to us earlier today about different kinds of therapy.  They are going to recommend that Tom goes to Immanual for their acute therapy.  There he’ll stay one to two weeks, with about three hours a day therapy.  Tom would go to acute therapy directly after being released from the medical center. Home would follow that.  So, at least another couple of weeks before he’s home.

Do some high fives tonight….:)

As of 2 pm yesterday, all IV’s have run their course.  Tom has been doing well with keeping blood pressure in check and no “blackouts”.  Today, he was allowed to get out of bed and into a chair.  He’s probably had a total of 5ish hours in the chair.  Not all at once.  Tom had really good naps and meals through out the day.  His speech isn’t great, but as long as Tom goes slow, words come out with understanding.  His right arm is giving him discomfort.  I noticed it was bruised pretty good.  They’ve given him heparin shots in the arm and stomach.   Tomorrow the plan is to get him walking and if no major issues, he’ll move to the 6th floor.

Even with the train wreck last night, Tom’s blood pressure stayed normal.  I’m referring to the Husker game.

I can not thank everyone enough for all the prayers, visits, and the wonderful meals.  The kids thank you too, for being relieved of the frozen foods.  Keep praying, we’re getting there.

I stopped by to visit Tom shortly after noon today.  He had aspirations of being moved out of ICU today, but it sounds like they’re going to keep him here through the weekend.  His mood is very good, and he’s visiting casually with me while we’re watching football.  He really wants to get up out of bed….he asked a nurse a few minutes ago if that would be a possibility.  She said the neurologists were going to be here to visit another patient later this afternoon, and she’d check with them while they were here and get Tom an answer.  He’s snoozing now, so that would seem to be an appropriate time to end this post.

Another good day for Tom.  He was tired in then evening and took a couple of good cat naps. He’s down to one blood pressure medicine and one other medicine.  The blood pressure medicine is scheduled to finish with in the next 12 hours.  I heard hints from the nurse that Tom may get to move out of ICU tomorrow.  Maybe even time to watch the Huskers on the flat screen from his new room?  Apparently, Tom had this happen last too, but around 9 pm he gets really cold and shivery for about 15 minutes.  Both times he isn’t running any fever and all other numbers on monitor are where they need to be.  The EEG headgear was removed today and now his head really itches even after having it washed.  His right shoulder and upper arm area is really sore, he has an ice pack over it.  Maybe from laying around, working it during therapy, or ?  I got him all tucked in, and didn’t leave until he’d stopped shivering.  He was rambling about kickers and scores.  I thought he was talking in his sleep, but then I said something about the UCLA game, and somehow Tom new the score.  I thought he was a sleep. He was tracking the game better than I was.  My mind was actually on getting the paperwork done for his medical leave, not football.

Pray that Tom stays stable after the blood pressure medicine runs its course, and gets to move out of ICU.  We’ll do a happy dance for sure.