Still in the Hospital

He had a rough morning because they didn’t want him out of bed at all.  He couldn’t go to the bathroom, get washed or have PT.  His leg was swollen and they didn’t want him moving around until they did an ultrasound.  They were checking to make sure there were no blood clots causing the swelling. The surgery was on the same leg he previously had clots in, so they were being careful.  Thankfully the test results were negative.

Once I got there around 10:30, he was sound asleep and this continued most of the morning. Around 1:00 I talked to the nurse and told her I wanted to know what was causing this, not just his dozing off, but being disoriented and talking goofy.  She said she noticed it when she came in for her shift at 7:00 and put it in his chart and asked for a doctor to see him.  For two more hours we both watched him dozing, dreaming and talking and even said – ‘watch, when the doctor comes in, he’ll be alert.’

Once they knew there were no clots, they got him up and he took a walk.  He was wide awake and seemed just fine and, of course, that is when the doctor came in.  She must have thought we were crazy, but said she was taking him off all pain meds to see if it made a difference.  Her concern was more with his leg and how swollen it was and the skin was breaking, oozing and bleeding a little.

The rehab center has a bed for him, so we’re all set for that and it’s right here in Bristol.  Now it’s just a matter of figuring out what’s going on with him and working on getting the swelling down.

We all know he’s a very strong man and has come back from many scary things, but this has thrown him for a loop.  It’s sad because the surgery went well, it’s all the other things that have caused him problems.