Day Two: "It's a miracle" "It's not a miracle, I'm working my butt off!"

First, a note about updates, they will not by hourly--as they were during the surgery--simply because the progress will now take place over a longer period of time (but knowing H, not that long!). So, I figured it will be easier to give a recap of the day--since I usually speak to H's mom or dad at the end of the day anyway--about everything she has been up to!

When H's parents arrived this morning she was in quite a bit of pain so they increased her painkillers. With transplant especially, since they want you up and moving around to regain your strength, it is sooo important to stay on top of the pain management. It must be working because she was able to DOUBLE her walk with the physiotherapist since yesterday. Her mom took a long look at her today and said "It's a miracle," at which point H responded, "It's not a miracle, I'm working my butt off!"

The tubes are starting to fade away. When H's mom arrived this morning she had no 02 prongs on (they were later put back on, but I'm sure she appreciated the break since she has been complaining about the irritation the prongs cause where they hook behind the ears). The feeding tube was removed and she had two chest tubes removed!

She did a lot of well-deserved resting today and told her mom to report this to me: "Tell Lindsay it's too easy to breath". She had to ask the nurse if she was doing it right or even breathing at all since she cannot feel (the nerves are damaged during tx, so it takes a long time to get feeling back). It's absurd to imagine, but CFers are always so aware of their breathing--trying to decipher between a good day and a bad day and a really bad day. Most people don't have to think about that, it just is.

In more good news, H will be moving down to the step-down unit at about 7 pm tonight. This is basically the bridge between the ICU and the ward. On the ICU there is one nurse assigned to every patient whereas in the step-down unit there is one nurse for every two patients. This all means she is slowly regaining her independence, woo!

As a last little sign-off, H's mom just walked into the room this evening as she was enjoying her first meal since tx (yummy jello and broth), she also had a final photo taken with her nurse and sported her "first genuine smile"-in her words (I'm hoping that means first genuine smile since tx and she hasn't been faking it her whole life ha ha ha).

Great closing to day two!

- Lindsay