Day 4 - What a good morning...

Great news! When I went in her room for the first time this morning, she was sitting in the chair beside her bed. I said "oh, you're already up?!" She said "Yep, and no chest tube!" Sure enough, there was no tube. The doctors had come early this morning and taken it out. While I was there, they brought in her "breakfast." You know, the usual liquid diet: Jello, chicken broth, etc. She ate a little of that, which was the first time she had eaten anything since the night before the surgery (3 1/2 days). They've also taken her off of the morphine pump and moved her to pain pills. These seem to be less potent, which allows her to stay awake longer. We actually had several pretty good conversations this morning.

She got tired of waiting around on the physical therapists, so we asked the nurse if she could just get up and walk around on her own. She said that would be great, so we unhooked most of the cords from her and she walked around the hall....just her same normal route. She spent a lot of time this morning sitting up in the chair. I think she's getting tired of that bed.

It was only a couple hours later and she was ready to walk again. She got up and walked about twice the normal distance down the hall. Being off that morphine pump is also making her more active. She still has some pretty good pain in her right side (where the rib was removed and where the incision was made), but she really seems like she is feeling a good bit better.

About 2 pm, the nurse gave us a regular menu that she can order off of. She said it is time for her to be off the liquid diet and she can eat whatever she wants to. As much as she would like to probably throw back a big slice of Cheesecake Factory, I think her appetite is still pretty suppressed and she's fine eating a few graham crackers and sipping on some water.

The only thing that's left for her to get rid of is the catheter. I'm pretty sure the plan is to take that out as soon as the Dr. moves her to a regular room. It doesn't seem to be bothering her too bad, but I'm sure she's ready to quit having to worry about lugging that ol' bag around with her.

Speaking of moving to a regular room, we're just waiting on Dr. Sachs to come by and give the OK. They took an x-ray of her lungs earlier and the nurse said it looks good. So, once Dr. Sachs comes by and approves, she can move on up to the east side....to that deluxe apartment in the sky. Dr's often don't have a "come by and check up on patients" schedule, so it could happen any minute now, or it could be late tonight. I'm pretty confident, but still depending on when the Dr. comes, that she'll move to a regular room by tonight.

Anyhow, the morning brought us great progress and I'm looking forward to the progress made over the next couple of days.

-Bradley