Florence Nightingale – Part 1

Yesterday afternoon, Lou was ready to go for a walk. The nurses had left his comfort hose (also called compression stockings) off after his shower. I volunteered to put them on – one thing he is not supposed to do is bend over to put socks on (which is ok, because Stitch usually helps him at home).

Lou was skeptical about my ability to do this. With some struggle, I managed to get the tightly woven socks on his legs. Oops – one of them appears to be on backwards. Didn't know which one, so randomly picked one and tried again – at least they match now. Somehow, during all of this, I managed to break my reading glasses…don't ask, don't tell.

And Lou is still skeptical about my nursing abilities!

In other news, I found a new magazine for us:

Trying to find some fall color – you can see where some trees have really turned, others just starting:

Posted with Blogsy

More of the Same

Lou continues his improvement. He can get out of bed and walk unassisted, and he took a shower today. He slept much better last night, and has been napping today – catching up on missed sleep. He may get out this weekend or Monday – we won't know for sure until later – it's pretty chaotic around here. His surgeon visited and was very happy with his heart sounds and activity level.

His noisy roommate moved to another room, and he has a new one who is very quiet. Although it always sounds like a party going on in the hallway.

Kathy sent this email this morning:

Tasha & Stitch wanted to come visit Lou, but Sharon wouldn't let us bring them so instead they went to visit famous Indy car driver Dario Franchitti who suffered a horrific accident last the weekend.

I did a double take – thought Kathy was practicing her photoshop skills. There were two hints this is not the real Natasha & Stitch

1. These two look a little older than young pups and they might be cockapoos, not Cocker Spaniels
2. They are standing very still – perfectly behaved

The second point was a dead giveaway. For those who don't know, Franchitti is a race car driver. His estranged wife is Ashley Judd, and she brought the dogs to see him …

You just never know what you'll learn when you stop by here…

Posted with Blogsy

Dogs in the Hospital!

Crazy stuff here – they allow dogs to visit the hospital here. I'm not sure how it works, I haven't seen any running around or barking – maybe there is a special place where the patient meets them. Kathy offered to bring Natasha & Stitch by later this week – my answer, an immediate panicked “NO!!” Can't even imagine.

Lou will have to make do with this guy for furry company:

Lou is still on a liquid diet, and he ate all of his cream of chicken soup and tapioca pudding for lunch.

It's quieter in the new room, so he did sleep some this afternoon. Next on the agenda is a walk …

Posted with Blogsy

Patient Report

Lou was sitting up in the chair at 7:30 this morning. He stayed up for about an hour – ate a banana, toast with jam, and had a little coffee. He even went for a short walk later in the morning. He has slept some this morning, and I just woke up from a nap in the chair in his room – waiting for them to transfer him to a regular room upstairs. So – all is going well today. He didn't sleep a lot last night, had the TV on for background noise.

He's watching Kathy Lee Gifford - his tv viewing habits are alarming.

Most of the tubes are out of him and they've taken away many of the IVs.

Posted with Blogsy