Day of Rest

       Today was a pretty uneventful day.    ENT came in the  morning and said that the plan is still to replace the trach on Monday or Tuesday but still have not decided when.   He asked them about the sharp pain he has started to have in his throat.   They asked him more information about it and nothing looks infected, they think it's likely just pain from the stitches that are still holding he trach in place.   The trach is also held in place by ties (a fabric collar around his neck) and aside from when they took of the shoelace style one and replaced it with a padded one in the ICU it hasn't been changed.   Being able to take it off and have it cleaned is something that they will do when they replace the trach and I imagine that will feel amazing.

      The only other thing that really happened today was we we asked if it would be possible to let him leave the room.   This afternoon, they got him situated in a wheelchair with a portable oxygen tank and then let me take him out for a ride.  I thought that PT or OT would come with us, but they let us go on our own!  

     Stayed just on the 3rd floor, but found a window where we stopped for a bit.   He said that feeling the sun felt amazing.   In his room he is on humidified oxygen, one of the things your body does when you breath through your nose and mouth is to warm and humidify the air, and so being on just regular oxygen doesn't feel very good.  Because the cold dry air felt painful, the ride lasted for about 15 minutes, but it sure was a nice break!

     Here in the hospital, day's all tend to blend together, but today did seem as closer to a "day of rest" than anything previous.   We both were able to sneak in a nap or two.   We also had the opportunity to take the sacrament in our room.  

     Compared to how he was feeling two weeks ago, miserable at home struggling for breath, to last week with a newly installed trach and the most difficult week of our lives behind us, we're hopeful for this week.  There's a lot to learn about caring for a trach, but we're glad we are doing it side by side.