March 19, 2009 1 Week Post Surgery

Our dad is accustoming himself to his temporary new home with Gina, Carl, Carl, Sophia and Gianna. The kids seem so happy to have him at their house and he seems to feel safe with both our mom and Gina helping him. Despite the bustle of family life, our dad has managed to finally catch up on much needed sleep at Gina's house. While his first night home was a bit uneasy, he was able to sleep uninterrupted for 5 straight hours. Last night was a bit better. Gina actually had to wake him to give him his pain pill in the middle of the night instead of hearing him call out first.

While he still has post-surgery nausea, he has been eating well. On both mornings, he has enjoyed good breakfasts, eating a little bit more each day. He has made dinner requests too, which is amusing and delightful to us all.

For activity, he is continually exercising his lungs with the Incentives Spirometer and his "flutter puffer" and is sitting upright for the entire time he is awake. He walks his laps around Gina's first floor numerous times throughout the day and is using the cardiac rehabilitation exercises to increase his range of motion, especially on the left side. His visiting nurse stopped in yesterday and is scheduled to see him three times per week. She checked his incision and reinforced the post op orders from Dr. Krishnan. No one can stress enough the need for him to push himself to stay upright and active...deep breathing, deep breathing.

Our mom is being so helpful, both in encouraging and nurturing our dad, and in sharing time with their grandchildren. It seems she is enjoying plenty of laughs with the kids, especially always amusing Sophia. Our mom took 4 year old Sophia and 2 year old Gianna for a wagon walk around the block yesterday when our damsel-in-distress little Sophia stopped her--serious as-can-be--and in her high-pitched, desperate voice said, "I just cannot walk anymore Grandma. I just cannot stop thinking about (the love of her life) Noah." It was easy to imagine her, stopped in her tracks, with her hand on her forehead: ah, woe is me! Our mom just looked at Sophia, dumb-founded. She said she cracked-up the whole way home, after telling her she needed to get a move on and could think and dream about Noah all night when they got back home. Everyone had a great laugh when our mom reported that news back at home. Hilarious Sophia.

And Gina, well Gina gets an A+ for effort and caring for our dad. Of course, she is doing it with her own usual sense of humor too. Her clinical experience coupled with her daughterly love are honestly a perfect combination for our dad. He, without a doubt, needs both. It is clear he trusts her fully. We hope, with each new day, he becomes a bit stronger and a bit more confident so that he may begin to again trust himself as well.