Sunday Thanks

Our dad shared his day today with his many supporters, Dick Cialdini, his sister Josephine and his nephew, Ben, our Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom Street, and his Rawlings nephews, Michael, with his wife Cindy, and Jimmy, as well as his niece, Gloria with her husband Tony. His nurse, Erik, today remarked that he loved "Italian patients because their families are always there" to comfort and support. Of course, our mom made certain to add that the Irish have that same closeness and spunk, too. We are so thankful to all of the people who have visited him, in person, through phone calls, and through this site. We share with him or read him every message we receive, and he is truly touched by the enormous outpouring of concern and love for him. Thank you, truly.

Today was an active day with our dad and we know, at day's end, he was quite tired. In addition to the breathing exercises, sitting, and walking requirements, he learned new range-of-motion tasks from his physical therapist and received much needed massage. Dr. Krishnan's nurse removed the bandage from his incision too today. Our hope is that his chest tube may be ready tomorrow for removal. Once his chest tube is removed, he will also be relieved of the epidural block as a pain modifier. His oxygen level was decreased to 2L, and his O2 seemed to remain steady in the mid-90s, While his chest Xray did not indicate a substantial change from the previous day, Dr. Nadeem remarked he was pleased with our dad's appearance and activity level for today.

We are hopeful our dad may rest better tonight and will feel stronger tomorrow. We know tomorrow brings more angst, as we wait and expect the return of the pathology report on the ribs that were removed during surgery. We continue to pray, and are ever-grateful for the prayers of our loved ones for our dad.