I stayed with mom last night and she did pretty well. I felt very comfortable with her, and I got all her needs mastered to when and what time she needs them. She slept pretty well and we were able to get all the nurses in at the same time so she could get her temperature, blood sugar, breathing treatment, and any other house keeping done so she wouldn’t be bothered as much. She told me this morning that she really liked that because she felt she was able to get some good sleep at times. She gets her breathing treatment every 3 hours for about 30 min. and I can tell that it starts to annoy her after it is on for 15 min. She is always asking me if there is more medicine in it and she wants to take it off, but I keep reminding her that this is one of the only ways she will be able to breath better. While she was taking her breathing treatment I tried to relax her by massaging her feet. She really likes it and it calms her. Mom is such a go getter. After massaging her feet she wanted to do her leg excersises and her spirometer (another breathing tool to help her lungs). I was very proud of her doing that 3 times in the middle of the night. Her legs seem a little more mobile when she did her excersises and her spirometer level went up since yesterday afternoon, which is great. She woke me up at 5:45 to get prepared for the doctors and she was ready to start the day. The nurses and I helped her move to her chair for a while and she slept a little more. Mom got her x-rays this morning and the doctor came in and said she was ready to get two of her tubes out. The first tube he took out was the chest tube, and the second one was the drain from her side (not sure what it is called!). It was a pretty quick procedure and she did super well. Dad came shortly after that and he was giving her the cards yall sent. I know that just makes her day and encourages her more! The physical therapist was waiting for dad to get to the hospital so that mom could hopefully start walking the hallways. She has this really cool walker that is pretty high and it has arm rests that she can lean into to help her walk better. Thank you for all your encouraging thoughts and prayers. I know my faith is much stronger because of my mom and her determination is unbelievable. I have to say that I am constantly cheering her on to the point she is probably thinking that I am treating her like a Kindergartner, but I can see that smile (which is probably a laugh) and I will continue to do it until she gets tired of it. Thank you all for being her cheerleader too.
Chrissy