After 11 days in intensive care, all of my Dad's "acute" medical needs have been met and he has been downgraded to floor status!
He is now in room 6255.
Just two short days ago he was on a ventilator, receiving nutrition via feeding tube, had a central IV line, foley & zassi catheters, and connected to continuous cardiac monitoring. Now he has none of those things. He is breathing well on his own. He is allowed to drink anything and eat small pieces of food. Today I gave him some jello and a little vegetable broth. He informed me that the broth was awful but the jello was "tolerable". Ha! Later tonight I plan to bring him some dinner to see if he'll eat a little more. The central IV line was removed and they put a PICC line in his arm so that he can continue to receive IV Acyclovir (antiviral) for another 10 days. He is allowed to perform all bodily functions on his own. You may not think that's a big deal but it seriously is. Coming from someone who had to contend with a foley catheter when I was in the hospital pregnant with Finn, the glory of being able to pee on your own is never overrated! And he's not actually connected to anything, no tubes, no wires. It's nice to see him looking "normally" again.
So now I'm looking ahead to getting him placed at a rehab center to continue to work on and develop his brain and motor skills. I'm touring Penn State Rehab tomorrow and also have a consult with the Osteopathic Hospital Rehab liaison. He's not quite ready for discharge yet, he needs some more time in the hospital to get more alert and moving about a bit more. But we're getting close. And that's awesome considering that a few days ago I thought it could be several more weeks until he may be ready!
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