Friday, January 21, 2011

Tuesday Day 2

Day 2.

Tuesday was much better, was hungry and the St. Francis hospital has an impressive menu. Cream of wheat sounded good abd that's what I ordered and some hot tea.

Therapist came by, got me out of bed and walked me down the left side of the hallway. When we got back she reminded me of safety precautions getting in and out of bed and up and down from chairs. Went over the list of physical exercises I was to do. Many of them similar to the back ones associated with a laminectopy.

Cathy, our daughter, came in on her way to work for a visit. St. Francis doesn’t have visiting hours... that makes it so convenient for family to visit. And family and church support make the whole experience bearable. Around 10 am Lib came in and spent the morning and part of the afternoon with me.

In the afternoon several people including my surgeon evaluated my progress and said I was on course. They took me off the I V drip for pain and started a pill regimen. Must say that they do an excellent job of managing post operative pain. Never experienced any above a 2 rating on a scale of 1 - 10.

The nursing staff were competent, cheerful, and able to answer the questions I had. Sometime that day a “patient advocate” came to see if I was happy with my hospital stay. She quizzed me on several aspects and went away with a positive report.

In the afternoon the therapist returned and walked me a little further down the hall and again reviewed with me the precautions I should take while exiting the bed, the kind of chairs I should avoid when at home and the kind of support that would be provided by in home care.

Supper was a fish entry, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. A fruit cup I ordered was my dessert.

Tuesday night was long. A friend who had a wrist operation called me to inquire how I was doing. Other folks called ...and then the night set in. I COULD NOT SLEEP. Tossed and turned from side to side. The only relief was the visit by nurses to check my vitals. The minutes dragged by and I was miserable.

When 6:00 am finally came around, I phoned in my breakfast order. When it came in my head was on my chest and I was fast asleep!

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