Tuesday Afternoon Update

This morning Randy greeted Barbara with "I'm so glad you're here!" With some help from the nurses he was able to stand and walk to a chair. He is eating better, and enjoying that. He is still complaining about the nurses not letting him sleep for longer periods.

He told Barbara how to retrieve messages from his cell phone, which is good since the mailbox was full. For all who have left messages, they may actually get checked today!

The morning visitors were Matt, Karrie, brother David and sister-in-law Jackie (granddaughter Riley), Andrea, and Nancy.

This afternoon, Kevin, April, Janell, and all 4 grandchildren came up. Unfortunately, the grandchildren are still not allowed to see him. They are trying to stay amused in the waiting room watching Return of the Jedi and playing games (from their "Grandma's Waiting Room Kit"), exploring the hallways, watching the construction out the window, and going for walks through the halls. Janell suggested that if Randy could walk out in the hallway, we could have grandchildren standing at the end waving to him, but he said the only way he could walk to the hallway was if we could carry him.

The nurse removed the 3 drainage tubes from his chest--one from the pleural cavity and two from the mediastinum cavity. They permitted Kevin and April to watch the process. It was rather painful for Randy. The instructions were, "Don't open your mouth and yell, hum instead. If you open your mouth you risk letting air into the pleural cavity." So Randy complied and hummed--louder and louder as she pulled and stitched. When he was allowed to open his mouth again his first word was "OUCH!" and he proceeded to tease the nurse about her knot-tying skills. The new goals are to get him up and walking more. They will take another chest x-ray to see if everything closed up o.k. after the tube removal. He passed the swallowing check and dietary restrictions are now lifted so he can have more choice in his menu. Kevin suggested we bring him some homemade applesauce (which we originally brought from Logan for the children), and he LOVES it. We will bring him some more.

Carol and Frank also stopped by for a visit and were pleasantly surprised to find the old Randy back. Travis, a former RK Young Electric employee, said "hi" on his way back from work. His discussion with Randy revealed that Randy has not lost any technical electrical knowledge.

That's about it for now. Progress may slow down for a while--there are lots of small steps to take. FYI, visitors are allowed in the IMCU except 7:00-8:30 AM and 7:00-8:30 PM. It is still limited to two visitors at a time.