Recovery, Day 1, Morning

The view from Peter's room.

WOW.  This place is busy, and I am going to get a book to write down everything they're doing.

Peter is really fine, and resting comfortably now.  But we had a scare when I first got here and a man showed up with a wheel chair to take Peter down to x-ray for them to look at his chest tube.  He had not been up at all since surgery, and they sat him up, rearranged all the tubes, and then had him stand and take a few steps to the wheel chair.  He got nauseous, which is normal, and then got very unresponsive, though his eyes were open.

Our anesthesiologist friend, Bret Stolp (he has wings but keeps them hidden) happened by at that precise moment, and took charge.  Helpers emerged from everywhere, and they got Peter back in bed where everything normalized very quickly, and Peter is perfectly fine now.

He is dozing between the interventions of the many people who come in here (RN, pain management team, respiratory therapist, Drs. on rounds, PA, surgical team, etc.).  A few minutes ago he woke up and said "I am feeling better."

They have an easy chair all ready for him to move into, and that will be important.  He has to walk 3x a day (longer and longer each time), and do the "Incentive Spirometer," which is a breathing exercise 10x an hour (all at once, fortunately, and not every 6 minutes).  For these few minutes, things are quiet.

Peter can't eat or drink anything for a few days.  He has these little sponge "suckers" that he can dip in ice water and moisten his mouth, but not swallow.  The danger of aspiration is what they're trying to avoid.

Peter's surgeon friend Evan Rashkoff called soon after the wheelchair incident and assured me that what happened is not uncommon.  It is reassuring to have professionals like Bret and Evan to explain things in more detail.  The machine just took his bp, and thankfully it is up!

This is the morning report.