Light at the end of the Tunnel

Hi everyone, and welcome to Postop Day 9 here at Mercy Medical center.

OK first want to qualify my comment about the nursing student in the earlier post---I don't want anyone to think that we don't value the nurses here or don't hold them in the very highest regard because we definitely do---I think that nursing has to be one of the hardest jobs in the entire world and anyone who is one or is training to be one has my uptmost respect. However, this particular student was rude. OK that is my "readers digest-esq" retraction. hahahaha.

Today was a very good day. To start, last night we got a lot of sleep for the first time in at least 10 days or so!! Probably four whole uninterrupted hours which is nothing short of amazing in a hospital. Now for the best news---Doug may very well be getting discharged from the hospital TOMORROW! Let me tell you, this is exciting news. I had no idea how long 11 days in the hospital could really be. I know he is itching to get out and I am right behind him! Of course I am a little bit nervous as we'll be without the safety net of constant nurses and medial staff, but I also know that Dr. Sardi would never let him out if he wasn't ready to be out, and we're only moving across the street for the next week until we get cleared to go home to CT. I've learned a lot over the last couple of weeks about helping to care for him--I think my official title is now "chief pillow fixer" among many other things.

Today Doug also did some stairs during his physical therapy, and then the PT group gave him permission to go onto different floors of the hospital. However, according to hospital rules a doctor has to write up an order that says a patient can leave the floor to which they are assigned. Do you think that Doug wanted to wait for something as simple as that? No way! So he managed to charm the head nurse up here into giving him a floor pass. Very against the rules, but what else is new, right? At this point Doug's friend Paul was with us so the three of us wandered down into the lobby and then Doug decided that he wanted to go over to Dr. Sardi's office "to say hello". Dr. Sardi's office, keep in mind, is on the other side of the medical campus, in a different building. Only Doug would be able to finagle the equivalent of a hospital hall pass, walk a quarter of a mile to the office of one of the most world-renowned surgeons in the field, and drop in to say hi not only to him, but to his ENTIRE surgical team in the middle of a team meeting. Turns out that not only is Doug the YOUNGEST patient Dr. Sardi and his team have ever had, he is the first patient to make it over to the offices during their hospital stay to see everyone. Its so HIM to do something like that though......with Paul and I tagging along behind making sure that he doesn't trip/fall/break anything.

Tonight we have one of my favorite nurses watching over us, and we' ve been promised a 4 hour block with no interruptions from 12 am-4 am so we're hoping for some more good sleep tonight. Tomorrow I will update everyone on whether we were able to be discharged or not, everyone keep your fingers crossed that everything with Doug's recovery stays smooth overnight and that we are in good shape to check out to the hotel tomorrow! Tomorrow also brings the beginning of a weekend full of visitors--tomorrow Jason will be coming down which is great because as I told him on the phone today--we have so much STUFF in this room right now that I'm going to need help getting it all downstairs and into the car and Doug won't be much help as far as the manual labor goes :-). Over the course of the next two days or so we will also see characters in the form of Ian, Andrew, Andrew, Julie, Arnie, Corey, TJ, Jess, Alan, and Danielle possibly. Lots of friendly faces and lots of laughs sure to come---even doctors say that laughter and good spirits is the best medicine, right? :-)

Everyone sleep tight, Ill keep you updated on our progress and will post again when I have a chance with an update. Love and miss you all--
Love,
Lindsey