Wrapping up the day

Hi everyone--


I am writing this to you from the ICU at about 10:30 pm on Wednesday night. I wanted to give you a rundown of how the rest of our day went! Visiting hours in the ICU are a bit stricter than when he is on the normal floor so we are only allowed to see doug for a little bit at a time. However, they have let me stay with him longer tonight which is great. Right now the nurse is working on getting his IV nutrition line hooked up and they are going to get him cleaned up so that he can sleep comfortably for the rest of the night.


This afternoon we all got to sit with Doug and visit with him from 4-6 pm, but then had to leave (the nurses have a shift change so we all have to get out of the way!) so we went to grab some dinner and then were back to visit some more at 8:00. Dennis, Elizabeth, and Stazia all left around 8:45 and Doug and I have just been hangin' out! He did GREAT today! He sat in a chair (it looks kind of like a recliner) for the entire afternoon! In fact, they just moved him back to the bed about an hour ago. He did great at that too, even though i know it hurt him a lot.


Doug has exceeded ALL of my expectations for how he did today. You can tell that he is determined to get better, and do it QUICK! I know that he really wants to feel better so that he can have fun with his friends as they start to plan their visits. He is pushing himself to do the things he needs to do--and don't worry i'm keeping an eye on him and making sure he isn't pushing too hard too fast!


The p plan for now is that I'll head home (the lodge anyways!) probably in the next hour or so so that Doug can get some sleep. I was going to leave earlier, but he wanted company for a while. He is started on the IV nutrition and they will keep an eye on his blood sugar and if everything is stable they will try to move him to a normal room. We're also hoping to get some of the tubes out of him! He has a few drains that are draining the chemo out of his belly that we hope to get out in the next couple of days--they are annoying and uncomfortable for him. We are also hoping that the numbness in the fingers will end soon as I know that is really bothering him a lot.


So, Day One of recovery is almost over! I couldn't be prouder of him and how well he is doing and has done so far. He is so brave and I just love him even more for it (if that was even possible).


I will update tomorrow, and try to update more often if possible, I'm sorry that it took me a while between posts today! Everyone have a great night.


ALSO--Doug wants to listen to his voicemail tomorrow---so if you guys want to call him and leave him a message, I know he'd love pto hear you all :-) I'll be putting it on speaker phone for him to hear--heres the number 203-804-4480.


Thanks, as always--for everything and for all the posts and emails---keep them coming! Love you all very much.



Love, Lindsey