More progress

Diana is doing quite well today, although controlling her pain adequately remains a constant struggle - when her pain is completely controlled she is sleepy, so they are constantly trying to strike a balance between being in too much pain to be motivated, and being awake enough to make therapy and recovery as productive as possible.

She did have another hour of physical therapy this morning, which went very well - three reps of coming to a full standing position, and she was able to take one unassisted step toward her therapist. She is progressing very well with her therapist.

Her doctors decided to do a dressing change on the large incision on her side today, which was extremely painful. However, the good news is that her surgeons tell us they are very pleased with how the wound is healing and feel that the next dressing change will be less painful.

She is now cleared to have clear fluids by mouth, which is a great advance. She has found a new favorite treat: apple juice slushy (made by putting a glass of apple juice in the freezer for half an hour.) Our expectations for happiness and pleasure have certainly had to undergo an adjustment.
We hope that she will be cleared for soft foods later today or tomorrow.

Her doctors are still thinking that she may soon be transferred to a room on a regular floor - she has been certified as medically stable by her ICU team, so we are just waiting for surgery to make sure she has everything in place that she needs for her move.

It has been a good, if exhausting, day once again. Diana's progress continues its upward climb, and she is certainly determined - a strong personality trait that is definitely serving her well right now!

We are now beginning to think of and talk about her long term recovery. Although she is finally making daily progress, and it is big progress given her condition even two days ago, the work ahead will be long and difficult. She told me today that she is empathizing so much right now with her patients who have gone through a difficult recovery process. Also, it is an interesting if very bittersweet experience for her to now have intimate knowledge of what my Dad went through during his long hospitalization and recovery process - we were with him during that period as caregivers and cheerleaders, but she tells me that experiencing it from this side gives her a whole new appreciation of what he went through.

Thank you for all of your great comments - I read them to Mom daily and she loves hearing what you have to say.