Still waiting for the Great Pumpkin (sorry Mike-it was a false alarm while you were on the phone with him earlier). He’s getting pretty uncomfortable, so far today we’ve tried coffee, prune juice, miralax, walking, suppository and we are back to more miralax. In better news, he enjoyed visits from his dear friends Frank, Mary, Jeff and Don and new friend Hunter the therapy dog. Nothing else new other than that he’s walking really well and looks great (but I always thought that). 

So I’ll just take a note to thank you all for your emails, messages, calls and encouragement. It is really a big relief to know we have dozens of people ready to provide assistance at a moment’s notice. 

Huge thanks to my dear friend Torgy for meeting me early am on Tuesday with a jalapeno cheese bagel in hand and keeping me sane during some of the scariest hours of my life.

More thanks to Tom’s sister Mary for giving me a short break yesterday so I could go home and shower and grab some more items from home.

Thanks in advance to Dianna for coming to help out the first week of having Tom home. We are going to have our work cut out for us to come close to the standard of care that he has been accustomed to here. I’ll rock paper scissors you for the next round of suppository if we don’t get things out tonight 😉

But speaking of care, I am so deeply grateful for the high standard of care that all these men and women have given my beloved. We could not ask for more. My own mom was a nurse and many of my friends are nurses and I am humbled and amazed by what superheroes you all are! 

Tomorrow we *might* get the pathology results and get a glimpse of what phase 2 of this journey is going to look like.

Until then…

Today we had a visit from Hunter the therapy dog. I could get behind that. He was so nice and gentle. And soft. I guess the Humane Society trains them and sets them up with Volunteers to go into the hospital with the dogs.

Doing great!!! Up to four walks total with the walker now and having less of a headache after each one. Had a better night. A little nausea this morning but no Linda Blair episodes. Pain is mostly well managed. We are still waiting on the Great Pumpkin-which is not actually needed to go home since he is not on narcotics. We saw a neurosurgery PA this morning who was really pleased with his progress and technically he may be able to go home today but we are staying as we would feel better with more observation, would like to get the nausea completely under control and try a new pain med in this environment as they want to send him home with something stronger than the tylenol that he’s been sticking to as all the iv pain meds make him ill. He’s had some odd sensations in his head but ther PA said those are normal. So looks like if all continues to go well we will be bringing him home tomorrow!

Third time is a charm! So after my last two posts, Mr. Bird pulled off some spectacular projectile vomiting that would have made Linda Blair jealous, so let’s hope he thinks a little more of this one and keeps his stomach intact. We moved to his new room mid-day and it’s very nice with a big window and even a Mini size bed for me (yay!). Nausea seems to be better-he’s made it almost 12 hours. He’s been a lot sleepier today, nods off mid conversation, mid dinner, etc which is more of what I expected after all the reading we did vs. the chatterbox I had yesterday. He really enjoyed seeing his sister Mary and telling her about Bali and talking to his brother in law Gordy and making a few posts today (though it was pretty hard). Also he made it for not one, but two walks with the walker. The first one was to the end of thr hall and the 2nd was a lap around the entire ward where he scoped out a place to drink his first cup of coffee and enjoy the view tomorrow. We are hoping for a Friday discharge still, so if we haven’t set a time for a visit, please hold off til he gets home as I want him to be rested enough to meet his goal. Also that will all be contingent on one thing. Tonight, much like Linus in his pumpkin patch-we wait for something Great to make its appearance as well. 

Jessie

Tom battled some nausea last night and is still dealing eith same today. He is finally starting to feel the effects of everything. But he is still doing well enough to move out of ICU today and to a regular room once we get him up and moving (wish me luck on that one). The surgeon came in briefly this morning,  his incisions look great! Last night’s MRI didn’t come out so well due to swelling (normal), so we won’t know truly how much they got until the MRI before his post surgery appt in a few weeks. Today he is looking forward to a visit from his sister Mary. Thanks for all your good wishes!

I am still a little in shock over the miracle that was today. I had prepared myself that it may be a month or more before I had my real Bird back and I only had to wait a few hours for him this morning. He is doing SO well and I know that’s because of all your prayers, good wishes, the excellent surgeon and staff at OHSU and his dedication to health and fitness these last few years. He’s an inspiration. It’s fun to see the shock on the new doctors and nurses faces as they come in to meet him as he is doing so well. He’s been talking quite a bit, called his mom, ordered and fed himself a dinner of chicken soup, salad and salmon. Pain is well-controlled and nausea is not too far behind. Probably in for a long night with late night MRI and constant neuro checks, but so far spirits are high. The only sign of neurological deficit that I can ascertain so far is that after watching a few min of ESPN he announced that he wants to be a Raiders fan this year. Until tomorrow…

Jessie