Day 30 - Feeling Better

Daniel had a good night last night. His BP is more stable, his oxygen intake and respiration are better. He's not out of the woods yet, but appears to be improving if you were to only look at his numbers.

Before noon he had received lung therapy through a nebulizer then shortly after that his OT arrived to get him up and moving, After that the speech therapists came in to see how his swallowing was coming along and scheduled to do a barium swallow test early next week. If that goes well then he'll begin to start eating and drinking again.

We got Daniel up to take a walking loop around the unit and he's back down in his bed. We tried first to have him walk without a walker, but it seemed like he preferred to use it this time so that's what we did. Once he got started he wanted to walk quickly BACK TO HIS BED - kind of like a horse speeding to get back to the barn. His heart rate was high so we were all trying to get him to slow down. His steps were much better and stronger looking than last week (less tightrope) and he seemed fairly sure of himself.

He was pretty tired out after that walk and took a short nap while we grabbed some lunch. He rested and seems alert again. The OT and nurses have him do as much work so they have him scoot around, raise his legs and pull himself up and out of bed to work on his strength. Some of this, like even lifting a leg, looks like it's a struggle for Daniel, but he tries to do what he can.

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Daniel's other OT came in this afternoon and did more stretching and we're in the process of getting him into a chair in a few minutes. If we can keep him in the chair for 30 or so minutes then that will be a big day for today.

At some point he will have wound care in his room. That could either be later on this afternoon or during the evening shift.