Day 1: Post-Op PM Update

Sam was able to get out his catheter, neck tubes and be taken off oxygen fully yesterday. It was a busy morning working with the nurses to get him off all of these devises and he was happy when the poking and prodding was done to just take a nap. In the midst of this we were able to meet with Dr. Deeb and you may want to refer to the earlier post on him.  I left him to get something to eat shortly after noon and he was just getting some warm blankets and about to nap.


They try to keep cardiac patients very active and up and at 'em pretty quickly. He has a chart in his room where it marks how many times he is up in the chair, goes for walks, and uses his spirometer. The goals he has for these are as follows: 


Chair - 3 times a day
Walks - 4 times a day
Spirometer - 10 times a day

Day 1 Post Op Summary:

• He loves the CHAIR! So he is in it more than bed and certainly more than the 3x a day required. 
• He completed 3 walks and each time went further than the last. 
• He used his spirometer 5x. Today we are kicking it up a notch since that helps with keeping fluid out of his lungs and gets them stronger from being put on the ventilator. 

He did cough up some blood in the afternoon and naturally if you know Sam he thinks he is dying. Thank goodness I haven't let him have any electronic devices or he would have been on webmd so fast! I talked to the nurse and just as I thought, it is natural given the amount of tubes down his throat. It only took about 4 coughs and it was all over. 


He loves his heart pillow and has been using it any time he needs to cough, they lower his bed, he has to get up sometimes etc. I got this two years ago when I thought we were at "go" time so its been waiting at home in a closet.

The hospital provided Sam a heart hugger...Its like a harness that goes around his arms/shoulders and meets at the center of his chest. It has two padded handles that he can use to squeeze together to help him with pressure to get up etc. 

stay tuned....