A Surprise Visit

I had putzed around the house doing some cleaning most of the day and went to see Jon at the 5:30 visiting hour. I had stopped at the little coffee bar in the lobby and turned around just in time to see Peggy, a niece on the Castanien side, and her husband Jerry, who is also a minister. They had made a 4 hour trek to see Jon and pray with him and were just coming from his room. Since they said he was resting we sat in the lobby area and caught up on the events of the last few months.

The week in review has had its ups and downs. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as we remember them were not too bad. Jon’s case manager was delighted to hear that I had finished all the paper work and interviews for the applications for medicaid and Social Security Disability and she was even talking about moving Jon straight to Dodd Hall in Columbus. However, Thursday and today have not gone quite as well. Jon seems to have gone into overtime in the production of phlegm and is having a hard time with it. Just tonight he was coughing quite a bit and complaining even though the nurse and I had a hard time seeing what needed to be suctioned. This was not even 2 hours after his last breathing treatment. He’s not running a fever (yet?) and his nurse reported that his lungs sounded clear.

They have also needed to resort more to morphine and vicodin for Jon’s pain and discomfort.

As noted before we seem to be getting mixed messages about when Jon can be moved but a lot of it depends on how he is doing and for how long. He’s pretty much off the respirator which the doctor didn’t think would be possible; I saw him doing a lot of coughing tonight so he is developing some diaphragm muscles; he’s moving his arms quite a bit and is working on holding and squeezing a soft ball. I think the problem centers around the nasal secretions and the ability to swallow. He dislikes the trach intensely-- as would you or I--and suspect it has something to do with the swallowing problem. For more on a tracheotomy check out: http://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/Tracheotomy

When Jon gets moved you will see it here first...right after the ambulance leaves the hospital!