Waiting for a Room

Well, it's nearly 4 pm and Jim continues to improve. He is sitting up, practicing
his breathing exercises, and hoping to eat real food tonight. The surgeon is due
in this evening. Jim really looks great and the self-administered pain medication
is keeping him comfortable. The device beeps when the medication is administered,
and like Pavlov proved, just the beeping sound seems to bring instant relief. He
is still in the ICU, but will move over to the Nelson Building as soon as a bed
becomes available. Jim is looking forward to moving out of the ICU where all
electronic devices (except those actually plugged into him) are banned. So for
now, no cell phone, no lap top, no incoming phone calls, no books on tape.
Luckily the boredom is helping him get some much needed rest!

We have been reading your blog comments to Jim, and they are cheering him up and
keeping him connected to all of you. Hopefully, he will soon be in a room where
he can post news, read comments, and make phone calls to his heart's content!

We were in there with him when the hospital docs did their ICU rounds. They
spent a lot of time discussing the patient next door, and then came to his room,
where they reviewed his chart, parameters, measurements, etc. Everything was
fine, within the right range, and they moved on after only a minute or two. They
spent a lot of time on the next room down the line though. As traumatic as this
has been for him, and it is a long road to recovery just begun, we are really
fortunate that it has started so well.