This is him trying (with good success!) to brush his teeth (left-handed!) for the first time Friday morning. By then, his personal nurse (seen in mirror above) was there to catch him if he fell!
Here's a shot of his chest tube (draining excess blood from his chest cavity). He got that yanked (and I DO mean yanked!) out on Saturday afternoon. There was about a foot of that tubing inside his chest.
How does a doctor remove a chest tube, you ask? "Take a deep breath. No, a DEEP breath!" And then he YANKS the thing out! There wasn't even anything on the end of it: just a diagonally cut angle to the plastic! I told Tom, "Heck, I coulda done that with a section of tubing from home!" ;)
This is his very unfun but very helpful tool to getting healthy and keeping his lung from re-collapsing. I know it looks like one would breathe INTO it, but you actually suck . . . very slowly to expand the lungs. However, expanding the lungs means that the 6 broken ribs are being expanded, too. I'm sure you can figure out the pain implications.
The pictures in this post look painful, but your new lead photo for the blog looks like Tom might just be enjoying being spoiled! Grapes, snacks, phone, comfy bed - life is good!
ReplyDeleteTell him to enjoy it while he can!!!
Oooee, owie, you can almost feel the pain in these pics. Stoic that FSIL is, so much pain has got to be wearing. And dear daughter, take care of yourself and accept all help offered so you don't get too run-down.
ReplyDeleteTry to enjoy the sunshine and warmth and remember all is being taken care of and is well here. Wish we could do more to help you personally.
Love, Mum and Dad
Ouch! Hope he is doing better by the day. Take care of yourself, too. Love his Tats by the way:)
ReplyDeleteMelissa
Just saw the new blog header picture and want to have you tell my FSIL that the 'thumbs up' was not real convincing!
ReplyDeleteHow about some pictures of the colorful hues on his body that we've heard about?
OW.
ReplyDelete