Gangsta in STICU

Bob tries out his gangsta look.  Not very intimidating!

Day 3 of the Great Recovery has been challenging.  Bob has done well with his appetite and although he’s restricted to a full liquid diet, he’s cleaning off his tray.  Yesterday his appetite was nonexistent, so this is a good sign.

He has been bothered often throughout the day by the respiratory therapy team.  For some reason they insist on keeping him breathing!  He is doing very well with his breathing exercises & the crackles in his lungs from yesterday are gone.  Breathing deeply when you have just had your chest sawed open can be pretty painful.  But he’s a tough guy & he’s doing his best.

This morning he took a short walk in the STICU.  It wore him out quite a bit.  This afternoon he sat in a chair for 4 hours, which is good for his lungs.  Tonight he got in a chair for dinner & he’s been sitting up for 2 hours so far.  He really wants to get a good night’s sleep tonight, so he wants to get really tired.  In the above photo, he’s sitting in his chair.  You will notice that he still has an open port in his jugular vein.  They won’t remove that until they are certain that his heart is responding appropriately.  He’s wearing a sock hat because his hair is messy & he’s wearing his sunglasses to ease the pain in his bad eye.  He still has 3 chest tubes draining, so that kind of gets tangled sometimes, but he’s really moving so little that he can’t really make much of a mess of it all.

We thought that he would be out of the STICU by now & be upstairs in a non-restricted environment, but because of some quirks with his heart rhythm, he’s been kept here for now.  His heart is responding beautifully to the new valve, but there are just a couple hick-ups that the doctor says will work themselves out eventually.

This evening Dave & Lauri Carnahan dropped off some cards that kids in Power Plus (@ LPCS) made for him.  He looked through them & we thought it was funny how many of them had ties on them!  Mr. Anderson is known for his flashy, unique ties!  He really appreciated those cards.  If you want to send him a card, too, send it to Parkview Hospital, 2200 Randallia Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46805 Attention:  Robert L. Anderson, patient.  We hope he will be released by Sunday, so if you’re going to send a card to the hospital, please do it soon. 

Until he is released from the STICU, he is limited to immediate family visits only.  He’s had several clergy visits, which he welcomes & enjoys.  Clergy - Keep Coming!!!  But other than that, his visitors are limited to Connie, Kristie, me & Bob.  Since the surgery, his personality has been quite subdued by the pain & recovery process.  He really doesn’t want to talk much or answer questions.  Because of the vent tubes in his throat, his voice is very soft & hoarse.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness in respecting the limitations necessary for his health.  Soon enough he will be upstairs in a regular room & able to received short visits from friends & family.