Somehow a part of keeping this blog of our Camino to health and wellness is also about counting the days. Today it has been 69 days since Doug's stem cell birthday. It is also one month since he was extubated, meaning he was taken off the ventilator. I spend a lot of time reminding Doug of his progress and there is genuine progress. However as I write this tonight, I am surprised that a whole month has gone by since he was extubated and since we learned he could not move his own body. I am not sure how much I can truly let in that he is not moving in a meaningful way. I have to stay focused on his incremental progress. After all the reason we went through the stem cell transplant was to avoid the day that he could end up in this position. I guess the only reason I bring it up, is because as I looked at the white board in Doug's room today and looked at the date, it led me to reflect and to count the days. And so, I will continue to count the days, the days until we reach our destination of health and wellness.
Doug had two big event's today. First, he stood in a stander for 15 minutes. His legs have become so thin it almost hurts me to look at them, but with the little bit of muscle that he has, he stood and he was glad. He wants to walk. He told me this again today. The second big even was that Doug ate 3 meals. They turned off the tube feeding during the day, so that he would have some appetite to eat. For breakfast they fed him some kind of eggs that he said were terrible. But lunch was better. I brought him some "Naked" natural juice smoothie and the SLP got him some tomato soup, crackers and Cheetos. He was so happy. He did not have what he calls the brown, white and green lunch. His SLP has given me permission to bring him some foods and I met with the dietitian to try to find some more desirable foods for Doug to eat. Tonight I brought him some baked potato soup, blueberries pureed, and some chocolate mouse. Not the most balanced meal, but a lot more enjoyable for his first meals since the 16th of December. His SLP today was great. She has been in this business a long time and realizes that people need to have some pleasure in their life and not just eating food to meet a calorie count.
Today was much better day for me. My leg was much easier to walk on and I had much less pain. I am hopeful that this surgery will now allow my knee to heal and I will be back to walking more easily soon.
Finally we enjoyed the visits of Rev. Jennifer and John. They always brighten our day. And we had a nice long visit with our friend Steve and enjoyed catching up on his family and life. Good friends and good company is always a pleasure.
And so we pray:
Gracious Lord of love and life we thank you for the gift of healing. Our bodies are amazing and have such great capacity to be healed and to be made whole. We see this in the small steps of progress and we are thankful. We look forward to the day of total healing and pray that day is not far off. Be with us now as we count the days to healing and give us patience, hope and faith in the journey. In your name we ask it. Amen.
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