11:00 am, June 24, 2009: Now that Tesfaye is off the ventilator and has the bout of pneumonia under control, he is back on the road to full recovery and anxious to get there. When I stopped in to see Tesfaye for a short visit this morning he was sitting upright in a chair and looked alert and stable, but for some reason not smiling much. Just before I was leaving he said something that surprised me and caused me some concern: he asked for the breathing machine. I couldn't imagine that he might possibly want to go back to being on the breathing tube and ventilator which were causing him such distress the past week. I told him that although breathing now without the machine might be a little difficult, it will improve every day. As I left I mentioned it to one of the nurses, but she was surprised he might be feeling that way, since he is doing well .
A somewhat funny story: With Tesfaye's request for a breathing machine lingering in my mind, I called up Lise to see if she had seen him and could perhaps give me an update. Lise returned my call promptly and told me that she had seen him and he was doing quite well. I mentioned my concern that he was not his usual smiling self with me in the morning and had requested the "breathing machine"; I commented that I could not believe he could possibly want to return to that condition, but maybe he meant an oxygen mask. She said that he already had oxygen tubes through his nose and his readings were good; she also found it inconceivable that he would want the ventilator again and reassured me that Tesfaye had been smiling a lot when Stephanie was there and had also been able to walk from his bed to the nursing station and back. Lise said she would talk to Tesfaye and get back to me.
Well, Lise soon phoned me back and told me not to worry - the "breathing machine" Tesfaye was referring to was in fact something that is actually called an "incentive spirometer", a breathing apparatus that was discussed with Tesfaye and me at the pre-op meeting we had with the physiotherapist. The apparatus requires him to breath in to a tube and try to keep some little plastic balls elevated in their respective chambers for a short period, encouraging the right kind of breathing. He was told by the therapist that doing this after the surgery would help in his recovery.
I was again reminded of something that has impressed me more than once over the course of getting to know Tesfaye the last month: Tesfaye is a bright and determined young man, has a good memory, and is always observing and thinking. My misunderstanding of what he said this morning was generated by Tesfaye's mind being a step ahead of the rest of us and consistent with his strong desire to make up any ground he may have lost on his road to recovery by being back on the ventilator the past week.
6:15 pm, June 24, 2009: [Wish I had photos] I had time for a half hour visit with Tesfaye before heading off to an evening commitment. When I got there I found him lying on his side in a different bed in the ICU unit. Chances are that at some point tomorrow he will be moved back to the spine ward step down unit. Tesfaye and Nurse Louise told me that he had again walked up and down the corridor and had managed well. I still have not really had an opportunity to see Tesfaye standing and walking. I do look forward to witnessing that myself in the coming days and getting it photographed.
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