When I got to Tesfaye's bed he was communicating with Stephi in writing using his clipboard. I first got an rundown from Nurse Jeanette, telling me that he still has a bit of a fever, that he seems to be in a fair amount of pain, as much due to the breathing tube in his throat as anything else, and that they decided to put his breathing back to more of a machine boost than before as he seemed to be tiring. They decide to also reconnect the self-administered pain medication pump.
Stephi and I try to keep Tesfaye's spirits up and tell him that it won't be long before he gets strong enough for the tube to be removed, and remind him that it has not been very long since he had his surgery and that what he going through is quite common.
Stephi is very good at trying to get his mind off of things by playing a game where they jointly draw a funny face as well as playing x's and 0's. At one point Stephi also attempted to remove some residual glue in his hair from the spine monitoring attachments. The good news, you may be pleased to know, is that the glue they use must really keeps those things attached during surgery; the bad news is it does not come out of hair too easily. But in the end, after all the distractions,Tesfaye's mind can't help but refocus on his current plight. In English quite well written he expresses that he wants physio 2 to 3 times a day, and he feels it was better before they put the breathing machine back on full assist - less soreness and coughing. He is happier, though, with the self-administered pain medication pump set up for him again. I leave so that he can get some rest, wondering how much closer to breathing tube removal we might be tomorrow.
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