Dad is getting more vocal by the day...

Today (Thursday) we had a good discussion about how the cotton mouth caused by morphine was more painful than anything else. Gatorade ice chips (thanks, Val!) were pretty effective in countering this condition, as was the listerine spray thing Ruth picked up for his day pack.

Dad also shared some pretty funny visions from the morphine room as well - detailed images of pizza, sasquatches, rock monsters with fish between their toes, ...

I think it was on this day that a physical therapist (which was only mentioned this once) came in and tried to help Dad sit up in bed (before the 9am visiting hour). Apparently, it made a really big mess. Puss and grossness everywhere. Dad said it was pretty uncomfortable, too.

Between the 9am and 1pm visits, they fitted him with a stabilizing brace around his chest/back - mostly for comfort, but also to stabilize him for transport. He said the brace helped him shift himself around on the bed, which he liked.

Sam and Ashley were taking care of Dad during the day. He was running a slight fever, so they were taking cultures from various places to check for infection.

Vangie was his night nurse again - Dad liked her.

My email update for the day:

So, he's doing well. Keeps complaining about his mouth being dry (which is expected w/ morphine..). The leg tissue is looking healthy,so it doesn't look like they'll have to take any more off, and we've been told that his condition stabilized fairly quickly. Dad was always a pretty healthy/hardy guy, seems like no exception here.

We're getting ready to move him to Cleveland!! This is terribly exciting and a very very good thing. He's stable enough for transport, and the doctors say he is through the "trauma" part - he'll still have to have some surgeries to keep the wound clean and for skin grafting, etc., but we'll get all of that taken care of in Cleveland. We have a lot of family there, so it's a much better arrangement all around.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and words of encouragement. They mean a lot both to me and my sister, and to our dad. We relay them to him everytime we see him.