Day 2 - Post Brain Drain Surgery

Hello!

I thought I would take a few pictures today now that Jim has decided to not sleep the whole day away! Even though this first photo isn't the most flattering angle, I wanted you to see that Jimmy's shiner is starting to heal and that he can even open that left eye a tiny bit. I'm very excited about this because last time it took being home for almost a month before it started opening.

Jimmy started his day with a surprise visitor -- his old boss from his Equitable Insurance days, Bob Herman, came to see him. The nurse and I were really impressed with how many people he could name from the 'old days'. They had a very nice time reminiscing. Dr. Fiorella also stopped in to see Jim and was very pleased with how alert he was. He said he was definitely good enough to go ahead and do the balloon angiogram and thought that mid-week might be the plan, depending on how the bleeding is tapering off from his last brain drain surgery. He also said that he felt that he has come up with a good plan for the coiling, so that is very reassuring! I'm guessing that will probably not take place until next week, even though Jimmy put in his two cents worth and suggested that they just do it all at once. Too bad for him that he doesn't get to make those decisions!

Obviously, today was a better day. Jim was much more alert. They've started him on a medication to keep him more awake during the day, which will help to get him back on a more normal sleeping schedule. He was still pretty confused and goofy, but that just made him more entertaining. The nurses are getting quite a kick out of him! Sometimes he rambles on totally nonsensically, and other times he's a real smart aleck -- he's definitely a talker! And he's still working on getting rid of his 'wristbands'. He is incredibly persistent!

Tonight he decided that he was determined to get up and out of bed, and he wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. He hasn't had therapy for so long now that I took mercy on him and asked his nurse, Nora, if she thought that we could get him to at least sit up on the edge of the bed. She was pretty busy with her other patient, so Jimmy had to wait for awhile. Mr. Patience was not content with that, so he kept swinging his leg off the side of the bed and straining to pull his body off the bed. It was quite comical to watch him work so hard, and he kept asking for me to go get Nora. I just let him entertain himself with his quest -- I figured that the exercise was good for him after laying around in bed for the last nine days. He was so happy when he finally got his way and Nora came in with a team of other nurses to help him get up. The second picture is him smugly sitting up. Nora decided to give him a bit of his own medicine and use the opportunity to change his sheets that he had gotten all sweaty with his endeavors, and decided that he may as well stand up too so that she could do so. She wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer either...Yes, that's a look of sheer terror on Jimmy's face! But he did a really good job on those rubbery legs -- I'm hoping that he will get regular daily physical therapy this week to help build his strength. I'm actually amazed that he has gotten so strong again. I would say that he's caught up to the strength that he was at just before he had his bypass surgery...maybe even a little stronger. You should have seen him when they put him back to bed -- he went out like a light! I'm so proud of how well he's doing after such a tumultuous week. His naturally stubborn temperament is really an attribute when going through all that he has -- keep it up Superman! I am adjusting to being satisfied with baby steps, but it's always fun when he throws some bigger ones in once in a while.

I'm thinking that this might be a very interesting week as Jimmy waits for the next phase in his journey. The power of prayer is definitely making a statement with all that Jim has come through already. God is definitely with us all the way! And, even though this has been a much longer and more complicated ordeal than we ever expected, I am content to deal with it for as long as it takes in order to have the rest of our lives together happy and healthy! So, regardless of sounding like a broken record, thank you for ALL of your continued support and keep those prayers coming! I hope you all had as wonderful and interesting of a weekend that we did.

Love to you all!
Kris (with a "K", as Jimmy is now telling the nurses!)