Randy’s Swan Dive

On Friday I spent several hours with Randy.  He is doing absolutely great, but he is very frustrated with his lack of progress.  He cannot understand why he is so weak, I think it is very difficult for him to understand the length of time he has been in bed.  I’ve never seen his arms and legs so thin.

Randy has worked out daily for most of our marriage, lifting weights or walking or even running when he was younger.  I’ve never seen him without heavily muscled arms and legs….until now.  He will get it all back, I have absolutely no doubt of that, but right now, he is going to have to work very hard to get strong again.

Random thought:  Have you ever tried to watch a movie in the ICU?  Impossible.  I told him we could try again when he gets to the rehab center.

I received a call from his nurse, Melissa, this morning, and she told me of his grand adventure during the early morning hours.  He got it into his head that he just needed to show the nurses and doctors that he could walk on his own, then they wouldn’t have all of these rules.  There are not usually patients walking around in ICU, but for some reason, he thought he could do it. I may be wrong, but I think he had a sleeping pill so he would get a good night of sleep.  So, he decided to get out of bed and walk.  Well, he fell out of the bed, which apparently brought his nurse pretty quickly because there is an alarm on his bed, in case he would fall out.  I can only imagine his chagrin, lying on the floor next to his hospital bed, with his IVs, new lungs, and his bruised ego.

Actually, he told the nurse he didn’t really fall, he was just practicing his Swan Dive.  He apparently apologized profusely, and has joked around with everyone all day about his Swan Dive.  He also admitted to Courtney, his night nurse, that it had been a pretty stupid move.

A call came around 7p, shift change, and Melissa told me that after a day of being uncomfortable, he finally told her that his back hurt, and he was afraid he may have injured it.  Off to xray!  Courtney (on nights) called to let me know that there was no new injury to his back…it showed degenerative disc issues.  Whew.  Hopefully he just pulled a muscle and will be feeling better tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I have decided to return to my yoga practice.  Why is it that people forget taking care of self when a loved one is in trouble?  At least I do.  There were many times I could have gone while mom was sick, or since Randy has been ill, but I’ve had either a compulsion to be at the hospital with him, or a compulsion for the Lung Transplant team to see me every hour so they would not forget that Randy needed lungs.  I’m also readying the house, trying to get bills paid, and of course, work with my high school seniors on their college essays and applications.  I’m trying to excuse myself, but there really is no excuse.  So tomorrow morning, yoga!

Let’s just hope Randy doesn’t try to do the Swan Dive tonight!