Thursday Evening

I saw Dad for the first time since Tuesday. I was getting the early signs of a cold on Tuesday night - so only quickly went in to see him and then left him with Mom and Katie. It's funny how super-sensitive you are to your own health when there is so much at risk... My cold was really virtually nothing - cough, itchy eyes and ears, headache and that's about it. BUT with the thought that it might make Dad worse in mind it became the equivalent of Typhoid Fever! Anyway, so I took the day off from visiting Dad on Wednesday.

So, when I went in to see him last night I was very pleasantly surprised. Mom and Katie had warned me that he was still in rough shape, and that his jaundice was looking worse. BUT, it is amazing what 36 or so hours will do if you aren't monitoring progress every few hours. Dad looked almost like himself to me. He was sleeping - but he looked more comfortable than I had seen him in a while. His hands were warm again (his cold hands had me very worried on Tuesday). His color looked good - and even his tubes and wires and stuff didn't look quite so sticky-out.

On his vitals the only thing that alarmed me was his high heart rate. It was hovering around 120-125. Gasp! But Katie told me that was much lower than it had been in the afternoon. She asked the nurses about it then - and they assured her that it was fine - and they gave her a reasonable reason for it - which I can't remember right now. His breathing looked good - and his blood pressure was excellent.

We all keep thinking it - we want Dad back to his own energetic, alert self NOW. But we also keep saying we will see progress over TIME - which is weeks, not minutes. He is getting better - and a day away did wonders for me. When Emily comes back I am sure she will be delighted! I still have waves of fear about what COULD go wrong still - but I feel so much better today.