Wednesday, 11/25: Moving Day

I knew I was ready to get back to Little Rock today; I had no idea how essential it was until I got here.

Dad's no longer a patient at UAMS. In a meeting this morning with doctors from the neurology, surgery, SICU and social work staff, we were informed that ICU treatment had done everything possible for Dad, and he shouldn't stay any longer. Their primary objective was to get him out of imminent life-threatening danger, and they had succeeded. He is now stable, and the best possible move for him would be to a facility that could focus on the next objective of weaning him off his ventilator and giving his brain further time to mend. Also, with a high-traffic intensive care unit, the longer he's there, the longer he's at risk for contracting infections, pneumonia, and whatever else walks in the door (an elderly woman a few doors away from his room was brought in with H1N1 last week). Also, it's sort of an unspoken that the good ICU discharge window is 2-3 weeks.

We were moved this afternoon to Select Specialty Hospital, operating out of the 6th floor of St Vincent's Infirmary Hospital (at Markham and University in LR). It's not another ICU, but rather a long term acute care (LTAC) facility. Here the foot traffic is not as heavy, and the staff is smaller and a bit more specialized. He has 2 respiratory therapists who are monitoring him in rotation, both former ICU resp staff. Dad breathes completely on his own, but it's through his trach ventilator which needs monitoring. He'll also be receiving more aggressive physical therapy, and staff will also be more aggressive in trying to obtain a neurological response. Sounds intense, but it's good- he's to a point now that we need to start pushing his limits and see how he reacts.

One drawback (or bonus, depending on how you see it) is that we no longer have round-the-clock access to Dad. SSH does not allow any visitors between 8pm-10am. There's a family waiting area, but it's much smaller and not designed for overnight stay. While we know we won't be staying overnight in the hospital much anymore, neither of us could bear to be far from him on the first night in his new digs at Chez Vinny (that's what I've dubbed the hospital- you've gotta have fun with it). We've checked into the Guesthouse Inn on St Vincent's campus for the night. And boy, did we need it. For the first time since the accident 2 weeks ago, Mom's sleeping in a real bed (and snoring. infinitely more than her usual symphonic range, but it's wonderful because I know she's really resting). It's been nice, given the whirlwind of today's venue change, to be alone in a private hotel room with real beds and a tv.

Tomorrow we'll spend the day with Dad and plan for the next week. We've officially moved into a new stage, but it's one we weren't planning for so soon. We may come home for some time tomorrow, but nothing's definite.

Bottom line: Dad's in the best place he could be for right now. He's on no sedatives, he breathes on his own, and he yawns like a lion as part of his coma's sleep/wake cycle (it's adorable). His eyelids flutter (yes, both!), he coughs a lot (which is good- he's clearing his lungs of debris), and he moves all limbs when he gets irritated. Now we wait...more. But with a slightly different purpose, and the exact same faith that he'll keep improving.