Day 15 ~ Room 401, noon

Up and At 'Em!:

   Out of bed for the first time in almost 2 weeks! Bob's shocked at how weak he is, especially his legs. He said this first time was incredibly difficult. He told me now he understands why he will be transferring to an inpatient skilled nursing facility for a short time after he is discharged from the hospital.

  Occupational Therapy (OT) worked on his hands and arms this morning. He has about a 20° lag in the range of motion of his upper appendages. His right side is slightly stronger than his left, but she said he has a good amount of work ahead of him.

  Physical Therapy (PT) evaluated his lower body, got him sitting up (with assistance) and even shuffled him a step over to his "recliner". It's too early to determine what degree of lag his lower appendages have, but she said he'll likely have more work to do on his lower half than on his upper body.

   Respiratory Therapy (RT) wants him to sit vertically for an hour at least three times today. He still has congestion and coarseness in both lungs (more in the right) and the sitting will definitely help with that. They're continuing his breathing treatments every 4 hours.

Wound-Vac dressing change:

   Today will be change #3 of the vacuum sponge in the abdominal defect. Bob's got pain medicine already on board in anticipation... He remembers last Friday's dressing change, and he said that the process is excruciatingly painful.

Edit: 

   Wound Measurements: 

   *Measurements at dressing change #1 (11/29): 21cm long x 7.9cm wide x 4cm deep
   *Measurements at dressing change #2 (12/1): 20.5cm long x 7.6cm wide x 3.8cm deep

   *Measurements at dressing change #3 (12/4): 20.5cm long x 7.4cm wide x 2cm deep

One last thing...

   When asked by the physical therapist how long he's been here, Bob told her two months. I told him it had been a day over two weeks, not two months, and he said he didn't believe it was only 15 days. He was serious when he said he was sure it had been two months...he's still got a bit of confusion to work through.