Monday

Short version: David finally got a night's sleep, and his napped on and off all morning. I think there is still a well of tiredness to fill but he is on his way. He IV tree was cut in half and he is eating semi-solid food. Eating is still a challenge but we are working on it. This is the best day yet!

Longer version: David is feeling better today. He is complaining about aches and pains, not intense pain that does not stop. Saturday was a rough day with David really confronting a lot of pain with very little sleep to sustain him. He was uncomfortable and grumpy. The med folks kept saying that he was doing well, but it was hard for him to believe it. Yesterday, Sunday was better, maybe a transitional day. I didn't update yesterday because I was really flagging. David was improving slowly but it was hard to quantify -- color was better, they let him eat -- really taste -- some semi-solid food, he stood for a few minutes, and sat in the chair for a long time, but the fatigue thing was still huge. He slept some on Saturday night but not enough or deeply enough.

But today the progress is palpable. David slept last night and is getting lots of short, deep naps today. He is still forgetful but much more with it than he has been. His cardiac index is low (this is for medical folks. I barely understand it and not really able to explain it well). It is at 1.97 right now, and they would like it over 2. I does seem that the right side of his new heart is not working as well as the left side. The tried to wean him from some medication and upped it again when this Index number started falling too rapidly. His surgeon said that they would like to see him moving along a bit quicker but that they have to go with David's time not some artificial schedule.

We just finished our first post surgery education lecture with his coordinator. We will have these until he leaves the hospital. We have lots to learn about the drugs, his treatment, his exercises, etc, for the next few months and for the rest of his life. Of course, it starts out complicated and gets simpler over time. We can learn anything!

Eating has been hard. David has be hungry, not overwhelmingly but some what. However, it has been hurting when he eats -- lots of left over pain from the breathing tube. So he tastes, takes a few bits, but I went down to get some lunch and he asked for some ice cream. He has been digging into some chocolate and almost ate the entire cup -- about 2 scoops. Chocolate Ice Cream -- Food of the gods!

About food -- My friend Pat, Suzanne, and Cathy have brought us wonderful food. Healthy and delicious. Pat's soups -- well, Pat is a personal chef -- are so good. The turkey noodle soup was astounding -- a kinda unremarkable soup name masked a rich, sweet broth with soft carots that retained all their flavor and turkey that tasted like it was fresh off the bone. How did she do that? Cheshire called me to tell me about the sesame noodle, and my bowl last night was a treat for my mouth. Both complete comfort foods, both comforted us a great deal.

A few weeks ago, I resolved to make my blog more fun. I wanted to post more photos of food, crafts, Julia, and Julia's art. I wanted to put a more jaunty tone into my posts. Then there was this heart transplant. Hard to be jaunty writing about transplant, or else I am just not up to it yet.