Dad Update #3

His eyes are open! But he's a little out of it. One minute I think he knows and sees me and then I'm not so sure. But he responds to my mom's questions and nods and does what she asks...move your arm, nod your head. He has tracheal bronchitis so they can't remove the ventilator too soon. He can't cough like we do but I can tell when he's coughing by the way his belly moves and then his eyebrows furrow and he winces like its painful. That bothers me. The nurses gave him some pain meds upon my request last night.

I have to keep telling myself that he's made amazing progress in a week's time and that this is now the hardest part because he's awake and we can see what's bothering him. The chest incision doesn't cause him pain, the bronchitis does. They tell me this morning that he's sitting up in a chair. My mom, the cheerleading physical therapist (not really, it's just her nature) has been helping him move his arms and legs for therapy (one of the nurses figured if she was going to spend all her time there she'd put her to good use) until he wiggled himself into a sideways uncomfortable position while sitting up in a big chair. I guess he was in that chair for a couple hours so they put him back in bed after he kind of swayed over.

No matter how small, this is all progress.

Thank you for your thoughts/comments - it means the world :)