"The Day After... You Can Call Now"

Reviewing the blog I thought I would share Jason's "blond joke"(connected to the season) with apologies to any blonds reading:

Three blonds die and are at the pearly gates. St. Peter has to ask each a question before she can enter heaven.
To the first, "Can you tell me what Easter is?"
"Easter is the day we dress up in costumes and collect candy door to door."
"Down below you go."

To the second blond, "Can you tell me what Easter is?"
"Easter is when we give each other presents and have a lighted tree."
Exasperated, St Peter says,
"Down below you must go."

Now quite anxious, St Peter with only one blond to go is hoping to get one into heaven. He again must ask, "What is Easter?"
The blond has been listening very hard to the answers given by the first two blonds and understands the consequences if she answers incorrectly.
"Easter is when Jesus comes out of the cave in the morning..."
St. Peter is breathing a sigh of relief...
"and if he sees his shadow, we have 6 more weeks of winter."

"That's the joke from WR, folks."

Dow awoke before 8 AM, got dressed and headed over to the hospital. I stayed behind to "take the morning more leisurely" and to do some chores. Jason had a "okay" night, pain control being the issue. The RN added benadryl by syringe to his IV so that kept the "itches" at bay. Jason continues to use the bolis dilaudid every 8 minutes. When I arrived early afternoon, Jason was watching the NFL draft and explained to me how and what was being done. Jason was waiting for the Chicago Bears and never got to see their choice. When their first round slot, I think 29, came up another NFL team took a player. So Jason was "very disappointed" to say the least.

Jason stayed awake the whole time I was with him, using the bolis as before. Dr. Golarz had given his first after-surgery assignment, "flatulence." If you have had abdominal surgery of any kind, this is the first "goal," it is a sign that the digestive system is slowly getting back to "normal." As of this afternoon, Jason had not achieved the goal. I asked the RN and he said, "This is my specialty gastrointestinal(GI). Everyone takes in air when we talk, breathe, drink, etc. We can either burp or pass gas. This is important because it means the intestines are working normally, pass the gas along and out of the body. Another source is eating because the flora that digest our food for us create gas as by-product." However Jason has only been drinking clear liquids since this morning, he was on NPO since midnight Thursday to 8 AM Saturday. Juices have natural sugars so I hope his "intestinal flora" are now happy doing their thing.

While I was visiting; PT came in for an assessment visit after surgery. PT's assignment was to see if Jason could get up and walk. Jason had the RN unplug the IV so he could walk a little easier. The PT put on the "chest walk belt" and said, "We can go around the room." Jason said, "Let's take a walk in the hall" when the room walk was accomplished with ease. So off Jason, Dow and the PT went for a walk around the complete ward, probably about 100.' The PT was pleased and Jason bushed so the mission was accomplished. Dow added, "Ward today, Silver Spring, tomorrow." I headed out to do my exercise walk around the track. The azaleas are almost gone, but now the trees give me a green canopy. I was the only one on the track, the blue sky above, the temperature warm enough to go with a tee-shirt. Birds singing, squirrels romping about a very nice way to spend an hour.

Update Soldiers:
I went down to have a bagel this morning to see if I could catch-up with any patients and parents. I met a mother and grandmother from the West coast. Their soldier had lost his foot except the heel to a grenade. They had just arrived. They liked my ID pocket that I wear around my neck; holds my license (picture), door key, metro pass. I answered their questions about the family meeting on Mondays and we exchanged rooms and phone numbers. Found out they are in the room next to ours at Mologne.

I spent some time catching up with Mike a father from Michigan. His son arrived in November, seriously injured in the leg. At the time they did a bone implant, I don't know the medical details. Today Mike said, "His leg will be amputated, but not for a year." So for now they bring Josh back, do care and he goes home for 30 days. Sounds as if this is his cycle for the next year. Josh wants to stay in Airborne and if he heals after the amputation; he will be able to return to active duty. Mike says they have another amputee that has returned to active duty which includes parachuting. I wished them both well. Mike says "I put Josh on the plane, then I drive to Port Austin." While home Josh does PT at the local VA center.

As I was returning to Mologne I heard that Gade (about 20 years old I believe) had had his surgery and was sitting with his dad by the reflecting pool. Gade came in the same time as Jason with a head injury and the loss of his right leg. His left arm has no feeling but the nerves seem to be coming back, awareness moving down from his shoulder. Often, the MD's to take pressure off the brain will remove a portion of the skull and so it was with Gade. So this week, Docs filled in the right front quadrant of Gade's head with a "plastic skull" piece under the skin. Gade had I am sure at least 50 to 70 smaller size staples holding his scalp together over his new skull. Inside, they used 24 screws to screw the plastic and Gade's skull together. His right eye was puffy and he said he had strange sounds in his ear but "that was gone now." (I am sure Gade his really happy about not having to wear the "green football helmet" associated with head injuries.)

Dow had walked up to Silver Spring, got some lunch, then picked up a couple of violent films at Jason's request "sorry, mom." Jason also invited Dan over to watch the film with him so Dow and I might go out to dinner, have to see how the evening goes. I left Jason and Dow watching "History of Violence" with Jason leaving the TV "on mute" as he his determined to see the "Bears draft choices." He thinks they probably traded their spot to pick up two or some other variation on a theme. I guess the owners do a lot of "trading," during their 15 minute slots.

We went out to dinner at Whole Foods. Dow had salmon I had side salads and vegetarian lasagna. Dow checked out Jason who was watching movies with Dan. We will see what develops over night.

Please pray for complete healing of Jason's digestive system. Pray that his pain continues to decrease. Enjoy visits with family and friends and the beautiful spring plants and flowers. The peonies are beginning to bloom here.