Good Evening my Lovelies,
Well, tonight's update picks up where last night's ended really....with Mr John Arthur Ellis being pretty flipping amazing actually......we are enjoying many, many kisses now that we can and it is wonderful.
Imagine mine and Heather's surprise when we entered the Critical Care Unit this morning to find Hubby lying there in his bed without his ventilator. Yes, you read that right, he was breathing on his OWN, unassisted, BY HIMSELF! On the first attempt, they normally let patients breathe on their own for 2 or 3 minutes to see how they cope. John did it for 10 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It did visibly tire him but it's just so encouraging to see him doing these things.
John's lungs are still in pretty bad shape due to the trauma that he experienced in the second operation because of the many transfusions he had to have, however to be breathing alone for 10 minutes so soon after he has woken from the coma is incredible.
We were also informed that during John's morning wash and brush up he was manoeuvred to the edge of the bed and sat up. He cannot do this unassisted but at least he is not just lying there anymore which he has been doing for over 2 weeks. While he was sat up he tried to speak (he can't because of his tracheotomy) and his nurse is convinced that he tried to say Yes when asked if he was ok!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I was almost envious and jealous that the nurse got to hear this and not me but his nurses are so lovely and they are all very fond of John, each and every day they smile and let us know of any milestones that he has achieved that we may have missed. I would have liked to have missed the enormous fart he did today - however this is another indicator that Mr Ellis is well on his way back to us!!!
This afternoon, after a slice of less than perfect cake (the cake culture here is HUGE!!!) we made our way back to the Unit to see him. What should greet us this time.....?! Mr Ellis OFF his ventilator AGAIN! He didn't manage 10 minutes this afternoon, he managed FIFTEEN!!!!!!!!! In one day he has breathed on his own for a grand total of 25 minutes.......it is astonishing, even his doctors and nurses are in awe of him. He is doing sooooooooo well. I am one very proud Hubby.
To bring us back down to earth for a moment, his blood pressure is high, his pulse races much faster than it should and his eyesight is still a worry - he doesn't focus yet although you can see that he is most definitely trying. I wasn't sure that yesterday's kisses were more when he felt me as opposed to seeing me, so we tried speaking to him, warning him I was closing in as it were and he did pucker up before I got to touch his face, so we are 'pretty sure' that his eyesight is there, it's just a struggle for him to focus at the moment......time will tell.
And that's another thing, time. He's only been in this position for just over two weeks. He has a long road ahead of him in terms of rehabilitation, therapy and recovery......but look how far he has come in just over two days......I don't think Hubby is going to let a minor thing like an aortic dissection, two heart and lung bypasses and damage to his brain stop him from getting on with his life....do you?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (He is an Ellis after all!)...
Today I started investigating a couple of things for me in terms of therapy (say nothing!) and support groups. Johnnie will be very well looked after, he will receive his relevant therapies in abundance and will continue to recover. Due to the life change that we are both going to experience, I think it's a good idea to try and get some 'help' for me. I am scared and dreading many things, most of them silly, but dreading them I am and will, I doubt I would be human if I didn't. I won't bore you with them here but suffice to say I would rather get help from the get go than have a dramatic meltdown and be sectioned!!! I don't think there has been a day I haven't sat and sobbed into my cup of coffee or worried sick about something as trivial as getting the dogs booster jabs booked (THANK YOU KAY AND JIM for sorting little Maximillian out on that one!!!!). I also cancelled our summer holiday in June......we'll just have to have it when he is fighting fit and healthy next year.....as long as I have him, I can wait.
So, I think that's more than enough excitement for one day, don't you?!?! Well, I think it's more than enough but Mr Ellis evidently does not. We returned after dinner this evening to check on him and he has had what I will refer to as a little shuffle backwards. He has done so many amazing and positive things that he is bound to have one or two set backs (and it wouldn't be normal recovery if all he did was positive stuff!). Tonight he had a high temperature, a fever in fact and they had to put ice under his legs to assist in cooling him down. His pulse was very high and his blood pressure (the one thing I am really obsessive over) was the highest I have ever seen it.......perhaps today was a little 'too much too soon'.
The one thing that gives me solace and doesn't make me hysterical is that the nurses, who are all brilliant, did not go running around like loonies, they didn't panic over his condition and they didn't ask us to leave, etc, etc, they were cool, calm and collected as always. Had they done any of those things I would currently be pacing the corridors of the hospital, hoping, praying and waiting.
Instead, I am here in my hotel room, updating you all whilst hoping and praying and waiting!
Johnnie & John
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