Lindy and I and Cadence left Lincoln this morning to head out to Kearney to visit Duane. I don't even know how much sleep I actually managed to get last night. By the time I finally went to bed, I was fighting and pretty mean migraine and I just couldn't stop wondering what kind of shape Dad would be in when we finally arrived at the hospital. I hate to admit it, but I was preparing myself for the worst.
When we went in to Dad's room for our visit, he was sitting up in a chair and was wearing a regular oxygen mask instead of the C-pap machine. The doctors had been alternating between the two throughout the day, and it seems to be working to keep his oxygen levels up where they need to be. It's obvious that he is still in a lot of pain, but there was some color in his cheeks and he was actually joking around with us about the fact that he has neither eaten, nor taken a crap in four days.
"Have they been giving you prune juice," I asked. "That always works wonders for Cadence."
Duane rolled his eyes and smirked. "No. No prune juice," Duane said. "They've been giving me laxatives, and it ain't going to be pretty when they finally start workin'. Damn horse really knocked the shit out of me!"
I took his good humor as a positive sign.
The doctors are planning to continue alternating between the regular oxygen and the C-pap and will be monitoring him closely. Mom said they talked about doing another scan as well. When Lindy and I talked to Dad, he said he thought the nurses might be getting him up to walk around this evening, but then when Mom went back in to visit, they were talking about giving him an epidural. He has been on morphine to manage the pain, but the doctors now think that giving him an epidural will give him some longer lasting pain relief and allow him to take deeper breaths. We'll find out tomorrow what they decided, and I will post another update to let everyone know about the progress.
Walking out of Dad's room after our visit, I was finally able to breathe the first real sigh of relief since Mom called to tell me about the accident on Monday. Dad still has a long way to go, but it finally looks like he just might be starting to move in the right direction and beginning to heal. Everyone who saw him earlier in the week (especially Wednesday and Thursday) is saying that he looks and acts so much better. Even Dad admitted tonight that there was a point yesterday when he wasn't even sure he was going to make it. We can only pray that tomorrow will dawn even brighter and that Duane will continue on the road to recovery.
Tonight's 365 Project is dedicated to Cowboy Roy and to a speedy recovery. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers! We really appreciate all the love and support!
 |
| Cadence with her Papa Duane on one of his better days. |
No comments:
Post a Comment