karenulijohn

I hesitate to be too effusive about Harvey’s recovery because of what happened early Monday morning, but I have to say that he looked so much better today.  Apart from the edema which is a result of all of the fluids they have been pumping into him, his color and spirit are much improved.  I arrived around 10:30 AM and he was sitting up in the chair having already walked the corridors with the physical therapist and done  exercises to build up his strength.  He has also graduated to regular food, whatever he can tolerate.  The cardiologist was very pleased with his normal heart rhythm and  blood pressure.  Now, if he could only “pee.”  You can see in the photograph how swollen his hand is.

We had a lovely time just talking and reminiscing today.  I was delighted to enjoy Harvey’s wonderful sense of humor again.  As we were talking, he looked up and said “there’s a woman in black with a harp walking down the hallway.  That can’t be good!”  What was even funnier was when she came to his room and offered to play therapeutic harp music.  He was enjoying himself when he made a similar comment directly to her.  She took it well, as if she’d never heard that line before.  I have to admire volunteers such as she, willing to give their time and talent in such a selfless way.  We decided that a harp is probably better than a trumpet or drums in the ICU.  I could go on; we did!

Just as I was getting ready to leave for the day, the hospital doctor arrived and said he had only good things to say about Harvey’s recovery.  They are going to stop the IV hydration and antibiotics, though he will be continuing with oral antibiotics and potassium.  They also gave him lasix: “Lasix (furosemide) is a loop diuretic (water pill) that prevents your body from absorbing too much salt, allowing the salt to instead be passed in your urine.”  I’m hoping to see a significant reduction in his puffiness tomorrow.  The doctor did say that he would probably be staying for another couple of days because of the setback on Monday.  I told Harvey to just keep quiet about wanting to go home.  The longer he stays, the stronger he gets, and the less likely we will have to go through this again.