Because the hole in his lung was taking so long to heal, they were considering sending him home with the tube still in his chest – just to get him the heck out of the hospital. But by about Thursday of last week, the box that monitors the leak was showing signs that his lung was getting  better. The x-rays showed a lot of improvement from Thursday to Friday – the hole seemed to have closed up! The tube came out on Saturday (Removing certainly wasn’t as horrible as putting it in, but he wasn’t happy about it), and they kept him for a couple more nights just to observe him and make sure his lung was going to stay inflated on it’s own. By Sunday everything looked great….so we loaded him in the car and brought him home

What he’s dealing with now is the pain from where the chest tube was (the tube was pretty huge, and ran all the way behind his chest muscle…there’s a lot to heal), and then where the incision is from the second surgery is. It has opened up some, and we’re just trying to keep it cleaned and dressed while it heals. It’s pretty painful. So hopefully just a week or more on these pain meds, before he can really start feeling like himself again. Like we knew he would be, he’s very weak – but taking some little walks in the sunshine a few times a day, and just trying to get around like a normal person.

We’re so happy to have him home! Please feel free to call and say hi, or if you’re in the area – come by and see him. He hopes to be back to work as soon as he can, but a few more weeks of rest are in order first.

 His spirits are good, considering he’s still in quite a bit of pain. He’s eating awesome. Getting a little meat back on his bones…slowly. He’s off just about all of his medication, with the exception of pain killers. Really, he couldn’t be doing better. Except –  for this stupid tube in his chest. He’s so eager to get out of the hospital. It will be four weeks there as of tomorrow. And he’s just kinda hanging out and waiting…..

So what they are probably going to do, is attempt to send him home with the chest tube still in there. Right now he’s on suction, and is hooked up to this box that tells them if there is still air coming out of the hole in his lung. They are going to remove the box, and add a valve to the tube that lets the air out of his chest cavity. Sounds creepy, but they don’t think there will really be any extra risk involved, and at least he’ll be at home. Right now, it’s stupid for him to just be laying there in bed, running up an even bigger bill, and having to eat yucky hospital food. And although the hole does seem to be healing, it’s going slowly. According to the x-rays – his lung is still partially collapsed.

I’ll let you guys know when he’s headed home. We hope it will be by the weekend

He ate Chipotle for dinner last night. The first meal he’s had that hasn’t been hospital food. He looked like he was in heaven.  He’s very happy to be here  

He’s in room 753 at St Vincents in Beaverton. If any of you can, stop by and say hi. I’m sure he’d love it! Or call me first, and I can let you know if it’s a good time…503-833-2985

Tim was taken off the ventilator and the anesthesia last Friday the 5th, but it took him til about Monday the 8th before he started to really come around mentally (He says he doesn’t remember much of anything before Monday, and he remembers nothing about being in ICU at all. Thank goodness!). Sunday the 7th he was moved out of the ICU and into a regular room. We were all so happy. Monday was a pretty good day for him, and they actually were talking like they may be able to discharge him by the end up the week.

But then he woke up Tuesday morning to some more tightness in the right side of his chest. X-rays showed that his lung had partially collapsed again. They think what happened is, once he started to heal up and the infection was clearing, it exposed another hole in the damaged lung tissue. It may have been there all this time, but no air was escaping because it was blocked by the infection. Then once the infection went away, the air leaked out and the lung collapsed a little.

So they had to put another drain into his chest, to let out the excess air and wait for his lung to re-inflate again. He was fully awake during the procedure, and said it was pretty terrible. Now they basically have to just wait until it heals up. It’s nothing major. It’s probably not going to be a big problem. But until the hole has healed –  he’s pretty much stuck in bed. And he’s in quite a bit of pain because of it. He’s got some good drugs, but I don’t think that they are helping as much as he would like. The doctors are hoping it will only be about another week before his the hole has healed up, but they really don’t know. The tube from his chest is attached to this little box that monitors what’s going on in there, and if he moves around at all - the box has to be carried with him. Not the worst thing, considering what he’s been through – but the sooner it heals, the happier he’s going to be.

Mentally, Tim is doing very well! He’s pretty aware of what happened to him, and is thrilled he made it through it all. He’s cracking jokes, and interested to hear about what’s been going on while he was away. Physically, aside from waiting for this hole in his lung to heal up, he’s doing great. The infection is all gone, and he only has about two more days on the antibiotics. He’s still very weak, but he has been up moving around his room some. He needs a walker for now, but says he feels pretty steady on his feet, and thinks he’ll get his legs back quickly once he’s in less pain and gets rid of that silly box. His appetite is awesome, and he’s devouring all of his meals. Good thing! The poor guy is shockingly thin, weighing in at just under 120 pounds. He’s 5’11 and usually hangs around 160-165…..This whole ordeal has taken 40 pounds off of his already skinny frame. He really doesn’t look much like himself right now. So crazy.