When we went in to see Dad in hospital this afternoon, we were astounded to see that they had taken him off the ventilator and he had been breathing on his own for about five hours. They had fitted something called a passy-muir valve, which meant that we could actually hear him speaking to us, instead of having to try to lip-read. "What date is it?" he asked. "Have I had my operation yet?" (We didn't tell him that he'd actually had three operations since going into hospital three weeks ago?)
His day nurse was encouraged to report to us that he is beginning to absorb his feed (which enters his stomach through a tube in his nose) and is continuing to produce urine, even though his kidneys aren't actually working properly yet. What an encouragement it was to hear his voice for the first time in three weeks. One of the first things Dad said was, "When do I get something to eat?" Nurses explained to him that he's not allowed to have very much today, because his stomach hasn't been working for such a long time, but they did give him a few sips of a thick drink called Fortisip. "That's good," he said, but when he asked for more, they told him that he couldn't have any more for now. Dad turned round and spotted me drinking from my water bottle. "Can I have a wee sip of that?" he asked.
At that point, two nurses came along to weigh him (in a rather complicated procedure that involved weighing the whole bed.) I joked with the nurses, "Are you checking whether he's put on weight?" Dad turned towards us and quipped, "Not a chance!" (In fact, he had lost about a stone / 14 pounds / 7 kilos.)
The doctor in charge asked to speak to Mum and myself, and he admitted being amazed that Dad had made it this far and that he was suddenly beginning to make some small steps of progress. The brachycardia (heart slowing or stopping) is happening very seldom now, and only time will tell whether it will stop completely. However, the main concern for the doctors is that all the infection in Dad's abdominal cavity is not healing yet and is still producing black, infected pus. Unless that situation changes, unless the infection begins to heal properly, their fear is that it will simply get worse and worse until he sinks back into sepsis again and this time he wouldn't be strong enough to survive it.
We were encouraged to see Dad looking a little brighter, to be able to hear his voice and his sense of humour again.... but the doctors say he's "not out of the woods" yet and still won't be able to make it through unless the infection in his abdominal cavity starts to heal.
Thank you once again for your prayers.
