Long, long days... Longer nights...

Long days... Even longer nights 

Hi guys, Suz here. Gen has passed the baton to me tonight as I was at the hospital with dad today. 

Dad had a pretty average night last night. He was quite restless and the pain relief plan wasn't working as anticipated. I awoke to mum at my bedroom door - and after telling her it wasn't time for me to get up yet (7:30am is my new wake up time... Enjoying the perks of living around the corner from work!) - she explained that dad didn't have a great night. I jumped into the Yaris and managed to beat most of the traffic en route to Flinders to keep him company.

Shortly after I arrived Prof Watson's team arrived to check up on dad. Having seen that the night had been quite difficult, they assured us the anesthetists would be around shortly to discuss the pain releif side of things (dad's new favourite team of people).

Prof Watson came in a little while after and confirmed that the drains were not coming out today. Much to dad's disappointment there was no budging on this, and Thursday is now the day... 48 hours and counting.

Tomorrow is Day 5 which means they will be able to conduct the dye testing to see if dad's new osophegus has sealed. Hoping this will all go smoothly!! Solids might not be far away... Dad was able to work his persuasion skills on Prof Watson's intern. He is now first off the blocks at 9am tomorrow morning. Waiting until 3pm wasn't sitting too well.

Unfortunately Day 5 also means the epidural days are over from tomorrow. Luckily dad will have other forms of pain relief over the next few days to help him until the drains start to come out.

We had seen Prof Watson, his team and a trio of anesthetists all before 9:30am. It was quite odd... Felt like late morning! 

Next was dad's physio. Jackie ran through some deep breathing exercises and explained, along with the doctors earlier, how important these are to keep the lungs open and to avoid pneumonia. Something as simple as breathing deeply is a task we take for granted every day.. . Yet so important for dad's recovery. 

Now 9:50am. Dad and I were determined to keep busy throughout the day and decided to watch a movie. I got underway setting up the laptop, bedding, lighting - trying to resemble a movie theater. This proved harder than expected. Beeping machines, nurses coming in and out and volume that required the computer be an arms length away. We managed to watch the first half before dad dosed off. A nice sight to see after such a long, restless night.

After some discussion with James (the head anesthetist) and nurse Cathy, a new plan of attack was formed for dad's pain relief for the nights (these guys and the whole team have been amazing at making sure dad is as comfortable as possible!) 

The decision:  A consistent level of pain relief would be given throughout the night to avoid any potential spikes and troughs. This is what is thought to have caused the restlessness the previous night. Will have to keep you posted on this one... Fingers crossed tonight goes well!

Glenn came to visit in the afternoon. He came with an announcement - if dad couldn't get to the vineyard, he would bring the vineyard to him. Within seconds, Glenn was unravelling 2 big posters of the farm and dad's room was transformed. Feng Shui at its finest.

Mum and Gen arrived shortly after and marveled at dad's new room. Gen picked up a handful of DVDs for dad to watch during the night. The movies are all upbeat and easy to watch so that dad can start.. And restart... As many times as he likes. Funny how we could never get dad to sit through a romcom before!! Now he is requesting them!!

Well that's it from me. Another day down... Bring on Day 5!