Day Five - Saturday

Through the hours of the morning I keep looking at the heart and oxygen monitor and feel smug that my oxygen saturations are now 100%. Granted I am still on 3 litres of oxygen, but I'm still feeling pretty chuffed.

I still can't sleep at all as I thought would be the case. Still bug eyed from drugs, uncomfortable in every position and I've now started hallucinating from the drugs! My LT social worker warned me this may happen.  I shut my eyes and see shapes morphing into other things.  The very little sleep I do get, are vivid dreams. I then come to, not even sure I was sleeping.

I have been encouraged by the physios, since sitting in my chair, on how to cough to try and clear the left over Gen flem. This is from the join of my tubes to the new lungs. I have the weakest cough and it hurts to do so.  It's really difficult to know how much force you can put into it. I dutifully do this whenever I feel I might get some success. If there is no one in the room, I hum to create some vibration.

I'm allowed brecky.  Ahhh bliss another cuppa tea!! I've realised how much the gastric feed stuff STINKS. It makes your breath stink as you burp....I will never forget that revolting smell!

By the time Mum arrives Sat am, I am sitting in the chair, brushing my hair! Oh how wonderful to see the beam on her face!!  I have also gone from the Hudson Mask to nasal prongs! Oh the joy at this as well. Sooooo much more comfortable!! I'm breathing ok, I'm not hot, and I'm finally feeling like a good chin wag.

It is GREAT to be BACK!!!

So I start firing all these questions at mum - finally wanting to know details and catch up on all the gossip!!

5 east finally have a bed for me, and around 3.30 in the afternoon I'm taken to a nice room all on my own.

The nurse winds down my oxygen from 3 to 1 litre.  And later I even manage a bit of time off  it without any problems. 

Not long after I am shifted, my BIL Phil and niece Steph come in to visit. Dianne is also there by this stage..it's great to chat and again catch up on all that I have missed out on. I'm still hanging it on them all for having fun while I'm in here. I'm so glad they are having all these wonderful family times.

I'm of course still very sleep deprived, due to the constant monitoring and medications - the monitoring is continuous.  And I'm getting my head around now the various different teams who are looking after me who pop in each day. Surgeons to check my drain tubes, LT gang to check lungs, anaesthetic to check how the epidural is going and how the site is going.  It's difficult to move as I'm still hooked to catheter, 2 drains coming out of my lungs, nasal gastric tube etc!

After my visitors have left, my physio gets me to do some more standing leg exercises, including stepping up and down on a step.

That night I feel like I need some oxygen again, but only on 1/2 litre.

I still can't get comfortable at all - as soon as I find a type of comfortable, I then need to cough. Eventually I give up and sit up.  Despite this I don't care - I feel the worst is over and it's only improvement from now on!

Through the nights I'm checked around every 2-3 hours.  They do an ice test on the front and back of my chest, to make sure the epidural is covering the right areas.  My obs are also taken - my saturations remain happy - as do my temperatures and heart. My heart rate has gone up a lot, due to one of the anti-rejection medications. I'm told this will settle down eventually.