Friday 14Feb

 💕 Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! 💕 Can you guys believe Brian didn't get me anything?! 😜 

Today was a much better day! 😅 Brian did a great job listening today to his therapists and his nurse. He didn't try and get out of bed while I was there which was great. They also brought in a recliner for him and he sat it that for the majority of the day today. He also ate quite a bit of his lunch today (not so much with dinner) and he is now cleared by his speech therapist for thin liquids. This means he can drink anything at any time. Previously he had to have thickened liquids with his meals and could only have water in between and only after brushing his teeth after the meal. He has also been cleared to take pills by mouth now instead of crushed and in his peg. These are all steps towards getting out his peg. As he continues to eat, he will start to eat more and can stop getting additional tube feed during the day. And then as his calorie count continues to rise, he can stop the tube feeds all together and that is when the peg can come out. 

The trach is doing well after the fall yesterday. Brian was coughing more today but that isn't surprising due to the injury he sustained in the fall. I am still hoping that soon we can get it removed all together since it's been capped for a long time now and he isn't supplementing with any oxygen. Removing that trach will make Brian way more comfortable (he has told me several times how much he hates it) and removing it will also help with swallowing and speech. He is still talking a lot, but it's very whispery. Speech is working with him to get him to verbalize better by making more sound. 

The hospital implemented a new protocol for Brian. He is on a 1:1 now, which means that a staff member (or me) will be required to be with Brian all the time. This will make sure he doesn't have another fall since someone will always be with him and can stop him from getting up unsafely. I am also hoping this allows Brian to keep those mitts off because he really does detest those bad boys. This morning I came in and took them off and Brian immediately went to sleep, then had a brief interruption by physical therapy to get him walking, and then went back to sleep and slept for probably 3.5 hours. It sounds like he didn't sleep well overnight and I think that is all due to those mitts. He can't get comfortable with them on. 

I was hoping to go back to work next week, but with the new 1:1 policy I have to be at the facility with Brian for the hours Lincoln is in school because they are short staffed with too many patients on the 1:1. So they asked me to help them out when I can reliably be there and tend to him. In addition, Brian does seem to listen to me better than the staff so I think this is beneficial for him and I of course want to be there to support (and advocate for) Brian as much as possible. My work is truly phenomenal, and I don't think I will have any issue working something out, but I just need to make sure to get everything squared away with them next week. I almost can't believe it will be six weeks on Monday. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! 

🤍