Day 6 (Saturday)

I’ve been reminded today, how popular this blog has been. I have had over a 1000 views of my entires from family and friends. This evening, my wife called and said people have been in touch as I haven’t updated today! So, here it is.

Unfortunately wasn’t the best sleep I have had Friday night, I was woken a few times to be given drips and my cannula was not being very efficient. Made up on sleep by having a few snoozes during the day.

The surgeon vistied this morning and confirmed that my remaining chest drain could be removed. It was painless and once removed allowed me to cough and breath deeper without any discomfort. I’m now only dependent on Oxygen.

Now I have no drains, my walks extended out of ICU and in to the main hospital and outside. I did two trips to outside today to get fresh air and see the real life. Strange, when you only see four walls for a week, seeing a car or bus is kinda new again!

Today is Puree day! My food diet has now advanced to anyfood that is puree’d. The hospital have an amazing menu to choose from.

For lunch, I went for Roast Lamb & Mint with potato, peas and swede, followed by a sticky toffee pudding. Now, don’t judge by the look of the food, it looks pretty grim, but actually tastes bloddy nice!

And for my evening meal, I chose Salmon in Dill Sauce with mashed potato, carrots and peas.

However, the new challenge was how to swallow. Each mouthful sat in my throat, which is now my stomach. It took about 5 minutes for the small mouthful to go down, and trying to wash down with fluid as my stomach is much much smaller than before and will fill quickly. This evening, I spoke to the docs and they said this is normal as my new throat and stomach will be swollen from the operation and having a tube down it and will improve over the next few days. One to watch, looking forward to more puree’d food!

I’m still in ICU, but in a room with two other gents. I have been downgraded from a level 3 to a level 2 patient and was moved yesterday out of the high dependency unit. I’m only around the corridor and have a dedicated nurse assigned still. Furthermore, the NHS ward is full and I can’t be admitted to that. Although I’m a private patient, they will only accept me when all the tubes are out of my body for 24 hours. The surgeon is now suggesting that I remain in ICU and possibly be sent home on Monday!