Back in Chattanooga, finally. Now it's time for rehab.

Two weeks ago, after 8+ hours of surgery, two major incisions, a collapsed lung, spread ribs, chest tube, five days on the vent, and then pneumonia, irregular heartbeats, constant blood pressure swings, ICU delirium, difficult pain control, constant coughing and burning reflux at night, Dad is finally back in Chattanooga at a rehab facility tonight. Mom is finally able to go home and get some sleep and regroup, get ready for him to come home. He came through the surgery, and then all the complications afterwards only because he keeps fighting. Even when delirious, he still wanted to get up and move around regardless of the pain. I am lucky to be here with him now, in the room at LifeCare to help him through the constant wakings from reflux and mucus at night. Plus the medications caused him such awful nightmares that continue to haunt him. When he wakes up he needs to hear a familiar voice. Cindy was so much help flying in from Illinois to be there for so many days and nights. Mom only needed to spend two of the nights with him in the hospital. Cindy and I were able to take turns all the other nights to make sure Dad never had to be alone. Mom and Dad will likely have a lot of sleepless nights to come while he continues to heal.  We are so glad he went to Vanderbilt for the surgery. He came through some very, very difficult times because of constant excellent care by the teams of Drs and nurses doing so much for him, rounding several times a day, every day and sometimes just popping in to check up on him. A special shout out of thanks to our Mindy French for being there for us, making extra efforts for my Dad.
Tomorrow the physical therapy will begin and I hope it will help him gain strength to the point he is able to get up from bed on his own again, and maybe even help him work muscles to help with his balance. Now that his brain stimulator is beginning to work, his muscles need some help remembering how they used to be!
 God as blessed us with the excellent Drs, hospitals and very caring nurses. We are eternally grateful for all the care and compassion we have received.