Out of the ICU

Jack was moved out of ICU yesterday into a regular room. He still has an epideral in his back, as well as a gnarly incision on his back from the surgery. He has a catheter, chest tube still in place, and IV holes in each arm, one with a cord for medicine intake. Yesterday I took the kids in to see Jack at 3pm before going to Papa's house. We were there a whole 10 minutes before Jack started showing me the universal sign language for "need to throw up". I didn't get the trash can to him fast enough, of course. So, I had to hide my kids from the mess, in his bathroom, and hunt a nurse down. We then left and went to visit Papa. Tim went to the doctor this week and got a shot in his back to help fix his back issues. He's like a new man!! He was a much happier looking Papa! Later that night, after Justin could be home with the kids, I went back to Andover to see Jack. He seemed to be talking fine, for the most part. I mentioned that Justin would be going to KC to do his physical for the Navy this next week(he got his weight down!!!) and somehow Jack turned the words into something totally odd. He kept saying how Justin was driving a wheat truck. I said, no he's going to KC. Jack said okay, like he had misunderstood and that was it. Shortly after that, my mom came in and he was telling her how he and I were cutting wheat, loading wheat, unloading wheat. So random. I mean, I know I was tired from our trip to the zoo, but I guess if I was doing wheat all day, that would explain being excessively tired! We heard "wheat" spoken more throughout the rest of the evening and my mom and I would just smile at each other and talk to him about other things. Today, I finally talked my mom into voluntarily leaving the hospital and going home for a bit(she spends the night there with him to help with his confusion). So I had hospital duty from 10am-4pm. No wheat talk today, but when asked he wasn't able to tell the nurse what my name was, other than Jr. Close enough, I guess. He joked and talked to me like he knew me, so at least he didn't think I was a stranger. Then this evening the kids and I dropped by for a short visit so they could see him. They get upset when I see Pop and they have to stay home. Emily is a little afraid to get near Pop right now. He has a lot of things plugged in and bandages everywhere. Aiden just plops himself on his bed and sits there, having "conversations" with him in his own language. We will be back tomorrow(Carrie will be in town, as well)for another visit. Hopefully they start weening him off the epideral so he can get some of his mind back together again.