You're welcome! Generally they will let you visit the patient when in ICU. I guess this is unless a family member requests not to let that happen.
Expect to see wires, tubes, machines, monitors everywhere. You might not recognize him at all. He may develop a term that I learned here recently - moon face. I always called it chipmunk cheeks. The high doses of Prednisone will do this to him.
He'll very likely be on a ventilator with a tube down his throat unless it's removed before you see him. That would be a good thing though meaning he is already breathing on his own.
I had my surgery on a Friday from about 10am-midnight. It was a long surgery as my old lungs were so bad they needed to be scraped out of my chest. I was up in ICU sitting in a chair watching Price is Right on Monday morning. That's when I had time and actually enjoyed the show. The departure of Bob Barker killed it for me.
Just be there for him. Persuade him to get up and walk as soon as the doc's give the go ahead. The most important part is to get moving. The longer you lay still the harder recovery gets. Help him by pushing the IV pole for him or carry anything that he might have attached while walking in the hallway. Make goals for him. The first time you walk you go so far. The next walk you go farther and on and on and on...
Healing takes time but speeds up tremendously when out of the hospital.
You seem like an awesome friend. Believe it or not one of the first things I ever expressed was the fact that I couldn't have done this without the support of everyone. I am strong willed but just having a support system with people around who cared about me made it easier. Sure I got irritated with them sometimes but they didn't care and I apologized after the fact. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
Expect to see wires, tubes, machines, monitors everywhere. You might not recognize him at all. He may develop a term that I learned here recently - moon face. I always called it chipmunk cheeks. The high doses of Prednisone will do this to him.
He'll very likely be on a ventilator with a tube down his throat unless it's removed before you see him. That would be a good thing though meaning he is already breathing on his own.
I had my surgery on a Friday from about 10am-midnight. It was a long surgery as my old lungs were so bad they needed to be scraped out of my chest. I was up in ICU sitting in a chair watching Price is Right on Monday morning. That's when I had time and actually enjoyed the show. The departure of Bob Barker killed it for me.
Just be there for him. Persuade him to get up and walk as soon as the doc's give the go ahead. The most important part is to get moving. The longer you lay still the harder recovery gets. Help him by pushing the IV pole for him or carry anything that he might have attached while walking in the hallway. Make goals for him. The first time you walk you go so far. The next walk you go farther and on and on and on...
Healing takes time but speeds up tremendously when out of the hospital.
You seem like an awesome friend. Believe it or not one of the first things I ever expressed was the fact that I couldn't have done this without the support of everyone. I am strong willed but just having a support system with people around who cared about me made it easier. Sure I got irritated with them sometimes but they didn't care and I apologized after the fact. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">