Exit of the Tubes

Jonathan decided yesterday to get rid of his catheter. Being somewhat hampered in the movement department, he solved the problem by kicking the whole thing out.

This news has yet to be met by any man in hospital or at home without a flinch. But Jonathan seems to be doing well and does not seem to have suffered any ill effects from his first attempt at self-surgery.

The catheter was in there in the first place to keep everything open - during surgery an incorrectly inserted catheter poked a small hole in him and they reinserted it to make sure healing and swelling didin't close everything up and create an emergency. Since he's still doing well without it 24 hours afterwards, we think he's going to do okay. And I'm sure he's happy to get rid of that particular set of tubes and wires and needles!

The stomach drain also came out early this morning, followed by the Fentanyl drip this afternoon. He's getting occasional shots of the stuff in the IV line, but no more permanent drip. Results? He was awake this afternoon. The only thing left to go is the respirator, which he's getting more and more unhappy with. He was trying so hard to pull it out this afternoon that the nurse bundled him in a blanket to keep his hands bound. At which point we found Jonathan's similarity to Michael: he very much likes being bundled in a blanket instead of left naked under heat lamps. After being bundled up he went straight to sleep.

Of course, to me that isn't surprising. Who wants to lay around naked under a heat lamp when you could be comfortably bundled up in a soft blanket? Especially with your family and tons of strangers hanging around?

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