Stripping Time & More...

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

It's cotton stripping time!  Tommy Coleman, Rusty Strickland and their crews are helping with the cotton this week. Thank you so much!

Meanwhile, back at UMC, the doctors spent yesterday trying to keep his blood pressure up, his oxygen up and watching his blood counts.  His H & H started dropping again yesterday, so we are back to drawing blood every 4 hours.  PT didn't come by to get him up, since his H & H were low.

Say what you want about McDonald's-but, Mom managed to get him to eat a McDonald's cheeseburger last night. Trust me friends-this is big progress! Leave the McD's comments out of this! ;)

This morning, after a mild discussion from the red head, PT came and got him out of bed for just a bit.  Mom worked him over and got him "dressed" in a shirt and hat.  They are going to begin two more units of blood and hopefully, return his blood counts to a more normal range once again.

Several of you have asked about donating blood.  This is so sweet and such a generous, heartfelt offer!  Due to the rigorous testing of blood products now, it takes almost a week for donated blood to be cleared so that it can be given to a patient.  All the more reason, to donate blood whenever you are able--so there will be blood ready and on the shelf when a patient needs it.  Happy to report-Dad has always given blood on a pretty regular basis.

Here's a picture of him today in the hospital after his make-over from Mom-up in the chair and waiting for some blood! And to think, 9 days ago, Dr. Marchbanks reconstructed that mandible!

8:00 pm update: We made some strides today!  Totally think McD's cheeseburger and shake along with the make-over from Mom, complete with shave, bright shirt and a good hat helped! His oxygen is up, so they have taken him off of the oxygen and monitoring to see if he can remain off.  His blood pressure is still a bit low, but not as low as it was over the weekend.  PT came by and got him into the chair for the first time in four days.  (See above!) OT came by and worked on his upper body strength, and of course, RT (respiratory) came by for breathing treatments.  He received two units of blood today.  Hopefully, his H&H will go back up into a normal range.  Carrie and Kenneth came to Lubbock and visited and so did Mary and Jaime Johnson.  Good company always does a body good!