A New Hole

November 25, 2024

The Cruise--Details

I didn't include more details in the prior "The Cruise" post for two reasons. 1) I didn't think anyone would be interested; and 2) This trip didn't include much of the normal topics: good beer, good coffee or John-style travel. But there are details, which may be useful to some people contemplating how such a trip is put together. On the first day of the trip, we drove three hours to pick up my mother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At 85, she isn't comfortable driving for long distances and hadn't flown for many years. We then drove 3 1/2 more hours to Chicago, where we checked into the Wyndham, where you can get a room that includes the cost of parking for up to 12 days. We were up early on the hotel shuttle to O'Hare, where we then boarded the a non-stop American Airlines flight to New Orleans. Here, we checked into a Hampton Inn near the port. My mother was pretty tired, so Julia and I went out for a Cajun dinner and live music. Rememberi...

Justin tolerated his tracheostomy and has been breathing with the assistance of a ventilator since Friday. The next step is a transfer to a specialty hospital, where he will receive speech therapy and learn to eat with the trache. The average stay there is about 25 days, but nothing has been average about Justin's hospital stay so far, so we will see.

The newest development is the prescription of fentanyl patches to alleviate Justin's back pain. These take about 12 hours to start to have an effect and then last about three days, supposedly. When I visited Justin this morning, it had been 15 hours, and he wasn't feeling any pain relief yet. Too much pain medication means that he is too groggy to do breathing therapy. Too little, and he is in excruciating pain.

That hospital transfer will supposedly occur tomorrow. Another day of "one day at a time."

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