Ray had a bad/good weekend!! I didn’t get a chance to go down until Sunday so part of this blog is from my sister, Nadia, who spent Friday and Saturday with him.
When I came into his room on Friday for the first time in a week I noticed how swollen he was. His face and chest were so swollen that I had a hard time believing that it was him. I told the nurses that the swelling on his sides where the chest tubes used to be did not look normal to me. I thought that maybe there was something going on. He was alert and talking to us, not tired at all. Well it ended very quickly when the Nurse accidentally slightly pulled out his tube to the catheter. He screamed and yelled and was in so much pain. He was so upset that this happened for THE SECOND TIME. Later that night one of his Doctors came in (I think it was infection specialist) and saw the swelling that I was talking about. He said he had orders for another doctor to come look at it and never got a report back. So he scheduled a CT for the next morning to find out what was happening inside of his chest. I stayed with him till about 12:30 in the morning and then went back to the fisher house and went to sleep. I relieved Sherri the next morning and he was pretty much out of it after breakfast and the entire afternoon. I fed him pancakes and some eggs. We drenched his pancakes in some VERMONT MAPLE SYRUP that one of his friends had sent to him.
After breakfast, ( Or I should say five bites ) Ray fell asleep and stayed pretty much out of it until his CT scan around 3:00.
My cousin Louie and Rebecca came with me to see Ray on Sunday morning. Aunt Kit, Uncle Lou, Jimmy and Amanda came down a little later. When we got to his room he had 4 other visitors (4* General and 3 others) so we waited in the hall until they were done. I sat and listened to how alert he was. I guess that is what visitors do for him. Well he was happy to see Louie & Rebecca, in fact when the nurse came in to ask what level was he at for pain 1 to 10 he said 1. This was the first time he said that I was soooo excited. He said this must be a good omen, he was happy, awake, laughing, not tired and NO pain. He told them it must be them. We actually got to spend like 4 hours with him in this shape. It was wonderful, I was kind of dreading it before getting there because of what Nadia experienced but it was the complete opposite. THANK GOODNESS!!!! When lunch came Ray didn’t want it he said Chuck was making him lunch, and he wanted to save his appetitie for that. Chuck (my oldest brother) was cooking him Chicken Fajitas at the Fisher House and was going to bring it up later.. Ray joked about all the blankets he received, I told him I was taking them home with me! He said all but the one that was signed I could. The one that was signed was given to him on the flight from Iraq to Germany. Then he showed us the Phillies cap Nina bought for him, he said it was the best hat he has, don’t mind him he hasn’t been watching tv much!!! LOL. Louie asked him to arm wrestle for it, Ray said no way! Pastor Gary came in and was excited to see Ray so awake and joking. He tried Ray’s hat on and told him he wanted it, Ray said he couldn’t have it either. Pastor Gary told him there was ways around for him to get Ray to say he could keep it, Ray told him that would be called stealing and since he is a man of God that it wouldn’t be right. We all laughed. Pastor Gary said he could video tape him giving permission so it would be ok. Ray told him he didn’t even look good in the hat and that he looked like Gomer Pyle. As Pastor Gary was leaving he stuck the cap in the back of his pants like he was “stealing” it and Ray was swooshing his hands around staying stop him stop him, Uncle Lou grabbed the cap and gave it back to Ray and Ray said Thank God for Uncle Lou.
So I have learned this weekend my brother loves his American flag blanket, his Phillies camo cap and chocolate covered pretzels everything else he will share.
Well he was in good spirits but I think we wore him out because he slept for the rest of the day. Monday he was going to be in surgery. His right leg is all sewn up and almost ready for prosthetics, they are still working on his left leg, but the drs. and nurses are hoping to get him in a wheelchair soon!!! Keep your fingers crossed and prayers going!!!
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