Day 2 - The ICU

After a solid day and night of sleep the mental fog had dissipated. There was just one thing nagging at me. I was certain it was the result of a morphine-induced dream -- it had to be. Nevertheless I needed confirmation, and ever so apprehensively stole a glance at my feet. It wasn't a dream! I was still wearing those YELLOW NON-SLIP BOOTIES!!!



Fortunately the medication was wearing off, and the pain had moved to the forefront enough to distract me from the toe-warming abomination.
Speaking of pain, one nice thing about recovering in the ICU was the pain button. Whenever I would feel pain coming on, I would only need to click the "pain button" to get a quick dose of whatever it is that silences nerve endings. This was only used for the first night of recovery, and it was a welcome friend at that time.

I would never actually plan a vacation to the ICU ward at the Medical Center of Aurora, however in hindsight the ICU was a nice place to be post-surgery. The nurse-to-patient ratio was roughly 2:1, so there was no lack of attention.
The nurse who had apparently drawn the short stick and was assigned to my room was a happy guy named Mike with a solid sense of humor. He was extremely attentive and was on top of everything -- making sure meals were ordered, medication was working, effort was being made to use the bathroom, and walks were being attempted.

Another thing Mike emphasized was the use of the incentive spirometer. The objective of this device is to force patients to inflate their lungs and prevent pneumonia from developing. I referred to this as an aspirator until today, when with the magic of Google I was able to figure out what it's really called.

I felt like I was making great progress in the ICU. I was able to get up to use the bathroom, keep my food down, transition to regular pain meds, and laugh at bad jokes. I was surprised at how well things were going. I had braced myself for multiple days of nausea and relentless pain, and although it wasn't a day at the spa, things could be worse.
Even more surprising -- to me anyway -- was that my mysterious psycho-somatic cough had completely disappeared. That cough that had persisted for weeks and driven my poor wife and friends to the brink had up and gone away. All I needed the whole time was brain surgery! Go figure.
Throughout that first day post-surgery, I was seen by a number of different hospital-specific occupations -- Physician's Assistant, Physical Therapists, ICU Nurse, Student Doctor, Real Doctor, etc., all making sure I had successfully completed their part of the process. Although the visits were frequent, the level of attention was comforting.
By late afternoon the staff was convinced that I was headed in the right direction, and once a bed was ready I was moved to the regular recovery area.

Coming up Next: Days on the Recovery Ward