Off The Vent All Day

Much progress since my last post.  They started weaning dad off the vent yesterday.  Today, he's been off the vent all day (I'm not sure what time they took him off, but sometime early morning).

When I say "off" the vent, I don't mean they totally turned off or disconnected him from the vent.  So far, what they've done is put the vent in a pressure only mode, where they blow a little bit of air in his lungs to help keep his air passages open, so he can do the actual breathing himself.  In this mode, the vent does not breath for him by forcing an entire "breath" of air into his lungs.  We don't think (or we hope) it won't be hard to wean him off the pressure only mode when the time comes.

Dad still has pain in his back.  He's pretty uncomfortable, but doesn't seem to be suffering intensely.  Getting him off the vent is a big step, but dealing with his back problem in earnest hasn't really even begun yet.  Still, we found out that a physical therapist has already stopped by and helped him sit up in bed for a few minutes, and even stand up (not sure how long, but sure it wasn't much).

Dad is in pretty good spirits all things considered.  He wants Mom by his side at all times, and the hospital has been letting her stay with him even when visitation hours aren't in effect.  Dad's been showing his sense of humor, and has been awake most of the time.

This is all encouraging and welcome news, although we still have a lot to go through before he's back home and moving about in his electric wheelchair.  We hazard to guess that that he could be home in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully we're not being wildly unrealistic.