A Very Good Day

As you may have guessed from the title, today was a great day! I went into the hospital around 12:00 and Jerid was still in the ICU. They were just getting ready to move him and he was in a LOT of pain. He said it was about a 7, which is really high for him. He was nervous and scared and very glad to see me. I walked beside him to his new room on a new floor in a new building and as soon as we got into the hallway you could tell that things would be better here. The atmosphere is very cozy and warm. We met his new nurse and she settled him in. He has a private room with a window that has a lovely view of the side of another building. He still gets filtered light though. Anyway, about 45 minutes after being settled in, his pain level was down to a 4 and he was much calmer. Things only got better from there.

He ate a nice lunch of chicken and rice. Every meal is exactly the same. Chicken with gravy, rice or potatoes, some sort of veggie and a side of fruit. MMMmmmm..... The good news is that they said that he can have anything he wants to eat and I can bring him things in. (So here it is at 10:45 in the evening and I'm baking a tuna casserole. Which is good because I haven't had dinner yet and am starving.) I went across the street to a restaurant called Potbelly's and got us a real lunch. A big salad with everything on it from 4 kinds of meat, cheese, eggs to croutons. He ate some of that and had a few bites of loaded potato soup. I also got a strawberry malt which he drank some of. Much better than the chicken-huh?

After lunch, we just sat and talked. It was really nice for me. Like I told Jerid today, I have missed him so much. Everyday of my life I talk to him if something exciting or bad or just something silly happens. For 5 days my life has been a roller coaster and I haven't been able to tell the one person I share everything with about it. So even though he may be very high on drugs, we finally talked and laughed and it was just like normal. (Except that he nods off about every five minutes) He told me a lot about what he's been feeling since the surgery. I'll let him tell you all that himself, but basically, he's been very scared. He's says he feels so much better now and that he's looking forward to the challenge ahead of him. I hope so because the next few weeks are going to be very hard.

I stayed with him until 7:30. Here are some quick things we did today: I helped him pee into a cup for a urine sample; I made him do his breathing exercises; I watched them split his drainage tubes so that they can be taken out soon; I forced him to drink a whole thing of Ensure; I scratched his back for a long time (the pain meds make him itchy); And I rearranged his pillows about 47 times. It just doesn't get any better than this- does it?

We really did have a wonderful day and hopefully tomorrow will be even better!

Jerid can now receive cards and gifts!

Cards will probably get to him quicker if they're sent to the house

440 Bryn Mawr Ave.
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

And deliveries can be sent to:

Jerid Smith
Room 1011, Silverstien Building
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

No flowers or fresh fruit though... germs and all that. But lets all get that room brightened up and let him know how many people are rooting for him!

Love to all.