Thursday, July 23

Sorry I missed yesterday.

So I have some excellent news to report today.

Ray is doing fantastic!!

He had all the tubes removed yesterday. He was feeling much better after a very restless night.

He spent a lot of time a sleep making up for the lack of sleep the night before.

Today Thursday is has been up walking even doing stairs. He is eating some which is great. Mom says he looks good! The doc's are regulating his medicine so they can get him sent home.

I told you it was great news!

July 21st 4:15 p.m. update

I am happy to report Ray is out of surgery and things went well. He is back in his room resting peacefully. He will open his eyes and nod when asked a question. Before surgery he was doing a lot of talking (a lot more than he has at least). The nurse says he will be here for another day or two possibly come home on Thursday. They will have to regulate his meds and get him eating food again. He is happy it is over!!

Tuesday, July 21

Good morning.

Ray had a rough night he has developed a bad case of the hick-ups. He was up for about 6 hours with them during the night. The doctors are planning on doing the pacemaker this afternoon. Ray is asking that no one except his children visit today. He wants to be strong for the surgery. We will keep you posted on all the updates as soon as they come in!

Monday, July 20th PM Update

I stopped by the hospital around 4:oo pm today. Ray was sleeping. He has been up for a walk or two today. He said, "It feels good to get out of bed." The doctor would like to do the pace maker procedure tomorrow afternoon if Ray appears to be well enough for it. They would schedule it for later in the afternoon. Clara will find out more tomorrow and like I said, it will depend on how Ray is doing.

The doctor is positive he needs to have the procedure done. He wishes he could wait and do it in a month, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

We wish him a good night of rest and same to all of you.

Thanks 

Monday, July 20

It is 12:00 and I have spoken with Clara and she reported that everyday Ray is getting

a little bit better. He had lousy night, I'm not sure if it was due to any problems or just a long hospital night. He has been up a few times from one corner of his room to another. Yesterday he had a lot of visitors and had become quite warn out. Once again, check in with Clara before you come to the hospital so we can spread out his visitors over a few days. Thanks for your understanding with this. We love and appreciate everyones help, visits and concerned calls.

We do ask when you visit with Ray to ask him questions that makes him talk to help get his lungs stronger. The doc keeps saying get him talking!!!

Thanks everyone:)

Sunday, July 19 a.m. update

Good Morning!

Ray said it was a long night. Time goes by much better during the day when he gets short visits. If you want to visit talk to Clara so we can spread them out a little. Ray was up sitting in a chair, the doctor wants him to work on his breathing by taking long deep breaths. They want to see him up and taking short walks. It sounds like things are coming along nicely. Of course Ray would like to get out of there- hopefully very soon. 

July 18th p.m. update

I just spoke with Clara, when she left he hospital at 6:00 Ray was doing well.

He is still angry that he is in this position. He would much rather be out fishing or

picking tomatoes.

There has not been that much change since the afternoon update.

We will hope for a good night of sleep, and some relief of the 

rib pain. If you have had a fractured or broken rib(s) you know how painful they are.

It makes it hard to breath and difficult to find a comfy sleeping position.

We wish you all good health and a good nights rest!

Ray's family

July 18th mid day update

Hi again

We just got off the phone with Clara and she has updated us on Ray's current condition. He is resting and holding in there. The doctor's are keeping watch on his kidneys and making sure they are functioning up to par. 

The nurses are working with him to cough and take deep breaths to help his lungs grow stronger, which have weakened from all the chest compressions. Unfortunately for Ray that does cause pain to breathe deep or cough.

Pass the blog site on to others so they can keep current on Ray's information.

Jul 18 a.m. Update

We wanted to take a minute and thank everyone who has been so concerned with Ray. He has had so much love and support. We have decided as a family maybe the best love and support we can give him will be from a distance. I hope you will check this blog daily even multiple times a day, which we will keep updated as the info reaches us.

I spoke with mom this morning and she reported that Ray had a good night. He is in some pain from all the chest compressions he has received. He did remove his oxygen mask and say "I don't think they will let me go home today."

As you can guess he is tired of laying in the bed, and more tired of being at the hospital.  He was quite angry yesterday afternoon. He said, "I've gone to hell and back and the procedure wasn't done." He was referring to the IDC (pacemaker) they started the procedure to place it yesterday, but his lungs were  to tired from the day before.

If you do visit the hospital, please enjoy visiting with the family in the waiting room, and know we will forward your love to dad.

We are grateful for all the help from the hospital.

Thanks everyone for your love and support Jen