Slept ok, although Fitbit only gave me a 45. My blood pressure this morning is very low, 89 in the left arm, 91 in the right. Had an EKG at 11:00 and it was normal, but after I felt weak and my breathing rate was elevated. Felt dizzy and sleepy. At 1 pm, suspecting an infection, Caitlyn, the pink-haired nurse, changed all the dressings, but there were no obvious signs. Maureen came in at 1:30 pm and helped me wash and change my clothes. At 3 pm, Caitlyn came with the meds. The doctor had approved an increase in the gabapentin dosage to 600 mg. She took the vitals again and the blood pressure was back up in the normal range, meaning she could give me morphine. By 9 pm I was back to shivering but went to sleep. At 11:00 pm I woke up feeling nauseous. Made a trip to the bathroom where I vomited and had a bowel movement. Back in bed the nurse gave me a dose of Maalox to settle the stomach. I felt ok and fell asleep around midnight.

First major fault with Encompass. They messed up coverage on the shift change this evening. I began feeling cold after Martha and Charles left around 4:30 pm. It was good of them to come in but I had to gently end the visit as I felt a BM coming on. After, I got back into bed, and had an ok supper of shepherd’s pie (needed more Worcestershire Sauce!). Began shivering. I asked for more blankets and to raise the room temperature which helped a bit, and then fell asleep. Fitbit recorded sleep from 5:53 to 7:44 pm. Awoke to sharp stabbing pain in my right foot every 20 seconds or so. Called for nurse. Crickets. Called for nurse several times. I could hear them talking in the corridor, but no one came to see what was up. The pain at that time was as bad as the pain immediately after surgery and I was calling out: “Fuck, Jesus Christ, Owww.” Finally, around 8:05 someone put their head around the door to tell me it would take  while for the nurse because it was a shift change – as if that explained things or relieved my pain. Around 8:15 a nurse came into give me meds: 30 mg Morphine, 1000 mg Acetaminophen, 300 mg Gabapentin. Relief kicked in around 8:30. The Tylenol should help reduce the fever.

Met a lot of new people

• Lauren, OT
• Evan, PT
• Stephany, PT
• Joelma: PCA
• Isaac: Nurse

First day at rehab. Sleep was not great. Did a morphine refill of 30 mg at 1:30 in the morning. I listened to ambient sounds on my headphone to drown out the snores, grunts, and wheezes of my roommate. I’ve dropped hints to the staff – we’ll see if they can do anything.

Had multiple visits in the morning from Lauren, my OT. Lots of questions about the set up of our house. How many floors? How many steps? What equipment do we have? This was followed by PT, with Evan and Stephany. Evan did most of the assessment with Stephany just watching. I think she’s the senior of the two. He asked many of the same questions as Lauren. He watched and analyzed how I got out of ed, into bed, used the walker, etc. I got into the wheelchair and wheeled myself down the corridor to the gym. I got to see into some of the patient rooms and look at the facilities on the way. Bottom line from OT and PT, I’m pretty strong and able to do things as well as, or better, than expected.

I called Maureen. She’ll be in this afternoon after the gym.