Saturday was busy

The best thing that happened on my fourth day in the hospital was Max, Anya, and Miles braving the snowstorm to come up from Northampton to visit (Warning: grandmotherly boast coming up). Miles,in a gentile mood, happily snuggled up to me on my hospital bed. It was incredibly therapeutic. He didn't react to the NG tube coming out of my nose or any of the other tubes and wires I'm hooked up to. His parents must have prepped him well. He even brought his own stethoscope, as well as two stuffed rats. When they left, he left Ritty Bitty (the small gray one) with me in case I needed a snuggle.

The rest of the day was also good, but tiring. They removed the catheter and decided I didn't need the leg wraps that pump up the circulation and keep me from getting clots. Two fewer systems to deal with.

Then a glitch. On my way back from the bathroom, the NG tube suddenly popped out of my nose onto the floor. Unfortunately, the doctor didn't take this as a sign that I no longer needed the tube and had the nurse insert a new one. To get the right length, you measure from the nostril to the earlobe to just below the sternum, in case you might have to insert one sometime.

The one bit of self-care I've been skimping on is the breathing exercises. Whenever I try any kind of Yogic breathing (pranayama), I cough, which hurts, so I give it up. They scold me a lot for not coughing, to prevent my lungs from clogging up. Now back on pain meds, I am under strict orders to cough, damn it. So I do.