July 8 - Morning! Medical stuff: The plastic surgeon had to re-wrap my left hand yesterday so I got a brief glimpse of the whole missing vessels, skin graft site. Um, ew. That's all I'm saying. I had to look away before I tossed cookies that I didn't even eat!

Last night with the trach gone was a living hell. My nose is all stuffed up and I can't blow it because there's a feeding tube stitched into it, so I can't breathe through my nose. More than half my mouth is filled with "tongue" so getting my mouth open far enough to breathe is hard work. And the slit in my throat is now plugged and half healed. The anti-anxiety meds were useless and I got NO sleep. Gonna be a fun day!

Meanwhile, I had an elevated temp yesterday and this morning I'm sneezing (ouch!). So, looks like I'm getting sick too. Can you tell it's going to be a glorious day for me today??

I'll leave you on a fun note though. There is a board in each patient's room where the nurses can list your goals for the day (like getting a trach out, or eating ice chips). A couple of days ago I swiped Hannah's dry erase marker and listed a goal of winning the lottery. She swiped it back and added "and share with Hannah". Last night she came on shift, wasn't even my assigned nurse, but popped in to say 'hi' to me. She then grinned and slid a scratch off ticket across the table to me. How bleeping cute was that?!? What an absolute doll! Erika's out, Hannah's in. ;-)