Ralph update and somc cute pictures

Today we took another trip back to see Ralph. Patrick stayed with him last night and posted an update. Today, Ralph looks so much better. He is still in terrible pain some times, and his blood pressure, which was stable last night, has been fluctuating terribly today. When I got here, his heart rate was steady at 80s. Now it is has been over 100 for the past two hours. His blood pressure is currently 171/65. A "good" blood pressure is 130/80. He has an arterial line in that constantly monitors his blood pressure and pulse. He did have his foley (urine catheter) removed, so that is one step to going home. His has been in atrial fibrulation most of the day, so the doctors have added Digoxyn to his regimin.

The doctor stopped in today and gave us a new plan of action. Tomorrow the orthopedic surgeon is going to come in and assess Ralph's arm. It must be healing well before they can do surgery. If the surgeon plans to do shoulder surgery this week, Ralph will stay in the hospital until after he recovers from surgery. If the surgeon decides that his arm needs to heal more, they will send him home to rest and heal there. Either way, we are hopeful that Ralph's stay in the hospital is coming to an end.

He was excited to see his babies today. They came in and gave him lots of kisses.

Julia was curious about his nasal cannula, Morgan was just interested in playing with the window :)

Amy, Chris, and Julia stayed for about two hours. Ralph's color and demeanor really picked up once we arrived. The girls managed to keep him entertained while Patrick took a break from the room.

This is Amy feeding Ralph a smuggled in chili dog from Sheetz.

Around 4:00 our awesome nurse Sonja came in to change Ralph's arm dressing. It is certainly a three person job! While the bandages were removed, I took the opportunity to take some pictures, since Ralph has been asking to see how bad his arm is. Below are the pictures. I was surprised at how good the arm looked. So much better than I ever thought it would be. It took us about 30 minutes for 3 people to change his arm. At one point poor Ralph had a bandage stuck to one of his biggest wounds and when we removed the bandage, he blanched the pain was so bad. We did get him wrapped up and settled back down with new dressings and some fantastic pain meds. :)



Of course, no post would be complete without pictures of the girls. They kept everyone entertained and have been so very good considering they have been in a hospital room with no toys! Morgan has been here 7 hours and has only had one meltdown. I am so proud of her.

Are they camera hams or what?!?!

Morgan decided it was time for a silly face!

One exciting thing from this past week, Amy and Chris found out that their second child is going to be a BOY!!! While the family is having a hard time transitioning from all pink to blues and greens, we are so very excited. Janet (my MIL) and I have been shopping fools since Friday afternoon!

Julia and Morgan giving baby Cole a kiss (isn't this so adorable!!!)