Off the ventilator

I just got back from the hospital. Dad is now off the ventilator. His nurse says he is doing great. He still has the feeding tube down his nose. She said they'll probably do a swallowing test tomorrow to see if he will be able to take oral feeding. Right now his voice has dropped a couple octaves, but she says that is to be expected after being on the vent. His oxygen saturation was 95% breathing the same air I do, which is good. He sounds like he has a fair bit of phlegm. He can talk, but it's a lot of work for him and gets his throat churned up.

The nurse said if all looks good tomorrow, he might be out of the ICU and into a regular hospital room.

-- Bob