Al's Blog-o-Sphere

Al is looking good, considering what he’s been through. He came off the ventilator today and I got visit him twice today.

He wanted his glasses and iPod, so he’s feeling good enough to do more than just lie there. With the tubes out of his throat, he’s talking and in pretty good spirits. He says his breathing is feeling better already, but there is some soreness yet. I thought he looked really good.

I visited again tonight, even though there is no shuttle service. I found out it’s not too bad of a walk and walked down for an evening visit. While I was there, they moved him into a bigger room with a TV. Where he was before, he was right by the doors coming into the unit and it was always busy. He’s now in a more off-the path area, so he’ll be able to rest better.

I’ll be back in the morning. I hope he’ll be even better to report then.

I finally got word that Albert was out of surgery. He was done a bit after 2:00pm, so he was in there nearly eight hours. He was one of two lung transplant they performed that day at UPMC. I have a hard time imagining a surgeon working eight hours straight in such a delicate operation. Of course, that’s my laymans’ impression, fueled by what I see on TV. The reality must be that they do so many of these here, that it’s like an assembly line and many people do pieces of the work. The main guy in charge just gets the credit. Continue Reading…