Quick update and non sequitur

Barb's feeling enough better that they're starting to wean her off her pain meds/epidural, which in turn is making her feel less better. It makes perfect sense, really. She did walk a few steps today, though, and they're planning on staging her out of the ICU into a normal room tomorrow. (Jeannie, they were discussing that this morning, which is why I told you I thought it better to hold off a day -- if you can come tomorrow and she's in her own room, it will be a little roomier, a little more private, and a little less noisy.)

There's a guy in the segment next to her in the ICU, just staged back here from the war. He got his face damaged pretty well by an IED -- or, if you prefer English to army talk, a bomb. He says that whenever he sleeps, he feels like he's getting blown up again. They're working with him, both to reduce the swelling enough in his face that he can open his eyes (I don't think he's outright blinded, but his eyes don't open at the moment) and to get him the meds and therapy to work with the post-traumatic stress disorder -- or, if you prefer English, to the shell shock.

He's hostile and angry, which seems understandable, and the nurses handle him well. He mostly has had males assigned as his nurses; when he cusses at them, they talk him down, help him focus, and try to bring him to a place with less hurt and fury.

This doesn't have anything to do with the InvinciBarb blog, or any of her medical issues -- she's been distracted enough with pain and discomfort that she may not have noticed that dude at all. I have, though, and I'm both moved by the sacrifices that people make in the name of love for their country and by the art and compassion of the medical professionals that try to repair them. When you're saying a prayer for Barb tonight, which I hope that you will, save a thought for those people, too...