Last Thursday, my father received a quadruple bypass surgery (not sure if that is the right term, but 4 grafts were needed). It has been 6 days now and he is still in the ICU. The doctors are not worried about the surgical results. But he has been in the ICU for so long because of joint and limb pain and he is just not motivated to move. There has been a lot of ups and downs. The surgery prep started off with us finding out he did not stop taking his Plavix. Luckily, the surgeon deemed him for for the surgery and it went all all things considered. For the first two days at the ICU, he made a lot of effort. Then the following two days he essentially lay in his bed annoyed by the constipation and was having joint pain. He kept asking for laxatives/stool softener and the following day he had so many accidents because he couldn't make it in time to the toilet. At that point he has lost all motivation. Also, it seems that his pain is related to his hips and legs and he is unable to tell in time when it is going to get bad, so the nursing staff give the pain medication to him when pain level is at a 9 or 10 and resulting in him being very uncomfortable for 2-3 hours. He is not the quietest patient when uncomfortable in anyway and there has been several times were staff has had to be very firm with him, I am pretty sure they are also not happy. We are rotating amongst us 5 kids and our mom to stay at the ICU with him. He is never alone, someone is with him day and night. We are all very discouraged that he is not out. He is also very snippy with us if we insist on him walking it doing his exercises. The nursing staff I think are unhappy with him and I noticed they are not as attentive as they used to be. The drive to the hospital is a 2 hour round trip and we are all very exhausted. There has also been a death in the family during all of this, so all of us are mentally and physically exhausted. I knew it would be a slow recovery, but I am not sure what can be done to motivate him. Any tips or opinions would greatly appreciated. PS. I hope this does not come off as rude or ungrateful. We are all very happy he got the surgery.