Watching and waiting

As I am writing this, I am sitting beside Dad's bed in the hospital. I'm sorry that I haven't updated this before. Yesterday was a bit consuming for me and I couldn't get the computer online. By the time I got home it was after 9PM and I was too tired and wanting to just get a shower. We are all trying to stay clean and not get anything from the hospital. :(

Yesterday Dad was responding and smiling and trying to talk -- almost a chatter. Unfortunately, very little of it is understandable. He did smile when I came in but when Sam came in later he raised his hand and said clearly enough for all of us to understand, "oh, look who's here!" Amazed us all. He was awake most of the morning. We brought Mom in to see Dad and he was happy to see her. She sat for awhile with him and held his hand and when he started to get sleeping and snoring and then his body started jerking alot.......(several hours later)...we decided that it would be better to take her back to the nursing home. Sam and Sherri took her for lunch first.

Okay, now. I had written two more paragraphs explaining alot of stuff and due to a technical malfunction, I lost it all. Now I am home from the hospital, have eaten a late supper and am trying to finish this, again, so that those who are waiting for an update will have one. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do this sooner but please understand that it has been almost non-stop today, especially.

Today, Dad was much less responsive and even less coherent in his conversation. When he sleeps, which is most of the time, his body will spontaneously start to jerk, shake and jump. He will start to reach for something in the air or point. Sometimes he is very agitated and panicky. If you are holding his hand, at times he will squeeze so tight that it feels your hand will break. One time yesterday when I was holding his hand, he squeezed tightly and moved my hand as if he were shifting gears of a car.

His vital signs are good and stable. His oxygen levels have been above 90 all day. The hardest thing for us all to watch is the almost seizure-like body movements, his agitation and his inability to clearly communicate. Today we called Hospice to come in and talk to us about the possibility of their care for Dad. The representative that came was wonderful. She seemed to indicate that he would qualify but we needed the doctor's counsel first. She left the information for the Dr. on the chart for when he comes in tomorrow morning. I will be at the hospital early tomorrow so that I might have a chance to talk to him about this.

We had an upsetting day today (we, meaning the family) because of the nurse that was assigned to Dad's care today. When I got to the hospital this morning she was preparing to give Dad his meds by mouth!!! He can't have anything by mouth in case he were to choke because he can't swallow. It's in the chart!! She had the meds on the table with applesauce ready to give uncrushed meds in the applesauce. She didn't even have a crusher there until I said, "did they tell you how to give the meds?" I told her they went in his feeding tube. She said, "oh, he doesn't take anything by mouth?" I get angry again just writing about it! I proceeded to tell her how to give it and she said, "Oh, I'll go get the crusher and be right back." I won't bore you with the details but the rest of the day went on like that. I was watching this "lovely" lady's every move! Nila and I gave the night crew and real once over before we felt safe to leave Dad for the night. The night nurse and tech were awesome and said they would take good care of him all night and we believed them by what we saw. I'm going to try and finish this post soon so that I can get to bed because I intend to be at the hospital by 7:00 am.

Mom has some leg pain going on that we also are needing to address. Grace is her nurse at the nursing home tonight. I left Nila at the hospital with Dad earlier and went to check on Mom because she was complaining so much about the leg pain. Grace had been taking care of her and given her Tylenol. I expressed concern about a blood clot and Grace put in a call to the doctor who said that they should do a veinous doppler tomorrow. We are staying busy here and I am so grateful for having Nila her and Rich at this time.

If this doesn't make sense and/or you have any questions because of this post and my writing it tired, please don't hesitate to ask!! (I'm not even taking the time to proofread it..I'm going to bed now.)