Tuesday Evening

Just typed a huge, long update and then got disconnected from the internet. BOO!

Anyway, I got here at 4:00 to let Diane go home. I got here in time for them to take Dad's blood and then haul him off to get an MRI. LOL! I felt kind of silly sitting in here by myself for over an hour. But I was able to call a few people and catch a quick five minute nap. While he was gone, his doctor stopped by. She said she would send someone later, since she was going home. It was nice to finally meet her myself, even if I can't remember her name right now.

He got back to the room at about 6:30 pm and was starving. Good thing his CNA (Flora, who is wonderful) had left his dinner tray. So I asked Ann to hurry and get him hooked back up to everything so I could sit him up and feed him. He liked the chicken and corn, but I'm sure he would have rather had ice cold milk. :) We tried to work out a system for him telling me what he wanted to eat, but it was just frustrating him. We finally gave up and I'm not sure what he was asking for. :(

We spent about an hour after that trying to "talk." He kept laughing at my guesses when I was obviously way off. I asked him if Karen was a better guesser than me and he said, "Not really." LOL! Over time, I figured out that he was asking about his brother, Ef. I explained to him that Ef recently had knee replacement surgery and can't get up himself. I promised him that he would come as soon as he could. (I later found out that Ef has been trying to call his room all day long, but there isn't a phone in this room. We'll call you tomorrow, Ef!) Then I figured out that he was asking about his granddaughters, Megan and Lauren. They are super close to him because they live close and see him every day. Very sweet.

He also mentioned that he wants to go home and when I said that he couldn't right now, he asked, "Why?" So I tried to explain the best that I could. :( Poor guy. It has to be so frustrating. While we were having this conversation, Ryan walked in. He always perks up when he sees Ryan. I asked Dad if I could explain our conversation to him and he nodded and kept nodding at everything that I said. I'm so glad that we did figure out some of the things he had been trying to say.

Ryan had the best idea tonight! He brought an ipod and speaker dock and has been playing music for the past couple of hours. He read the entire artist list and Dad picked The Beatles. (We were both surprised he passed on ABBA.) He listened to several Beatles songs and "sang" along with all the words. He just mouthed the words really, and was bobbing his head along to the beat. Such a good idea for him. Then Alison came in and offered to give him a hand massage. I'm think he may want to stay here if this treatment continues! LOL!

After the shift switch, his nurse (tiny Tori again) came in to do the routine checks. Ryan asked if we could get some antihistamine eye drops for him because he has been itching his eyes like crazy tonight. Also, I asked her about the MRI and she said she had just checked it and that everything looked unchanged. She said we could have a consult if we wanted, but she wasn't concerned and thought it could wait until morning. Then someone from respiratory came in and did a quick breathing treatment. And just as Dad was starting to drift off, the cleaning lady came in and started banging things around. I know they are doing their job... but that was very frustrating.

He has been up nearly all day long today. He has to be exhausted, but he is just lying there listening to music. I hope that he gets some good sleep tonight. :) Alison and Ryan are going to sit with him while I try to catch up on some sleep. Then they will head home and I'll do the night shift. More later.