There has been word all day about an upcoming storm, the clouds were gray and it felt as if the rain was coming. The TV was set to the news station, and the weather man with to much hair product (like I should talk) was on for hours, there were weather advisors out all over the state as the storm was approaching. I put my chairs together, curl up and get ready to fall asleep for the night to the sound of the only other occupant in the room making motorcycle noises. I close my eyes and doze off when I’m awakened by a lady on the phone complaining that she can’t get the window closed, she had closed all the blinds and is asking my houseguest to move away from the window. Apparently there is a “level 1 tango” which is hospital code for a tornado warning in the area. The sound of hail (marble sized), rain, and wind was pelting the window along with the flashes of lightning and the crackling of thunder. I begin to think to myself is this the place I really want to be if a tornado hits? And then I got excited that I could potentially see a cow flying by if I looked out the window, if it really did come. The thoughts didn’t last long as I was watching the spokes person for suave hair products point out the rainbow of colors on the TV I dozed back off. It was then the nurse wakes me up. She told me dad has been pretty restless for the past 20 minutes and wanted to see if I could calm him down.
At first I was confused on who it was that actually woke me up, but I quickly gathered my thoughts and came into the room, dad was all over the bed. It was as bad as I’ve seen in awhile, and I’m so thankful she was willing to come get me. This is what I’m here for and it was nice that she was willing to let me help. I came in and respiratory was in monitoring his breathing and trying to help. We eventually got him to calm down and I sit down for 3-4 minutes when I see the x-ray guy push his cart to the door and I had to demonstrate a little self control not to go block the door. They took the x-ray even though the nurse and I were perturbed. Of course he became riled up again and it took a little longer to calm him down this time. Respiratory came in again and bumped up his oxygen and it seemed to have almost an immediate effect. He fell asleep again and appeared to be resting comfortably. Today was the first time in awhile I’ve seen some expression on his face. He had an expression on his forehead again as if he was hurting or confused. Although I hate seeing that, it was welcome to see some sort of expression come back. It’s been over 2 weeks since I’ve seen that last. I think seeing it makes it harder for me to go home for awhile, because I know I need to be here.
The staff tonight has been fantastic, the communication and care has been top notch. The nurse was interested in dad and what he did for living. I always enjoy listening to my patients and their stories on where they work(ed) and what their background is. It gives you such a better understanding for the patient and type of person they are. As soon as I told her that he now owns a business after 30 something years in education she shot off the name of his store and you could see her recounting the times she had talk to him. She went on to say that her and her husband have a ministry in which they help get furniture and mainly bedding for underprivileged kids and how dad and been great in talking and helping her. She recounted a story in which he had told her about a coffee table. He had the opportunity to buy it, and he really didn’t need it for the store, but felt a need. He took it in and within a couple of days a lady came in and was crying near the table. He found out she had been struggling recently and fell in love with the table but couldn’t afford it. The nurse then told me, she didn’t know how much it was, or how much she paid for it, but she did know that she could afford it that day, and went home with a coffee table. It was touching to see the smile and sparkle in her eye and she was recounting the impression that dad had made on her. They had just talked a handful of times, but he made a lasting impression. It’s always amazing to hear these stories from people whom I’ve never met before and the different ways dad has touched them.
It’s been a long night, dad has been giving me a workout. I think he heard that I gained some weight and I’m starting to look hefty, so he felt the need to give me a workout. Different churches bring meals for the ICU families each weekday for lunch, we’ve been getting lots of pizza and lots of sandwiches and of course I’ve been eating whatever I can. I’m thankful that people are willing to spend some time and money and help us out with meals. It makes things easier when you don’t have to worry about going out and getting something or going down to the cafeteria to get some “food.” I would assume that when you would approach a cafeteria or a kitchen you would smell the food that they were cooking, but it hasn’t been the case, so I haven’t been a big fan of eating there. Since I’m not a big fan of the cafeteria food, I had the opportunity to eat at an IHOP for the first time and it was amazing. I ate an unhealthy amount of food, but it was so good, and I can’t wait to go back and continue the feast. Who knew there were so many different kinds of syrup.
My breakfast today consisted of cheetos and a coke, it’s a breakfast of champions if I may say so myself. I also feel a little weird I haven’t really made fun of Chris in awhile. I really haven’t seen much of her recently because we’ve been alternating shifts or she is just napping when she tells me she’s doing homework. Chris is working tonight so it appears as if I have night shift again.
I feel slightly out of the loop again because I slept from 10-3 or so, I missed all the doctors coming around and had to get my information from Chris. Since I really never pay attention to her, and am used to automatically tuning her out (kidding people… mostly). The fever has subsided throughout the day, and it’s about normal. He has had periods of restlessness and sleeping. It figures that most of the time he was sleeping today was with Chris, so I get the tough work. I was in the room for a couple hours so far and I’ve been kicked in the unmentionables a few times, and the face once so far. I think it’s just his way of getting back to me for all the things I did to him growing up.
Dads meds have decreased a little today, and the doctors have decided to leave him on this new medicine a little longer. It’s a newer medicine and we’ve read reports where it has been on as long as 11 days, but it’s only typically on for 48 hours. I’m pretty sure that has been all the changes throughout the day. Hopefully tonight will be a restful one.
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