Last night was without a doubt a test of self control and patience. The night was dragging and I was having a hard time keeping dad calm. I was able to do it for 5-10 minutes and then he’d start back up again, finally he started to rest for a little longer and because I’m very familiar with the staff who had him and confident they’d come get me if needed, I decided to rest my eyeballs around 1:30. The waiting room was pretty full with 5 people sleeping and only one lawnmower (which was impressively loud). I fall asleep and shortly wake up to a group coming into the waiting room and talking. I’m used to many people coming in and out throughout the night but most are very courteous and observant that people are trying to get some sleep so they stay as quiet as possible. This was not the case for this family. They’re talking with their outside/mid day voice and consistently complaining. I look up and give a slight death glare and see that everyone else in the waiting room was awake as well and doing the same thing. We try to fall back asleep and then one of the family members decides to sit on the chair next to me and call someone while another family member across the room was calling what sounded to be like friends. I soon hear the words inmate and detained next to me and I perk up. Apparently there was an inmate from a prison who was beaten up by someone and sent to the hospital without notifying the family. They then decided to turn the tv on and increase the volume so they could even hear it upstairs. I almost didn’t care if I had the remote anymore because I was about to throw it across the room at the loudest accomplice. Of course I’d be upset as well, but I think I’d have the courtesy of talking in the hall way or being a little quieter when 6 people are sleeping. Granted I was lacking sleep so it may have increased my irritability but I was considering how much bail would be for assault because I strongly tossed the idea of throwing them out the window. I texted Chris to warn her that if there is a code 13 (hospital lingo for rowdy family members) to the waiting room, not to be alarmed. After I asked how much the bail would be set at and she said probably 1k per person, I was still comfortable with that. I just can’t believe how people don’t have enough courtesy and respect for others to at least act like they’re aware people in the same situation are trying to sleep.
I wanted to attempt to sleep a little because the opportunity arose in which I could wrestle alligators. Apparently Hot Springs has an alligator farm and it’s time for the gators (that’s what us real wildlife men call ‘em) to come out from inside and go outside into the pools. Quincy’s old basketball coach owns the farm and so he needed help moving them from inside. The gators we moved ranged from 7 – 65 years old so some of them were pretty big. We grabbed onto their tail and drug them backwards into the water. They were moving kind of slow because they are still semi-hibernating. Some were a little feisty but nothing that scared me too much. It was definitely a cool experience and something I never thought I’d actually do, so I’m glad I can now call myself THE alligator man. As I was leaving I began to think about how I could add my experience with the gators and in the south together and the best idea I could think of was crocodile skin cowboy boots. I’m on the lookout for them, don’t worry. After wrestling we decided we needed a good hearty breakfast so a McDonalds trip was in order.
I get back and begin the rest of the day in the room. Dad is a little restless which is probably mostly due to Chris being in the room elevating his blood pressure. I took over and finally calmed him down and he slept well for a couple of hours. They wanted to take out the feeding tube from his nose and put it in his mouth, but he didn’t tolerate it well so they just switched nostrils. Dad has inflamed sinuses which may be part of the reason for the temperatures. He wasn’t really weaned off of the medicine too much today and he stayed pretty stable. The thing that they’re mainly working on at this point is getting the powerful sedative out of his system. The fetanyl is stored in fats and can last in your system for quite a while. He does seem more alert today and it’s good to see. He has started to open his eyes when you ask him to and he’s even started to squeeze my hand again. I started to ask him questions and told him to squeeze my hand for a yes. I began to ask him if he was in pain, and if he’s squeeze I’d ask where. He was able to squeeze and tell me a few different things that hurt, and that he was having trouble breathing once. I also asked him if he wanted to roll to the left or right and he scrunched up his face as if he was confused. I asked him if he wanted to roll left and he squeezed yes. I then followed up asking if he wanted to roll right and he didn’t respond. The responses to me were very appropriate but it could just be involuntary or non purposeful squeezes.
I know from experience not to get my hopes to high and to expect the roller coaster ride. It’s going to be tough to leave tomorrow seeing the gains that I saw today. It was welcome to see these improvements but then again I don’t want to get too hopeful and have to cope with the downhill aspect of the ride. Dad has started to become more restless throughout the afternoon and it appears to me as if it’s some sort of hallucination from the drugs. I try to picture what he’s thinking as he’s moving around and try to match the motions with a story. One story I thought about was him driving the bus, he put his hand up as if he was shielding the sun, and then would pump his right foot up and down as if he was pressing the gas. Another story I thought about was that he was a karate kid. He would kick his legs and flail his arms as if he was attacking someone and he got a few good kicks on me here and there. Myself, along with the nurses have been surprised how strong he is. He’s been resisting and kicking pretty well and still has lots of strength. I can’t wait to come back and see the improvements he’s made.
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