Friday - Steve Arrives

Dave was on duty last night.  Dad slept from about 10 PM to 4 AM.  When he woke up,  he was again agitated for hours.  I came over about 7 AM and talked to him a little, then a little while later he asked what time it was.  Dave told him "7:15" and I added "in the morning."  Dad gave a big sigh, then fell right asleep.  It was as though he was satisfied he made it to another day.  He really does not like to sleep at night - this has been going on for weeks.  Beth says it's a fairly common phenomenon, as many people believe they will die in their sleep, so they try not to sleep - at night.  They are more comfortable taking "naps" in the daytime.

I know I tend to analyze and analyze.  I can't help but wonder what we can do to help Dad, and I think if I could only understand what was going on, we could make it easier for him.  Maybe not, but I want to try.

Dad slept for 5 hours, and woke up at 12:30, just has his massage therapist arrived.  He wanted to sit up.  Trina oiled up her hands with a luscious smelling rosemary cream, and she worked mostly on his back.  He was confused, as he liked it, but kept asking, Why are you doing this to me?  He finally relaxed, laid down and Trina was massaging his scalp when Jessica the nursing assistant arrived.  Charisse is still out with a hurt back.

Jessica was very nice to Dad, and very efficient, but didn't spend the time Charisse does.  Dad was all clean, his sheets were changed, he got new morphine patches and his thorazine.  He kept asking where he was, and saying please don't hurt me (me: boo hoo) though of course Jessica and Trina were very gentle with him.  I think when his pain meds wear off, he is just a mess.  Fortunately the meds kicked in pretty quickly and he fell asleep.  He hasn't moved for 7 hours now.  We can hear him breathing here in the living room.

Steve arrived - hooray - the same time as Jessica, so he got to see how the bathing, sheet changing and medication is done.  He and Dave stayed here this afternoon while I went out to do a few errands.  We had the Harry & David chicken pot pie sent by David for dinner tonight.  Here's a recommendation - when someone needs comfort food, this is it!  The crust was delicious, and it was FULL of chicken - no peas - just the way I like it.  It came with a package of chicken gravy, too.  Thanks, David.

Steve brought his homemade beef jerky, Rita sent some goodies, including some cranberry bread and brie cheese.  I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow!  Oh, there is also a vegetable soup.  I guess that will be dinner!   Thanks, Rita.

We've put clean sheets on Steve's bed and gave him all the instructions we can think of, but most importantly he has our phone number.  When Dad does wake up, he will need his new doses of meds, and it's too hard for one person to do it now.  He knows to call us!

Molly, Chad and the boys stopped by earlier.  They rented a golf cart for the weekend - all the Trick-or-Treating is done by golf cart here to avoid traffic jams in the one section of our development that goes all out for Halloween.  The boys had their Halloween parade at school today, so they are READY for trick-or-treating.

As I'm wrapping this up for the day, we have the WVU-UConn game on, but we just heard Dad, so now it really is time to stop.

PS I hadn't pushed the Publish button, so here is the follow-up.  It's been an hour since Dad woke up.  He got his meds, and he was saying Food, Food, Food, so we brought out the Jello, pudding and some jars of baby food fruit.  He ate more than we've seen him eat in the last 5 days put together!  He also had a fair amount of water.  We actually were concerned he'd get a stomach ache, as he ate about a cup of food, whereas he's been eating a few spoonfuls a day.  Another rally.  Dad is a very tough guy.  He is lying down again, but talking to Charlie (?).