Last Sunday, at midnight, I flew out to Texas. I slept on the plane and got to my parents house around 6:30 am. My mom was up and told me to nap for a bit, then meet her at the hospital. I got there later that morning and we chatted a bit about how things were going and how I could best help, then I stayed and chatted with dad for the rest of the day so my mom could get a bunch of things done. All signs pointed to him being released from the hospital on Tuesday. He was up and moving and hating to sit still, but he really seemed to like his doctors and nurses and other hospital staff that came in to visit him. He seemed to know them all by name and was always glad to see them! My mom seemed really glad to have someone else to listen to Dad and keep him company. I sat and listened to all his new stories and some of his older ones and crocheted. I even learned some things I never knew before - it turns out that my grandpa was a boxer as a young man! It was a nice quiet afternoon and my mom was able to work out and be at the house for the garage repairman. Then when he was headed to sleep for the night, we headed home and headed to bed ourselves.
Tuesday morning was filled with all the bustle of getting him checked out of the hospital. Then getting him loaded into the car and home and settled at home. He was resistant to parking on the couch because he said his Dad had died watching TV on the couch. One of the big problems for him has been getting him to eat. He has been nauseous and had a hard time finding any food appetizing. So my mom and I have been spending a lot of our time trying to cook food he loves, but trying to do it with in the "low fat, low carb, low sodium" restrictions. He at least seems to like our cooking more than hospital food, so I guess that's something! He started small with some protien peanut butter stuff he likes. Then progressed to chicken and broccoli which he ate all of. Tuesday night, he fell asleep on the couch, but wasn't comfortable there and struggled to get a goodnight sleep.
Wednesday morning he showered, which took him and my mom nearly 2 1/2 hours, he ate a great breakfast, then mostly had a good day, but in the evening we had a bit of a scare. He was feeling pretty poor in the early evening as we were getting dinner ready, then when it came time to go to the table for dinner, he was staggering over and even mom's help wasn't enough to steady him, it took both of us to get hime safely to his seat. We started to wonder if the medication he was taking to keep his blood sugar from going too high had made it drop too much, so we gave him a fudgesicle to eat - that was about all he could stomach at the time anyway. He ate it and right away started feeling much better. He was able to eat a little dinner after that, but still not much. We tried to get a hold of his doctor, but couldn't. We decided that he should skip the medication for his blood sugar until we heard from the doctor. Then we tried to get him into bed. He had decided that he didn't want to sleep on the couch, and was determined to get into his bed. The problem was that his bed is WAY too high for him to easily get into. So it took both my mom and I the better part of 2 hours to get him settled into his bed. Then my mom and I took shifts sleeping so that we could help him if he needed to get up in the night for any reason, since he was totally unable to get out of bed on his own.
Thursday we finally heard from the doctor and had some travelling nurses come to check him out and try to figure out just what had happened. They were really nice and he really liked them. They ordered some tests and took some blood and gave some good advice. Advice that my mom and I had been trying to tell him all along, but now that it's coming from a nurse, he believes it. :) We've had a hard time finding the balance between letting him take care of the things that he is stressing out about getting done and not letting him stress his body out. He's having a hard time admitting that his body shouldn't be doing the things it usually does.
Friday, I took a walk down to the donut shop to get some Kolaches and donut holes - every once in awhile, I wonder if I was just imagining how much better Texas donuts are - I wasn't. They are just so much better than even the best donuts here. My mom got in a Costco run and we got some thing set up around the house for my dad so that he can get some things done with out having to walk upstairs to do them, then it was time for me to pack and head to the airport.
The flight back was long but easy. I napped part of the time and hand a nice time chatting with the other people in my row for the last bit. The kid next to me had recently joined the Marines and finished boot camp and the older gentleman on the end was an Army vet. The Marine was a sweet kid and asked a lot of questions and told some of his story. I got home around 8:15 and went in to give David a hug and kiss, then got an hour with Dan before he headed to the airport to take that same midnight flight down to Texas. He arrived safely Saturday morning.
Saturday was nuts here. David had a primary party in the morning with his class. He had a blast with his friends and teachers! Anna and Evelyn had an Encore rehearsal in the morning to get ready for their concert on Sunday. I had a water polo mini-tournament in the afternoon, then we all went to hang out in Portland area for a bit after. It was a fun evening with friend and a fun time playing water polo - though I didn't play very well. :(
In the evening, the teenagers had a fireside while I got David and James to bed, then Evelyn got a ride home and Anna and Aaron met me at Tigard for open polo. It was a fun group there and we had a blast - I was still playing poorly, but it was fun at least.
Sunday was also busy. Church was wonderful. James had his temple and priesthood preview meeting - I can't believe he will be in young mens in less than a month. After church, we had ward choir and stake choir, and I had a practice with some ladies for a musical number. James and David went to the Provance's house for Frankie's birthday. Then we went home for dinner and scriptures. I had a fun time chatting with Eileen and crocheting for a bit - now I'm tired and it's time for bed!
Dan says things are going well in Texas. My dad is still having his ups and downs, but overall, the progress is upward. I think having Dan there has been good for everyone's sanity, but I'll be glad to have him home!!!
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