Chris went into Texas yesterday to check on her Dad in the hospital. The nurse told her he had been responding to a few simple commands like nodding his head and squeezing hands. He still gets pretty agitated when they try to wean him from the ventilator, though. He was still running a fever from some kind of lung infection, and they were not sure about how much he was really comprehending. She did have a few moments of connection with him. She was holding his hand. He seemed to recognize her and squeezed tightly. She assured him she was there, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. That had to be tough for Chris.
Speaking of tough, it was very difficult getting Mom going yesterday. She's supposed to be at Libbie's Place by 9:00 (not that she has ever made it by then!). We started waking her up around 8:00. We got her to sit up in the bed, but she just stopped there. After quite a bit of coaxing, she moved to the chair in her bedroom and promptly went back to sleep. I couldn't convince her that her next move was to get dressed. She just picked up the clothes and then set them back down. Chris was finally able to get her dressed by staying with her. Next up was breakfast. She usually can get her cereal by herself and take her morning medications. Not yesterday. I set everything out on the table, and we walked with her to the chair. The problem then was getting her to actually eat. She stared at the bowl like she wasn't sure what to do with it. She even fell asleep a time or two. Once we did get her there, the staff said she stayed the same most of the day. She usually is very much engaged once she is there, playing the games and talking with her friends. Yesterday she was lethargic and did her dramatic sigh and "pretend collapse" several times. She didn't talk much after we got her home, either, although she did tell Chris her back hurt. We think that's probably because of the way she sits all slumped over on the couch. We have taken her to the doctor numerous times about this kind of behavior, and so far all we get is the usual "at this age" kind of response. Very frustrating. Guess we just have to hang in there and take it one day at a time.
I did get started on one garage project. When we sandblasted and repainted our fireplace after Hurricane Ike, we took off the little decorative gold-colored balls on top. Yesterday I tried to clean those up. The bolts are still soaking to fight off some of the rust, but I concentrated on the balls. They were pretty gritty and they had a lot of scratches all over them, but they are clean now. I set them on the fireplace and when Chris got home I asked her if she noticed anything different. And this was a first. She didn't notice them. Very unusual for her, but she does have a lot on her mind. We decided to leave them there for a day or two and see how we like them.
Isaiah 50:10 says, "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God."
Father, things have seemed pretty dark around here with our parents. We are definitely kicking into trusting and relying mode. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment