A very rough day

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Today was not a good day at all - until the very end.

It started with my alarms (4 of 'em) going off between 8:15 and 8:30 this morning.  I had to get up because my youngest sister was coming to my house, then we were going to our oldest sister's (well, her oldest, my only older...lol) in Winchester, pick up some stuff for her, then downtown to Christ Hospital to deliver her stuff to her.  Not a tremendous big deal, right.  Just a big circle.  Welllllllll, change of plans!
As we were driving up the road, Ruth called Jean's phone (she knew I was driving) and said "Bring the girls with you."  I didn't even recognize Ruth's voice coming through Jean's phone - that's how stressed she sounded.  I thought, for whatever reason, someone was passing along a message.
Now, "the girls" are, and have always been, Ruth's daughters.  That's just how they are referred to in our family.  But said this way, at this time, in this tone of voice, it meant "Rex's daughter's" which was not good.  Not good at all.  Remember, if you will (I hope I have mentioned) that Ruth has been down at the hospital with her husband since last week, and yesterday he had been sitting up (without the ventilator most of the day) and talking, breathing on his own and so forth.  So, to hear this today, so early in the morning, was definitely not good at all.  So, we stopped and picked the older one up, and the younger one was ready when we got to Ruth's house, along with the bag of the stuff we were picking up for her.  On downtown we head...

After a couple of stops (for gasoline (3.27!) and me to pick up my Gatlinburg spending money), we finally got to Christ Hospital pretty much right before noon.  And we were Just In Time.  They were converging on Rex's room to take him off all machines - his body was rejecting it - and he refused a tracheotomy (can't say that I blame him!), there was also talk of moving him to a rehab/nursing home, then hospice but they were worried that he wouldn't survive the trip, so that ended up vetoed just before we all got there, and things were moving fast.  So, boom boom boom, it was time.  Just like that.
He still had the nasal canula, and they gave him morphine so he was not in pain.  He WAS aware that the girls were there - he looked at them, and you could see in his eyes that he knew.  I was happy to see that.  I told the girls, and Ruth, that they needed to say goodbye.  I know it seemed mean, but if they didn't, how would they feel later?  So, they talked to him, told him to rest, and all that.  I even patted his leg, and told him that he fought the good fight and to get the rest he deserves now.  I can only hope it helps somehow.  Jean and I sat back on the couch and stayed out of the way after that.  We finally left around 3, because some of Rex's family was coming down, and we thought there should be room for them there in the room.
Besides, us diabetics needed to get some real food into us.  All we had eaten thus far had been snack crackers.  That's not very good for us, but that's all that was available to us.  We were very lucky the chaplain arranged for us to have an "Angel Cart" brought to us - which had a carafe of coffee, one of hot water, a couple waters, packs of hot chocolate & tea bags, and about a dozen packs of snack crackers and cookies, along with spoons, stir stix, and napkins.  How cool is that!

Jean and I stopped at IHOP and ate some breakfast for lunch (I know, it's 4 in the afternoon!) and it was DEEEEEElicious.  Then, on home.  When I got here, I texted Ruth - no change, Rex is hanging on.  Wow.

I have a TOPS meeting tonight.  I thought about not going, but finally decided to go.  Off I go again.  I let Ruth know I would keep my phone on just in case.  Here is the good news of the day - I LOST 2.4 pounds! I was surprised - I didn't think I had done very well this week for some reason, especially not today.  It was a good meeting.  We talked about goals and visions for the future and stuff like that.  I can certainly use information like that, cause I need motivation for the next 12 weeks of the Biggest Loser contest.   I reached my goal this time - I got some extra spending money for Gatlinburg!  I need something for the go-round that's gonna end in January.  Haven't quite figured that one out yet.

After the meeting, I text Ruth again - still no change.  Wow.  I can't believe he is still hanging on.  It is amazing what one's mind can do, isn't it?  I come home and fry me 3 eggs for my supper.  I have a little square cast iron skillet I cook these in.  When they were done - I didn't quite hard-cook the yolks this time (yay!).  I got 2 slices of bread out, tore each in half, used one to dunk into the yolks, then cut the 3-egg square into half, put one half on top of the other, and put them on one half of a bread, so had the sandwich with only one slice of bread, using a total of 1-1/2 slices.  Yes, I had to waste 1/2 slice, but I'm okay with that.  I also had walnuts with my sandwich.  It was a darn tasty supper.  Losing that 2-1/2 pounds inspired me - I was ready to come home and have a bowl of potato soup!  Whew.

Today is only gonna get four stars for food.  I don't know about the calorie count, I haven't done my myfitnesspal for the day.  I will catch that up tomorrow.  I am tired.  I am going to bed.
Exercise is getting one, maybe two stars.  We did a LOT of walking around the hospital.  Maybe not as much as I'm "picturing" in my head, and I must remember that my hips never started hurting, but it sure was a lot.  Maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile altogether.

That's it.  Good night.  Send prayers, good wishes, good karma, whatever. please to my sister Ruth and her family for comfort and peace, as they go through this hard, rough process.