Seeing Red

4:50 p.m. FINAL ENTRY: Today has been much better. Denny has been sleeping comfortably all day. I am greatly encouraged by his progress. I wanted everyone to know, I spoke with the Head of the nursing staff about the night nurse situation. She will not be working on Denny anymore during his stay. Huge relief for me!
I just had a few "Thank you's" to share:
To Aunt Pat and Aunt Sharon -Thanks so much for the bags of goodies. I've enjoyed the Country Living magazine. I had the strawberries for breakfast. Love you, Twinks!
To Cousin Alan (the eye doctor, for those of you who don't know him) - Thanks for express mailing those special sunglasses I asked for. Denny will love you for it. The lights are bright in the hallway. Now, we will be prepared for it and he can practice walking more often!
To Brother Jimmy: Thanks for having your friend, Gary (a respiratory therapist), come by and check on Denny. He told Denny to keep taking those deep breaths. Denny had a bit of a fever today but I reminded him about the breathing. Denny and I are a team so we are working together get him feeling better. The fever is back down now. Thanks for caring!
To all of our wonderful family and friends: Thanks for the emails, comments, cards, and prayers. This helps get us through the rough patches. Thanks to the Corps of Engineers for sending flowers and balloons. Denny appreciated them very much.
To Johnny, Denny's boss: Thanks for the wonderful note. He smiled when I read it to him. It is nice to know the Nashville Corp's are out there!
To my mom: Thanks for stepping in and taking charge of everything at home. Can't tell you how much we appreciate you!

11:05 a.m.- Denny was much better this morning. He was sitting up in bed; trying to eat some scrambled eggs. He got a shot of morphine right after I got there. They had to give him something for nausea. Now that his system is starting to work, he is experiencing nausea whenever something goes into his stomach. Today, he will also get the feeding tube taken out of his nose. That is one less aggravation for him. I think today is going to be a good day for him. Cross your fingers!

8:20 a.m. Seeing Red..yes, I'm a cardinal's fan but that is not what I'm talking about. I was seeing red when I got to the hospital and saw Denny's condition yesterday morning. He was all tangled up in his IV lines. He was laying on his side; which the doctors do not want him to do and his oxygen mask was off. When he opened his eyes and saw me, he said, "Oh good, you're here." His face was a picture of misery. That night nurse had not given him any morphine during the night. He was in so much pain. I asked her why she didn't give him any pain meds. She said, "I asked him how he was doing and he said, fine". I have the words to describe what I felt at that moment. However, I don't think they would be appropriate for the blog!

Within 15 minutes, he had morphine. Within 1 hour, his bed was straightened up; IV lines untangled, and he was laying on his back with the oxygen mask on. He was so comfortable, he was snoring.

The excellent nurse from the day before was on yesterday too. She was not happy with the condition we found him in. Yesterday was spent getting him comfortable with alot of rest. I was going to stay with him last night but by 10pm, he seemed very rested and somewhat alert. He had actually gotten out of bed and sat in a chair for little while. He had talked to Dan and Dana on the phone. He and I had a discussion about when the night nurse asks him how he is feeling, he is not to say, "fine" but to give her a pain level and ask for medication.

I probably should have stayed but the day had worn me down. It takes alot of energy to be the "Pitbull in Lipstick." I know I have to take care of myself in order to take care of him. So, I made sure he had pain medicine before I left at 10pm. The night nurse only had to give him 1, maybe 2 doses of pain meds before I get back this morning.

I'm just about ready to leave. I will post again tonight if it is not too late. I had better find him in an excellent condition when I get there or I will become like sandpaper in somebody's rear-end until things get corrected! There will probably be "NOT WANTED" posters with my picture on them before we get out of there! :)

Denny is still not up to visitors. He is sleeping continually. Please know that we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Here's to hoping for a better day....

Love to all,
Deb