Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008. That weekend, Mattie's cousins from Boston came to visit. We left the hospital unit and went to the second floor outdoor space. This space was a God sent to us. It had a rose garden, benches, and plenty of places to sit and get fresh air. One of the places Mattie loved was the medical library. Not the library itself, but the rocks all around the building. In this photo, Mattie was showing his cousin one of the rocks. In fact, during the course of Mattie's cancer treatment, he landed up taking a big rock from this garden home with him. Normally I wouldn't have encouraged that, but the rock meant something to him. To this day, this rock is the doorstop for my bedroom. Every time I see it, I think of Mattie, his courageous cancer journey, and our time together. Just like this rock, our relationship was solid.
Quote of the day: Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option. ~ Mark Twain
Today seemed like a blur to me. I got up at 8am. I was too tired to move. When I got up, I found out from my mom that my dad was up and down all night long. Literally he is up to urinate on the hour. He does wear depends, but that doesn't stop him. When he gets up, it isn't a quiet process. He sleeps with 12 pillows, so any movement lands up throwing pillows on top of my mom. Because my dad has NO concept of time, he will get to the bathroom and then sit for an hour if you do not instruct him on next steps. So clearly my mom had a bad night and was exhausted this morning.
While I was getting myself together, my phone rang. The home health company that we use, called me and they wanted to send a nurse over to evaluate my dad today. I was happy to comply. But that meant I had to speed up my morning process, because I had to make sure my dad was up, showered, dressed and had breakfast before the nurse came. I accomplished all those tasks, and even got my dad down the stairs.
At some point, I had a missed call from my dad's urology practice. It was the nurse following up on how my dad is doing after hospital discharge. I literally called her right back and I couldn't get a hold of her. I then called back a second time later in the day, again, she never returned my call. I do not like the inattentiveness, especially with the care of an 89 year old. So tonight I sent the doctor a message through the portal. I am concerned regarding the frequency with which my dad wants to urinate. He is going almost every 30 minutes. In addition when not in the bathroom, my dad has spent the entire day sleeping. I wake him up periodically and have gotten him to walk a few times, but he is thoroughly out of it.
I contacted his memory care center and asked them whether they would take him back on Friday. They have agreed to, and I am hoping some sort of stimulation will re-engage him. The nurse who visited today was absolutely lovely. She agreed that my dad's vitals are all stable and hopefully with rest and physical therapy, we can try to help him regain strength. But with my dad it is a full time job. He has no interest in movement, no interest in talking, no interest in doing much, other than sleeping. This is neither healthy nor good for him.
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