Mom had a quiet New Year's Moment.
She now has a soft tube in her nose, through which she should
be eating for the next little while. The first tube must have been kinked,
because they had to take it out. In all, she had 3 tubes inserted, none of
this was an easy process for Mom, & that is putting it mildly.
She is on the nose tube breather thingy. As much time as
I have spent in this hospital, you'd think I'd have figured out what that thing
is really called. Last night, I did learn the medical name give to the
appliance that sucks the gunk from her mouth: it is called the sucky
thing.
Her right leg remains in traction. She continues to move
her right arm, & has begun using the fingers ... she can pretty easily take
the nose tube breather thingy out of her nose, & rest it on her lip.
Dr. Katsis said that as long as the oxygen is going into her nostrils (or even
into her mouth) that it was performing it's job & she was ok.
She says I'm bossy. Because I won't let her rip the hide
off her body, pull the feeding tube from her nose, or get out of bed. I
tell her it's what she taught me to be. I am firm about those
things. I have spent much of my time sitting by her bed reading to her,
holding her hand to help her not think about itching or be able to
scratch. I can handle her thinking I'm bossy.
We've been going through an awful lot of nurses, due to the
Holiday weekend. Let me think ... starting Saturday, there have been
8, where normally she would have had 2-3, depending on days off. All of
this weekends nurses have been new to Mom, so we've done a lot of
re-orientating.
Now I will plan to leave Mom to teach the nurses by
herself. I think I can make it home today. Tom says there is enough
snow at home, that I probably won't have to worry about driving a bus tomorrow,
but I'd like to be home just the same. I have high hopes that Mom will
continue to have visitors, who will need to be patient, as she is stubborn &
confused at times. (Note to visitors: suggest long
sleeves. It's cold here in Oklahoma!)
I'd better get my few things packed. I'd like to be
ready to go before Mom wakes up next time. As you can imagine, leaving
someone alone, when we know she needs us, has never been easy. Thank you
for your care & prayers ~ Val & Tom