Another Day, Another Blessing

Wednesday, October 10

I got up this morning with every intention of getting to Rosewood at my normal 9 am, but that didn't happen.  Instead, I continued my hunt for the book mom was writing.. a treasure that continues to elude me.  I arrived around noon and Dad was sleeping. Both Bill and Tom were there and both said that dad had been having some 'illusions' again.  He looked tired. I gave Bill the digital picture frame, which I am storing pictures on for display, and asked him to try and figure it out for me, as all of the settings are in Chinese. As I took a step back, dad said something. He was speaking to someone. I put his ears on and asked who he saw - his reply, "The guy with the brown suit."  He did that type of thing often throughout the afternoon.  His breathing seemed a bit more labored and the three of us sat there, staring at him.. worrying, wondering.. About 4:30ish, one of us, I can't remember who, asked Dad if he would like to get up and think about having some soup for dinner. (Dad) "Sure"  Tom and Bill got him into the wheelchair and I went to grab a bowl of soup.  We started to wheel him out to his side patio and he asked to go the other way, to the patio he was accustomed to. I brought him soup, of which he only ate 2 spoonfuls before pushing it away, even though he declared he sure thought they made good soup here.  The conversation turned to the election as Bill got him registered to vote by mail, something he was looking forward to doing.(and that's the thing, he still looks forward).  I wished John and Jim were there.. as he seemed so alert and interested in the conversation. We talked about other stuff too, but I can't remember what it was.. you know Tom, he is so good at talking to Dad about the darnedest things (I admire that in him, more than he can imagine!) It soon got too cold on that side and we wheeled him back over to his room, took him out his sliding door and sat there, where it was more protected from the breeze.  Chuck came over and visited for a while, showing off his new grabbing device (this one supplied by Rosewood). His previous two devices, both made by him were confiscated by staff.  They were both ingenious designs - # 1, a hacked up plastic clothes hanger with the rounded edges kept on so he could hook stuff and # 2 -another plastic hanger hacked up, this time with a set of wire cutters hospital wrapped to the end, so he could pick up or cut stuff.  Both were deemed to be dangerous, and likely were. Dad got tired and it became obvious that visiting hours were over.  I wheeled Chuck back to his room while the boys got Dad in bed.  When I got Chuck to his room, he asked me to come in and sit for a minute, which I did.  He told me that our family had helped him make it through his dark days of watching Pauline (his wife) just lay in her bed unable to communicate.  He said he loved us as if we were his own 'kin' and that he honestly thought of Dad as his friend.  It was sweet. I assured him that his love of song, women and corny jokes had most certainly helped up through this difficult time and he started to cry.  But in true Chuck fashion.. said, "look you brought a tear to my ear.. just kiddin"

It's 7 pm and Dad is in bed, the IV is connected, the boys left. I am watching dad as he seems to be seeing something again.. he is making noise, but I cannot discern what it is.  His face is really itchy tonight, so I put some lotion on. His eye is a bit bloody, the Doc will look at it tomorrow. I asked the nurse to please have the night nurse check in on him.

It's 7:30 and he told me I should go. He seems restless. I asked if I could stay for 5 more minutes, he said, "Ok hon".. I hate leaving..