Dad was being wheeled into the dining room when I walked through the front door. He looked more tired than usual. We waited for breakfast. I asked Maria for some applesauce. He had a couple of small spoonfuls. He fell asleep a couple of times - so did Chuck who spilled his hot chocolate. I reminded myself to keep a closer eye on him and was able to prevent a second incident by waking him up in time.
Maria brought some scrambled eggs and Dad said "Now you're talking." He had a couple of bites. He would sit back and wait a considerable amount of time between bites. Sometimes he would get this look of anguish on his face. He was really trying to stay awake and turned to me and said, "Everything is trying to go blank." I just let that hang in the air and did not ask what he meant.
A short time later, watching his face, he almost chuckled to himself. I asked what he saw and he replied, "A cat. I just saw a cat go across there", pointing to a spot right in front of him.
About 8:10 he asked to go back to the room. I had tried to engage him in conversation but, even though the amplifier was working, he did not appear to understand much. "Looks like it might rain tonight", I said twice into the mic before he replied, "I guess it will catch up with you."
Back in the room he rinsed his mouth, but did not upchuck. He crawled into bed saying he was cold. I put the heating pad on him and he said, "That's nice." He fell asleep, woke up, fell asleep. I adjusted the heating pad and he said, "I'm going in and out". Later, he said "You gotta go pretty soon". I did not want to leave the heating pad on with him alone, so I hung around a little longer. Some days it's harder to leave than others...
I love you John...
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