Rambles . . .



At the hospital yesterday, Dad was insisting that he was going to go outside. Every once in a while he seemed to realize that he was in the hospital, but mostly he thought he was home. Sometimes even his boyhood home. I asked him why he wanted to go outside and he said he was going outside by the barn to play ball with Jim and the boys. Jim is his brother (91) and I assume the other boys are his brothers, Pat and Eddie (taken too soon). Nice memories.  You know the kind of patient voice that you use with people who are really really old or infirm or just plain crazy? Dammit, he used that on me a couple of times! It is also no wonder that I have also been pegged as a smart ass! Genetics, go figure.  I’ve never been a big fan of talking to (or listening to people talk to) old people like they are 5 years old, it annoys the hell out of me, so I just don’t do that. I am what I am. Like it or lump it.

It is freakish how strong he is at 92. I was trying to keep him from getting too far away from his IV pole so he wouldn’t pull his IV out (again!), and yowza! I’m pretty strong, but hell, so is he. I decided that it is time to start regaining some of the strength I lost whilst laying around on my arse after those surgeries. Not so I can manhandle dad, but so I can be of help when I can. Or just defend myself. He was bound and determined to leave the hospital yesterday, and we couldn’t do anything with him, so after a while we went home.  About 9:00 we got a call from the hospital (OH SHIT!), and it was one of Dad’s nurse’s (whom he had kind of flirted with earlier! I doubt she thinks he is so cute anymore given his antics), who told me that he had not really fallen out of it, but had somehow climbed out of this chair with a tray on it (I guess it is some sort of restraint/safety device? I’m not sure. They didn’t use it on me during my hospitalizations, that’s all I know for sure!), and they had parked him down by the nurse’s station, and she had no idea how he had accomplished it (did dad come up with an original move, in this Olympic year!? I’m thinking bonus points!), but then CRASH he went down and pulled his IV pole down on him. I suppose my first thought should have been “Oh my God is he OK?”, but what came out of my mouth was “Damn! Can’t you sedate him?!”  In my own defense I was very tired and somewhat stressed, and had  had a slug of Malibu Rum in my Crystal Light. Plus I thought he was just plain exhausted when I saw him earlier in day. She said he wasn’t hurt but he might get a bump on his head from his IV pole. I commented that he deserved a bump if he didn’t already have one, and asked if someone needed to come over there (please say no!), and she said she didn’t think so, because Dad was going to have someone with him one-on-one for the rest of the night!  LOL Poor aide(s).  
All I know today is that he did get some sedation last night, and I really hope he got some rest. He really needed it. He is going to have an echocardiogram today, he couldn’t have an MRI because of his pacemaker. And we are laying bets on how early and quickly he’ll get discharged! LOL

Hoping for the best but gearing up for some not so fun times.

By the way, I do not mean to condone alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with stressful life events (Malibu Rum, yummers). We all know that is what FOOD is for!

Kay ☺

P.S. I saw Dad at noon. He is not as cantankerous today, but he is still out of it. I asked him if he knew where he was, and he named some farm he used to work over by Kinsman when he was young. Nurse said he did sleep last night, though only after they gave him medicine to calm him down. He was eating his lunch, and I thought he was doing pretty good on it, until I learned Mom was helping him out. LOL I saw my cousin Jeff, who works security at the hospital, and he told me he saw dad in the “Bad Boy Chair” (yikes) at the nurse’s station last night, and that in his 5 years at the hospital he has never heard of anyone getting out of that chair the way my 92 year old Dad did last night. ARGHHHHHHHH He is still having some tests done and his doctor wants him to spend another night in the hospital. The doc said to Mom that he didn’t realize Dad’s dementia had gotten that bad. Mom said that’s because it wasn’t, this downslide is very recent. All jokes aside, worrisome stuff going on.

P.P.S. I just saw Dad, helped him with his supper (spaghetti and meatballs). He ate a good meal. Is still confused, but not cantankerous, whew. He is tentatively scheduled for discharge tomorrow.