Day 16 – shhhh don’t tell

Wednesday August 1, 2012
Quail Run RV Resort Lot 15
Marriott Residence Inn room 118

 

Today was the day for a little less togetherness. 

So shhhhhh don’t spread this around.  The patient was sleeping when I slipped out to run over to Lettuce Leaf Park in the heat of the morning.  It was a cloudy morning which was helpful and then it rained while I was running which was even more helpful.

About an hour later when I let myself back in the room, there he was dressed and sitting in a chair reading email.  He had gotten up, gotten dressed, gone out and gotten his breakfast from the kitchen, come back and eaten it, made his bed and put away the sofa bed so the room looked neat and tidy. Out of the hospital only 3 full days. 

Color me IMpressed.

And THEN he decides he wants to go for a walk before he takes a nap.  But I really have to go up to Quail Run in order to get the information on arranging for my father’s medical appointment tomorrow.  I didn’t remember to bring it but I have to call and arrange his transportation.  It’s also August 1st and I need to pay our monthly rent for August and our July electric bill at Quail Run.  Also need to throw the water off those slides. Sooooooooo

I make an executive decision and tell him to take his phone and go on out for his walk rather than force him to come with me just because the guy who says he doesn’t need a mask says he does need a 24/7 attendant.  We both know this is just no big deal for him.

 

Back up to Quail Run I go.  I know this route well enough to drive it in my sleep.

I get the information on the number to call for VA Transportation, make the call, sit on hold about 7 minutes, and then my phone battery says beep beep, sorry I’m out of energy.   So I hang up, replace the battery, call again.   I’m on hold again and about 5 minutes into it when my phone rings.  It’s David.  OH NO I think and I’m getting ready to jump in the car and high tail it back.  But he’s calling to tell me everything is great and he’s having a wonderful time.   Whew…….feeling justified here.   So I call VA Transportation again and once I get through the if you know your extension….. and then the press 2 if you want….. someone actually comes on the line.  Less than 5 minutes and it is all arranged. 

I call my dad to remind him they will be picking him up at 9am.
I walk up to the office and pay the rent but the electricity bill isn’t ready yet.   I go back to Winnona and call David who says everything is fine.  He’ll call me if there is any problem. ALL RIGHT! 

I walk over to see Catherine, Jo Beth, Grace and Phiona.  Phiona is a beauty that’s for sure.  Grace is charming.  Catherine and Jo Beth gracious as always.  They are parked just a street or two over from us so when we get back we’ll be able to see more of them.

It starts raining while I’m visiting but it’s a short shower so after it finishes, I go up on the roof and sweep off the water.  And then it’s time to head back.

He’s doing great!

When I walk in David is sitting on the sofa watching the Olympics.  He says he’s had a nap, had some lunch and is feeling pretty good.  No back pain just now.  Not a great sleeping night but not terrible.  No fever all day.  

He took the camera along the boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Park today and I’ve made this slide show of his walk.  If you know what the pink “caterpillar”???  on the cypress tree is could you let us know??
Sure looks dayglo doesn’t it?

 

 

Life is moving back toward normal where we more frequently each did what we wanted to do.  Things are definitely looking good.  Not sure how much longer we’ll be staying at the Residence Inn.  It’s wonderful being so close to Moffitt and Lettuce Leaf Park and having the hotel make breakfast every morning but even at the reduced rate afforded Moffitt patients we are paying two rents.  One for us and one for Winnona.  I was really happy to spend the time in Winnona and wasn’t all that excited to come back to the hotel.

He spends the afternoon watching Olympic rowing and volleyball AND answering emails.   Multi-tasking, things are definitely looking up.  :-)

 

At one point he looks up the Olympic TV scheduling on his laptop and comments “If I’d gotten up at 5am I could have seen women’s hand ball.”   HA!  RIGHT!!   You, 5AM, not likely even if you were at your physical best.

He used to be a hand ball player as well as a basketball player and a volleyball player and a table tennis player and a racquetball player and a kayaker and he spent a short stint on the swimming team so these are some of the sports he’s particularly interested in.  I on the other hand have always hated anything that had a ball in it after making it a habit of getting hit by any ball in any sport I ever tried.  Gymnastics was the only thing I was ever the right size to do.  But that gives us a lot of Olympic games of interest.

 

Again in late afternoon he begins having troubles.

I notice his feet and ankles are swollen and insist he lie on the sofa with his feet on pillows. He complains of stomach pain which saps his energy.  He takes another nap but that doesn’t solve the stomach problem.  We go out for a short walk but that doesn’t help.  We have spaghetti, garlic toast and broccoli for dinner.  But that doesn’t solve the problem either and he lays down on the sofa again.  I wish I’d brought the heating pad back with me from Winnona today.

I can understand his energy flagging later in the day but this is the second instance of stomach pain.  He had a more severe episode in the hospital on his next to last day.  We don’t seem to be able to discover either what brings it on or what takes it away.