Funny Goings On

Well, the fluid is almost gone from my Dad's legs, which is great. So great. When he gets out of the hospital (I have no idea when) he will be transferred to a pulmonary rehabilitation center. I checked it out on the Internet and it seems like a really nice place. I think they said he'd have to be there two weeks. We never thought he'd go for it, but they convinced him! The doctors seem to think that it would really help so he doesn't have this chronic pneumonia that weakens his heart every time he gets it. The only thing we have to pray for right now is for some reason, his blood sugar level has been well over 300 (150-ish is good for him), like I think my mom said it was 387 today. The only thing we can think of is whatever is in the IVs that he'd being given has some sort of glucose component because otherwise, his blood sugar levels have been just fine at home. At this pulmonary rehabilitation place, they can ween him off his prednezone - "the grumpy pill" as Audrey puts it. Hopefully he could be off that for good!! Oh that would be so great!

So yesterday, my father had his tooth brush and tooth paste out on his tray. He asked me to put them in his drawer, and I said of course I'd do that. I put them away, and then he said, pointing to the basin he spits in, "You can just dump that out and rinse it out." I said, "Ummm, I love you, Dad, but if I do that, I'll throw up. You're forgetting who you're talking to." He just laughed and agreed that he did forget who he was talking to.

Later in the evening yesterday, the nurses came in to clean him up a bit and to help him brush his teeth. He told the nurses, "That's ok, my wife can do it." They didn't really know what to think because, that's what they get paid for, so they questioned him. He said, "Oh, no, it's ok, my wife will clean me off and brush my teeth." Hahaha! When Nomer got there, she had to do it! I told her to tell him next time that she goes on vacation when he goes in the hospital. She said, "Yeah, I'm going to remind him I'm a RETIRED nurse."

Lastly, last night my mother and him were talking about these braces he has on. They're not braces, exactly but they wrap around his legs and zap him with electricity or something to keep his legs circulating because he can't get up and around to walk as much in the hospital. They also have helped immensely with the reduction of fluid in his legs. Well, my Dad feels there is something wrong with these wraps/braces. The cord doesn't seem to be long enough for him. It kind of hurts him because it lays on top of his legs, but he would prefer it wrap around and go under his legs to then hook into the outlet or whatever it is hooked up into. So he says to my mom, "I want you to get Wendell Jr. down here and have him fix these things. They're bugging me. I want them to wrap around and not lay on top because the way they are laying is a little painful. So get Wendell down here so he can fix it." My mother looked at him to see if he was sane or not and when she figured out he was completely serious she said, "Wendell can't do anything electrical in the hospital!" Dad said, "Yes, Wendell can do anything! I want you to get him down here and just put an extension cord or something in." My mom, still dumbfounded said, "First of all, I'm not bringing Wendell in here without a wheelchair," as my brother doesn't exactly like hospitals too much. Then she says, "Secondly, Wendell canNOT just come in here and work on stuff!" I guess my brother can be proud that my Dad thinks he can fix anything! My mother and I were joking around about it and she said, "Yeah, Wendell, which extension cord would you like, the long orange one?! Gosh, what will he think of next?!" Those kind of funny things are what I remember about my Dad the most. I hope he continues along that path as he just hasn't been himself since I got here, but these last few days have looked promising. I don't care about the physical stuff, I just want to be able to talk to him like I always used to do. I haven't felt that way yet, but these little quips give me great hope. My brother can do anything. That should give my sister something to be jealous about! :) I wrote that for you, Cindy!