How lucky can a guy get? Lunch for Fred came up. I'm sitting here on the computer facing the window. I am directly across from the door to the room, my back is toward the door. While I was busy here I guess the "food lady" tip toed in and set his try on the bedside table.She was very, very quiet (just for Wanda.....she was vewy, vewy, quiet.....Elmer Fudd) I have no idea how long it was there.They changed a few things. He got, Beef Consomme today, and cranberry juice 1/2 cup and Lemon Lime soda.What's sort of funny and I just noticed, the bottom of the lunch ticket has a print out that reads 1. non select tray which I guess means the patient did not fill out a food request ticket and also 1. #2.......I guess that means the second meal of the day. I just hate that they use #2 as a designation, it can mean a few other things. The x-ray people came in, took their film and left. He is sleeping anyway so the #2 food is waiting. The Popsicle is now orange sugar-soup, yum.
Early this morning I pulled the drawstring out of my new "hoody." I forgot to tie knots on the ends of the thing. I was able to thread it back in and in the process went through ninety minutes of otherwise idle time. It may snow tomorrow, if not I may remove the string again, it'll give me something to do.
We have an addition to the mail group. Stephanie and Brian, I just realized if you transpose letters for Brian, it becomes Brain. You two, meet your cousins, Paula, Rebecca, David, Leah and Jennifer. Since you all are the up and coming generation of the extended Meltzer clan I will leave it up to you and Face Book to figure out who belongs to whom and how.
Fred did not have a very productive day. He ate a little, by the way, they sent Str Crm of Celery Soup, Lemonade, Orange Jello, and Vanilla Pudding for dinner. They also marked this #2......now I'm confused. Anyhow, he doesn't have an appetite yet which is understandable. Beside not eating for almost a month they continue to infuse nutrition through a feeding tube. This is infused around the clock at a very slow rate through the tube that goes down the nose in to the stomach. Now, they don't pull the tube until they know he is eating.. As long as they keep putting calories down the tube AND giving him lousy soup, he won't get hungry. Any of you that saw the movie or read "Catch-22" can figure this one out. I may be extending the truth of the situation a little but not really. I will continue to work with him so he can eat a little more each mealtime.
This is really, really difficult. I have never know him to be anxious and/or apprehensive about much of anything. Everything they are trying to do has become a difficult undertaking. The staff here is wonderful but they only have so much time to do things. I remember well when I was working the floors. I usually asked the patients to do things on my schedule, after all, what did they have to do? SO, when they come in to do something and he asks them to come back, it sometimes gets done much later than it should. None of this is critical stuff so no need to worry. It's just that he will start thinking faster if he just does these things, like now.
I decided to stay another week and am currently working on either changing my return flight or booking a new one. I did book this one last minute through Orbitz. They charge more to make a change than some of the current one way fares on United and American. I'm on a hospital unsecured wireless, probably ok but I'll wait until I'm back at Harriet's to make flight changes. I'm also spending the night here, The past couple of nights he has been hallucinating some. I'll be able to reorient him, let him know he is not getting chased by all the angry dogs and cats he has spayed and neutered over the years.
It looks like I have bored you all enough. In closing I want to thank my friend and partner, Wanda, who has been feeding our cats, cleaning the litter boxes, taking out the trash cans and doing all the household things all by herself. Hey, Wanda is sole possession of the TV remote worth it?
Love to you all, Chuck PS: I'm eating his pudding.
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