Christmas Eve

WARNING! If you prefer not to read of ummmm shall I say the output part of bodily functions, be warned there is TMI coming up.

The visiting nurse came and put a Foley catheter and bag on Fred today at his request. Now, *I* would equate this as a step backward, but he looks on it as a step forward. He no longer has to wake himself up {or wake me up} every four hours to catheterize and empty his bladder. Instead all he has to do is to drink a lot and regularly empty the bag. He has  a night bag so he can sleep through the night and he feels he will get better if he can get his regular sleep. Before all this, he was a man who needed {and got} eight hours  of sleep regularly. Also, the visiting nurse said this is a much better way to get the built-up fluid out of his body. Although he has only lost 2  of the 9 pounds he had gained in retained water at this weigh-in, his lungs now sound clear instead of “wet.” The other TMI topic is that he is now occasionally getting to the bathroom before the bowel movement which means he is getting control back.

End of the TMI!

I had mentioned that he came out of hospital deaf, right? Yesterday he was sitting at his computer and  he said suddenly, “OW! My ear just crackled and popped!”

So I said, “Hold your nose and pop the other one.” Now, much to my surprise, he didn’t know how to do this so I showed him. I would have thought that anyone who rides planes regularly, as he used to do, would know how to do this,  He did it, and now, he isn’t deaf at all!

You can’t believe how much this better this makes this situation for me. I came from a home where people regularly shouted at each other and I have very vivid memories lying in bed upstairs as a child and listening to the tones of the voices below praying they wouldn’t turn to shouting…  Anyway, even at my age, my first  response to raised voices is fear, and then I tend to retreat which, as you can well imagine, had made the first few days here rather difficult.

Another good thing is that I am getting a massage on Sunday. Fred’s friend Bill was coming to see him anyway, so all we have to do is to ask him to be here at 12:30 and to stay until 3!

And finally, I know he is getting better because he is taking me for granted. Today he said, “Get me a drink of water.”

I said, “If that is an order, get it yourself. I am not your servant. However, if it is restated as a request, I would be happy to do it!”

It was restated as a request. And I was happy to do it.

Until  later…