Due to weather conditions today, this was a short day at the hospital for me. Woke up to thundershowers and heavy rain, so left a little later, but since it was Saturday, traffic wasn't too bad.

Bill had been asking the nurses for his phone. I told him that it was at home and when he could talk I would bring it to him. We then had to cover where all of his valuables were. This is not something new, since the transplant and stroke, his brain sometimes goes into an endless loop and stays on the same subject for a long time.

His vent was turned down again to 10 today and he did pretty well. He did some coughing and that would make it alarm, or his sats drop below 88. But he recovered quickly.

He also didn't have as good a night. He did sleep some, but he became agitated about 4:30 and had to be given some Xanax. And, that's about the time I left, I think. He may need to be given a maintenance dose of Xanax instead of a larger one when he panics, especially since I can't stay with him 24/7.

 He had been diapered in the night and his day nurse was not really happy about it. It made it hard for him to use his urinal and he can't just go in the diaper because they are still measuring output. She said it was more for the convenience of the PCA. They are supposed to turn him and check him every 2 hours anyway, although he's moving around pretty good now. I noticed today that when they turned him to his side, didn't matter which one, he would wiggle around until he was on his back.

He was writing quite a bit on his white board today. I told him at one time he had to write bigger because I couldn't read it as small as he had written, so he wrote B I G G E R and then started writing too small again! Mainly he was asking about food, lunch, something easy to cook, coffee, and going home. He feels like he's just wasting away not being able to do anything. So, we went over how I can't take care of him with the vent and he'll need to work really hard in therapy. And, just when I think it finally made it past the roadblock, it would get stuck in the loop again.

We were due to get some freezing rain and snow this afternoon and evening and when the radar showed that it was getting close I told him I had to leave to make it home safely. He was quite upset at that and we both had a little cry again. It breaks my heart when he cries and I know he gets scared when I'm gone. But, his nurse was Laura again, so I know he was well taken care of. 

My drive home started with just some mist and then light rain, progressing to a rain/snow mix and finally snow as I turned off the interstate. We were only supposed to get a dusting, but we probably have 3 inches. I'm basing this on looking out the window at the top of my car. Tomorrow morning may be interesting. The weather advisory we have is calling for black ice to form from the rain on the roads. I told Bill I would call and let the nurses know when I was leaving. Laura is on again tomorrow so she'll keep him calmer. I may just have to leave after daybreak so that I can see the road more clearly. And I'll check the iDrive Arkansas app. It will show what the roads look like.

We also have a wind advisory and the house feels cold from it. I really hope we don't lose power. I can go out and start the generator, but it won't run the furnace. But, there are plenty of blankets and there are 2 space heaters in the apartment and only 1 is being used, so the cats and I would be comfy. Now, why didn't I bring in the other heater when I was in the apartment checking to see how warm it was! Oh well!

That's it for this short day. There are so many in the path of this storm, stay warm and safe.