I took Bill and his roommate small Valentine gifts and James acted like I had given him the Hope Diamond! They each got a little stuffed animal, mainly because Bill can't eat and James is diabetic and is really working hard on not eating sweets (although when I got back from lunch there was an empty candy wrapper on his lunch tray). James had told us that when he went to the hospital, his sisters went to his house and threw out most of his stuff, including his cat. They don't like cats apparently. Anyway, I found a funny looking stuffed cat. They only had one or Bill would have gotten one too, but he got a teddy bear. James has named his cat Mittens, after his other cat and he kept it on his tray all day and said he was going to sleep with it, just like his real Mittens. I'm glad he was so pleased with it.
Bill said he was sorry he wasn't able to get me anything and we talked about how he would have bought some roses from Emily's girls for one of their youth moneymakers for church. When I got home last night, Emily and McKenna were waiting for me with a vase of 3 roses, red, pink, and yellow that Brianna had bought for me from Pa. She said she knew he couldn't do it so she figured she would.
Bill started the day griping about needing something to drink and they wouldn't give him anything again, so I think he's going to sign the waiver so that he can eat. But, during his speech therapy, he was able to drink a little water and eat about half a container of yogurt, which he hates, and half a cracker. He didn't have any problems with any of it, other than he double swallows, but that something that a lot of people do, swallow a little and then swallow the rest and then swallow again to make sure it all went down.
I did not go with him to occupational or physical therapy. Sometimes he does better without me there, especially when he's wanting to stop and he looks at me to make the decision. I don't give in and let him stop when he does this and sometimes I push harder when the therapists can't.
The nurse practitioner came in and said that his white count had gone up from 11 to 14, so they started some Rocephin shots to see if that would help. It's not alarmingly high and he wasn't running any fever or having any chills, although he was coughing a little more and his sats were running a little low. His sinuses are also going crazy and he's stuffy. So, we'll see what that is about.
James and Bill had both noticed that there was a lot of commotion in one of the rooms across the hall and before long a man in a black suit went in and then everyone came out crying, so we knew what had happened, or was going to happen. Shortly after that the administrator popped in and said they were testing something and were going to shut the door for a little bit. While we were talking about it among ourselves, James looked out the window and they were unloading a gurney from the back of a van. So, I just reached up and closed the blinds. That was one thing that bothered me in the hospital, there didn't seem to be any dignity when the body was removed. So we did it ourselves and talked about how all we could do was pray for comfort for the family and, if the deceased was a believer, rejoice at the homegoing. A bit later I opened the blinds and the van was still there, but the back was closed.
James is going home today and I'm going to miss his morning reports! He also took the time to show Bill how to work the remote on the TV and if Bill needed something and the nurses didn't respond in time, he took it upon himself to go get one. We have exchanged addresses and phone numbers to keep in touch.
For those of you who sent cards to Bill at the hospital, they are slowly trickling in here at home. Most of them arrived after he was discharged, but I got 4 in the mail yesterday. So, they are getting forwarded, and I know he will appreciate getting them when I take them today.
That's about it. I think I'm staying home from the hospital tomorrow to get some stuff done around here. Emily is going to stay with Bill. I told him I may come in the evening. And then I'm staying over there Sunday-Thursday with Bill's sister and her husband and Brianna is going to be in charge of the cats. She's supposed to stay at the house with them, but if she doesn't and only spends a little time loving on them it will be OK.
Now if it didn't feel like I've been punched in the face!
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