Well, it was not a really good day yesterday. If I was in the habit of giving these posts a title, as all good bloggers do, this one would probably be "Bill is full of crap". And for most of the morning, he was!

Since I'm not in the habit of keeping close tabs on his bathroom habits, I hadn't realized that, most likely, he had not had a bowel movement since his little bout with diarrhea Monday. As soon as breakfast came yesterday, Bill said he needed to go to the bathroom. So, Magnolia got him on his commode. Usually he's the type that when he has to go, he goes. Horace doesn't even leave the room because he knows that almost as soon as he sits down, he will be finished. Not so yesterday. For nearly 2 hours, he was on and off and complaining that he had to go and he could feel it just hanging out. He would have gone just a little bit and nothing would be visibly hanging. Once Magnolia did feel something as she was cleaning him but she didn't try to get it out, only pinched off what she could feel because she didn't want to impact it anymore than it already was. Brian brought him a stool softener but you know those don't work immediately. I talked to Cindy and she said if he didn't go, and the Colace didn't help then they would move up to a mild laxative, and if all else failed, an enema. Bill was ready for the enema, he was so miserable. He finally wanted to try one more time and this time when he sat down he said it was coming. When Magnolia came to clean him up, she just looked and raised 1 arm and mouthed Thank you Jesus! Then she motioned me over to look and oh, my goodness! As Magnolia said "We hit the motherlode"! Poor man, no wonder he was miserable! That was probably what was causing his appetite problem some! He was totally worn out after that and wanted to get back into bed. I didn't argue, he actually sat up for 2 hours, talking/listening to various doctors, although it wasn't in his chair but on his bedside commode.

I talked to the dietician about his appetite that seems to be non-existent. Yesterday they did weigh him, but Brian said that he was so shaky standing on the scale that they weren't sure they got a good weight. So, I don't know how much he has lost. I explained to Mary that he seems to be overwhelmed by the amount of food, not the portion size, just the number of different things. She said she could understand that but I don't know if she's going to put in an order for reduced amounts. She is putting in an order for Glucerna shakes to supplement him. I don't know if he'll drink them or not, he hadn't gotten one by the time I left. He did tell me he ate all of his dinner which was turkey so I asked him if he was only not eating when I was there and he said "I guess". But, he had to be hungry! I took away his oatmeal cookie at lunch until he had eaten most of his chicken pot pie.

He did get changed to a diabetic friendly diet. I noticed that there was no sugar with breakfast, only sweetener. I couldn't tell if the jelly was sugar free for his toast, but he wouldn't have eaten it anyway. It was my favorite, blackberry, but he's not fond of it. He's a grape guy. So, we'll see how meals go today.

A new doctor, Dr. Kirby, came in and since he was addressing his oxygen issues, I assumed he was with the lung group. He said that you can definitely see the pneumonia on the xrays but since he's staying well oxygenated now at 5, he wanted respiratory to start reducing his flow until he's in the 90s at rest on 3 and then we just increase to 5 when he's moving. I asked Brian, the nurse, who he was and he had no idea! I described him, short, round, black man, and he had no clue! He did say that respiratory came down and said they were told to start lowering his flow and he told them no, he was not ready for that. It's not just when he's moving that he drops, he when he eats, or gets a little agitated or concentrating on something other than the TV or his puzzle book. I don't know if the hospital/Dr. Edwards is deciding that he's been there long enough or what. I did see Brian outside the unit talking to Dr. Yaranov, but whether it was about Bill or not I don't know. I  do know that while I was there, they did not use the shaky vest or any other equipment that Tom had ordered. Maybe they decided that since it hadn't helped they wouldn't do it. I also noticed that his breathing apparatus was gone. I think it got put on his dinner tray and carried out. He has one here at home and I'll take it today.

Physical therapy did come in and tried to work with him some, but when he sat up he got dizzy. He did sit for a bit on the side of the bed without support, and then was finally able to walk to his chair, but that was it. I'm hoping it was just due to all of the events of the morning. We'll try again today.

I think that's the highlights of the day. It's going to be another lovely commute in the rain. Yesterday it wasn't bad, only had some light patches of rain. But, this morning it's coming down pretty good. I'm so glad I stopped and got gas when I got into town last night.

I'd better get a move on and get dressed. A nice rainy day sitting at home knitting on the grandkids afghans sounds like a lovely idea, but not to be, and the afghans are both at the stage where they are too big to carry with me. I'm also crocheting one for Emily. She never asks for me to make her anything and she showed me a picture of one. It's a kit that comes once a month and there's everything needed to crochet 3 different strips. The first set only took me 2 days and now I've waited a month for the next set. It's been shipped but not due to be here until Monday. I do have the stuff coming today for a baby afghan for our newest great-grandchild coming in the summer, but only stuff to keep my hands busy today that don't mean beans if I have to rip them out.

OK, the boat needs to leave in 20 minutes and I'm still in my pjs. Happy Friday!