The internet at the hospital struck again and wouldn't connect to any device. And my laptop wouldn't connect to my phone that I was using as a hotspot. So, I was dead in the water as far as updates go.

Christmas Eve ended with a bang for me! I was talking to my sister who always hosts the family Christmas dinner after everyone had left. Now, we can talk for hours and we both multi-task when necessary. As we were talking I decided to scoop the litter boxes and went into the laundry room. After I got them done I turned to leave and just happened to look out the window and the house next door was on fire! So I told her I had to go and called 911, while watching the fire get bigger and bigger. It was confined to one bedroom and I was really wanting them to get there so it wouldn't catch the tree in between the houses and then my house. After they said they were on the way I grabbed a sweater and went running out to make sure the neighbors got out, and they were and I could hear the smoke detector so at least they had a working one. The fire was quickly put out, and it was still confined to that one room. A space heater was too close to the curtains and, well you know what happens. Our other neighbors came out and the man who lives behind us and another neighbor a little further down came out, all thinking that it was our house. They were all relieved to see that it wasn't. It took awhile to wind down after that, and calling my sister back to fill her in. And of course I had to wait until all the fire trucks were gone since they were all in front of my house and, more importantly, my bedroom windows!

Christmas Day was not bad. Bill was awake most of the day and trying to talk, but they had put a different mouth guard on so I couldn't try to read his lips. I finally got a pad of paper and a pen and he wrote notes. All he wanted to know was when he would get some food. And he wasn't buying my answers. The last note he wrote was "I want some food". When I tried to tell him again, he just waved me toward the door...so I left! Mistie and Kayden and Kiyann brought me dinner and brought enough that I ate the rest of it tonight!

This morning I left earlier than usual since they were going to do the bronchoscopy and then try to extubate and as I was walking to the isolation cart to get a gown, his night nurse came up and said she was just going to give report to me. At some point in the night, Bill extubated himself! He said he doesn't remember doing it and was asleep when he did it, but I'm not so sure about that. He was so determined to eat that it really didn't surprise me. But, they had tried to put him on the high flow oxygen and that didn't work, so he's back on the blended hi-powered stuff. Respiratory came in shortly after I got there and he turned him down from 100% oxygen to 80% and eventually to 60%.

When Dr. Smith came in he said that he can't do the bronch without him being intubated because of the high level of oxygen he's on. He asked if we would consider another tracheostomy and said that if it was his father he would do it. I don't know if Bill fully understood, but I'm fine with it. I told him he had already had 2, once at Mayo and once in Memphis. He then asked me why they hadn't seen him before in the hospital, and I told him we were told that while he was hospitalized, we had to see the other group. He didn't ask me who told me that, but he said that since their group sees him as an outpatient and they also do hospital, there should have been no issue with them following him in the hospital. I told him I had requested that they consult and was told no. He started to make a comment, and then just said, "no it's the holidays". It could also be that Bill's nurse was also in the doorway in case he needed to relay anything to her. I told Dr. Smith that he had saved Bill's life 10 years ago and he had gone back and read through all of the notes and did remember, and we talked about Dr. Burnett, his old cardiologist and I told him that we still hadn't found anyone to replace him.

He said that Bill could have ice chips but he wanted speech therapy to do a swallow evaluation before he could have any food. And of course the therapist came while I was out of the room. I had seen someone from therapy in the hallway (they wear grey uniforms) but didn't know which therapy and it wasn't the speech therapist we already know. But, Caleb told me she had been in and wanted him to do another Barium swallow study tomorrow if it could be scheduled and if he could be taken to the radiologist. It's not something that can be done bedside. It still hadn't been scheduled when I left, nor had the trach.

Bill is still totally obsessed with eating. He's not buying it that he's getting fed, he wants the act of eating. He also didn't want the ice chips! When I told him that I was leaving at 5, which is later than I usually stay, he just said that the cats were more important than him. But, Caleb told him that I drove a long way to spend the day with him and had been there a long time. He got a little better after that, but not much.

He was sitting in his chair when I left and had been in it for an hour. That was something else that Dr. Smith said must be done, he had to get out of bed. He was pretty unsteady at first, but then sat on the edge of the bed without support for quite awhile.

Hopefully he'll behave himself tonight. I'm going early again in the morning and I think that I've covered everything from the last 2 days. I don't think I'm taking the laptop tomorrow, but maybe my tablet will connect and I can update if/when things are scheduled and/or done. And with that, I'm going to bed! Goodnight!