Room With A Blue Sky View

     This view is of the blue sky as seen from Rocky's hospital room last Saturday. There is no blue like sky blue!


     Rocky shows a little improvement in that he is eating better thanks to an appetite stimulant they are giving him. He also is less confused, thanks to the end of the heavy-duty pain meds. He's still getting pain meds but only the same ones he could take as needed at home.


     Physical therapists and occupational therapists come in to work with him every day and he was feeling frisky tonight, teasing me that he was going to get up and take a shower. I told him only with a nurse on each side would he have my permission. Then he asked if he had any clothes he could wear in public. I told him they were in the closet. He asked with a wicked grin if I would get them out. "Absolutely not!" I said, "Are you planning to go somewhere?" "I'm going to escape," he answered. I shook my head at him, "If you show up at the house, Louie (our beagle) is going to bark at you." It felt good to be bantering a little with him, even though his teasing smile was more wicked than teasing. Oh, Rocky, what am I going to do with you?


     Well, let's see what tomorrow brings. Oh, one thing it will bring I already know. My friend, Molly, is coming in the morning to visit with me. It will be so good to talk with her.  

The Hospital Patient

Hospital Patient

I stand in the doorway of my husband's hospital room

And look at the woman lying in bed across the hall,

She is the only patient my husband can see from his position,

But he's not well enough to be curious about his neighbors,

I imagine we are all that she can see

As I feed him and give him sips of water,

I cannot walk across the hall and visit her,

My husband is in isolation and I must remain

Yellow gowned and rubber gloved.

I cannot tell how old she is,

I see her lying on her back with only

Her face and hair showing above the covers,

Sometimes her hair looks blonde, sometimes silver,

A young middle-aged man in weary clothes comes every day

And he does for her what I do for my husband,

He feeds her and gives her sips of water,

If he is her son, he is devoted,

If he is her husband, she is lucky,

I stand in our doorway and she looks my way,

I flutter my fingers in a wave,

She doesn't see, she is looking beyond me,

And then her face changes and she is focused,

She slips her hand from under the blanket

And waves back,

I think she smiles.

                  
                                                                 

Irma "Mimi" Rockwell, April 13, 2010

Rebirth: Redbud Tree

     Rocky and I have watched this redbud tree grow from a sapling, and each April for the last decade at least we have enjoyed its bloom early in the Spring.


     This year, Rocky will miss it so I have to enjoy it doubly so. Rocky is still in the hospital, of course, and has been in Select Specialty Hospital for one week today. I spoke with his doctor yesterday who said there is still hope that Rocky will make it, but he has to start eating. I reported that to Rocky and he ate much better today. He is also less anxious but is on some heavy-duty medicines. As the doctor says, he has lots of problems and is in poor physical condition. But he has not reached the "Comfort Care Only" stage, yet. 


     We wait to see what the near future holds and what God wills.  


Mimi

Rocky In The Hospital

                                                   The View From Rocky's Hospital Room

     On March 17, Rocky went to the ER with a slight fever and exacerbation of his COPD. Two days there and he fell and cracked three ribs. It was all downhill from there.

     The meds they gave him made him delusional and a little hard to handle. Finally he reached discharge stage and because we didn't think I could do what he needed here at home, he was transferred to a skilled nursing facility. The first night there, he had such abdominal pain that they sent him to the ER and he was re-admitted to the hospital again, this time with an infected gall bladder. 

     More pain, more meds, more delusions, lots of talk about dying. We prepared for him to die, and reviewed his desires about internment and memorial service. I read the 23rd Psalm to him and he asked me to read more Psalms. I read Tabori's poetry from The Shores Of Eternity, a collection of positive poems about the wonder of dying.

      The Hospice folks came in and evaluated him and he qualifies. He stopped talking about dying and said he wants to live as long as he can as long as he can be comfortable. Finally, on April 5 his son, Geoff, and I decided an appropriate discharge was to move Rocky to the Select Specialty hospital, which is independent from Bristol Regional Hospital but leases space from them on the 5th floor. 

     On April 6, Rocky was transferred. He is no longer getting morphine. His gall bladder has been drained since he is not a candidate for surgery because of his COPD. He has received

lots of antibiotics and will receive even more since he now has developed two more infections and is in isolation. As of today, Geoff and I have to wear a gown and rubber gloves when we're in his room. Hope that doesn't last too long.

     The goal for him that we've all agreed on is for him to gain strength and the ability to take care of his bathroom needs and walk short distances in the house. Then he will be discharged to our home with Hospice following.

     Please pray for us.