Thursday, February 7
Day 25

Every day when I start my blog, it takes me a while to figure out the date and the day!  My brain is pretty much mush after all this wear and tear!  What I do with John, most every day, is to show him the calendar and outline the past weeks' events and tell him today's date.  Just part of keeping him oriented.  There's also a clock on the wall so he can read the time.  Yet when I try to write the date down, I have to go back and remind myself what today is!

So, it's been another pretty rough day, but I TRUST that it is getting better.  I went with him just now down to the Speech Therapy Department for his Swallow test.  He's been so thirsty for so long that we have been eagerly looking forward to him being able to drink and eat again.  We were in a high-tech room for the test and I was behind a shield with my own monitor.  John was sitting up with x-ray machines all around, nearly.  The Therapist gave him thick pudding and two other substances while the radiologist took pictures as he actually swallowed.  It was very interesting to see his internal structures functioning as he swallowed.

The Therapist said that his swallowing mechanism is fine and that he can have food and drink..  That was an hour and half ago.  But the therapist's orders take a while to trickle down (pun intended) and John is totally frustrated with having to wait.  I mean, he was waited DAYS for this and now the delay seems unbearable.  I've cheated and given him some of MY water when the nurses are not here!

Just a little while ago he said, "Tonight we will pray and maybe this will be a turning point!"  He has been so extremely weak and has not successfully walked these last two days.  Today, trying to think through why this might be, I looked into the bottom eye-lid and it is very pale.  My  mom, being a nurse-midwife years ago, did not have all the advantages we have today.  To check her patients' hemoglogin level, she knew what color the eye-lid should be.  When Karissa was born, I had a major bleed and the hospital wanted me to have a transfusion.  We opted not to and my mom fed me well with lots of high iron foods and would daily monitor my eye-lids.  She could easily see that my body was building back up.

Sure enough, John's eye-lids are very pale.  When the nurse checked his latest blood count, his hemogobin is 9.  Well, I assured them, John does not feel strong at a reading like that.  He tends to be anemic and must take iron every day.  If he misses it for even three days, his energy diminishes quickly.  I had shared that with the doctors initially but they didn't want the constipating effects of the iron. Hopefully tomorrow, his renal doctor said, they can give him some iron during dialysis.  I think it will strengthen him.

Ashley and Sonia just came back in and are giving him his cup of water with a straw in it.  He's taken a sip and appreciated it.  Ashley has been his nurse for three days and Sonia is being oriented.  I just gave them both a home-made rice bag and explained how to use it.  They have been trying their best to motivate John to push through this weakness.  I've appreciated their care and concern.

This morning, an Indian lady from Central Church dropped by some food.  She brought Indian bread and indian potatoes plus two salad mixes (have been missing veggies and salad lately!) and three cans of soup.  So you can guess what I had for lunch and it was delicious.

Jackie Palmieri came with our family to Mexico a couple years ago.  We all enjoyed the time together so much.  She's still a good friend and sent me my first edible bouquet....so lovely and so delicious!