Friday:
So Grandpa had surgery on Thursday night, and as expected he was a little out of it on Friday during the day. In the morning when Mom and Pam came in the nurse informed them that he was pulling on some of the stuff and he took out his trach tube. Apparently he wanted the heck outta there. I don't blame him. He also said his family was worried about him. When P&P got there, they assured him that yes his family was worried about him but they were there now and things were turning around. He would accept their affirmations, but then a little later he was asking about a cell phone because he needed to call his family. So my Mom said, well Pam and I are here and Vick is bringing Grandma in a bit. Then he goes "well I'll use Vicki's phone when she gets here." Haha. Kind of funny, apparently he thought he had a better looking family somewhere else.
The whole day was kind of like this. He would be lucid for a while and understand things and then he would ramble about baseball or football. He was kind of in and out of sleep for a good part of the day. But the one thing that made me really happy is when Heidi the nurse was trying to reassure him about where he was she said "Larry, you had surgery yesterday and that is why you may be a little out of it, and also why you may have a little pain around your belly. But you're body is deciding to get better." We all liked hearing that from her.
We were all kind of in and out of the room on Friday. Although Grandpa was out of it for the most part, we were all feeling a little sense of relief. That things were turning around. He wasn't anywhere out of the woods or over the hump but they were definitely better than when he was the day he was brought in by ambulance.
Also of importance on Friday is the youngest sista made her way from the Louuuuuusiana bayous to the cold tundras of North Dakota. This was a bit shocking for her, as we still had about 20 inches of snow on the ground. Don't worry, we equipped her with the appropriate gear to handle the cold weather.
After she was set, we brought her to the hospital so she could check in on Gramps.
We had secured a nice spot in a family room on the third floor and we would all take turns sitting in with Grandpa. Obviously when he was asleep we would just sit in the chair and read or play on our phones. When he was awake we would chat with him a bit and eventually he would drift back to sleep. He was still kind of groggy and out of it on Friday night before we went back to the house for dinner. One of the nurses said that this is due to the fact that his kidney isn't functioning properly. The anesthetic isn't leaving his system as fast as it typically would in a healthy individual. We all know how loopy we can be after a surgery. Just google that crazy girl whose Mom filmed her after she had her wisdom teeth removed. She thought she was a student at hogwarts. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsld9K8z2Ns) or what about David after dentist??? That poor kid was loopier than a college frat guy after a case of beer. (http://www.youtube.com/v/txqiwrbYGrs)
Considering all things, Grandpa wasn't nearly as whacked out as those two. But we wanted to be sure to tell the nursing staff that should he become confused at all when we have left that they should call us immediately and someone would come back and sit with him. We went home and had lasagna. The sisters did what they do best and drank some wine, laughed and made fun of Pam. Vicki and Val eventually took Grandma home and tucked her into bed. We were all winding down for bed when my Mom came down the stairs saying she missed a call from Sanford. She called them back and as was expected he had woken up during the night and was a bit confused. As Mom was relaying this information to me, I asked her what in the world was wrong with her because SHE was acting like David after Dentist. "Oh, nothing. Just took some Nyquil." Seriously. What?? Oh, great. This should be fun.
I obviously drove. And dropped Becca and Mom off at the door which was closest to the elevators by Grandpa's room. I parked and when I walked in Grandpa was asking Mom why the heck he was in the cellar :( Mom said it's dark Dad and that may be why you feel like you're down in the cellar, but you're not. You're here in the hospital and we can turn a light on, but we're here with you and we'll just be over in these chairs if you need anything. I pulled a chair up to Grandpa's bed and put my hand on his arm while he slept for a bit. Becca and Mom sat in the two chairs by the wall and when I looked over to them...I saw something like this:
Becca and I determined it was time for mom to go take a nap in the family room down the hall. We sent her down there with a pillow and blankets. Becca pulled her chair up to mine so we could put our feet on each others chairs and we sat quite comfortably for a while. Grandpa would wake up every now and then and was reassured by familiar faces. I would stand up and help fix his breathing mask or tell him to keep resting and he would usually say "thanks, Rach." It was pretty clear the anesthetic was starting to wear off and Grandpa was starting to come back. Occasionally he would get frustrated or angry with feeling foggy or out of it. He said earlier that day and a couple times that night that he was confused. Well someone who knows they are confused indicates that his mind is fairing quite well. Whenever he would get frustrated or angry I would tell him to channel that anger and energy into telling the bug to take a hike, give it an eviction notice from your body. But you CANNOT be angry or frustrated with Larry. He acquiesced, closed his eyes and said "here I go." The nurse laughed and said "what did he just say?" when I told her, she said I think he's getting a lot better cognitively. She said just within the few hours she had been on her shift she had already noticed a difference.About an hour or two later Becca ran down to the bathroom and then checked in on Mom. She said Mom was snoring so loud you could hear her down the hall. After another hour or so Mom came back into the room and we chatted with Grandpa a bit when he awoke. He was really with it and said we should go home and get some rest.
On our way out I thought I should maybe stay just in case he wakes up confused again, and I had also made some good progress on the blog and wanted to get a lot done before going to bed. So we made the plan for me to stay and then when Pam came back in the morning Eric could just bring me home. Becca and Charlie Sheen took off for the night.
I made good friends with the nurse on staff that night and we discussed Grandpa's condition. She had also been the nurse taking care of him when he was in the ICU in November and she remembered him. She really thought there was some sort of connection between these two events and we chatted for a while about possibilities. She also started to wean Grandpa off the Levathin, which is the blood pressure medicine they gave him when he came in because his BP was so low. This was good, it means he is now able regulate it on his own.
Next stop...Saturday
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