So let's talk about heavy stuff before I share all of the fun stories from earlier today. Grandpa has been really sick and for a while it was pretty touch and go. As many of you know Thursday was pretty rough for all of us. Things have greatly improved but it's also emphasized the importance of having a conversation with Grandpa about what he wants. We did this today with him and I think all of us are in such a better place. Earlier today Grandma and Grandpa were talking about something that transitioned into a conversation about him being sick and what was going to happen. He knows that he's on the road to recovery but we also needed to discuss what would happen if things got worse for some reason, or even later on down the road (hopefully years from now). All of the sisters were in there and Becca and I both eventually came too. The conversation went back and forth for a while and he stated that he did want to go home eventually. But a lot of things were still left to interpretation. And if you have any experience with these sisters you know that they sure interpret things differently :) So Pam spoke with Heidi, who is Grandpa's fabulous nurse and asked Heidi to go in and talk to Grandpa on her own without all of us in there.
After Heidi spoke with Grandpa, she came into the family room and spoke to us. She said that she explained to him again that his condition is improving and that she wanted to clarify the talk he had with his family earlier today. She explained all of the machines he was on and he understood what they did and he wanted to stay on them all. She then asked if his heart were to stop for any reason would he like to be manually resuscitated or shocked. And he said no. This answer did not surprise us because this is similar to what he said when he was in the hospital back in November. He believes if his heart stops that means it's his time. She then asked if he had to be intubated because his lungs were unable to function properly if he would be okay with this? And he said yes, but only if the intubation were helping him. If his condition were to get worse than he would want that stopped. After Heidi came in to explain all of this she wanted to go back down to Grandpa's room with us and have this same discussion again with all of us. We walked down and spoke to Grandpa about this again and we also discussed what would happen with Grandma if he were not to come home. When Grandpa directed this question to Grandma she said Eventide, which is a nursing home in the area. He also discussed about them potentially going to a nursing home after he left the hospital. More than likely he'll go to some transitory care facility between the hospital and home or the hospital and a nursing home. Heidi also said that a case manager has been assigned to Grandpa and is already looking into these things so he shouldn't worry about which nursing home to choose, if they have openings, how much it would cost and all those other questions that go along with this process. Heidi said the case manager will handle all of these things and anwer any questions. But it may still be quite a while before he's actually discharged from the hospital.
We've been so thankful to have such a wonderful group of nurses taking care of Grandpa and Heidi has been really top notch. After this tough discussion and such a terrific job Heidi did of explaining everything to us, Vicki acknowledged how appreciative we were of her and thankful to have such good care. Then Vicki said "It's like you're one of us now!" Haha, we laughed and told Vicki that may not be such a good compliment. Heidi, said "no no - it is. The entire nursing staff has been talking about how wonderful your family is." And we said well you know why that is, that little guy in there and this little lady right here.
Okay, let's get to the good stuff. First of all we had to head to the hospital today with a note from Tucker. He's a little annoyed that all these peeps keep coming to his house and that guy that gives him treats is nowhere to be found.
Alrighty, let's get into some fun Grandpa stories. He's really been a hoot today. Mom and Pam made their typical early arrival to the hospital. When Grandpa asked where Grandma was my Mom told him that Vicki and Val were bringing her in, they were just getting her meds put together. So when Grandma made it into the hospital, Grandpa said "did you get your meds put together?" She looked at him a little surprised and said "How did you know that?" He said "I'm telepathic." That's when we realized that the old Grandpa was back. And things just progressed throughout the day.
When the respiratory therapist came in this afternoon to do a couple of swallow tests on Grandpa, she had him stick out his tongue and she said "say ahhhhhh for me," and Grandpa goes "ahhhhhh for me." The entire room broke into laughter, with the person respiratory therapist laughing the hardest. I don't think she expected someone in the ICU giving her a run for her money.
As a good indicator of how well he's doing overall with his health and mental status, Grandpa asked Pam what Dean was doing today and she said he was busy mowing the lawn. Then later in the day, after he had a nap he looks at her again and says "He's really mowing the lawn, huh?" He's also been given a spirometer, which is a plastic little machine which you blow into after surgery to help your lungs out. Heidi told us that Grandpa has been her best patient on one of these things.
Later in the day Grandpa was even able to order food and have his first meal in 6 long days. He had some tomato soup and scalloped potatoes. But he also had some very strict guidelines for eating because of everything he's been through. Heidi was helping him eat and she would give him three spoonfuls of tomato soup, one bite of potatoes and then he would have to cough and could then have a drink of water. She was following this routine very strictly and she was on the third spoonful of tomoato soup for Grandpa when he said "that's number two, right?" And she said, no that was number three. At which point, Grandpa smiled and she said "Larry, are you tricking me???" We all started laughing because Grandpa was trying to con more soup out of her.
The night nurse came on shift right before we left and she said "hi, Larry. Do you remember me?" He honestly replied, no. And she said, well that's probably because you were sleeping like a baby last night. To which he replied, "was I crying?" I think the night nurse was confused, but Heidi who already had a sense of Grandpa's humor started laughing pretty hard.
Also later in the day Heidi grabbed a few other nurses to help her position Grandpa toward the end of his bed. Auntie Pam was even able to help a bit. They slid him to the end of the bed and supported him while he was able to stand up. Heidi said she didn't necessarily want him to walk but to stand there for a bit and just move around. So Grandpa did a little dance. That's a good way to wrap the day, I think we were all dancing just a little on the way out tonight.
I'll sign off with a photo of Grandpa's mirror which is decorated with love from his fam.
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