Better than yesterday

I'll just give you a quick run down of the last 24 hours. Last night I sent Mom and Natalie away and spent the night with Dad. For the most part he did pretty well overnight. He had a few episodes where he got feisty and removed his mask. I let him have his temper tantrums then quietly slipped it back on. As tiring as it got to be at times, let me tell up front it is was an absolute honor to be by his bedside taking care of him. It was only a small repayment on my part of the all the years he stood by my in a time that seems so long ago.

By 3:00AM, he began to sleep pretty soundly so I finally laid down myself. Mom got to the hospital around 6:30AM and he was still sleeping and held that pattern for most of the morning. He did run a few fevers during the day, but they didn't seem to last as long as before. He still has a lot of confused moments and delirium, but there was also more of a hint of his old self creeping back in: being bossy, micro-managing the nurses, and even some attempts at humor. He's clearly a different person than the guy I saw on Tuesday, but he's still weak, worn-out, exhausted, and trying his best to keep going.

Twice today he sat on the edge of the bed and even stood up for a bit. His nurses were there to help, but they claim he did most of it himself. Each time took the wind from him and it took time to get his breathing and heart rate back down. But he wanted to get moving which shows just how unbelievably strong he's trying to be and how he keeps fighting.

The word from the plethora of doctors that are working with him is that they want to see him continue to breathe with the aid of oxygen and show steady improvement. The overall consensus is that what might normally take you or I several days to overcome could take Dad weeks. The other tidbit of good news today was that his white blood cell count came back up. Yesterday it was 5.3. Today it was 7.5. In general, this means his body recognizes that there is an infection and is doing what it can to fight it. Additionally, his right lung where the infection is sounded better than yesterday. More slivers to hang on to.

Ed and Rachel came out tonight to check in on him and brought with them two beautiful and thoughtful presents: a picture book they made of all Dad's flowerbeds in bloom at the house, and a framed picture of their stunning engagement photo. Dad's face lit up at both. He takes so much pride in his gardens and my heart broke when I realized that he hasn't been home in so long he hasn't been able to see how pretty they are.

I realize my quick update has turned out to be quiet lengthy, so I'll wrap up with two other highlights of the day. First was a surprise visit by Sue and Dave DeDecker. They've always been such good friends of the family and today we were reminded of why. The second highlight of the day was watching Dad pray The Lord's Prayer with Pastor Breed when she came to visit. He appeared to be asleep but as soon as she started with the words, he piped in right with her and then thanked her when she was done. As hard as the last three days have been, I realize that we have been and are still being blessed through all of this. Please pray that we continue to have strength for the coming days. The road is still very long and filled with uncertainty.

Love & Peace,

Ron2