Texas Pics, Nursing Home News, Etc.

Hey, Y'all,
First, let me acknowledge all of you, my friends, who are leaving me comments on my blog, and also those of you who read and don't leave comments. I thank each of you, and can feel your prayers and well-wishes on our behalf, whether they are stated on the comment page or not. I enjoy reading all of the comments, too.

Gramps (aka Dub) is still really disoriented and not cognizant of where he is right now. I am hoping he comes out of it eventually. He does know me, and that is a plus for sure! He is in an excellent nursing home and we are blessed for him to be there. It has a long waiting list, and we just happened to get a bed when it became open.

I visited him on Wednesday when I went over for a planning meeting, where Allie and I met with the personnel who are working with him and discussed his needs with them. It was about an hour that we met with them, and then we went on down to visit with him. Allie had to leave and so I visited with him a while longer.

He is not eating very well. They told me that yesterday morning (Thursday) that he refused breakfast saying he had already eaten, and the night before (Wednesday) he would not eat because he was still full. He, himself, told me that he had lost his appetite. When I went to visit with him on Tuesday, he was very thirsty and had no water. Allie went out into the hall to ask about water for him, and apparently no one had brought him a water container. They immediately filled and brought one for him. The water containers are big 32 ounce cups that have a straw, and are hard for a senior lying in bed to manage, without spilling water on themselves.

I figured that a smaller container might be better, so later on Tuesday, I went to Walmart and bought a couple of intermediate sippy cups for him and upon returning to see him Wednesday, I brought them and helped him try them out. They seemed to work okay. When he I saw him on yesterday morning, he was still in bed, and was about to be getting a shower. One of the aides, Donna, was getting ready to help him. She got him up into a bath chair, which has the seat out and the patient's "bum" is in the chair hole. If the patient has to urinate, or whatever, it just falls into the floor and is immediately cleaned up. I am learning new things every day.

Also, in the bed, the patient has no Depends on, but is situated on a bed pad with another pad folded over between the legs. They determine that there is less chance of UTI's and bedsores by using them. When they are soiled they simply wash the patient and replace with clean pads.

After Dub had his shower, they brought him back (oh, yes, they drape a sheet around the patient while he is in the shower chair to take him to the shower room and back, so that none of him is "exposed" to anyone seeing him travel down the hall.) They then dressed him in his sweats and socks and shoes and brought him back. During the day, while he is up, he has on a pair of depends or pull-ups. When they brought him back, the nurse came in and removed the dressing from his incision. It looks really good, I am happy to report.

I left him about two hours after I got there, and went on to Knoxville to do "Movie Day" with my sister in law, Mae. Imazo had gone to Pigeon Forge with the seniors at their church to see the new attraction there, The Titanic, and to eat lunch out also. Mae and I went to the Red Lobster and celebrated my upcoming 77th birthday. Then we went back to her house and watched my all-time favorite comedy, "No Time for Sergeants" with Andy Griffith. We laughed all the way through it.

When I got back to Dandridge at the nursing home, I went in to visit with Dub again, and he was sitting up in a wheel chair, and looking great. He was glad to see me, and of course, I was happy to see him looking so much better. He asked me some questions about our home, about whether the mortgage was paid off and if we had insurance, etc. I told him of course and he seemed okay with my answers. That shows me that he is still concerned with life outside the nursing home. Of course, he doesn't know where he is, and I told him that he is in Dandridge in the county nursing home, but it didn't register with him.

We talked about the way the room is decorated, and he wanted to know who did it. I told him they had a group of decorators who do that job, and he seemed okay with that. I told him that we were waiting for supper and he wanted to know what restaurant we were at, and after racking my brain a bit, I said it was a new one called the "Yum Yum" because he had said he had lost his appetite and that was the first name that popped into my head.

When they brought his supper, it was chili, a toasted cheese sandwich, corn chips and crackers, milk and an orange sherbet. He ate the chili, crackers, milk and sherbet and a few of the corn chips. The sandwich was too dry, he said. Before I left, I complimented him on how well he had eaten and told him that he needs to eat when they bring food, even if he thinks he has already eaten, and that he will soon get his appetite back. I told him that he is in a little hospital and they are going to help him get better so that he can come home one of these days.

I left after he had finished his supper and when I got back to Jeff city, I stopped and bought groceries. Laurie, our neighbor, and her children came to visit me a while and picked cherries off the cherry tree out back. I told her they were welcome to them, I don't care anything about fooling with cherries, and was happy for them to pick them. Later on, I relaxed by watching some television and eating a sandwich for supper. Bedtime, then, and now it is a little past 6 a.m. I am putting a few pictures on the post today from my time in Texas. Right now, all of that seems kind of like a dream, if you know what I mean.

Pictures are: Top row - Julia, Andrew, baby Brooke and Alyssa; Flower girls - Ellie, Hannah (shepherding the other 3), Alyssa, and Marin in the front; Matt and Amy.
Second row - Wedding group of extended family; Bennett cousins (Daniel-Whit's 4, and Andrew-Julia's 2)
Third row - Brooke on new quilt I made for her; Family group of Bennett's and Grammy (including Emily and beau, Ben).

Well, this is a long post, I know, but it has been a couple of days since I posted, and I am quite the talker. Ha. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Got a lot to do today, but I am getting at least six hours of sleep a night, so am doing okay. Bye for now.