Tuesday tears

Today was a rough day for Dorothea. Harold arrived at 8am and found that a few people were working with her... and she was crying. She was in pain, and for some reason she felt like he wasn't going to come today. Last night she asked him to stay later than normal too. I feel that she is dealing with some fear and uncertainty. All of the physical part of this has to be hard enough to deal with - but not being able to talk through this has to be equally difficult.

She complained of pain in her buttocks today - many times apparently. They are trying to alleviate that by propping her on her side a little bit with pillows. They want to move her throughout the day, which is normally good for the body. However, Harold feels like it causes some issues with her trach. When they suction her out it is bloody, he believes because she is getting irritated from the movement of the trach. This movement is greater with the vent attached to it. When she gets off of the vent and is able to use the oxygen shield this will be much better. They decided not to try to move her off the vent today. I think that was a wise move. They need to do it when she is calm and not in pain.

When PT came today that supported her in a sitting position on the edge of her bed for a few minutes until she could not take it anymore. She was complaining of cramping in her stomach when she was sitting up.

She coughed a few times while I was there - and it seems to cause her a great deal of pain. After she coughs (silently of course)she closes her eyes for a minute or so - I think she is dealing with the pain - trying to put on a tough guy appearance for me.

Early this afternoon she was having a tough time emotionally and dealing with pain, so they gave her a Darvocet to help her rest. She was asleep when I arrived, but woke up after a few minutes after I had gotten caught up on the news of the day. At first she seemed a little down...but I started telling her stories about last night and today and got her laughing. I guess that's my job. When I left tonight I told her that I would work on coming up with some more funny stories for her. Harold told a very funny story...with actions and voices...and she laughed so hard (silently of course) - it was great to see her laugh like that!

She doesn't remember alot of what happened in ICU, so I told her today about her receiving flowers from Steve...an old and dear friend of ours who stayed with us during high school. She has not seen him in more than 20 years - and she was so moved to know that he had sent her flowers!

Please continue to pray for both Dorothea and Harold, and keep sending your newsy notes. She really enjoys it when we read letters to her.