Catherine-Ann / Pure-Grace
Aug. 5, 2022
THE SUN CAME OUT THEN DARK CLOUDS CAME 08.04.22
Thursday, August 4, 2022
7:20 PM
Hello. Today, Larry ran a marathon. I was delayed seeing him for 45 minutes as he was undergoing 'procedures'. He had 3 hours of dialysis to increase his potassium, for one. The feeding tube was removed from his mouth & put through his nose again. While I was there the breathing apparatus was removed from his mouth/throat. He had a 20 minute bed shake-up. Then moved to a chair. I love when he sits in a chair, because I can (almost) hug him and for sure give him kisses on his face, which is impossible when he's in that big bed with all the tubes, I.V. hook-ups & wires. Once his mouth was free of tubes, he whispered words, responding to nurses, "Is that much better?" "Much better!" He moved his eyes to the side to look at me. He wasn't staring as before. What a huge, positive change from even yesterday.
Here's the tough stuff: When Larry was being set-up in the sling to be moved to sit in the chair he started vomiting. Earlier, when the nurse started hooking up the liquid food to the tube in his nose, he put his hands on his stomach. So when the bed shook him for 20 minutes it may have been motion sickness. Once he sat in the chair, he was fine. They may have given him Gravol. When he was positioned back in his bed, the heavy coughing really began, and he was not able to cough up his phlegm. It turned into very distressing episodes, with him choking & seemingly suffocating each time he tried to cough. His B.P. was very high! That went on for an hour. I was given permission to suction Larry's mouth but often nothing came up. I begged the nurse to suction down his throat as you could hear that awful stuff staying put and causing him such distress. Once she did, he settled down, as far as the coughing went, but his breathing didn't sound good. The fear is that he aspirated the liquid food. I kept my hand on Larry's chest and continually prayed for a miracle of healing. It’s a huge challenge to trust, when there is seemingly no evidence of a miracle taking place. I asked the nurse if she was me, would she stay. She said that they'd watch him closely and probably put an oxygen mask on him or go back to intubating him again if it didn't improve. So that's the dark cloud that tried to rain on our day of 'sunshine'! Now that I've unloaded it, I will spend the evening feeling Larry squeeze my hand, looking at me and gently closing his eyes when I kissed him.
So coming such a long way from almost lifelessness to such beautiful interaction felt… there are no words to say! Larry was strong today, as he grabbed my hand and continued to squeeze it. He kept his eyes open much of the time.
I cried all the way out of the building and was met by our dear adopted Syrian daughter, who held me & cried too. That's what I needed. I phoned Larry's brother John & he and El are going in a bit to the hospital. Larry kept squeezing my hand for the last hour with him, so it will be good for him to be able to do the same with his brother.
The nurse told me to call any time & as often as I wanted through the night. So I will!
Thank you for your heart & your shoulder. God bless you. xoxo