A good day

Today was a good day on multiple fronts.  First and foremost...Roger's pain appears to be under control.  The IV pump with the big time narcotic seems to be doing its job and controlling the pain in conjunction with this nerve medicine, neurotin.  When asked throughout the day how the pain ranked on a sale of 1-10 with 10 being the most intense, Roger responded most of the day as a 2, or 3, or 4.  There were spikes upward when he moved, but for the most part the day was a lower level pain. 

That's the first part of the good day.  The second part of the good day is that Roger got to take a bath.  Holyhell the nagging, requesting and persuading we had to do.  The day nurse came up with excuse after excuse as to why Roger shouldn't take a bath.  Um, yah, not a good idea with me.  I swatted each down with a rebuttal which left the nurse dude (tall skinny guy) speechless and finally resigned to say, "ok, we'll do it."  Within moments of being in the tub, there was a sign of relief from Roger and a smile on his face.  We both extended our gratitude several times over.  The whole process was annoying until we got him in the tub - everything from the constant begging, arguing we had to do etc to the ARMY of people this male nurse enlisted the help of, to the fact the water wouldn't warm up very hot.  Once we got Roger into the "bath...room" he was greeted by not one, not two but three old gal-volunteers, our male nurse, the nursing assistant.  He looked to me in horror like "whatthehell is up with this huge audience of people".  Realizing, despite our constant emphatic statement "we've got this, we don't need all this help." NO ONE would budge.  Ok, so we decided not to fight. Roger wanted a bath and I wanted Roger to be happy so, ok, an audience it will be.  He had donned his bright yellow, Dr Seuss "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish" boxer shorts (bet you will never guess who bought those....I LOVE Dr. Seuss) to maintain a little modesty.  He was goaded into taking them off because they would get wet and make a mess.  Again, with the focal point of wanting to have the bath , Roger caved in and I went along.  In the whole scheme of things, big deal.  He shed his adorable boxers and stood in his skinny, naked glory.  Long story short, he got his bath.  Within minutes of being in the tub, he was smiling and sighed a sigh of relief. All embarrassment behind him. 

We've had a couple funny, silly moments.  As you can imagine, with all these drugs on board, Roger gets pretty snookered pretty quickly.  The morning through noon tends to be the worse.  So the other morning, he was having a hard time staying awake.  He was dozing off while eating oatmeal (UM, NOT pretty), while brushing his teeth, etc.  This same morning we were trying to have a conversation before the doctor came in to plan our attack and what the conversation would be with the doctor.  The conversation quickly turned one sided as Roger started to mumble jumble.  I finally said "honey, lets stop.  You go ahead and take a nap and we can resume this conversation when you're awake because you are not making any sense."  He paused.  Blinked his eyes a couple times (I thought the precursor to him falling back a sleep...) and then responded very simply, "No, I think its YOU.  I understand EVERYTHING I said....YOU just don't understand."     Hmmmphfffff.

Roger has been making a concerted effort to eat more (today: 2 pancakes, 2 hotdogs, 3 cookies, pasta, pudding and a couple bites of a milkshake) and a concerted effort to exercise more.  We've done a couple laps in the room from one corner to the other.  As a result of these efforts coupled with the doctor getting Roger's pain under control, we are happy to report.... WE ARE GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!  OH happy happy day!!!!!!!  We are both so very excited there aren't words.  The house has been set up with hospital bed, and other similar medical equipment on the main floor.  We have a walker to help Roger with mobility and independence.  He has sworn to enlist assistance every time he moves.  We, he, cant afford another fall. 

Once we get home, we will have a nurse to the house 3 x a week initially.  We can increase or decrease the visits as needed.  there will be a home health aid who comes to the house once a week to help with bathing etc.  Again, we can increase/decrease assistance as needed.   There will be a social worker who comes by to do touchy feely stuff.  Make sure our "mental well being" is being well....or something like that.  I anticipate more battles to be fought but maybe fewer in total than when in this facility.  Oh well.  I'm not looking to win a popularity contest, merely looking to get my husband as well as we can, as pain free as we can, AND squeezing every drop out of life as possible. 

Cross your fingers for a good day tomorrow, and a good night to night.  Last night was good.  Would love a repeat. 

xxooxx, a & r