Sorry about the lack of midnight email last night! I just got done with what turned into a 15 hour shift at the hospital. I'm gonna get this email off real quick before I pass out.
Kirk was moved to a new, larger room early last night. Originally, it was to try some kind of complicated oxygen mask, but that was shot down on account of it would be a major pain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIRna9Q4l_g) for him. And besides the regular mask is getting the job done. The increased room size allowed us to steal more chairs and have everyone sitting comfortably. With exception of the nurse who once literally squatted at her computer for a minute instead of asking for her chair back out of our room. WellStar Douglas nurses = Love +10.
We watched The Simpsons and Family Guy. Or more accurately those were on while we ran our mouths some more about everything under the sun. We are NEVER short of things (and occasionally people) to talk about. Once you stop crying, there's really a fun time to be had. This continued through the Grammy Awards which made me think I need to bring some CDs over to the hospital. We have so many movies, but not enough music.
Sometime around 11:30 the Lawrences left to go sleep and be rested for more hospital this morning. Meanwhile I was wide awake from my nap and Roffelle wasn't planning on leaving either. Though he MUST be tired. He's taking such good care of Tiffany, and finding/cleaning/moving their new apartment, AND staying up all night with Kirk. I saw him in and out of sleep last night for no more than 3 hours. He's a machine. Especially to be able to jump up out of sleep, I swear, and help the nurses and me change Kirk's bedsheets. This is quite a physical ordeal due to his size and weight. It will be a strong factor in the decision to take him to a hospice over trying to care for him at the house.
Through all of this mess we watched movies. We saw Taken (B-), Step Brothers (B-), Trading Places, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Goonies got started when I left this morning. Kirk was in and out of sleep in the night as well, but sometime around 5am he started grabbing for his oxygen mask and trying to pull it off. I fixed the mask back on his mouth and held his hand. He responded with some pretty strong grip strength. I was surprised. He would also open his eyes wide (about half way open is "wide" these days) during the funny parts in the movies. I don't mean to suggest that Kirk was much for actively watching the movies, but if he has much concentration about anything, it's the TV or nurses poking/washing/moving him. Between the movies, goofing off with Roffelle and playing games with the night nurses (like "Guess How Much Pee Is In the Bag Before She Measures It") I had a great time.
On the whole, Kirk isn't much better than yesterday. The current hypothesis is that if they run a tube through his nose (a mild irritation compared to a surgically-installed feeding tube) they can make sure some soup makes it to his stomach (as opposed to his lungs) and the calories might give him some energy. I think this is the last service the hospital can offer before a comfy bed and comfy drugs are all he needs. Both of which are in no short supply at the hospice. I presume he'll have been moved there by the time I wake up this afternoon since they already have one picked out.
I think our Little Engine That Could has the station in sight. We'll see what he does with the new caloric energy though. For now I'm gonna go take about 400 cc's of sleep-aclilin. I'll be back at the hospital again tonight though. I don't PLAN on being there all night, so hopefully you'll get another email from me before tomorrow.
xoxoxo,
-John
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