Friday Afternoon, December 14, 2007

I guess this blog has been a lifeline to information on Dave’s condition. Please accept my apologies for not updating it since Tuesday.

There actually isn’t much new news. Dave did get his catheter removed (I ran from the room when I heard that was happening; I’ve never had one, don’t ever want one, I know somewhat what they are, and I didn’t want to see it removed!). It can be viewed as one small step for the nurses but one giant step for Dave. 30 minutes later when I had the courage to return to his room, he was smiling and glad it was removed.

Today is the final day of his radiation treatments at the City of Hope. That will give his current care facility the opportunity to work on his Physical Rehabilitation full time without the mid-day excursion to another hospital.

We’ve been warned that the radiation therapy caused fatigue and a loss of voice – that is happening – but hopefully it will be short lived. Marla stopped at McDonalds this morning to get him a McGriddle with egg. I guess he likes them and he’s more likely to eat what he likes than what he doesn’t really care for. Hello cholesterol!

Many people wonder what goes on all the hours Dave is in the hospital. Well, here’s an example. Since we all know that one of the biggest factors in Dave’s recovery is rest, when he finally falls asleep, no one want to do anything to wake him up so we whisper, write notes, panic if one of our cell phones rings, etc.

It was the last thing that might give you an idea of how we spend Dave’s sleeping hours. On Saturday morning, Marla and I were in the room, whispering when Marla’s phone went off. In her back pocket! For the next 15 rings, she struggles to locate her phone and then answer it. Well by that time, the caller had hung up. I decided to show Marla the great “vibrate” mode which wouldn’t wake Dave but still let her know of an incoming call.

We put the phone on vibrate and she put it in the pocket of her jacket. I explained that she needed it next to her body or she might not feel the vibration. After much consternation (the whole back pocket thing wouldn’t work well still) she decided that (oh, she’s gonna kill me for this one!) her bra would be handy.

Well, the first time that phone rang, the new experience of the vibration first sent a shocked look to her face and then a funny smile. (I prefer a front pocket but that’s how bad, bad, bad rumors get started). By last Sunday afternoon, each of my six sisters and Dave’s two daughters had adopted the “bra” thing.

Picture it, 9 women grabbing their bra every time some little buzzing took place. It was so precious I couldn’t let it go.

Also, last Sunday evening, when just Judy, Anne, a family friend, Bonnie Baller, and I were in the room, Dave fell asleep. We all started conversing in whispers, and I noticed that Dave’s mouth had fallen open. You know the look – that phenomenon that we’re all afraid will happen to us if we fall asleep on a plane – the jaw drop!

Since we were making fun of Dave in his sleep, I found a felt tip pen that I thought would be nice to maybe draw a removable moustache and thicker eye brows on Dave, and headed toward Dave’s little, angelic, sleeping face.

They caught me and stopped it, but I just blamed my hospital room boredom. Dave woke up, I denied everything, and we conversed for a while. Dave commented that my humor, including my remark that Marla would be “madder’n Jesse Jackson being paged to a white courtesy phone” if she saw the moustache, was in bad taste.

Then Dave thoughtfully fell asleep and we were back to whispers.

We then got the bright idea to learn about all the features of our cell phones. Our sister Judy decided that she wanted to take pictures of each of us so the appropriate picture would pop up when we called her.

Does Judy really think she’s gonna forget what we look like? Am I the only one who finds it hard to be truly sarcastic when whispering? Losing that battle, we all decided to take each others pictures. And then we each wanted editing rights. A bad picture is a bad picture no matter where’s it’s used.

Seven or eight pictures later, Anne is in the bathroom re-applying her make-up and fixing her hair!

My friends, this is what Dave and I have to endure, day after day.

Dave started to stir and we were out of Krispy Krème donuts to pacify him, so we dropped that project, and just sat there in silence.

So if anyone wants to know, that’s what happens when you fall sleep around my family.