We have been back from the hospital a whole week now and I still feel disorganized. Making room for an extra bed and other medical equipment while keeping the house looking like "home" was not an easy task, so I am very grateful that I had lots of help. But there is still more to do. Hospice has been very active in offering aid. Julie has been wonderful to assume the task of reading the mountain of material they provided to help us prepare. So many have taken care of so many tasks that I'm reluctant to list them by name for fear I will leave someone out, but I have appreciated each one.
In some ways this week has been a bit overwhelming, filled with too much activity, information and exhaustion. But in others it has actually been a good week, filled with family, friends and laughter. Finding a box filled with old family videos has been a treasure although watching myself in one of them still makes me cringe. (Jimmie directed what is probably the silliest home movie ever made while trying to fill a rainy day in Samoa when Julie was 5.) Yet my favorite memory of this week has been Jimmie giving Cole a "ride" on his hospital bed before they snuggled up to read together.
Jimmie tires quickly now and still has occasional bouts of hiccups. (They were a bit more frequent and difficult today again with some of those episodes where his diaphragm seems to freeze . . .very distressing.) Pain and shortness of breathe are also a recurring problem. But Jimmie is still Jimmie. Yesterday he set up a Bible study with the Hospice orderly who arrived to help him shower. Jimmie looks for ways to go into all the world to preach the Gospel even if it is by wheelchair . . . I need to be more like that.
- Linda
No comments:
Post a Comment