Update on Grace, Sunday, Aug 22

Sunday. Latest update 9:00 PM.

8:00 AM - I got up at 6:07 this morning to find Keith had already left. He said he was going to try to leave early, because it's an 11 hour drive home today. Not long after, Jan and I went to walk in the cooler air of the morning - but goodness is it HUMID! It feels like we could take a bite out of the air!

I sent a text to Keith, asking what time he'd left.

We got back and started on the Sunday morning paper, and could hear Bill stirring. Eventually he came out and said he had gotten up just before six, and Keith was gone then. We chatted a bit, then Bill left to go visit Grace.

A few minutes after he left, I got a return text from Keith saying he'd left just before 4AM! Wow, he must really be eager to get home. Or else he didn't sleep so well. We're praying for his safe travel today.

Jan and I will be going to the 9:30 church service this morning; we'll stop by to see Grace before the service. Which means it's about time to start getting ready.

I'm remembering last Sunday, when Daniel and Shelley and Jan and I were in Grace's room, singing hymns for her, and the nurse quickly showed up and shut the door! Ha ha ha! I don't think we'll sing for her this morning.

I hope everyone has a delightful and blessed Lord's day today. I'll post more after church.

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12:15 PM - We're back from church now. We visited Grace before church, and again afterwards.

On the earlier visit, about 8:50 AM, we peeked into Grace's room and she appeared asleep. So we walked down to the other end of the hallway to see which exterior doors might be unlocked that we might use at other times, and decided to at least speak to her and see if she either was awake or only lightly dozing.

It turned out she was only lightly dozing, and was glad to see us. We chatted a bit, and she asked if there was going to be any football on today. So we checked the schedule, and I reported that no, I couldn't find any, and she was disappointed.

She said, "Oh, I was hoping there'd be a Saints game today!"

We mentioned she could watch church on TV, as she likes Dr. James Kennedy, but Grace didn't think she was quite awake enough yet to watch it.

We told her about Keith getting away early this morning, and how it's going to be a long drive for him, but we expected he could get home while it's still daylight. She smiled and said, "That's good."

Grace asked which church we were going to, and we told her, then we told her we'd see her after church. It was obvious she still needed a bit more sleep.

After church, we stopped by her room again, and once more she was lightly dozing, but awoke readily when we spoke to her. She opened her eyes and said, "Hi, Dear!"

We told her some about the sermon at church. Jan said, "David thought the sermon was too long, but I didn't." Grace turned her head to me, and with a mischievous smile on her face, mouthed the words, "I'm with you!"

Then Jan told her about the rock she'd gotten at church, which is "a Biblical symbol of an encounter with God, and a reminder of God's presence with you on your journey." Jan said there was a lady in the line ahead of her, picking through all the available rocks as though she had to find just the right one. Okay.

There's obviously still some disorientation, because Grace said, "It's getting late; it's getting on to Christmas."

So we said, "Well, that's a few months off yet. But it IS getting on to your birthday! Today is Sunday. Your birthday is the day after tomorrow. You're going to be 29 again!"

She grinned at that and said, "Choooooocolate cake!"

I asked her if she wanted yellow cake with chocolate icing, or chocolate cake with chocolate icing, or some Coca-Cola cake. She thought a moment, and said, "I sure wouldn't mind a piece of Coca-cola cake." But the way she said it, I got the impression she meant right now. That may have been true, but for both right now AND for her birthday!

We told her we were planning to get her a large-print bible for her birthday, but after we looked at them, there were so many varieties that we had been planning to take Grace with us and let her make her own selection, but then this thing happened with her knee. So now we'll just go back and pick out a good one, one that's easy to read, and you want the New King James version, right? She affirmed that's what she wanted.

I then joked with her, "I'm assuming you don't want the New King Edward (Stomp) version." She laughed and said that ought to be a good one, too.

A bit of clarification for those who aren't in on the joke: In Jackson there is an old hotel called the King Edward. One of my band members (who is older than I am - wooo!) told me his mother went to her high school graduation dance there, and it was the "in" place to go for years. Everybody who was anybody wanted to be seen at the King Edward hotel. Over the years, the hotel became abandoned and derelict, and that area of town was in an area of urban blight. Right about the time I was getting my band started, there began a local effort to rejuvenate the downtown area, and particularly the King Edward Hotel, to make it an attraction and an "in" place to be again. The leader of our swing band approached me and asked me to write a jazz tune for them that could be a theme song for our jazz band, and that would also commemorate the restoration efforts of the King Edward Hotel, and the result was the "King Edward Stomp." It's become a very popular tune with our jazz band and our audiences. With the similarity between "King James" (version of the Bible) and "King Edward" (jazz tune, which Grace knows and likes), Grace got a big laugh out of the juxtaposition of the names.

Another indicator of some disorientation was that Grace asked, "Did they paint in here last night?" Hmm, I don't think they did, and then Grace said she was just referring to the old joke, "it doesn't look any better in white." Neither Jan nor I understood the joke, and on later reflection, we concluded that Grace had probably had a pain pill not too long ago. The pain pills do a great job of helping her be out of pain, but they are not noted for increasing one's mental acuity. Add that to the fact that she was probably still partially asleep, and some disorientation is very understandable.

A dozen years ago or more, Jan had quite a problem with apnea (she uses an anti-apnea device now), and as a consequence, she would fall semi-asleep while reading schoolbooks to our kids during home school sessions. When this would happen, she would begin dreaming, and we all know how far out dreams can be at times. But when she began dreaming while she was reading aloud, her reading would turn into whatever she was dreaming about, and the kids would say, "Mom! Wake up! You're dreaming again!"

We got a good laugh out of that later, but it also makes Grace's disorientation at this time much more understandable.

By this time, it was after 11:00 AM, so we said that Grace ought to be getting her lunch soon. The nurse, who had come in for a moment to take care of some kind of medical hoo-ha, said, "Yes, it ought to be here in ten to fifteen minutes or so."

Then we talked about going home for lunch, and took our leave, dealing out hugs and smooches, and we left.

We think Grace probably went back to sleep.

When we got home, Bill arrived soon after, and reported that when he had visited her earlier this morning, she was tired and sleepy then, too.

We continue to offer thanks and praise for Grace's improvement, and continue to pray for her to keep improving quickly.

We'll go back to see her later today, and I'll report after that visit.

Take care, all.

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9:00 PM - Jan went to visit Grace while I went to an event at church tonight.

Jan asked what she'd had for dinner, and Grace said a ham sandwich and chicken noodle soup, but she didn't eat any of it. There was a small green salad and a carton of milk, but none of it was touched. When Jan asked why, Grace said her stomach didn't feel good.

There's no question that being in pain can really do a number on your appetite as well.

Yesterday, Jan and I bought a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle, because Grace really likes jigsaw puzzles, and we figured a 100-piece job would fit on her rollaway table, and it was something that could be completed fairly quickly then put away.

Jan had brought the puzzle, and she got it out and she and Grace put it together. It didn't take them too long, and they got it finished, then Jan took it up and put it away. It seems Grace didn't have a lot of focus on it, but she did enjoy it.

Then Grace asked Jan to please help her take off the leg brace, because it was bothering her. Excuse me? It seems she doesn't quite realize what's happened to her knee. Jan said she couldn't do that. Grace became mildly insistent, so Jan said she'd go fetch the nurse, and the nurse would be able to help, if it was okay to do that.

So Jan got the nurse, who told Grace that no, she couldn't have the leg brace taken off, but she could get her a pain pill.

And so she did.

Not long after that, Bill arrived, and Jan headed for home.

He stayed a short time and comforted her as best he could. They chatted a while and said farewell until tomorrow.

Later on, at home, we speculated that all the normal therapists were off today, as it's Sunday, and that lack of therapy, along with the pain of the recovery, is what contributed to Grace's discomfort today.

Yes, please do keep praying. That's the best thing we can do right now.

I'll post more tomorrow. Take care, all.

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