Update on Grace, Tuesday, Aug 24

Tuesday. Latest update 9:00 PM.

12:30 PM - I'm sorry for the late posting today, but things have been busier than ever around here. Fortunately, the news about Grace is (relatively) good - she finally got a good night's sleep last night, and so is awake today, and not totally incoherent from the pain meds.

I timed my (first) outing today so I could go visit Grace before a lunch appointment I have with a friend on Tuesdays, and coordinated the timing with Bill. Bill left the house about 20 minutes before I did, so he was there with Grace when I arrived, about 10:30 this morning.

The first thing I noticed was that Grace was out of bed, sitting up in a therapy chair. Yay! The second thing I noticed was that she had her leg brace off! Yay again!!

However, the first thing I did was sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to her, substituting "Happy Birthday-as-much-as-possible-in-the-hospital" for one of the lines. I did NOT sing the famous, "You look like a monkey, and smell like one, too!" lines. I didn't think she'd appreciate that today of all days.

Then I said, "WOW! Your leg brace is off! I bet you're super happy about that!"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am!"

Then she lifted up the edge of the hospital gown to show me this shocking scar on her knee. It's on the right knee, starting outside the bottom of the kneecap and extending more than a foot up around on the top of the leg.

Eeek!

I said, "That's quite a badge of honor you've got there." And we covered it up again.

Then I commented that she looked rested and asked if she'd slept well. That's when she told me, "Yes, better than I expected. It was dark in here, and I couldn't see the clock, and I don't have my watch, so I just had to take what comes. The main thing that bothered me was when they came in and turned on all the lights," here she made a shielding-against-bright-light motion with her hands, "to give me those pills."

Bill mentioned that they had her sitting up in the chair today, and I mentioned that it must be great to not have to lie down all the time, and she said, "Yes, but this chair is not very comfortable. It feels like I'm sitting on some kind of metal edge of something."

Those of you who know Grace know she is NOT a complainer. She very rarely says anything negative about anyone or anything, so for her to say something like that about the chair, you know the situation had to be more than just mildly uncomfortable.

To distract her, I gave her an email that had arrived for her yesterday. I was able to enlarge the small print of the email to about 18-point size, which is nice, large print, and Grace was able to read it on her own, partly because she was wearing her glasses. She very much enjoyed reading the email, about how her friend and the friend's dog found a baby squirrel, and she said "That sounds exactly like her!"

Then I said, "I know you're just tickled pink to have that leg brace off today," and she agreed heartily.

She gestured to her foot and said, "There's part of what was giving me a problem."

I looked, and saw a large and dark bruise on her heel. "Oh, Grace!" I said. "No wonder that leg brace was giving you fits. This must be what it was that you were telling me the other day was hurting your heel so badly!"

She nodded and agreed that was probably it.

"Anyway," I said, "know that having that leg brace off is a huge relief." She nodded. "I bet it's as much relief as a scratched itch."

She laughed and joked, "Or a Brad Pitt, anyway." Maybe Brad Pitt had been on this morning's TV.

She pointed to the pictures colored by great granddaughter Madison in Boone and said, "When we leave, let's not forget the pictures."

I assured her we wouldn't forget them, then reminded her of all the cards that came yesterday. I got them out of the cabinet and put them on the table beside her and told her now that she was sitting up and wearing her glasses, maybe she wanted to look through the cards after we left.

She picked up one and looked at it and said she did want to see them.

Then she asked if her toothbrush was over there, so I dug her toothbrush and toothpaste out of the drawer by the sink, wet the brush, and told her, "I'll only put on a little toothpaste, so you won't have a huge mouthful of foam right away." Then I put the toothpaste on the brush and gave it to her.

She was delighted to be able to brush her teeth.

While she was brushing I moved an already-full styrofoam cup of water closer to her, and got the curved spit basin from beside the sink and gave it to her, along with a paper towel. When she rinsed, she found the water was ice cold, and exclaimed about that, laughing.

I told her something of my plans for lunch today, and that reminded her of something, for she said, "I well remember a third grade teacher in elementary school. He was a nice, nice man. But he... he sure... covered a lot of ground..." I'm sure she had a point to make, but at this point, I remembered she's still on her pain medication, and I'm sure that medication caused her to lose wherever the thought was going.

My heart went out to her, but I couldn't say anything.

Then Bill showed her a new ball cap he had bought at a local gas station, a cap sporting the pugnacious pugilistic Paddy (Irishman) I believe Notre Dame uses as their mascot for "Fightin' Irish." Grace smiled as she took it and looked at it, then tried it on.

I told her we had to go, because we were meeting my friend for lunch, and she said before we went, could I water her flowers, the ones she got yesterday, so I did, and I moved them so she could see them better.

Then she wanted a birthday hug and smooch from both Bill and me, and she got that, too, then we left for lunch.

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3:30 PM - We went for lunch to Zaxby's which has recently been advertising a "Birthday Cake Milk Shake," so seeing as how it's Grace's birthday, just as we were leaving, I bought one of them and took it to her.

When I got to the room, just after noon, my son Chad was there visiting her! It was great to see him there.

Since I was meeting a friend soon to work on some music, I didn't stay long, but just gave Grace her milkshake, explained to her what it was, and told her we'd all be back this evening for the BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY, and left.

All in all, we can offer prayers of thanks that Grace seems to be feeling so much better today.

Even if it is under the influence of pain killers.

That poor lady underwent a horrible ordeal yesterday, and thankfully, is not having to endure that again today. We can pray that it doesn't happen again.

If you'd like to send Grace a birthday email, please send it to dpm39560@gmail.com before 5PM central time today, and I'll print it out and take it to her.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and your concern. Grace IS improving, and God DOES work miracles. Continued prayers can only help.

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9:00 PM - After dinner tonight, we gathered up all the presents and cards and emails and headed to...

GRACE'S
BIRTHDAY
PARTY!
We had seven people in her room and we called Shelley and put her on speakerphone, and we all sang Happy Birthday to Grace.

The seven people were Bill, Jan, Me, Chad, Sarah, Katie, and of course, Grace.

She was delighted.

Better than that, she was awake and alert, and seemed to be not in any pain. It could be that she was just trying to ignore it, but we prefer to think her pain medicine was effective and she wasn't having pain at this time.

Everybody was passing out birthday hugs while I unpacked the box I'd brought, taking out a roll of paper towels, a stack of paper plates, a box of plastic forks, a serving spatula and large spoon, and -- the birthday cake!

When Grace saw the cake, her eyes lighted up and she smiled at the CHOCOLATE. I brought the cake over to her rolling table so I could cut it, and in the time it took me to go the three feet back to where I'd unpacked and get the paper plates and spatula, Grace swiped her finger in the frosting and licked it, then did it again! She was so very happy to have that birthday cake!

Of course, I served the first piece of cake to the birthday girl. Yes, she got the piece where she had swiped her finger. I think she expected it.

We had also brought ice cream and first Bill, then Chad served up the ice cream. Everybody enjoyed the cake, particularly Grace and Katie.

I think I might be letting the cat out of the bag if I were to tell you that Bill had a second piece of cake, so I won't tell you that.

After we had all done as much damage to the cake as we were able to, we brought her some presents. Chad and Sarah got Grace some chocolate truffles and some flowers, and Grace loved the flowers - although she was too full to sample the truffles just yet. Keith had gone shopping while he was here, and he got her a large print women's daily devotional, and left her a stack of family pictures; Jan and I got her a large print study bible (she had requested this), and Grace was so happy with it all. In addition, several of her friends had sent flowers (she could probably open a small flower shop out of her room right now), and she had a couple of cards and emails to boot.

The card that Keith had bought talked about "God's Quilt" of life; this was an excellent lead-in to tell Grace about the Prayer Quilt. Yesterday (Monday), I stopped by Christ United Methodist Church, a large church here, because they had learned about Grace's accident and told me they wanted to do a "Prayer Quilt" for her. This is an actual quilt that is hung in their prayer room, a small chapel. Whenever members of their prayer team say a prayer for Grace, they tie a knot in one of the 50 or so pairs of threads (only a few inches long) hanging from the face of the quilt. After a period of time, when all the pairs of threads are knotted, some several times, as I understand it, they give the quilt to Grace so she'll have tangible evidence of the love and caring and praying these prayer warriors have been doing for her. This is part of their "Prayers and Squares" interfaith outreach ministry. The purpose of it is so Grace can actually touch the prayers (knots), so she can pull it close and feel the comfort of the prayers. The photo is of Grace's actual prayer quilt, that she will receive when all the knots are tied.

I showed her this photo on my phone and told her about the quilt, and she was very happy and humbled by the love being shown to her by people she doesn't even know.

Grace was in such high spirits, she invited all the attendants on the floor to come have cake and ice cream. Only one of them did, but I think that was partially because they were quite busy, and there may have also been a bit of awkwardness about celebrating with virtual strangers.

It was hard to tell whether Katie (who will be two years old next month) or Grace was happier to see the other. Every time would say a word ("Shoe!" or "Flower," or especially "Nana!") it didn't matter what else was going on - Grace's focus instantly went to Katie and she got the biggest smile on her face.

Katie found a small flower from one of the bunches that had been delivered, and nothing would do but she had to give it to Nana. And Nana entranced Katie by putting it in her hair.

Then Katie had to show everyone her shoes. Would it be sexist of me to say something now about her being only two years old and already being focused on shoes?

For those of you who are interested, she had baby Crocs, slip-on plastic shoes with blue and white swirls. Jan showed one to Grace, saying, "They're so CUUUUUTE!"

Even though Grace had finished her cake, and no longer had her plate, I asked her, "Grace, do you want some more ice cream?" She shook her head. I went on, "You could put it under the covers with you and save it for later."

She shook her head and laughed. "David," she said, "That's the worst idea you've EVER had!"

Somewhere in all the festivities, Keith called, and he and Grace were delighted to talk to each other, and for Keith to wish her a happy birthday.

Eventually, I rinsed the serving utensils and put all the leftovers back in the carrying box. The ice cream, of course, went back into the cooler.

Katie was starting to get restless, so Chad and Sarah said they'd better take her home.

Then a couple of the attendants came in and said "Miss Grace, we need to turn you now."

One of the good things about this hospital is the attention they give to the patients to keep them from getting stasis lesions (bedsores). They have them on a schedule where periodically they'll roll them up about 30° on one side or the other, and prop them there with these blue foam rubber triangle bolsters. It must be working, because I don't think Grace has a problem yet.

Anyway, when the attendants arrived to "turn her," we all gathered up our stuff and left.

We are all so very glad Grace had a happy birthday party, even if it did have to be in the hospital. Because of this, there was, of course, an undercurrent of "Awww!" through the entire celebration, but overall, I know Grace was delighted with her birthday celebration.

Bill will be leaving tomorrow morning to head back to Missouri, and I know Grace will miss him, but it was so good to have him here during this time of ordeal for Grace, and especially for her birthday.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. I'll post more updates tomorrow.

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