Update on Grace, Wednesday, Aug 25

Wednesday. Latest update 9:30 PM.

1:30 PM - Bill went to visit Grace early this morning, before he hit the road for Missouri. He stopped back by the house to pick up his dog, and reported that he woke her up, but she seemed fine, and was glad to get a farewell hug.

Bill's dog, Rocky, was READY to hit the road! Here's a video I shot of Rocky shouting, "HURRY UP, DADDY!" then jumping in the car and shouting it some more.

 
I had an early-morning errand to run. I thought the store opened at 9AM but when I got there, I found they opened at 9:30. Pppttthhh. So I read for half and hour then went in the store, then I went to see Grace.

When I got there, the speech therapist was with her. I waited while Grace finished some inhalation therapy, then I showed her the video above. She got a fond smile on her face and said, "Rocky's been a good companion for Bill."

I agreed that he had been.

Then the occupational therapist came in, and she and the speech therapist together played a card game (Go Fish) with Grace. I'm sure it was partially for manual dexterity, and partially to exercise her mind.

Watching the game, my heart went out to Grace, because it was obvious she hasn't yet fully recovered yet from the anesthetic.

I thought she might be on some painkillers, so while they continued with their game, I went outside her room and talked with the nurse.

The nurse surprised me by telling me Grace had not had any pain medication today. She asked Grace earlier this morning if she needed some, but Grace said no, she wasn't in any pain.

On the one face of it, it's absolutely wonderful (Thank You LORD!) that Grace is not having any pain without the pain medication today. However, on the other hand, it's very concerning that without being on the pain medication (which can definitely confuse you), Grace was having trouble with a card game.

Back in the room, I asked Grace if she'd slept well, and she said, yes, as well as could be expected. I said, "That's probably because of all that birthday cake you ate last night!" She grinned and agreed that was probably it.

I told her I thought about bringing her another piece of the cake this morning, but I knew she really didn't like chocolate for breakfast.

This sparked a spirited discussion with the two therapists, both of whom stated they could eat chocolate ANY time of day, and Grace confirming that she really didn't like chocolate at breakfast. It was a good, normal conversation, so the fog about the card game wasn't all-encompassing.

It was good to hear she'd had a good night's sleep, but it also eliminated sleep deprivation as a possible cause of this morning's mental fog.

All I can figure at this point - and this of course is from my own layperson's totally untrained standpoint - is that Grace's recovery from the anesthetic is going in phases, with some phases being better than others. Last night at her birthday party, for example, she seemed about as back to normal as I've seen her since the accident.

Pretty soon after that, the therapists were preparing to leave, and Grace said she'd like a nap, so I left, too.

Please everyone, let's do continue to pray for Grace's physical recovery from the knee surgery, but also please pray for her full recovery from the effects of the anesthetic and whatever else might be at play here that periodically causes her times of confusion.

It's wonderful to see that she's recovering some, but there's still a long way to go.

I'll post more later, after the next visit.

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9:30 PM - Jan and I went by the hospital after an event at church tonight. We found Grace awake and alert, sitting up in her bed reading her library book.

That part was good, but there was still quite a bit of disorientation during our visit.

We knew she wasn't feeling the best when we showed her that we'd brought her some birthday cake, and she didn't want to eat it. It's a sad day whenever Grace doesn't want to eat chocolate.

We had also brought today's delivery of cards for Grace, so I read her the cards while Jan brushed her hair. She had cards from Jackson and Brandon and Gainesville and New Smyrna Beach and Tulsa. Some were birthday cards, some were get well cards, and one was a thank-you card for a shower gift.

She enjoyed the cards, but nearly swooned with pleasure as jan brushed her hair. She said, "Jan, that feels so good!"

A bit later, she said she really wanted to write a letter to someone, but she didn't know how she could do it. I said, "Just tell me what you want to say and I'll write it for you." So she did. It wasn't very long, but she did focus for quite a few minutes on what she wanted to say.

Then, after we chatted a few more minutes, Grace asked me to help her up.

I said, "Excuse me? You probably don't need to be getting up now."

She said, "Oh, yes. The doctor said I should sit on the side of the bed for a while."

I said, "Grace, it's after 7:00 at night. If the doctor wanted you to do that, it would probably be during the daytime, and with a therapist here to help."

But she was convinced and determined that the doctor wanted her to sit up on the side of the bed. She has done that before, so perhaps she just got the time mixed up.

I said, "Maybe we better see what the nurse says," and Jan left the room to find a nurse. Meanwhile, Grace started to try to take off the compression sock from her uninjured leg, saying she needed to get that off. Jan couldn't find the nurse, so she came back in, and I went to find the nurse.

I finally did locate Gloria, who had just come on duty and was doing her start of shift paperwork. I explained to her what was happening, and she came right away. (I was pleased to see she didn't exhibit any irritation at all at having her routine interrupted. She was very pleasant and helpful. I'm certain most nurses have to be several parts angel to do the jobs they do.)

In spite of the confusion today, Grace was actually in quite good spirits. She smiled a lot and made several small jokes while we were with her.

As the nurse and the nurses' aide were in the room getting Grace settled, they said something about redoing her gown, so Jan and I left at that time.

Grace has had a couple of good days before this. Today was a bit of a down day. We are praying the down days will be fewer and better.

I'll report again tomorrow after I visit again.

Take care, all.

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