Friday, September 3rd Angel Hurricane #3 came through the door. She said Good Morning I’m J. and I will be your nurse today. We are going to get you a soap and water bath and you are getting in a chair today. Still had Betsy the BiPap on from the night before so I gave her two big thumbs up. I was excited but nervous. Got my bath while in bed, my hair washed and we got me in a chair. We left Betsy on so my oxygen wouldn’t drop and that would make the process easier for me. I did good but it took about an hour before she thought I was ready for Hank the High-flow. Got Hank on, took my meds and ate breakfast and sat for a bit. They had started giving me suppositories and miralax because by this time I hadn’t had a bowel movement in almost 3 weeks. The suppositories made me cramp really bad. Nurse J. had me take another one and drink miralax. R. was a diabetic consultant but she was helping my ICU unit out. She was a super sweet lady who I got to see a lot. She searched high and low for me a bedside toilet. She finally found one and it was huge and tall. They all got a good laugh when they would see me on it for the first time because my feet just dangled. They weren’t even close to touching the ground. After taking the suppository and miralax I got to cramping so bad I was crying and I still couldn’t use the bathroom. So, Nurse J. gloved up and disimpacted me best she could (that was an experience and painful). Still nothing so she gave me an enema (I had a lot of firsts while in the hospital.) Still nothing but thankfully I quit cramping. Stayed in the chair til about 6:30. I had asked Greg to bring me some coloring books and color sticks and a notebook so I could write my journey down. He and BettyAnn brought it on Thursday and left it downstairs for me. Nurse J. got it for me. It was perfect timing because I needed something to do now that I was going to be sitting up all day. Dr. D has been my doctor for a few days. He is so awesome. He was so happy to see me in the chair today. Hope I have him for a while.

Saturday, September 4th. Yay, Nurse J. is back. Respiratory took Betsy off and put Hank on and gave me my morning inhalers. It feels so good when they take Betsy off. Nurse J. gave me another suppository and miralax. I started cramping really bad. My oxygen dropped and I got very nauseated. Nurse J. gloved up again but no luck today. So, another enema but no luck with it either. I felt so sick and felt like I was going to pass out. Got some nausea meds and got back in my chair. It took a couple hours but the cramping and nausea stopped. While I was cramping and feeling so bad, the respiratory therapist came by to check on me. She wanted to know what was wrong. I told her and she said there was a concoction a nurse and secretary came up with to help a former patient have a bowel movement. She found out what it was. The ingredients were coffee(which I hate the taste and smell), chocolate ice cream, butter and prune juice. She found me some prune juice so I will be trying that tomorrow. Fingers crossed I can get it down and it works. Dr, D. ordered a lasix so I was up and down on the porta pot all day. They would pull the porta pot in front of my chair and I would stand and pivot. That’s also how I got out of bed and into my chair. If you have ever taken a lasix then you know that sometimes you don’t have much notice so, I peed on myself a couple times because I couldn’t get to the call button in time. I always apologize anytime they have to clean me up. Whether it’s my fault or not. I felt bad that they had to do that. They were always really sweet and would say, that is our job. The food was AWFUL. Breakfast is usually eggs, bacon, oatmeal or grits and toast. The only thing edible is the bacon. Lunch and supper has some kind of steamed veggies which are pretty much raw and I can’t eat raw veggies. Dry meat that I can’t swallow because my mouth still has very little moisture, bread and dessert. Today for lunch was dry turkey with a glob of gel on top, collards and peas. I ate the peas. Supper was mystery meat, rice and steamed broccoli. I told Nurse J. I couldn’t eat any of that. She got them to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. It was so good. Sat in my chair til 10:00. Nurse D. was with me for the night. She was sweet but had a heavy hand. When she punched my finger for blood sugar, I thought it was going to go straight through. She knew how to put the Purewick in right. First night I didn’t pee all over myself. YAY!

Check back next time to see if the concoction works.

God Bless