Author: Karen

4.12.18

Funny stuff tonight…

B: I just want some grape jelly.

B: What happens if Mr. Feeny falls asleep in class?

B: Where is the knife? The one for the condiments?

Cute stuff…

When I FaceTime with Mikey and he sees the blue gown on me he immediately yells “I see Dada!”

Heartbreaking stuff tonight…

K: I’m gonna go home. I love you.

B: I love you too. I want to go home too. Take me with you.

K: Babe, I can’t. You’re not ready to go home yet. You still need to get better.

B: But I’m ready to go home. Please take me home with you.

For those of you who have visited and have heard his voice, you know it’s innocent and childlike. So of course I’m crying. But I can’t take him home. And my heart shatters a tiny bit more because I can’t help this helpless man whom I love and adore and give him one tiny thing he wants right now. Home.

And we took a backward step with Speech today. She feels he is too tired to participate in eating by mouth so that’s on hold. I’m ok with one tiny step backward. We’re ready to step forward by leaps and bounds.

I am beyond excited to make our rehabilitation choice tomorrow and announce it to all of you. I just want to sleep on it. I can’t wait to see what he is going to accomplish.

All our love, Karen and Bob

Update 4.11.18

Houdini is now Bob’s nickname. Today, he was somehow able to maneuver himself to remove his entire trach! Mind you, he has the socks. And mitts. AND RESTRAINTS. I was at a doctors appt for myself when I got this news from his respiratory therapist. They were taking my blood pressure. It was high. He’s killing me. 😡

His bed was a wider model so that it was also longer because he is so tall. He was able to slide and shimmy down to his right side and get his right hand up to his neck. He then spun his mitt around and pulled out the trach. When the nurse did her next check, he had the trach in his mouth chewing on it. Never yelled. He didn’t desat. No blood. So no one knew. They kept it out because his O2 is around 94-95% so he is doing well maintaining his own airway. 🤦‍♀️ So the trauma team in ICU telling me two weeks ago that the trach would be in for 2-3 months had not met my conscious, stubborn, willful, and determined husband. He is now hooked up to very few monitors and also got his beard trimmed last night. He has two new scars in his head from the head laceration from impact as well as the drain. He is looking better and better. He yells at me and curses at me a fair amount. And he doesn’t remember that iced tea is my favorite drink. He’s just frustrated and confused. I am too most days. 🙄 I’m also a bit bummed that neither PT nor Speech came to see him today. He keeps bugging me for something to drink. He can’t have it without the speech therapist to monitor him. So he was talking to me about where to get food for him…

B: Try the cafeteria. If you’re not gonna try it you’re just wasting my time.

I love him. I do. He also told me we could go on vacation wherever I want when he’s all better. I didn’t record it. You are all my witnesses. 😘 All our love, Karen and Bob xoxo

Update 4.10.18

Good day today also. TBI patients lose their filter and Bob is no exception. I try not to laugh at the funny stuff he says because it makes him so much angrier.

B: help me

K: with what?

B: these gloves. Get them off (he still has mitts on)

K: I can’t. Holly (nurse) says I’m not allowed.

B: I’m not asking you to go on an illegal mission.

Then I laugh and he gets mad. And I feel bad. He really wants out of this bad hotel. He was seen by PT and Speech today. Speech had him propped up in bed and had a couple of ice chips, a few sips of water and two spoonfuls of pudding. All dyed bright blue to make sure he wasn’t aspirating anything. He did well, but his tongue, lips and cheeks are out of practice for eating so they were sluggish. He was evaluated by Moss Rehabilitation today and he will be presented to their board tomorrow morning. Please pray for his acceptance. Magee Rehabilitation comes Thursday to evaluate and I tour both facilities on Thursday. I plan to make my first and second choice selection by Friday. Please pray for me to make the one that is in Bob’s best interest. Keep praying for all of us. We will still need these prayers for quite some time. Thank you all for loving us. Love, Karen and Bob

Belly full of Blue Pudding…

Update 4.9.18

Bob is cracking me up. He has said some funny stuff and some really sweet stuff mixed in with a dash of crazy today.

Conversation about our Foster Son:

Karen: do you know the baby’s name?

Bob: I don’t know. They come and go.

Conversation about work:

K: do you know what I do for work?

B: you teach.

K: what do you do?

B: a lot.

K: I know. But what’s your job?

B: to make all the money.

Random Conversation.

B: you infuriate me

K: why?!?

B: your lack of knowledge

K: regarding what?

B: your hotel choice. This is a bad one.

K: this isn’t a hotel. It’s a hospital.

B: I thought we were checking out today.

On Alexa:

B: Alexa, bring me Kathryn

K: who?

B: my cousin, Kathryn.

K: Kathy?

B: yes.

So we called her. Then he became increasingly irritated that the Alexa in the room didn’t work when he had just set it up yesterday. (There is no Alexa in the room). He also told Mikey “I love you Buddy”, which is his nickname for Mikey. He told me he loved me often. Keep on praying! Love, Karen and Bob xoxo