Nahma Nurse

Saturday, February 21: Dad was restless this morning and Nurse Holly gave him a dose of Ativan while I why dozing. His blood pressure dropped lower than should be for going into dialysis in a short while and he was very lethargic. Holly suctioned him which usually wakes him up and brings up his blood pressure. What a way to wake up...bah! Jim McMillan called just as Mom was walking in Dad's room. He really wants to be able to help Cindy with Murphy when he can. He reminded me that he has a ramp for Murphy :) Mom said that Sally B called and was only 4 hours to her sister's house and it was 75*.

Nurse John started dialysis a 9:30am. He is such a hoot to carry on conversation with. He and Patty are so good at running Dad's dialysis. We are always happy when they are scheduled! Physical Therapy popped in toward the end of dialysis but was not able to work with Dad today due to his schedule. I went for home to spend some quality time cleaning and hanging out with my family. Once again I tried napping to no avail. John was finished about 2:15pm and had taken a 1/2 liter of fluid off. Shortly after John left, Dad's blood pressure monitor set to beeping. His bp was 193/113! He had not had bp meds due to dialysis and Nurse Holly was at lunch. The nurse covering called and was able to administer his bp meds. Within 20 minutes his bp was in line where it needed to be.

Dave is trying to get rid of his cold so he hit the bed for a nap. Despite the snowstorm that has finally arrived, I took Courtney & Kelesy to Alpine for a beauty supplies run to the Meijer Outlet, Marshall's and Ulta. Everybody contain your excitement...lol. Mom called just before 7:00pm and was going to leave for home because the weather wasn't getting any better and Dad was resting. Dave was lounging on the couch in front of the TV when we got home. Kelsey had already called Chris Mulder and he arrived to watch Nascar and hang out until Liz was done with work. Liz had got to our house shortly after I left for the hospital. When I called Mom at 9:30pm she said the roads were horrible, especially near Paulson's house. An oncoming car swerved right into her lane. She was able to tap her breaks and stop and put her Tahoe into low gear. I told her Dad's blood pressure was a little low and I hadn't talked with the nurse yet. Courtney went to a birthday celebration at friends at Calvin College. She made arrangements to stay over with her friend Courtney M and go to church with her in the morning.

When I got back to Dad's room I chatted with Nurse Suzanne, answering questions as to when and how long Dad has been enduring cancer treatments. Dad's bp balanced out. Our conversation led me to comment that Mom and Dad had gone to their home in the U.P. for few weeks after Dad had his drainage tube of 9 months removed in September. She exclaimed, "I lived in the U.P. for 15 years!" Interesting...I asked where. She said between Escanaba and Manistique! I told her our northwoods home was in Nahma. She laughed and said she and her husband and kids had moved two years ago from Nahma Junction! Oh, my word! That is literally a few miles from our house.
She grew up in Milwaukee and her husband grew up in Cooks. Her father-in-law, Harold Carly is 92 years old and still lives there. The Disney melody comes to mind...'It's a small world after all!'

Dad spiked a fever again about 1:00am. More meds to control that and more questions as to where is it coming from?! He has had a couple a really good days with no fever.