I will be adding some more funny ones soon. Promise. This one is but frustrating.
Gary’s 43 yo heart doesn’t know to stop. It just doesn’t. Also, Louk. For the last few days he has been agitated. His tailbone is taking a lot of pressure but he is just confused enough to not stay on a side to help relieve the pressure. No skin is broken…yet.
G was started on Ativan a couple of days ago. For all my nursing friends, we all know what it looks like when Ativan is NOT your drug. Instead of being calmer and relaxed, he has been awake for about 12-14 hours a day. Agitated, pleasantly, but agitated. It’s like he has been catholic for a couple of days….stand up, sit down, kneel, stand up, sit down, kneel, ….. Yesterday while I was here (SIL and Kristy and I are alternating) and he was wiggly. We were able to get the nurse in to see his tail feathers during one of his standing acrobatics episodes. He either leans on me and puts his head on my shoulder or we stand forehead to forehead. This time he was looking at me, while standing. He’s been confused and wiggly with busy hands. He puts his hands up to my shoulders and starts to straighten my shirt. You know, how the shoulders get off balance and they need to be fixed before you can pull the shirt straight. He smiled and continued to straighten. By pleasantly confused you can see that was a pleasant moment between us.
A couple of hours later he wanted to stand again. This time we pivoted to the chair so we could straighten out the bed before putting him back in it. He is sitting in front of me, I’m rubbing his back. Well, his spine, you can’t go back and forth across his back because his scapulars stick out so far it is impossible to do so. SO, if you are a pudgy girl, like me, when you sit down in a chair for a long time and you have shorts on, the shorts tend to bunch up. Then you get up and straighten them up. Sit down, rinse, repeat. OK…back to the story. He’s sitting in front of me. I feel something on my leg and look down. He is straightening my shorts! He looks up and says, silently, *wrinkled*. So he got me all straightened around and back to bed he went.
This kid…..
So when you have family who stays with the patient who takes care of all the issues with the patient in the catholic exercise agitation, the staff don't have to deal with it. The doc and staff here have been great. They have been trying to get to the sweet spot, truly. The Ativan was a wild card. Anyway, I talked to the doc this morning and said we are leaving around 1p because we are all exhausted. Just letting him know. My SIL, Meg had been up with him allllll night. Leaving him altogether wasn't really the plan BUT as Gary said, only lessons that cause a little bit of pain sink in. The staff needs to feel the pain of the agitation going on in here.
As I said, the doc has been great and he decided to double up on medication to keep him calm. Was it my convo or Meg's convo that did that? I feel it was Meg's. He had the orders and he was putting in while I was talking to him. Looking across Gary at Meg's face and exhaustion made an impact. Very articulate, is she and her face backed her up. Gary told me once that Meg is way smarter than he is and he is a smart motherfucker. Just like that. No embellishment.
Hopefully the efforts made by staff and doc today will be effective. He needs the rest as much as we do.
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