Thanks for reaching out to me

It is 1:30 a.m. and I got someone to stay with John’s Mom and I’m here at the hospital. I held John’s hand and rubbed his arm until he finally went to sleep. I am getting lots of help and encouragement from friends. The source of most of John’s discomfort seems to be his breathing. The monitor indicates that he is getting very adequate oxygen. Thank you for helping me understand why he doesn’t want any music or other sounds around him right now. Lots of people have stopped by and the conversation has all been very positive, but I’m wondering if I should move them out to the waiting room so he doesn’t have to listen to all this. So far the night service at this hospital seems fine, and they are turning him about every hour. I intend to keep my eyes and ears open.

The friend who is staying with John’s mother tonight while I’m here is a real character. She came by yesterday and stayed with John while I took Mom down to supper. As I was leaving I heard her tell John that at last she had him in a position where she could peek under his hospital gown. When I came back she was scolding him for doing such an extreme thing to get to be surrounded by beautiful women all day long. She said that she and her husband would have been glad to take him to Hooters and he could have enjoyed the same benefits without all the expense and pain.

I hope that her light banter will help him feel like we all believe that this is something that is going to eventually go away and leave him fairly normal. He is unable to react to anything right now except for a few eye blinks. I am having a really hard time joking or laughing at anything about this because his suffering seems so intense right now.

John has a great sense of humor. I have noticed that some of you think one pain medication works better than another. They seem to be giving him morphine for pain and atavan for anxiety. Any thoughts about these meds?

Carolyn