Today marked the 5th day that my dad has been more or less unconscious. He has awoken for a few minutes each day to interact non-verbally: stroking my dog's foot, smiling, blinking, nodding. He does not seem to be in any pain, which is good. My mom and I have gotten very good at being LPNs. We change him, adjust his position, clean his teeth, wash his face, apply lotion to his legs and back, do his nightly dialysis, administer meds in a way we never thought we'd have to. We can even change the sheets on the bed with him in it. The hospice nurses dropped off a suction machine yesterday and trained us on how to remove extra fluid from his mouth as he is too weak to do so on his own. My Aunt Lis and Uncle Walter and his wife Aunt Brigitte are here now as is my husband Chris and they are all helping us immensely with the endless caregiving and household chores that accumulate.
I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of you that have helped us along this painful and difficult path. From letting us put an extra bag in your trash can on trash day to lending us your house for overflow guests to driving to Duke to grocery shopping to baking cookies to sitting with my dad to bringing over greasy burgers and fries for one of my dad's last real meals to leaving comments of support and encouragement on this blog. You've all helped us so much and we won't ever be able to verbalize it appropriately or with enough gratitude but know that what you did and still do for us has closed the gap on how vast and overwhelming this year has been.
Please continue to send strength to my dad.
-Hillary