Wednesday, February 23, 2011

So dang tired!

Bless my sis - she's back helping out. Home Health Care is in place. The nurse can draw labs here and drop them off at the clinic. Pt came today and will be back Friday. Ot is coming tomorrow. They are supposed to schedule a CNA to help bathe him, but I haven't heard back so will call the nurse tomorrow and see where we are on that. Wheelchair here and ramps in place.

Schedule:

7 am, up, toilet, insulin, breakfast
8 am, walk, do exercises, then clean clothes, teeth, etc.
10 am, walk, exercises, sit in chair for 30 min, test glucose
12 noon, same as 10 am, plus lunch
2 pm, same as 10 am
4 pm, same as 10 am
6 pm, same as noon
8 pm, same as 10 am

So, we are exercising, walking, testing glucose, every 2 hours during the day.

At night, I set my alarm and wake him up to go to the bathroom at 11 pm, and 3 am.

I think I may just die. I am so tired. I catch little naps whenever he sleeps. I know we have to dothis in order to get him some strength back. The PT said today that for every day you are in a bed in a hospital, it takes 3 days to build back the muscle lost. So he was in bed for 21 days, this will take us 63 days. Two months of this schedule? Tonight, this moment, I'm not sure I will survive I'm so incredibly tired.

Some of the things you don't think about when something like this happens.....bills. I haven't even looked at one in 3 1/2 weeks. They are simply piling up on his desk. Every day I tell myself that I will start in on them "tomorrow". I think I'll really have to do it tomorrow.

But then I just don't care. Nothing matters except getting him back to some reasonable sense of health.

They cut his humulin to 9 units in the morning and 9 units at night. He is still going low a couple of times a day and stayin high way too much of the time He's just not eating what he used to eat, continuing to lose weight. We had to "train" the home health nurse about his specific type of insulin. In 40 years of nursing, she had never heard of it!!! Needless to say, I'm tired of training nurses! I should be getting paid for this!

I realized there are certain sets/groups of friends that I've forgotten to update on hubby's condition. Now I'm playing catch up with that.

I haven't had a moment to clean the house in the last month. No one's been here to get it dirty, so it's ok. But I know the cobwebs are going to grow soon!

We only have a half bath on the main floor. All that was in it was a toilet and sink. Now, I have added a storage unit over the toilet to store depends and bed pads. I bought a small shelf to put on the side under the sink to hold bathroom stuff, toothpaste, soap, etc. Got an over the door towel holder and hung a paper towel rack. We have a raised toilet seat and I found bars that fit under it that will help him get up and down. So this tiny bathroom has now been modified to serve as his "primary" bathroom. I've put 409, febreeze, windex on top of the shelf over the toilet as cleaning it has become a daily task in order to eliminate smells.

Finding adult wipes....interesting.

I did find some bathroom wet wipes that you heat in a microwave and he can bathe with them. He is just going to have to have a sponge bath tomorrow. It's been almost a week since he had a shower at the hospital.

Truly worried about his kidney function.

Need time to play...but that's going to have to wait.

All I need right now is for 5 feet of snow to fall! LOLOL!!!

He had another hard day. He tried to insert his contacts and I told him not to do it. He scratched his eye. So he's been sleeping most of the day with a patch on is eye. Why on earth does he still refuse to listen to me??? So I took his contacts away and will not give them to him for 48 hours.

My sis and I are watching a movie, trying to unwind and relax. We did get groceries today and another friend brought in a cassarole. I'm praying that I get a few hours of sleep tonight and that tomorrow is better.

DW

2 comments:

Lynn Barry said...

So dang tired is right...I got tired reading about all you are doing. The stress of the responsibility alone has to get to you along with no sleep and when he does not do what you want him to do that can't help either of you.
My dad has been through some health struggles and I would see how it wore on my mom...the one who is there caring for the other when they are so dependent and needy.
Keep venting...and some words of advice...you can't shoulder it all...give yourself a break and don't take all the responsibilty for his wellbeing...you ARE doing a great job...don't ever think you aren't. HUGS and LOVE and Prayers for your sanity.

Lilly said...

I can't imagine how tired you must be! So much for one person to do. If there are others besides your sister and home health aide to call on for help, I hope that you do. You are an incredibly brave, strong woman, but I'm thinking you may also need some occasional respite from all this just to preserve your own sanity.