Update on Dad (Dood)
This is an update on Dad. He was transferred from the Riverview Health Centre to the Grace Hospice yesterday afternoon. Sophie and Mom went to help him get packed and Mom accompanied him in the Medivan vehicle. When he arrived there, Sophie took him on a tour of the facility and agreed that the place is “awesome”.
I stopped in to see him on my way back from Brandon (about 2 hrs. from Winnipeg) and he was a bit confused about where he was. He thought I moved his clock but was getting the hospice confused with the Riverview. I told him that I would get him a clock that he can see from his bed (the one in the room is on the wall behind his bed and he can’t see it). The lighting in the room is adequate but not for him because his vision is declining, so muted lighting is challenging for him. On my way home last night, I went to Home Depot and bought a 250 watt pole lamp which will make the room more like living under floodlights but it’ll be perfect for him. Karran adjusted the potlights so that they are directed on his table but he will still need more lighting.
He had a good dinner last night while I was there I spoke to the night nurse this morning and she said he had a good night and was awake at 5:30 to have his shower and get cleaned up (better than his usual 4am wake up and shower routine at home) and seems to be settling in this morning, although he is now experiencing pain on the left side of his face so he had to take some extra pain meds.
I will go over this aft. to take the lamp and make sure that he is doing okay. I’ll try to go and have breakfast with him some days and lunch or dinner on other days. Sophie will go on Wed. mornings and Sunday/Monday as her schedule permits. Karran will go as his schedule permits and mom will go as often as she can too to spend a night or two each week. Sabena is coming from Calgary on Feb 19 for a few days so Dad will be happy to have all his kids around and mom will be glad for the company at home. We are going to take some of his favourite foods when we go to visit and the staff will warm it up for him as he wishes.
Dad has a phone in his room but he gets tired very quickly so it’s no use for anyone to try to call him and have a conversation. I have a long distance phone plan so if he wants to and has the energy to talk to anyone, I will make the calls for him and he can have a brief conversation (these days he spends less than a minute on the phone but his strong voice is deceiving and belies his failing strength). Alternately, if you want to send an email message to him, I can print it and read it to him. He has a CD player in his room so I will take some CD’s of bhajans that he likes and I’ll go to the library to get some audio books but he is also not hearing very well so this may not work.
I know all of you get bombarded with numerous emails each day so if you don’t want to receive these emails, please let me know. I promise I won’t feel offended, as you may be getting the information for someone else whose email is on this list. I will only send updates as the need arises but you can always send me a quick note if you want a more frequent update than I am providing.
Thanks for your love and care…..
sandra