It’s the end of a long day.  I had a friend/financial advisor over for breakfast and I made a omlettes with red, orange and yellow bell peppers and cheese and some wonderfully delicious corn bread. It was so yummy that I had three pieces today. 

The weather is getting warmer so I actually spent some time in the sunroom this afternoon giving myself a manicure – in between phone calls from dad and other family members.  Dad was having a very confusing day today.  He called at 10am and wanted to know who was coming to visit today.  I told him that Karran would be there sometime this morning. He called back at 11:45am to say that Leila and two other ladies went to visit but he asked them to leave because it was nearly lunch time and none of us had come to see him.  I told him that Leila would not have minded if he had to have his lunch but he said he was tired and did not sleep all night till 4:40am.  I said that he should eat his lunch and go for a nap.  He said he was trying but he wasn’t able to sleep.  He wanted to know where mom was so I said that she was over at her house trying to pack some things with the help of Karran and Kelsey.  He said that he would have his lunch and go to sleep. 

He called back again at about 1:30 to say that he could not sleep and was lonely.  I told him that he was fatigued and needed to sleep so he said that he would try again.  He called back about 2:30 to ask me to order Chinese food to take to the hospice and eat dinner with him.  I said that beside the fact that he cannot eat food unless it’s blended into a soup, I could not go today because I had some things to do but I would be there tomorrow around 1:00pm.  He said that he would go to bed and try to sleep but he was restless. 

I called and asked Nurse Amanda if dad was okay  She said that he had a normal day (normal for him) but I was worried about all the phone calls he was making to me.  Amanda said he had some visitors who stayed about an hour but dad didn’ think so. She said that he had a good night’ sleep but he obviously can’t remember.  Something was happening that I was not sure about.  Uncle Wazzie called and spoke to mom and he said that he called the hospice but dad didn’t recognize him or know who he was  It’s one of two things – either Uncle Wazzie had the wrong # or dad was very confused today. It could be that the dr. changed his pain medication and it’s stronger than what he’s had before so his confusion could be attributed to that.

Sophie called from the hospice about 4:30 to say that dad was very restless and could not seem to settle down. He told her that Leila went to see him after lunch but he asked her to leave because he was tired and needed to sleep but I know he called before lunch and she had already left.  He is getting confused about time but I guess it’s to be expected, given the heavy doses of meds that he is on. 

Tonight I talked to my cousin Eddie in Florida.  I was recalling a conversation the two of us had in 1997 in Mara, Guyana about the role of women in Islam. Eddie buddy… you have to brush up on the old grey cells. They’re getting forgetful  :)) .  That’s the beauty of having family all over the world and keeping a family tree.  I get to remind them about birthdays and weddings and I get to ask about their families but the best part is that I get to stay in touch and know that there are a lot of people who I am proud to call family.  Hashina, you’ll forgive Eddie if he comes home and doesn’t greet you but rushes to the computer to get his update….That’s family love and I do hope that he takes you out for your birthday even if it’s a week late.  Enjoy the beach tomorrow.  I’ll be thinking of you in warm, sunny Florida.

Do you want to know what I spent the last 3 hours doing? Something very painful.  I was transcribing an audio tape of a focus group that I hired a facilitator to do for me last Wednesday.  It’s 90 minutes long and at the speed and accuracy that I type, it’ll take me 40 hours to type.  Please anyone…. if you are a fast or for that matter… slow typist, please help me do this…. I am going crazy.  My butt is going numb from having to sit and type this.  I have a voice recognition software and I was going to listen to the audio tape and speak it into the voice recognition software but my voice for the last few days has been a bit raspy like I am losing it so the software does not recognize it or makes up words I am not saying.  It was so funny when I read what I was saying and what was being typed that I had a good belly laugh for several minutes.

It’s almost 12am so I should get to bed.  Another early day tomorrow.  Good night….