Day 9

Upgraded! They moved Melissa to a regular floor/room (with a specialty in Cardiac Care).

Upgraded! They moved Melissa from Walter Tower ICU (CCU) to Dunn Tower; a regular floor/room with a specialty in Cardiac Care. Still, thirsty/cranky Melissa. But they allowed ice chips, she was far more communicative, cussing like a sailor. Mandy and Theresa visited (and her Mom and I), and she was doing really good.

ℹ️ Info

~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2023-02-26

2023-02-26 (Sunday) - Upgraded, Visits, and a really good day.

Upgraded! They moved Melissa from Watler Tower ICU (CCU Room 1019) to Dunn Tower (Room 918): just a regular floor/room with a specialty in Cardiac Care. I conversed and thanked the Nurse, did a retrospective and the Nurse was impressed with the rate of recovery - but that she mumbles to herself when nobody is around. Yeah, she does that at home. And she sleeps with her arm over her head (I call it the faint princess). And she's extremely focused on getting water.

Speech Pathology We've been waiting for days on Speech Pathology sign offs. I spoke with Melissa on the phone before coming down and she said, "Bring me Diet Pepsi, a BIG one!" She got sign off for Ice Chips, and was doing so well, they let her have water at the end of the day, and she took a massive gulp (no sipping) and was like, "Ahhh, so good on my throat". Then they OK'd her to try Apple Sauce, and that went well. I might be able to give her that Diet Pepsi in the next day or so.

Bed pan Thurs she said, "poop". And wanted me to get her up to use the restroom. Wishful thinking on her part. The feeding tube food and drugs make pooping a non-optional and very fluid activity. I teased her that it wasn't the 3rd Tuesday of the month and she giggled. (She's not a frequent pooper like her husband). The nurses lied and said she had a bed pan to get her to use the pad. Then I teased her it smelled like bad french fries (vegetarian diet). There's nothing vaguely resembling dignity in a hospital. Today, there was no more of that fake-a-roo. "Bed pan" wasn't taking "pad" as an option. So the nurses caved. Later she was trying to guilt her Mom into helping her walk to the bathroom. (She's nowhere near that strength yet. But with her attitude, it might not be that far away). And I expect I'm going to get some shit for telling her private poop stories.

Chatty Kathy (Melissa).

She has extremely low mobility/strength, can't get confortable, speech is slow, mumbles and she has problems enunciating, and if she makes a mistake she starts the entire sentence over instead of word... but her brain is way ahead of her mouth and body. We had such good conversations today. She still forgets a few things, but short term memory is improving. (Click to open see more of the conversations we had today).

She’s mad because she can’t enunciate (her word), "I fucking can’t move or talk… my body is betraying me. I have trouble e-none-see-ate-ing"... "Fuck" is the one one of the clearest words that she says with force -- and it's a placeholder between word lookups. When I was trying to help guess the sentence she told me to shuttup, and said, "I can only do one thought at a time". I was telling her about the friends who've asked about her, and she said, “we have such good friends… after a heart attack you know who your friends are”. Melissa asked Mandy about her Daughter's coming baby by name, and when Mandy was going out to go out to help. I don't remember the name, and I just heard it yesterday. I told her the laundry fairy didn’t come and I’m down to gun and snarky T-shirts for the hospital… and she replied, “are you learning how much I do for you?”... I always knew baby. When I mentioned that Zen (our cat) was waiting for her at the door, she asked "are you giving her any wet food?" (Yes). Did I clean up the cat box. (Eventually). I told her it was work chiseling the giant pee ball apart (clumping litter), and she laughed. I told her I put too much water in her plant and it ran out all over the floor… and she said, "take it outside, but keep it in the shade". The nurse was giving her a little blood thinner shot in her belly fat, and Melissa didn't hear what she said. I replied louder, “the nurse said what I tell you, 'brace yourself honey, you’re about to feel a little prick'. The nurse walked away laughing and Melissa said to her, ”that's his favorite joke”. Her fiend Mandy was just soothing her with a washcloth... and Melissa says, "I can't wait to get better so we can go out day drinking! Margaritas!" Her gradeschool friend Gina is doing relaying to her Saint Columban's Catholic School network, and they laughed at the Catholic Grade School swearing -- or that if you've gone through what she has, you earned some salty language.

Mandy and Theresa visited

Mary (Melissa's) Mom and I are kinda furniture, but Mandy visited and did things like run a pen through her hair or a wet washcloth across Melissa's face, and put a heart on the spot where Melissa usually stands in workout class; the love and appreciation came out.
Theresa (running partner) came and brought stories about how her running group ran the Rodeo Run yesteday in her honor (and had M's picture on their bibs), and brought her an honorary Medal. That scored points. And I loved that Theresa said, "It's a medal that's also a belt buckle" and Melissa replied, "Like last year".
Theresa also brought dry shampoo, washed Melissa's hair, and changed Melissa from box braid to a looser double french braid -- and made her happy. Melissa was fuzzy on some deatils about Theresa (and forgetting), but they were more running partners than "friends", but they're friends now! She didn't want me to show the pictures. So if you click you can see them.

Mandy selfie with Me and Melissa in the background. Mandy put a heart on the spot on the ground where Melissa usually works out. Theresa washing Melissa's hair French Braids -- Melissa loved it. But didn't want it shared. So here it is. The Picture of Melissa (from the Houston Half) that USAFit Kingwood wore to dedicate to her. Finishing Photo of friends that did the Rodeo Run for her - left-to-right; LaDawna Goering, Gloria Mahoney, Jess Vega, Theresa House, Mirna ChangLee. The Rodeo Run Medal/Buckle that she wasn't able to complete herself.

Laundry fairy

I went to get dressed and realized the Laundry Fairy hadn't come in a while. Missing last weekends chores (like laundry) means I'm getting towards the 2nd and 3rd tier clothing, like Gun or Snarky T-Shirts for the Hospital. I'm not quite as much of a pig as that sounds. Normally our routine is she says, "Laundry" and I sort my junk, strip the bed, put it in piles, and she re-orders it according to her specifications, and then starts a load. If I'm home (and she's doing errands/etc), she gets notifications on her phone and says, "Change Loads", tells me which load (and settings), and I do it. Then I fold things wrong, and put them away in the wrong place. Without the trigger, it just didn't dawn on me that the clothes aren't going to wash themselves.

I'd need a Ph.D. on foldology. I normally fail with things like: "You mixed the pink running T-shirts with the pink workout T-shirts and those have their own places. "I roll the running shirts, but cross fold the work out shirts because the former has more long sleeves." "The good bra's go here, and the comfy bras go over there." - Like I can distinguish.

👁️ See also

2023 Heart Attack/Community -

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