Sunday, October 28, 2007

A Slow and Busy Morning

Marcie's morning ritual took a little tonger this morning. She needed some extra care and I gave it to her.

I woke her at 7 a.m., first clearing her throat of some phlegm and wiping her face, dabbing mostly, patting it dry. I gave her drops of natural tears and cleaned around her cannula:


After the accumulated moisture and grubbiness of Marcie's sleep was off her face, I changed her bed. I gave her a bath while I did it, slowly shifting her to her left side from her right. She quietly watched or snoozed when it suited her, serene.

After almost an hour, I took her laundry out and got it started. She generates a lot of it. I like to use clean washcloths and towels for her. The latter, at least, are plentiful.

I came back and she was snoozing hard. I finished changing her clothes, carefully giving her a fine coat of her favorite oils, salves, unguents, balms, lotions and emulsified suspensions of every type. She woke and indicated she was quite amused by it all, since the home health aids take about half the time and don't "moisturize."

It was time to grind her medications. I did that, made a mix of it and water in a syringe. She took it with OJ. I got her to take some orange juice and more water, finishing two loads of laundry as I set her up with some gentle classical music to drown out the hum of the air mattress and the oxygen rig.

Her pupils are mismatched. I gave her Ativan and massaged her again. She's warm.

1 comments:

Tanya Howe Aeria said...

Hi Marie Frank:
Just checking in. Would Marcie like a visit from yours truly tomorrow afternoon? I would love to bring some soup from my mom (Matzo ball chicken soup, or other favorites that are going well for our Marcie). My mom would love to see Marcie too, but that's up to Marcie and you, so you just give me the word. I can be there by 1 pm tomorrow. Love love.