He's doing okay...

UPDATE...04:47PM -- Alice, Larry's hospice nurse, just left a few moments ago. To summarize her visit, she seems to think he has a couple of more days. The apnea and twitching are more frequent now. He's been asleep most of the day but I attribute part of this to the fact that he was awake most of the night. He is having some difficulty swallowing, but still does okay...so far. His heart rate was good: 66 beats/minute and steady. He seems to have difficulty focusing. I'll try to post a bit more later.

11:01AM -- Larry is doing as well as can be expected. He's still alert at times and realizes he's "confused". He takes Dilaudid about every 3-4 hours now at 6ml per dose. He told me last night that he had something really important to tell me, and I let him talk. He choked up once while telling me..."If I should die...I want you to know how very much I love you." I think he was afraid to go to sleep last night. He'd close his eyes and then open them wide, either staring at me or the ceiling. He dosed off around midnight, and was awake around 2:30AM. He asked for an Ensure. I would dose off and wake up...I woke up once around 4:30AM and he was staring at the ceiling, the tv still on. I got up and told him he needed to get some sleep. He said okay. I turned off his tv, and helped him roll over in bed. I gave him some Dilaudid and he finally dropped off to sleep only to wake up around 8:20AM this morning.

He's got a lot of head congestion which is interfering with his hearing. The doctor prescribed a Z-pack and Claritin. He's taking those along with his 81mg aspirin and Metatopolol (both for his heart). These are the only pills he will take.

I made my chocolate, cherry, caramel trifle yesterday and told him about it. His response was "No shit?!" (He loved it the first time I made it.) He ate a couple of bites. He got a phone call from a former RN (Lauren...or as he called her "hot lips hoolihan") over at dialysis. She called him from KY and said she would be back in our area on Friday and would come see him. Lots of calls from his children and dad. He loves hearing from them. I got a lovely email from his first hospice nurse, Missy. She sent along a prayer shawl for him. I keep it on his bed or nearby.

His voice is weak and sometimes intelligible. Of course, I baby him a lot. Needless to say, he lets me know when I've gone to far with it. Most of the time telling me to "stop bugging" him or "stop pushing" him; or once in awhile, to "stop aggravating" him. He's never been one to mince words. *smile* A trait I've always loved about him.

More later as my mom, sisters Linda and Bonnie, and cousin, Faye are here. His mom and sister are staying here with me and have been since last Wednesday.