HOSPITAL / May 28th: Wednesday and Thursday were whirlwind days at Baystate. Because it was cool out I brought Marty with me. I parked in garages both days so he was safe and I could go out and we would go for sniff and pee walks. Well I drank a coffee. Marty did his thing. I contacted our dog sitter Joanne and starting tomorrow she will stop by the house to air him out in the afternoon. She is a vet tech for our veterinarian in town.
Wednesday morning I called Hope to make sure she had received the message to not come to the house. Of course she hadn’t. I started a load of laundry and tried to pick up a little. The house is pretty bombed out. I had started rearranging furniture to make room for the hospital bed. The medical supply company will not move furniture (that old devil liability) so I put sliders under Marty’s love seat and pushed it into the other room. I finished the dishes from Tuesday, made a peanut butter and banana sandwich grabbed Marty and headed to the hospital. I asked for directions from the security desk. Baystate is a huge campus in Springfield. I forget how far it is from different corners. Kathy and I did a lot of our graphic design work for Baystate Health System when we were first working as Lehndorff Design about ten years ago and some of it is hanging on the walls in the maze of corridors.
When I got to her room Speech Pathology was about to do a new swallowing evaluation. We talked more about the feeding tube. The swallowing test didn’t go well but she swallowed enough of the thickened liquids and applesauce to be considered passing. The puréed food arrived for her meal. It was actually a ton of food. They must have known I was hungry. She didn’t eat much for lunch. I think this photo is of dinner. They are very similar.
Tomato soup wasn’t too bad. The mashed potato and the carrots were pretty good. The puréed and shaped turkey was nasty. To be fair I can’t seem to make puréed turkey or chicken or even salmon. It always tastes gritty. The “blueberries” were reshaped into berry shapes. Taste was Ok if a little starchy. Room service was courteous but busing at meals end seemed a little tardy. Ok, clean up took a few hours but they have sick people to attend to. The little thing of thick orange juice was the only success. I spoon fed her the whole thing. If we continue to eat and drink actual food she won’t be using a straw anymore. All drinks will be spoon fed assuming we can get home.
Respiration Therapy and the nurses came and tried to work with her to increase her lung capacity and exercise her breathing. She really tried but couldn’t get very far.
to be continued….