Accidentally in Love

Steve, Jenna and I went late this afternoon to see Daddy. When we arrived, I went in alone. The nurse was there preparing his dinner to feed him. He was awake, although very groggy and not able to talk much. The nurse asked if I would like to feed him, and so I did. He ate a pretty good dinner considering. I took him a couple pictures of us, a card JG made for him and a cupcake decorated by JG and her good buddy Bailey (more on that below).

He knew that I was his daughter, but he couldn't think of my name. Of course, as any parent of multiple children knows, this isn't all that unusual because lots of times he scrolls through the names of all my siblings before he lands on the right one for me! When I showed him a picture of him and JG, he said "That's me" and when I asked him who the little girl was, he said, "That's my Jenna". :) So, I know he's in there somewhere.

Bertie showed up shortly after and was so thrilled that he knew who she was and that he was eating so well. She stayed just for a minute and then let Steve come in. True to form, Daddy just beamed and said, "I'll be dawg"...he absolutely LOVES seeing Steve anytime. He was semi-lucid for about half hour before he started sliding into that confusion he had before. He's removed several IVs and has been restrained for part of the evening.

Several times while I was there with him, he said he was scared "yesterday". Apparently, the whole thing started on Thursday afternoon when he got choked on some milk he was drinking. The milk he aspirated into his lungs caused infection/pneumonia. I know that sounds odd, but in someone with severe COPD, anything foreign in the lungs for any period of time really can cause trouble. There are other issues that complicate things as well...

Just remember to pray for him, my step mom and us. This is still very serious. And it's awfully hard on me. This is so close to what my mother was like shortly before her death. For those that don't know, my mother died when I was 18 after only a 6 month battle with cancer. She spent many days and nights in the hospital and she was very rarely lucid. She was gone long before she stopped breathing. After her first stint in the hospital, she was never herself again and I fear the same for my dad. I don't know if I can watch this happen again. I'm praying that I don't have to.

On a happier note, Jenna's friend, Bailey (Leigh Ann is Bailey's mom and my Bible Study leader and you can link to her blog here. Believe me, it's well worth the read) came over today and played with us for a while. A few weeks ago was Bailey's birthday and we had to miss the party because we had another party to attend. So, we had Bailey over today instead. After picking her up, we visited Petsmart where they ran through the aisles oohing and aahing over every animal down to the fish and crickets. Then we went to Target and let Bailey pick out her gift. While Jenna would jerk the first thing she saw off the shelf, Bailey was very thorough in picking out what she wanted. She even suggested we might try another store! Finally we got home and the girls started playing while I whipped up some cupcakes for decorating later.

While they were baking, I came upstairs to sort and load some laundry. That's when I found Jenna carrying Mittens the cat, soaking wet. Jenna and Bailey had given Mittens a bath in the bathtub, complete with baby powder and hair detangler. Yeah. First it's beyond me how two little girls managed to keep a cat in the tub that long for a bath. Poor Mittens. But he is fine and now he smells oh so good!

We went to Snappy Tomato for lunch and then back home to decorate the cupcakes. That was fun and I really think the girls enjoyed it. It was a nice distraction for me with all that's going on. I have pictures, but I am too tired to load them up.

More tomorrow.