Wednesday Addition

Yesterday was more like 2 degrees, though.

They have taken Mom off that medicine that they suspected was causing most of her confusion, and so far it seems to have been the cause. Not that she is completely lucid 100% of the time, now. But she is at least not telling me she is laying on Joshua (Erik’s son) or that she thinks the lady holding the TV on her head across the room is getting tired.

Yesterday was so much better than the day before, in my opinion. I can’t explain it, but the day before was hard to endure. Mainly because of one moment. We were in Mom’s room. Dad was sitting off to the left resting his legs (he’s trying to get them elevated at least once or twice a day), and I was standing by Mom’s bed. The door was closed, and the haze of the cloudy-afternoon sky was darkening the sterile-lit room. Mom was asleep, or so it seemed. I was just watching her. She was somewhat curled up, rolled onto her left shoulder, arms pulled close, a pillow resting between her legs, and the most relaxed frown on her face I have ever seen. One of those sleepy frowns that either means the person is asleep so soundly even their earlobes are relaxed, or they’re having a bad dream, or both. I wasn’t sure, but the depth of Mom’s condition hit me again like a ton of bricks. And I was sad.

I was mostly thinking of the grandkids, because I get unspeakable joy watching them play with Mom. It is still hard to accept that at 7:25pm on April 4th, she was still capable of being an interactive and healthy grandmother. Just five minutes later, she was not. She may recover to the point of being interactive again. I hope so.

Even at the current slow pace, I am hopeful. After all, she is trending well.

The medicine thing – we can chalk it up as another answered prayer of “YES” that so many of you wrote in and said you were praying. The answer hasn’t been “YES” for everything, and so we need to be thankful for the “NO’s” we get, too, I guess. But after about two days of being off of it, I think we can say this answer was a “YES.”

We are hoping to hear today when the surgery for Mom’s cranium piece will be. The surgeon’s assistant has yet to call back to inform the case manager of when the doctor could fit Mom in. The goal continues to be to do the surgery, let Mom recover a few days, and then get her back to Orlando.

I am beginning to suspect that Dad has some form of memory-loss. THIS IS COMPLETELY A JOKE – NOT TO ALARM ANY OF YOU. I suspect this, because he has gone to see a movie with me about once every other week since being out of the hospital. We do it as a chance to take a deep breath and release a little at the almost-too-late show after we feed Mom supper and leave her to rest for the night. We have seen some good ones and a few not-so-good ones.

Here’s the real crazy thing, though. The one that shows that the apocalypse must be upon us. Dad went this past weekend, while neither Erik nor I were here, and saw one BY HIMSELF!!! For real. BY HIMSELF!!! This is a man whom we have had to drag to see a movie once a year on Christmas Eve (kind of a family tradition we still do when we are with the Dukes side of the family for Christmas). When we would do that, Dad would go willingly but not wantingly. Until now.

Either I am rubbing off on him (because I really enjoy seeing movies), or he is suffering from some form of personality-change induced by the metal rods in his legs interacting with his cell phone signal transmitting movie previews and show times through a rogue iPhone App causing a shift in preferences from wanting to sit in his Lazyboy to sitting in a theater where you can’t pause the movie and have to miss stuff to go to the bathroom and can’t pull your shoes off for fear of losing skin on the sticky floor and all that.

Or maybe he is starting to like movies…NAHHHHHHH! Couldn’t be.

Seriously, Dad seemed encouraged by Mom’s condition yesterday, as well. He still is dealing with a whole lot of pain in his legs. But I am confident he will get better over time as those bones keep healing. Please pray he won’t do too much too quickly and hinder his progress.

I just had to share with you a part of an email Dad received. I don’t want to embarrass the person who sent it, so I won’t mention any names. Suffice it to say that a young woman who knows our family who has at least one daughter sent it to us. Their family walked through a tragedy a little over two years ago. Insight and encouragement from her meant a whole lot to Dad. Here it is:

Dr. Dukes,

Just wanted to let you know that you have been in our thoughts and prayers regularly.  I can relate to your recent posts about having to deal with anger and frustration and not understanding God’s purpose in our trials.  I remember hearing one of Steven Curtis Chapman’s sons (after the death of their daughter/sister) saying that these feelings actually helped him realize how real his belief and relationship with God was.  We question God because we know He is real and can do anything. It doesn’t make it any easier some days though!

I thought I would tell you of a recent act by my youngest daughter, to help encourage you.  They announced at Sunday worship gathering that they were taking up a love offering for you and Retia.  My daughter was sitting next to me.  She had just received a card that morning with some money in it for her birthday.  I watched as she took the money she had just been given and put it in the offering plate for you both.  Our family loves you both dearly and we hope and pray for your healing soon.  It seems it is going to be a long process –  that frustrates me also.  But we will not stop praying.

______________________
WOW!!! Thank you. And thank all of you for your continued love and support and prayers. And thank you to the God who hears our prayers and answers us, whose love is so near. We are trending well because of you and because of Him.

Post at you later.
-jason