Sunday about 5:30 PM
I called the ICU early today and then waited until this afternoon to go down to Yakima. Nancy is holding her own without the ventilator. Because of the long time with the tubes in, her voice was very weak and we (nurse and I) tried to talk in a manner that she could nod and not have to speak. She also tried writing on a clipboard but weakness, attached tubes, and such made much of it hard to read.
The nurse had no luck with the notes Nancy tried to write but I could make out a few words and then guessed at the rest — Nancy would agree or disagree and I would try again. We made some progress.
She was hungry and finally we got printed “Is food not part of the service here?” She had been well fed with a brownish liquid via a drip line and that’s probably not going to leave you full when it is taken away. Because of the sore throat we just got her some jello and orange juice.
We played — or attempted to play — a little verbal trick on her. We have a dog named Shay and I asked if she remembered Shay. The nurse quickly said “Is that your cat?” With no hesitation, Nancy let her know that Shay wasn’t a cat.
She insisted on keeping the paper and pencil with her even though the folks there can’t make as much sense of her attempts at writing as I can.
Her nurse thought Nancy was improving by the hour and by Monday AM would be still better. I will go back early with some of her favorite yogurt as that flavor isn’t usually available. I can also help with the communications.
More Monday evening.