A tale of two Brians

Grandpa Update: Yesterday was a very hard day for him. Every cough (and he had lots) was excruciating for him. Had to give him morphine every hour (2mg) All I could do was hold his hand. Of course with that much morphine, he was almost always out of it and when he did talk, I couldn't understand most of what he was trying to say. I had a good talk with his doctor. We decided that we would discontinue antibiotics and send him to transitional care and see which way it goes before deciding on hospice. The doctor said he was very skeptical that he could return to the state he was in before this accident, but it's possible he could surprise us all. Once they moved him to the TCC (room 268) I found it interesting that the nurses there weren't nearly as busy and could actually spend time, get his morphine on time, etc. They put a patch behind his ear that they said would help keep so much phlegm from developing in his throat which made him cough. Why they didn't do such a thing downstairs is a mystery.....maybe just too busy. They then turned him to check for sores and he was doing fine so they repositioned him a bit. He started improving almost immediately and we were able to skip a couple of scheduled morphine treatments. Just before I left he was actually able to swallow a tiny bit of water and Boost. Saundra spent the night. I went in there early this AM just to check and he was sleeping soundly. They only had to give him two treatments of morphine during the night and Saundra said last evening Steve and Darcy came to visit and he actually talked to them a little. I've got so behind in my work I have to work today, but I'll go back to see him this afternoon. Some funny things: Day before yesterday, he would only be lucid for moments at a time. He once looked up at me, lifted his finger and said "I'll tell you one thing....".......then went back to sleep with his finger still in the air. When they first brought him into a regular room from the emergency room, just after Saundra got there, the nurse told him he was lucky to have good family support. He looked up and in the most pathetic, croaky, sick voice imaginable said "You kids can go home, I'll be just fine". I laughed and told him if I would have recorded that, I would eventually play it at his funeral to give everyone a good laugh. Yesterday when he was mostly out of it, the nurse listened to his lungs and said they sounded pretty good. Dad opened his eyes and said loudly "Oh that's pathetic." then went back to sleep.