An update as I sip on some chicken broth

Dinner tonight at Methodist Hospital for me consists of some chicken broth (double batch) and some saltines. I really should have let Scott get me lunch at New Season's like he offered. Oh well. Fasting is good for you.

So upon landing in Omaha, Rich brought me straight to the hospital. I'm staying up here tonight, as I really want to talk to the doctors in the morning. I've gone "to work" from the moment I walked in. Got Dad some Kendall boots (since he's not getting out of bed, he's at high risk for blood clots - these are pressurized boots that simulate circulation -- kinda), got caught up with his nurse, and got her ink flowing in the chart about what I wanted to talk to the doctors about.

Apparently, if you can believe this (which I can't), some of the doctors have been writing in the chart "end of life care" - which is making sure Dad is comfortable. This was called to Mom's attention by our oncologist who wondered what that meant. Well, NO ONE talked to anyone in the family about this, and that's a big no-no. We are NOT giving up yet, and want to fight this aggressively and watch out for his well-being. That means Physical Therapy. That means watching for blood clots (he's getting little filters put in tomorrow to stop any from breaking off and going to his heart or lungs).

Those of you who know me have an idea of how fast I turned from being upset to just being plain mad. Within the first hour of my arrival, I felt good about the progress made. I even got the tech to set up my cot (which was very nice, but not quite nice enough to recover from the fact that he had the fluorescent light on so he could read. . .pretty much like the exam lights right in Dad's eyes as he was trying to sleep!). To prevent Dad from trying to get out of bed on his own, they have a tech that sits in here overnight when no one is around. He's now in the hallway where there is enough light for him to read.

Dad briefly woke up when I got here. We had a pretty short, but good, conversation. I asked him if he was okay with us being roommates tonight, and he got a smile on his face (not a big one, more of a smirk), and said, "Sure!" He thinks he's in Minnesota, but he's oriented to know that he's in the hospital, and he knew who I was.

Tomorrow morning is going to come awfully early, so I'm going to wrap up my chicken broth and crackers, and try to get a few hours of sleep. More tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for their notes, their prayers, and their kind messages.