We're Doing Much Better Now

I will blog briefly, then I must get to sleep because I have the 3:00 AM "Daddy-Watch". ;-)

Home care worked for the first time today. It was a BIG relief! They came in at 9:30 AM and stayed until 2:30 PM. She (Lydia) changed him, bathed him, lotioned him down, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, added more formula to his tube feeding, flushed him (giving 200 ml of water through the tube feeding), repositioned him, checked his blood pressure, and temperature throughout the day, and changed him again before my mom arrived home.

All I had to do was administer his medications and flush him again when I arrived home at 5 PM. Marna gives his morning medications with insulin around 9 AM and evening medication at 9 PM. I refill and restart his tube feeding for the day at 3AM in the morning. With our new and improved "The Armstead Household Way" schedule, we should have him completely fed and changed him for the final time each day no later than 10 PM. This will work for us. That way, we can ALL sleep throughout the night. I am an early riser anyway, so the 3:00 AM shift is perfect for me! That is usually when my alarm goes off anyway. I had to make just a few minor adjustments to include Daddy in my schedule, but I'm good! The 5 pm shift is for whoever is home, between Marna and I. Sometimes she has to work late, and I take it or vice versa. As for my mom, well, we have to work with her regarding the medications. Over the weekend, she tried to give him the 35 ml of insulin. Some spilled out of his skin, she freaked out because she was not sure if it would hold him the rest of the day. So she continued pricking his finger every 3 to 4 hours all day to make sure his blood sugar reading stayed within the proper range. Lol! She has much on her mind, so Marna made sure all Mommy has to do is change him once or twice a day with Nicolas or with my Uncle Jewel and check his vitals (blood sugar, blood pressure and temperature). Mommy is satisfied with that! We will retrain her once things have calmed down and she is not so nervous about everything. Hahaha!

But I must say, our past weekend was filled with many, many tears, uncertainty, prayer, discouragement, doubtfulness, disappointment in ourselves, etc. You name it! As excited as we were for Daddy to come home, it turned out to be a horrible weekend physically and emotionally. Per my previous post.

Monday started out very hopeful. We had somewhat of an interview with an agency for in home care referred by the facility (Pacifica Nursing & Rehab Center) Daddy was in the past 3 months. They were very friendly and kind. It was very similar to the treatment we received in Pacifica at the rehab. By the way, our family must share how absolutely wonderful the Pacifica Nursing & Rehab Center is in a later blog post. Goooo Pacifica!! They took VERY good care of Daddy during his stay.

Anyway, the in home care agency came (about 7 people) to our home yesterday, to meet us, assess the situation, see which one of them would be a perfect fit and stayed almost an hour. We were very pleased with the manner in which they handled things. It just felt right for all of us. Thank you, Lord. Needless to say, they started the next day (today). So far, we are very please with the work done today. Most of all, Daddy was pleased. Lol! And that is saying a lot because James Armstead can be quite the critic. It was a relief and a stress was lifted. We all went to work and/or school feeling very comfortable with leaving the help in our home and most of all, in complete charge of Daddy. :-)

Lord, thank you. You always have a ram in the bush. God is an excellent provider!

--June