Much better day!

So, apparently they didn't have a great start to the week, but yesterday went pretty well!  Dad had some friends come over and they talked and even brought watermelon (my dad loves watermelon with his salt) and ice cream!  Two of my sisters came over and spent some time too!  Everyone took turns helping out!  Mandy and I reseated Dad and neither of us have ever lifted Dad before.  I did it first and then Mandy did it and got it right!  Awesome!  Dad got his communication device in and is doing pretty well with the $20,000 machine!  He has some great planned sayings!  I recorded some of it on my school iPad into storymaker, so I'll have to figure out how to link that up. Hurray!

It's getting harder

Yesterday was hard for me.  Usually I do pretty well helping out and can be patient trying to understand my dad.  He wasn't patient today and only smiled a few times at my kids' antics.  I was able to feed him a lot (he LOVES hawaiian pizza) and he was frustrated when he wasn't able to get a 4th slice (it was gone) and he had to go back to the Pretzel crust (which he usually loves).  He was dying for his lemonade and I gave him some.  He sputtered and coughed and told me that his throat only liked water, and he wanted lemonade.  Then he tried again and spit lemonade all over my hand.  The third try was the charm and he was able to finish it off.  He really wanted to pick out the perfect doorbell and it wasn't working out for him, because he had me in charge of the computer and just kept telling me down and up randomly, so I still have no idea what he was looking for, other than a wireless doorbell with two push buttons.  It was frustrating for him not finding the perfect doorbell, so he decided he wanted to see the other doorbell and had me look up it's model number.  No dice.  I spent forever searching though.  Then he had me get his push button from beside his bed and when I pushed it, I was able to find the other doorbell, which is really the one he wanted to search for.  I handed it over to Scott, because I was feeling overwhelmed. Mom got back (I really hope I was of some help for her) and she pulled a new doorbell out.  Dad wasn't happy about the lack of a second pushbutton.   I tried to give him more water and I wasn't getting it close enough to him, so he just got mad and said he was done!  I was too.  I started having flashbacks to when I was a kid and never did enough or was good enough.  My dad is a great Dad, but he has his bad moments and I was remembering those.  I was able to clean up some more and not cry, but I wanted out.  I don't want my kids seeing the mad side of their beloved Papaw.  We all left and then I cried some.  It's hard.  My mom needs better breaks though.  It was hard for me and I was only there for the day.  I'm still glad that we have him around, but I'm really hoping for him to do better before he goes.  He has to be patient with everyone helping him.  At least we're trying.  We could just leave him alone, but I would never do that to my mom.  I'm super hoping his communication device comes, so we know what he wants/needs!

The crazy continues

Now my dad is short his great nurses-one went off to school and the other was injured, so she isn't coming right now either.  My poor mom is exhausted!  They sent out two nurses from the one place-but they're not even close to up to par and they almost dropped him twice!  Plus didn't clean him well by his wounds!  Yikes!  I try to help out as much as I can on Saturdays when I come into town, but I'm not nearly as helpful as I would like to be!  I fed him yesterday and forgot to clean off his mouth.  Rookie mistake.  I "translated" for my son as my Dad asked him to do things for him.  I was excited I understood him.  It's so hard to understand him!  Sometimes he talks and we all stop everything and see if any of us can understand.  We get it occasionally and it's so exciting!  I don't know what the hold up is on the communication device is, but I hope it hurries up!
We're impatiently waiting on the bid being approved so work can begin on the house.  I love my mom's plan to travel with dad while the house is being worked on!  I know a lot of people want to see him, and now he has wheels and can travel! I'm excited for them!
He's getting used to his catheter.  He doesn't like it, but he's getting used to it.  I asked.  It's super funny when my mom is emptying out the bag and he acts like he's relieved!  Like he can feel it!
He was able to help with the baby blessing last week (which is awesome)!  They worked hard to help him be involved!  I love my dad!