Saturday, June 27, 2009

A Sister Sleepover

Friday was my first time to actually spend the night at the hospice with Debbie. We sent Ray home on Thursday night and already he's sounding rested and more chipper (via phone conversations).

When I got there around 5 p.m., Debbie's youngest son, Montana, was there as was Mark, my ex-sister-in-law's brother. He's great and actually lives not to far from the hospice. The room seemed totally different when I arrived.

Debbie had opened all the curtains and blinds and natural light was streaming in, plus I could tell she had been in "cleaning" mode....it's just what she does, so I knew right away she was feeling pretty well. She was sitting up holding court. We talked a little about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett and then we found the Farrah / David Letterman interview on the internet and watched that. Montana also found photos on the internet of the VERY nice apartment complex where he'll be living next year when he goes to Georgia Southern.

They both left around six and then it was just me and my girl. Debbie told me she had "the talk" with both her boys (Dustin had been there the night before and most of that day) and we no longer had to walk on eggshells for fear of saying something we weren't supposed to. I ask how they were doing and she just floored me with her wisdom. She knew it was going to be hard on them, so she immediately asked them to go get her a Sprite, so that they would have an "out", to get out of the room and get their heads straight.

She and I had dinner and then she started feeling sick to her stomach. We thought perhaps it was the quiche from dinner but then she realized she wasn't getting any oxygen from her nose cannon and that was the culprit. When the nurse had come to add water to to the container the air runs through, she had not put it back on tight enough. Once that was fixed Deb immediately felt better.

We talked a bit. She told me in no uncertain terms that she wants all four of us sisters to go to see the movie "My sister's keeper" together. I asked if she was sure and she said she really wants to see it but she doesn't want us all looking at her all weepy eyed. We talked some more about logistical stuff, Medicaid, Social Security, Health Directives...stuff no one really wants to discuss.
Then "Farrah's Story" came on TV so we watched that together.

I got in my jammies and pulled out the "recliner bed" and settled in for the night. I made her promise to poke me if she needed to get up during the night. We fell asleep around 11:30 and she poked me awake at 2:30 so she could get up and go to the restroom. Then we stayed up and watched "Cold Case" for a couple of hours before sleeping again from 4-7 am. I actually woke up feeling pretty refreshed. I got her a cup of coffee (they have the coolest FREE starbucks machine in the break room) with french vanilla creamer, of course. DeAnn arrived around 8 with the fresh watermelon Debbie had asked for.

When I left Deb was happily munching on sweet watermelon and I headed home to shower and get ready for the memorial service for my cousin Steve. Made a brief detour to get Krispy Kremes for my boy, Jackson, (who texted me last night "I miss my mommy") and I'm just waiting on sister Tina who is stuck in traffic on 85S. All in all, a rockin' good night. Now we just have to get the girl "home."

No comments:

Post a Comment