We Definitely Have A Nursing Shortage

Phew, it's been an exhausting weekend-and it's only Saturday! It's about 5:30 p.m. and I've just woken up. The last couple of days, Dad has been a little grouchy and not his usual self. I guess that under the circumstances, he's entitled to be in a bad mood.

Last night, he was still running a low-grade fever, feeling nauseous, and in terrible pain; a 10 on a 0-10 scale. His pain medications ran late, and his IV bag was running empty. Just to give you an idea, the alarm on it was going off for two hours before it got changed. By the time I'd gotten him settled, he asked me not to "abandon him." You see, my mom's been coughing and she's not to spend the night with him, for fear that he may catch it (coughing is NOT good on an abdomen that's been cut open). Usually, Dad encourages me to get home and spend some time with the hubby, but last night was rare. After seeing how everything ran today, he was afraid he would not be attended to last night, and was practically begging me to stay. How could I not?

Last night, I was up every hour checking him, helping him out of bed when he needed to use the restroom, and rewetting his cold compress to try to relieve some pain and bring his fever down. Overall, I believe he slept okay; that is, until about 4 a.m. when his pain meds wore off. Again, it took 2 hours after requesting his late pain medications and to replace the IV fluids nagging, "Change Me!!" while we tried to sleep. Needless to say, I was up by 4 and worn out.

By the time Mom came by to relieve my shift, I had Dad cleaned up and groomed, sitting up in his recliner, and his bed changed. By 1 p.m. I was back in bed and sleeping like a log. I'm a little worried about how well things will run while Mom stays tonight, but the good news is that PT has finally came by and dropped off his walker. That should make it lot easier on my Dad, and Mom too.

I think that since I've been given the night off, I will spend some time with the hubby (haven't seen him since Thursday!) and try to take on tomorrow evening to give Mom a break too.