Sleep doesn't come easy people

Hello everyone – Happy Thursday to you! Stephanie here……. Just came from my doctor for those of you who were wondering about me, she gave me some more drugs…….. Yeah!

Here are a few text updates I received from Jill over the last few days:

Tuesday January 22, 2008 11:28 pm
“Dad is sleeping, mom readin, Jill workin”

Tuesday January 22, 2008 11:43 pm
“Dad took his first nap in 7 days today. 2.5 hours” Yeah!

Jill is right Dad is not sleeping much at all lately. I can’t tell if it is he just has such high anxiety or he is afraid he might miss something or he just wants to see and do everything or he is afraid of sleep. And, today at the doctor I wonder if the cancer being in his adrenal gland is messing with his need to sleep. Who knows? But we will take whatever nap we can get.

Wednesday January 23, 2008 7:45 am
”Dad was up most of the night. Slept from 3:40 am – 4:24 am. No sleep for me. Catchin a disco nap now. Dad’s urine is really dark and solid bits. Called nurse.”

Wednesday January 23, 2008 7:47 am
“Waitin for callback (from nurse). Dad is very upset about Heath Leger. More later.”

Wednesday January 23, 2008 3:35 pm (after nurse visits Dad)
“That he is eating good. Eyes are clear which is good. And seems alert. All good for now. Nurse made suggestions on meds to aid sleep. I am so…….. (I’m guessing sleepy)”

Wednesday January 23, 2008 3:35 pm
“Dad is trying to rest……… so far unsuccessfully. Nurse was here. Changed line and bag. Some staining from bilirubin. Pulse 98. Temp 97.5. Blood Pressure 143/84”

So, guys this is so hard. As humans here on earth we want to look for signs of what is going to happen to help prepare ourselves emotionally. You know that in the end the urine becomes dark, and the body temperature cools and so on and so on. So, when you see these things begin to happen your body freaks out on the inside. But then, things change and go a little back to normal. So you catch your breath. So, for now we sit and we wait and we enjoy all of the good times and have fun when Dad calls us and checks up on everyone.

Yesterday morning at 5:30 am he called his sister Pam to check in. He kept calling and calling her cell phone. I talked to Pam and she told me she keeps her cell in her purse. Dear sweet Aunt Pam, now your brother would tell us that is simply not acceptable (smile). He called me yesterday and then said he was having problems with his cell phone and that he would call me back. I talked to him last night to tell him that Ms. Jones (his sister’s mother-n-law) passed away the night before. Dad’s speech was sort of garbled but I talked to him again this morning and he was fine. Sounded perfectly normal. You see what I mean about rallying? He said that he was the only one awake and that everyone else was sleeping. I asked if everyone else had just gone to sleep and he said no, he had been sleeping since midnight. I’ll be checking out that story.

Anyhow, I must go get to work. I am working a little more than half a day today and then going to see my Papa Bear. The DFW area is supposed to get bad weather (we shall see about that) like a thin layer of ice tonight after midnight so I really can’t afford to be stuck over there as I need to work tomorrow some.

Oops, I almost forgot a very big THANK YOU to my Aunt Shirley for going over to Mom and Dad's to hang out with Dad and Mom on Monday night so Jill could get some much needed work down. I got home at 3:00 am Monday so I was not looking forward to going over and staying that late again. Aunt Pam is coming this weekend and Lauren should be on the road home now.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Keep us in your prayers. Hug your loved ones. Smile. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of earth. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Examine your demands on others (are you listening papa bear? – smile). Apologize. Be kind, be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Speak your love.

I love you all very much!