Dad is still tickin’ and I am sure he is just giving us a chance to savor every moment.. lol
As of about midnight last night, he is no longer responding to us. He is sleeping peacefully and even though the sound of his breathing could be shocking for those hearing it for the first time, it is oddly lulling. I often times don’t notice the gasps or sucking noises until it stops for what seems like a little too long.
We had hospice nurses here twice today to check in on him. The last young man left a little bit ago and was really wonderful. He gave us more information in the brief time he was here than anyone else has. He explained a lot of the things we are seeing and said that dad looks very typical and normal for the current state. We were relieved that things are going as expected and that we have been doing things correctly.
I have lots of emotions and thoughts on my experience so far. Hopefully in the next couple days or so I can get those down on ‘paper’ in some creative form. I think road block at the moment is a bit of sleep deprivation and mental overflow so trying to organize thoughts has been a tad on the difficult side. I can say with certainty that watching this dying process is not pleasant. I do not have any warm feeling about it at this point. I would not wish anyone to have to go through this. Mom said today that she would not want to come home like this, to let her be in the hospital. Well, we shall see how she feels when she is getting close to the end. Regardless of where it is, I am in no way looking forward to it. Fortunately she has been doing so well lately and she has been holding up like a champ through this latest ordeal. She is an amazing woman.
We had a couple visitors today, some neighbors and my cousin David. It was a nice little break from the routine we have going here and it was really good to see David. I captured some of the conversation between mom and David talking about mom remaining positive during her journey with cancer:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjXkJaLu7EU&w=560&h=315]
Well I think that sums up the day. We shall see what fun stuff tomorrow brings!