I arrived early today as I have meetings at work on Tuesday mornings. When I entered the room, it was dark and Dad was sleeping with his mouth was wide open. The PCA or Personal Care Assistant was in the room. She said that he had a difficult night and kept getting up to go to the bathroom. I might add that getting up to go to the bathroom is not an easy thing for him to do. He had finally really started sleeping about 5:00 AM. I sat and watched him as he slept for about a half hour.
Just before 7:00 AM his eyes opened his eyes and looked around. I said good morning to Dad. Asked him how he slept and he replied not well. His back was hurting. I let him know that I had been here watching him sleep for some time and it looked like he was sleeping well. He said that was probably true because his mouth was extremely dry. He needed to go to the bathroom so he stood and took care of business.
The PCA asked if Dad wanted to clean up and he replied yes. She got his toothbrush and put tooth paste on it. She handed me a cup of water to hold for him. She went to hand him the toothbrush and he gave her the look of why do I want that. He said that he did not want that. So the PCA went to get some warm soapy water, wash cloths and towels. He scrubbed a little and the PCA scrubbed the rest. I held dad up so the PCA could get the backside. After the scrubbing he got the spray treatment. He loved having the Right Guard sprayed under his arms. He got that look on his face exclaiming, that is cold. He smiled and exclaimed that he smelled good. We then got dad in a chair so that the PCA could change his bed. Clean bed, clean body and a little right guard. All he needed was a good shave. Of course the shave part is my personal opinion. Dad is sure that he will not ever need to shave again and has no desire to shave as well.
Dad settled in for the morning. He has surgery today to place a feeding tube in his small intestine so that he can receive some nourishment. (Surgery went well and as of 4:00 PM he was sleeping)
