Oh nurse, I think I killed him...

Went up to see Walt about 4 PM on Friday. He had a dialysis treatment earlier. A couple of nurses were doing some routine maintenance on him when I got there. They let me take off his mitts and show him some hand tools that I had brought. He dismissed the 'C'-clamp and multipurpose knife. He acknowledged the wire strippers and held on to the side cutters for a bit. He was pretty talkative. I heard him saying, "October, November, December...". Then he told me he was "having trouble with my coordination" as he tried to pull himself out of the bed. I thought that was a pretty coherent string of words. Anyway, he was not having any luck going to the left so he switched to pulling to the right and got right against the bars on the bed. I tried to gently persuade him to lay down again. His left arm is still quite strong so he started pulling his gown off instead. I think it was bunched up under him. Anyway, as he and I wrestled I noticed some goo on his gown and belly. There is a food tube that sticks out of his belly. They hook it up to a liquid food pump a couple of times a day. When it isn't connected to the pump the tube is capped off. Well, the cap came off and the contents of his stomach were squirting onto the bed and his gown and his belly. Of course, I did not know that there was simply a loose cap. I thought I had damaged him. He grabbed for his tube and I grabbed for his arm and screamed like a small child. The nurse and a tech came in pretty quickly and fixed the cap. Then they cleaned up the goo and changed his gown. They didn't even yell at me.

I was not deterred by that embarrassing attempt at rehab. I asked Walt if I could help him exercise his legs. He said ok. I helped him do some gentle leg presses and he counted with me. It works best when you ask Walt first whether he wants to do something. If he says "no" I don't do it. But he was okay with the exercises at that point. Next I brought a pad and pencil to Walt and drew some large geometric figures and then a tic-tac-toe grid. I asked him if he wanted to draw. It was worth a shot but I didn't hit anything. Walt ignored it. About then Walt's cousin Linda arrived and they interacted for a few minutes. Then he became interested in climbing out of the bed again. This gave me and Linda practice in repositioning him several times. I was surprised at how hard it is to slide 250 pounds of blubber up the slight incline of the bed. (I relish the day when Walt can read this blog.)

Walt was still working at getting out of bed when Pat and Brian came into the room. He responded to Patty's cheerful, "hello Walter" with a sour, "go away". On a lighter note, Patty told me that when the cleaner had come into the room the night before to empty the trash that Walt had called out, "waiter!". I wonder what he would have ordered.

Let me add that Patty is a pillar of strength. God bless her for doing everything possible for Mr. congeniality.

At some point during the mayhem of Walt trying to fling himself over the bed's side bars he suddenly quieted down, looked at me and asked for a beer. His left hand was extended in a classic pose, ready to receive a container of beer. We make a lot of jokes about Walt and beer but this was perfect. Then, I shit you not, he asked again. He had a wonderfully lucid moment.

One of the things that Patty learned when she got there was that the hospital could not obtain a person to stay in the room with him overnight. They were planning to put him in a vest that would let him move but effectively keep him in bed. I hope that goes well.

Speaking of confusion, Patty said someting to me about Walt doing something with his "blokes" on Thursday. It didn't sound like something I wanted to know about so I pretended to understand what she meant and changed the subject. It wasn't until I read Corrine's posting this evening that I discovered that "blokes" means "men" in Australian. The blokes were Tom, Rich and John. That was a relief.

I left around 5:45. Corrine and her daughter had just got there, Patty was peppering the staff with questions, and the nurses swooped in to give Walt a cleaning. My rehab efforts with Walt had ranged from modest success to complete flops. Nevertheless, those interactions can only help. Each of us brings something to the table when we visit. We all know Walt in ways that are unique to each of us and to Walt. I know that Walt loves Stanley Kubrick movies. I know that he enjoys certain Beethoven music (9th Symphony-4th movement). He likes speculative fiction writers like William Gibson and Phillip K. Dick. Each of you know things and have shared things with him that I don't know about. That is why it is important for those of you who are able to visit and interact and to help him bring awareness of those things back.
Gino