Yesterday had been exhausting, both mentally and physically. I had very little sleep and I was nervous about how the day would unfold. We drove into town and arrived at the hospital about 10:30 AM. I went up to see my wife while my daughter and her family went to the park. The plan was to phone them if my wife was up to having more than one visitor.
My wife seemed to be in good spirits when I first went in but she had no idea, where she was, what had happened to her and why she was in the hospital. In addition, although she seemed glad to see me, when she was asked by the nurse who I was, she did not know who I was. That was extremely hard and very emotionally exhausting for me.
Once she was told my name, she seemed to remember it, but that kept slipping away from her. As the morning went on, she became more and more agitated and upset. She wanted the tubes out of her body, so every few minutes she would make a move to pull them out. The nurse was very quick to tell her to stop and after a while, I realized that she would listen to me as well, so the morning was spent helping her get calmed down.
It was upsetting to watch someone who you have known and loved for almost 50 years not be in control, not know who you are and agitated because they do not know what is happening to them. I was drained.
My daughter came to visit in the afternoon and left upset, not because my wife did not know her, but because my daughter saw how bad a situation her mom was in at this time.
My daughter went home early. After she left, my wife went to sleep but woke up and was able to eat a good supper. Although I could not see much progress, the nurses were feeling good about her progress and were saying that if she continued she would be moved to a high dependency ward within two or three days.
So when I left I was confident things were getting better, but I knew we were going to miss the Halloween celebrations in Rye with my grandson and his cousins. The children were going out to trick or treat the neighborhood and we had planned to be there and enjoy the evening with the children.
Trick or Treating in Australia was to be one of the highlights of the trip and we had been looking forward to the day, but we would have to miss out.
I still didn't know what to expect as my wife recovered, but the nurse before I left for the day gave me a booklet to read that would map out the steps my wife, Colleen would go through for recovery.
She told me that the information in the booklet would be crucial to my understanding of the steps my wife would go through and what I would need to do to help her through her recovery. I had my homework, read the book so I could be prepared.
My wife seemed to be in good spirits when I first went in but she had no idea, where she was, what had happened to her and why she was in the hospital. In addition, although she seemed glad to see me, when she was asked by the nurse who I was, she did not know who I was. That was extremely hard and very emotionally exhausting for me.
Once she was told my name, she seemed to remember it, but that kept slipping away from her. As the morning went on, she became more and more agitated and upset. She wanted the tubes out of her body, so every few minutes she would make a move to pull them out. The nurse was very quick to tell her to stop and after a while, I realized that she would listen to me as well, so the morning was spent helping her get calmed down.
It was upsetting to watch someone who you have known and loved for almost 50 years not be in control, not know who you are and agitated because they do not know what is happening to them. I was drained.
My daughter came to visit in the afternoon and left upset, not because my wife did not know her, but because my daughter saw how bad a situation her mom was in at this time.
My daughter went home early. After she left, my wife went to sleep but woke up and was able to eat a good supper. Although I could not see much progress, the nurses were feeling good about her progress and were saying that if she continued she would be moved to a high dependency ward within two or three days.
So when I left I was confident things were getting better, but I knew we were going to miss the Halloween celebrations in Rye with my grandson and his cousins. The children were going out to trick or treat the neighborhood and we had planned to be there and enjoy the evening with the children.
Trick or Treating in Australia was to be one of the highlights of the trip and we had been looking forward to the day, but we would have to miss out.
I still didn't know what to expect as my wife recovered, but the nurse before I left for the day gave me a booklet to read that would map out the steps my wife, Colleen would go through for recovery.
She told me that the information in the booklet would be crucial to my understanding of the steps my wife would go through and what I would need to do to help her through her recovery. I had my homework, read the book so I could be prepared.
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