Pulse down to 84, Christmas music

Earlier in the day, Denise seemed a little slow to respond to questions. Not knowing whether that'd be caused by being tired or if that was seizure activity, and remembering that her IV was disconnected yesterday, I called in to give the nurse a heads-up. I'm not usually paranoid, but I just thought maybe the anti-seizure meds were overlooked. Nope, she's still on the Depakote by mouth, and everyone's taking good care of her. That's why they're doctors & nurses, and I'm not. When I went again this evening, she was doing well... much more on-the-ball. She ate just about all her dinner, and had been eating well all day without throwing up. No fever, blood pressure was 120/70 (with coreg), pulse was 84. That's the lowest it's been in a long time. Her hands were a little shaky, but the room was quite cold, so I'll assume it was that and not anything seizure-related (OK, I still let the nurse know). I put a quilt on her to keep her warm. It's a quilt that was given to her at the beginning of her illness, made by people at the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena CA, where one of my mom's friends goes. The quilt has decorative knots tied in it, each knot representing a person that's promised to pray for her (Thanks! Keep it up!). Covered with quilt, covered with prayer... two birds, one stone!
Tonight we listened to the Jackson 5 Christmas album, and she was singing along with a few songs. A neighbor took the old LP and burned it onto a CD for us. It's got all the crackles & skips, just like she remembers from listening to it with her family as a kid. She doesn't like the skips because they make her miss some parts of songs. I like the skips because I'm not exactly a Jackson fan, excepting the guitar solo from "Beat It" (contributed by Eddie Van Halen). But just so you all know how much I love my wife, I'm on a quest to find the CD for her.
Denise had a visit today from a college buddy that has a disability, has difficulty walking, and who has served as an inspiration during these last couple months (actually, they've been inspiring each other lately). That reminded me of things that I forgot to write about. Weeks ago, Gracie noticed that Denise wasn't walking or standing, and started asking about that. I explained that mommy can't do some things right now because she was very sick for so long and has to get stronger, but she can get into a wheelchair soon (this all took place before Denise took her first wheelchair ride while still at USC). We have a set of dolls, one of which is in a wheelchair. Gracie was playing with her dollhouse, and that doll was the "Mommy" doll for a while. At one point Gracie asked if mommy would have trouble and need to walk like our friend. I said I didn't know, but probably not. But even if she did, our friend can still go to the park, the mall, the zoo, and get around and do things. So even if mommy had to walk the same way, she would be able to do all those things, too. Gracie said, "Okay," then went back to playing. No big deal.

Posted in: