Slow day, more cane walking

Today was a fairly slow day. The big highlight for Denise was that she got to walk with a cane some more. I also saw her walk about two feet from a chair to her bed. She just kind of pivoted on stiff legs, but it worked. Another big highlight for her was a visit from a couple of the teachers where I work. They brought her a new outfit to wear to PT. Thanks!
The nurse tonight said that she noticed some resistance when working with the j-tube. She said that she's going to flush it even more frequently. Apparently even though the meds are in elixir form, they still can build up along the walls of the very tiny tube, restricting flow. That I'm aware of, she only drank water today... no oral food intake to add to her feeding tube nutrition. She only vomited once around 4am and was OK the rest of the day.
Denise's bed sore was irritated more than usual today, so no dressing was applied. Just lotion. She's had loose stool today... maybe too much fiber? Anyway, that might have been irritating her.
We have been hiring round-the-clock help for her to supplement the staff at the SNF. The thought came up of cutting back on the hours of extra help. Denise said she was not comfortable with being left alone, particularly at night when staffing is the thinnest (most residents sleep, demanding less crew). We're kicking around some ideas of what to do next.
I was shuffling through some papers and found a note that I jotted down from a book Denise & I read (OK, I did the reading, she was sedated) a few months ago:
"Without the stress of the storm we cannot realize the worth of an anchor."
Yup.

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