November 29, 2012 - Breathe

Breathe

The human body requires oxygen to survive. Too much oxygen can be as bad as not enough, so there's a balance that sustains life. Air is 20.9% oxygen, 79% nitrogen, and 1.1% other gasses. When we breathe, we only use part of the oxygen in the air? Oxygen is used in the healing process, so some parts of hospitals actually have as much as 40% oxygen flowing through them, and maybe even more.

I woke up early this morning, even though I needed sleep. I tried to go back to sleep, but never did. That's okay because someone called from the radiation department at 8:00 to let me know they'd be taking dad down for his treatment at 8:30. I quickly dressed and drove over to the hospital to be with dad for his treatment, as promised. When I arrived, he was still quite asleep. The nurses were about to check stats and clean him up, but I told them about my call from radiation, so they prepped him for that instead. All went well. No drama, no events. Just a quick trip down, radiation, and a quick trip back up to his room.

There were several nursing students from Lincoln Memorial University there today. One girl named Sarah was doing a lot of hands-on and the other two were basically watching. Christy and I shared a lot about our family's journey with Sarah. She seemed very eager to learn more. She will be a great nurse.

Dad was not very alert today. Even less so than yesterday. Christy and I were very concerned about him. After talking to several doctors and nurses we felt more comfortable with the situation, although we don't like it. We want him well, dang it!!

Dad has aspiration pneumonia. That's from Monday's awful experience. He is quite ill. He won't be having any more of his chemo treatments until he is better. We don't yet know about radiation. I suppose I will know if I get a phone call in the morning!

Most of the day I sat in a chair at the foot of daddy's bed. I like that chair because he can easily see me when he wakes up and looks around. I like that bed because I can easily see his chest rise and fall, so I can also see how easy or how labored his breathing is. Seeing his chest rise and fall gives me great comfort.

Tomorrow is yet another day. We were thinking he might be moved to Asbury fairly soon, but a doctor told mom they wouldn't move him until he has had two or three good days in a row. That was a relief, but also a concern. We want him to have the best possible care available, but we want him to start therapy as soon as possible, since every day in bed equates to three days of therapy needed.

So now we wait. Again. We watch him breathe. We listen to him breathe. We pray that his lungs clear quickly and that he feels much better soon. We pray for wise decisions from the doctors. We pray for strength. We pray for patience. We pray for time. We pray for healing. We pray for dad to be cancer-free as soon as possible.