Rollercoaster Saturday

Saturday was an up and down day. Hope woke up at 1:30 AM (late Friday night basically) all confused, looking for me, scared, and agitated. The docs had decided to ease up off some of her happy place meds and it backfired. They had to quickly settle her back down and did so. You always love the 1:30 AM phone call from the hospital. Normally when I get that phone call it's Dennis just finishing up a gig at the VFW wanting to get some grub and at their drink prices I'm always happy to oblige. This is the only place I know you can drink yourself into a coma and still get change back from your $20 bill, including tip. Saturday morning was Nathan's first ever basketball game and I'm coaching the team. Hope and I had agreed I'd go back home for this and then come back later today. The docs told me they would not decrease her meds again today and just let her sleep it off so I shouldn't miss anything (I mention this as foreshadowing in case you didn't notice).

While I was back in Melbourne (about 2.5 hours away) they took her off the ventilator that goes through her trach and she was breathing on her own. They tried this twice before for a total of 25 minutes but she couldn't sustain her own breathing. Today she could for a while, an excellent progression. When I heard this I think it was the same great feeling 45-year old Ralph Macchio while playing a 16-year old, finally catching the fly in his chopsticks. That reminds me, I love sushi but don't get it much because Hope is just now becoming a fan. Anyway, while they are catching flies with chopsticks I've perfected stabbing the california roll so I can eat them like a skewer (just like my brothers in homeland China). One last thought while I'm dragging this out for everyone not reading this, if you can put a hot dog and fry it on a stick why aren't there more meals on sticks? I think I'm going to open a restaurant with nothing but foods on sticks. Do you think you could sue for a splinter on your tongue while trying to eat spaghetti?

Well, someone did not get the memo so they eased up on some of her happy place meds again today. Same thing happened, she woke up, dazed and confused, upset, scared, and this time started to really get angry. She's in restraints whenever I'm not here so she can't hurt herself and she can now write a bit to tell us what she wants. Well, her heartbeat started going through the roof, she stopped breathing on her own, started coughing, was crying, was mean to the nurses (those of you that know Hope and if you're reading this you probably know Hope would never be mean to anyone in her right mind), and she was squeezing a stuffed bunny rabbit thinking it was the nurses hand trying to communicate like she had with me (one squeeze for yes, two for no). I was still on the road back to Tampa when all of this occurred and they called me twice while I was driving. I think I set a new land speed record for I-4 and I apologize to any of you on the road at the same time.

By the time I got here she was back on the ventilator, crying, coughing, and basically miserable. She calmed down some, wrote that she was confused, thought she might have been dreaming, and then tried to say sorry by writing to the nurse and just started crying and coughing more, her heartbeat went really high again, and finally they had to knock her back out and put her back on the ventillator. I think she felt so guilty for being mean and then realizing she was squeezing the rabbit that was what upset her at this point. She's sleeping right now, peaceful and more like my Hope that loves to sleep. I watched them vaccuum her mouth, and clean out her trach. That's something you don't soon forget! Hope's 3rd favorite activity is vaccuuming (kids and Oprah are ahead, I'm some place back in the mid-fifties just ahead of cleaning out the dryer lint catcher) so I think that probably felt good for her afterwards. She's always told me she likes the lines in the carpet after vaccuuming, so I was imagining lines in her mouth. For a clean freak, I think it's cool I'm ranked ahead of at least something cleaning.

Of course I felt horribly guilty for not being back here when she was upset. I never would have left if I thought they were going to do this. I've asked and they promised me this time they would not do it again until tomorrow morning and they even put on her chart to do it after 8:30 AM because that's the earliest they'll let me in. Now I finally understand how Patrick Swayze felt in Roadhouse when he brought in his best friend to help him clean up the Double Deuce only to have his friend killed by the rich millionaire next door neighbor. Of course the bartender skimming off the top was the millionaire's nephew, not a good way to make friends when you fire him after the first day on the job. You can't fake the kind of emotions Swayze displayed in that role.

Back to Nathan's game, he won his first ever basketball game today and loved every minute of it. In fact, we've got 7 kids on the team and all 7 loved it. They had so much fun they were all smiles jumping up and down afterwards. It was also my head coaching debut for basketball, I think after one practice I had the team running the perfect set offenses and were helping and switching on defense just like our walk-throughs. Since I only was allowed one 45-minute practice before the game, basically I started with "this is a basketball" and ended spending about 3 minutes about defense by saying "just keep your hands up and try to keep yourself between them and the basket." Brilliant defensive basketball minds like Bill Russell and me come up with these types of things. By the way, our best player by far is our only girl. The first (and only) practice so far she got there last and cried because she was the only girl. Her mom could not get her to come play with us so I went over and told her I thought she'd be our best player and I needed her help coaching these boys that had never played (she and one other boys are the only ones that had ever played before). They are both 7 while the rest are 6-year olds. Anyway, 9 more championships and I tie Red Auerbach for the all-time record with our all-star girl leading the way!

Rollercoast Saturday is ending in a thud. I site here typing this blog, I think kind of afraid to leave just in case something else happens. My hotel room is only about a mile away and they promised me they'd call if anything happens. Besides, it's 10:30 PM and dinner sure would be good right now. I think I'm as hungry as Calista Flockhart in...well anytime. Make sure your seatbelt is on this might be a bit of a bumpy ride. Keep those positive thoughts coming our way, I think Sunday (Father's Day) is going to be the day I get my best present ever, Hope starting to come back.