Friday, April 5, 2013

Friday, April 5

His temperature is 100.  He is sitting up in bed, propped. I got a pucker kiss and an “I love you,” but he is mostly sleeping.  The nurse said he has been more cooperative. He is wearing the hospital gown over his head instead of laid over him like a sheet. He woke up and said: I have to get out of bed. You don't understand. Help me. I will do it myself.

He took his oxygen tester off his finger and I helped him remove the restraints. He lifted his arm more. He still has a fever, very warm back. But he is calmer now. I am playing the Tabernacle choir CD, Consider the Lilies. His left side is able to move more than the right. He really wants to get out of bed. The nurses sent me out of the room. When I came back in, they hadn't tied him down again. Good sign.

He is getting something like Ensure but with more protein, through the nose with a long tube into his stomach and also some food directly into his blood, from a big white bag. He is quiet now.

He has found the bed controls and was pushing buttons to change the bed position. Not efficiently. He was turned so it was hard to see the arrow directions. I played music instead of talking. He wanted to get out of bed again but explained his need and accepted the urinal when they brought it. He had to get the catheter again. More comfortable now.

He is understanding more. He asked, “How did I get so bad off. What day is it? April?”

I found an iPad application called Blackboard to communicate with Elder Babcock. The finger is like chalk. He couldn’t hear well and Blackboard was easier for me than screaming because I was struggling with a bad cold. But I was healed enough that I could stay with Elder Babcock. Sometimes he talked in Spanish with the nurses, but sometimes he understood the importance of communicating with me in English. He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it.

My sister Alice shared a recommendation for a book called Proof of Heaven that her son brought home. The whole family started reading it. It is a book by a neurologist who had bacterial meningitis and life after death experiences. Coincidentally, it was the book of the month for Luanna’s book club.  Before, she didn’t want to read it, but now she wants to.

I stay sitting next to Elder Babcock when they let me. The feeding tube is out of his nose.  And they took another tube out of his right arm.  They brought him applesauce and will bring more at seven and ten tonight. Elder Babcock sat up and drank half a glass of juice. He was able to swallow three tablets by mouth. He always thanks people for helping him. All day Elder Babcock had been asking men if they were Mormons. I finally understood that he did it because he wanted a priesthood blessing.

When new missionaries arrived, we had the opportunity to share the story of the miracle from the beginning, for us an opportunity to remember the Lord's blessings. This day we told Sisters Fonseca, Sittner and Henderson that President Martinez was praying that Elder Babcock could attend the conference with Elder Swick. They told us that the President always teaches that missionaries should pray specifically. For them it was a testimony that the President practices what he preaches.

I shared my experience with the sisters of learning how to cooperate with the priesthood and receive advice and offer suggestions to solve problems. For me it was a great blessing to have things to teach.

Hermana Fonseca wrote:

Sister Babcock and her daughter helped us resolve a conflict of not being able to watch General Conference in English and we were able to understand how important it is to provide solutions for our problems.  We also realized through President Martinez’s blessings, the importance of specifically asking for things from the Lord.  We also learned that God is a God of miracles. We all felt that Presidente Martinez was inspired to include us in the process that we could see the miracle as it was happening.  

Hermana Fonseca y Hermana Henderson