Monday, April 15, 2013

Monday, April 15

With prayer, my cold was a little better.

Relearning had begun. There was now a list of the family on the wall, a calendar and mission information. He was speaking English except in prayers.

There was plenty of exercise for Elder Babcock this morning, including using a portable potty. Then he sat in the chair placed in front of a bar where he could stand up several times and march in place. He was a little dizzy at first, and was very weak.

Now he was back in bed resting. He had been speaking English with me and had many suggestions about how we should do things. It was different for me to be the translator.

He thought they should change the sheets while he was out of bed. They should move the chair into a better position. They should keep the catheter connected. He didn't understand that the system was rational. He had his own preferences. Communication was slow because he was tired. I already had a lot to show him but I wanted the family to keep sending blogs and emails. Showing images to him was easier, faster than words, because he tried to read everything.

I started going for walks every day for lunch. Mornings were foggy. Most afternoons were sunny.

He ate yogurt three times a day, and Ensure and soup and applesauce. I tried to get him to feed himself, but he was too tired. I needed to continue to offer the spoon.

He would be frustrated. He wanted to read all the email.  He had also started reading the blog. He couldn’t understand why we needed to read from the bottom up, and every time he touched the ipad screen he changed things. The Elder and Sister Babcock blog in English could be a good place to start. He did not see why they had to give insulin shots in the arm when he had so many intravenous ports. He was still very dependent. We were looking at photos from our call to Chile and he remembered some people and events, some not at all. He got tired pretty fast.

He was thrilled to hear about the age change for missionaries. Sometimes when he saw a person he said he knew that person before in our previous mission or in a different place. He often challenged my version of the person in our life. It will be a test of humility for us. He knew when he was being stubborn, but mostly he cooperated. It wasn’t difficult or unpleasant. He still had a sense of humor and laughed at himself. I had thought he realized how sick he had been and that he was doing much better. But he saw what he lacked without being able to see how far he had come.

The physical therapist had him standing, slowly marching in place and bending his knees then straightening. Hard work. He could sit upright in a wheelchair and could also hold his own glass to drink Ensure or yogurt. He needed two people to help him walk instead of three, four or five.

He wanted the curtains closed to sleep, even with the sleeping mask, so I lost my view out the window. This work with the therapist made me realize that I could have done more exercises with Elder Babcock’s father when he was living with us and maybe we could have gotten him out of his wheelchair. But Elder Babcock had more reason to try and younger.