Dad's hospice nurse, Dee, and his social worker, Jessica, came to visit today. Dee hasn't seen him in two weeks and reported a vast change. She said he looked like a thin man before but now he looks emaciated. In addition, he was much more confused. He starts off being able to communicate but the longer you try to hold a conversation the more confused he gets. She said we will likely see more of this. And though everyone is different so she can't really say what is going to happen, the rapid change over the last couple of weeks may be an indication that his health is going to decline quickly form here. Then again, she said he could plateau and hold steady for a while. It's a blind roller coaster ride.
Dee is from the UK and exudes a gentle authority when she is with Dad. We just met Jessica, who is originally from Louisiana, hence that interesting accent that is hard to place until you learn where she's from, then it makes sense. Jessica was the first to seemingly get through to Dad. She talked frankly with him about time being limited and now is the time to enjoy the good days or even moments. He seemed to get that at the time. He expressed some emotions and rare gratitude with me after they left. We will see what today brings.
What becomes clear is a)how good these people are at their jobs and b)how much they want to make sure I'm taking care of myself. I really, really appreciate that. It's easy for me to look like I've got it all handled but my husband can tell you - since he takes the brunt of it - that it ain't always so.
Please know, I appreciate all of your support, phone calls, emails, letters, blog comments, birding expeditions, all of it.