Sophie's World

8:30 PM: Still hanging in here. Nannie had a pretty rough night and seemed a lot worse today. She doesn't wake up unless we do something to her (feed her, give her medicine, change diaper, etc.). The hospice nurse visited again today and said her abdomen didn't sound good. It sounds like she probably has some internal bleeding, and she's only urinated since Tuesday. The nurse suggested we give her morphine (orally, and it's a pretty small dose) regularly twice a day or more often if she complains of her stomach hurting. The nurse also warned us that there's a possibility she may vomit blood and suggested we have some dark towels on hand (which I had to go buy, because Nannie likes pastels!). We hope that won't happen, but we were glad to have a warning so we wouldn't be upset or surprised if it does.

Unless things get a lot worse overnight or in the morning, I will head down to NC to pick up Elisabeth from the airport and bring her back up here. Her flight arrives late afternoon, but we might be back up here around bedtime. When I talked to Karin last night, she said Elisabeth was crying yesterday because she didn't want to go home. Of course, she cried before she left because she didn't want to leave home. Go figure.

I talked to Randall briefly today, and he had a good day. He said the game preserve was amazing (156 acres), and he saw lots of animals. He also said that the place he was staying has monkeys that just run around, and they were warned not to leave window open or doors unlocked (the monkeys know how to open doorknobs). He saw one apartment where someone ignored that advice, and the monkeys were running in and out and had gotten into all the cabinets. Randall's not fond of monkeys, so he was sure to be careful.

Thanks for all the nice comments on yesterday's post. It's good to know people are supporting us with their thoughts and prayers. And Sylvia, if you're reading this, Nannie has had two slices of the peach pound cake you gave me, and she really seems to enjoy that more than anything else we give her.