Day 24 – April 11, 2022

1:10 pm: “Leave me alone! Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep here?” exclaimed Harvey at 5 am as his nurse was trying to get his blood pressure. That’s the moment I knew he was going to be ornery today. I’m here to report that I was right. He’s ready to break out of this joint! Every member of his care team that has visited today has immediately been shown Harvey’s index finger pointing at the doorway. “Get out!” is his greeting of the day. I’m just thankful that he’s tapped into more energy, even if it is fueling his anger. Even with his energy, he just looks tired. Worn out. His eyes are sunken in with dark semi-circles underneath. His hair thinning more and more each day. His blood pressure is still slightly higher than we’d like, and he’s going to receive another daily dose of medicine to combat it. But as long as we continue trending positively, we will be going home on Wednesday.

One of the things Harvey has liked about the hospital, besides the world-class food (truly, he loves it!), is the Nintendo Switch consoles that are available to use. We don’t have any gaming consoles at home, but that may change judging on his love for Mario Kart. Showing my age here: The last time I played Nintendo was on our family Nintendo 64 console playing “Zelda: Ocarina of Time” and “Mario Kart.” We’ll be exploring new activities and games for home since Harvey will be spending plenty of time there for the next years. I’m so glad to see his love for board games. There are plenty of games for him (and us) to play! I anticipate a hard summer coming up. Our neighborhood has a pool that we frequented often last year and Harvey will need to forgo the pool for awhile. That’s going to be a very difficult discussion.

But for now, he’s happy: His award-winning lunch just arrived! I’m not entirely sure what awards they’ve won for the food here, but we’ll be certain that Harvey colors a certificate and that it’s properly presented to the kitchen staff. 🙂