Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Life in the hospital take 1!



Day 2 at Stanford!
Before his haircut, he was hanging out with Brayden & Dylan Jim's favorite son in law going to town on his hair!

The finished product! I think we look pretty good!
On our way to dinner in the cafeteria!


The past week has been a total blur for me. I literally feel dazed and confused. My Stepdad Jim is still in the hospital. He was brought to Stanford Medical Center from Fresno because apparently they are notorious for being capable of removing massive brain tumors successfully. I like that he is here because Palo Alto is only 20 minutes from my house. My Aunt Cindy has been seriously amazing. She is my stepdads sister and health advocate and she truly holds up her end of the bargain! Tonight was the first time that she has left his side, and it was to run to my house to take a shower! My stepdad is super lucky to have her. He has a VERY supportive family so he is definitely blessed that all of his siblings, his Mom, and my little brother all want the very best for him. We have been told for a few days that the head neurosurgeon Dr. Chang, will be coming by the room to chat with us. HOWEVER, he has been a no show as of now. Just got word that FOR SURE tomorrow he will visit us "mid-day". I definitely won't hold my breath...My first reaction is to be super rude because I am so irritable because I am exhausted mentally and physically and also that so many of our questions are unanswered and that his customer service skills SUCK by keeping us waiting, but at the same time I sure don't want to piss of the surgeon that is going to be cutting into my loved ones brain! =) I think I will just suck it up and be a sweetheart! I definitely feel like it is easy to get "forgotten" when you are in the hospital. None of the staff TRULY cares for you or your family like you do. This is where they work so you gotta be proactive to get stuff taken care of because this is just "their job" and they do not have any emotional attachment to your situation. Even at the so-called "best hospital" around, you gotta fight to make them take your situation personal so that they will be more apt to helping you! My stepdad has his ups and downs. He is at his best during the day and as he gets more tired throughout the day, the brain tumor starts revealing itself more and more. For example, we will have a conversation with him about how he is at Stanford hospital because he has a brain tumor. 10 minutes later he will tell you that he wants to go in the kitchen to make coffee. We have to constantly bring him back to reality and test his memory by asking him questions. My hubby brought my boys by to pay their Grandpa Jim a visit today. He also brought his hair clippers so he could give Jim a nice hair cut to prepare him for his brain surgery. It turned out really well and afterwards Jim was doing so great that we got him a wheel chair to take him to the cafeteria to eat. This was his first time leaving the hospital room!!!! You could really tell that the "real Jim" began slipping away as dinner went on. He began to get confused and we could just tell it was time to get him back into his room. He has been asleep for awhile now, but randomly woke up and told me he wanted to go into his bedroom to sleep. He got up and walked out into the hallway and I had to remind him that he was in the hospital and that he already was sleeping. Finally got him back to sleep so hopefully he will stay put and will remember where he is. I will update everyone tomorrow! Goodnight! XOXO

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I love your heart Britt. Your love for your family despite any ugly circumstances or stress, you are able to rise above and LOVE. Thank you for putting yourself aside and loving.