After I got back from dinner, Amanda woke up a bit and wanted some ice chips. She was up enough for me to tell her all about my new friends and how our Nashville support system is growing, and I had someone to decorate the apartment! I crashed after ice chip feeding. I didn’t sleep…

I was pretty tired and got some decent sleep Friday night. I slept like a rock all the way through the recliner theft and even shift change. Even with all the sleep, I still put my hoodie on backwards after I had a shower. The nurse looked up and said, “Barkley, you have your hoodie…

Well, my recliner got stolen again! I woke to 5 nurses standing around Amanda. A little PTSD kicked in from yesterday morning’s events. I rubbed my eyes, got my glasses, and saw they were helping her stand up and sit in the recliner. I’ll allow it! I would have gone to bed a little earlier…

Yesterday, they held all pain medication except a one-time dose of a muscle relaxer and lidocaine patches on either side of her chest incision. They wouldn’t give her any pain meds because of her lethargy, which was scary. From totally unresponsive, to awake and not speaking, to awake, eyes wide open, and unresponsive. Honestly, it…

Yesterday I had been thinking heavily on a lot. It was a bad time to have the apartment on my mind, but it is something I need to address. I wanted something beforehand so it wouldn’t be a worry now, but things moved a little quicker than anticipated. Initially, we were going to do the…

I’m sorry that last post was so grim; it was a rough night. I couldn’t have been funny or quippy about anything; I just didn’t have it in me. The wake-up to Amanda choking and vomiting was startling. I just laid in bed and prayed as I saw the nurse trying to help her. They…

After things calmed down and the PLEX was done, I got ready for bed. I was typing out a post for a social media update. My first couple of lines were, ‘Today was relatively quiet, but I think it’s just before the storm. I feel tomorrow is going to be a rough one.’ I only…

This morning, early, when I texted out my first update on the good news, I received a text back from a good friend. He has a specific ringtone, “Neon Moon” by Brooks & Dunn, his favorite song. When it came on, Amanda opened her eyes wide and looked at me. I guess she was ready…

Amanda ended up being pretty zonked after they changed her pain med regimen. I hate seeing her like that, but it’s better than writhing in pain. Once she was settled and out, and they started the PLEX, I slipped out during shift change when it’s always busy. In the ICU with only 1-2 patients per…

Last night, after I finished writing the last post and replied to a few texts, I sat and listened to the music. I was the only one paying any attention; only a few others were there, and they were sitting at the bar. I’d been staying busy, but it was nice just to sit, have…