May 25th

Eric came home one week ago today. He brought with him, three oxygen tanks that technically would help him for several hours. That evening, an oxygen service brought a unit that is powered by electricity with 50 foot tubing that connectsd with his cannula. He can reach the kitchen, family room, office, bedroom and bathroom upstairs. For the past week, Eric has been proactively decreasing his oxygen intake and working on walking slowly around the house. He needs to rest often, but also can't stand to sit for such long periods. Some of the unpleasant side effects he is experiencing are swelling in his neck, blood clots in his nose which clog and then are expelled in a continuous cycle, his digestive system is struggling to normalize and weight loss. Today after looking at his ribs through his skin I brought in the scale and asked him to step on it. He has lost over 40 lbs! His legs look skinnier than mine, that's not ok! Despite the setbacks, he is progressing in the right direction. I am not a nurse, a doctor or know a lot about medical issues other than what my family has personally experienced. I am grateful for healthcare professionals. They see a lot of things that just gross me out. And Eric has become talkative! I have never heard him talk so much about bodily functions before. I may turn my head and smile as he yells from the bathroom that he just pooped successfully. It's a victory from several days of struggle. I have deliberately left out some of the things he has written in the past as I think he may be embarrassed that I included them, but he assured me that he thought it would actually make people laugh. So most of what he talks about and shows me deals with snot, blood and poop, occasionally burps and gas. I could never be a nurse. But, I am now a caregiver and have respect for other caregivers who do this day after day, weeks, months and years to those they love. Yesterday, he went the entire day without oxygen assist. He knows when he needs to sit down and rest, and he's pushing himself to heal faster. If you want to know what to pray for in his behalf, we ask for lung capacity to open up more and heal. We ask that his nasal passages clear up and his bloody nose issue to resolve. We ask for his digestive system to normalize. Covid is weird.

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