Another day, 1½ steps forward

It's all slow going. No hurry here. Easy does it. Remember Aesop's fable of the slug and the hare (or whatever it was)?

Judy is mending. And the more she heals, the more acute the challenges seem to become. The way I see it: Surgery is BIG--not cleaning out the potty is SMALL. Fast forward: Still being in the hospital is BIG--getting the food she is supposed to eat is DAMN BIG.

The poor lil' Jude is supposed to augment her dietary intake with a powdery protein supplement, which is supposed to be mixed into her apple juice when she has her meal. The doctors have ordered this supplement, and they've talked to her to get on a "regular" diet. So, for breakfast the protein powder shows up at 10 a.m., holding up—guess what?—having a normal breakfast. Same story around lunch time. Come evening, I'm around, wondering when the protein supplement is going to arrive. Judy has an actual appetite, there's a baked potato (thanks to our dear Natalie), she wants to eat—guess what, again? The damn protein isn't here at 5:30, 6:15, 7:15 (Judy begs me not to go after the nurses), 7:45 p.m. At this point Judy is totally out of sorts for a helluva reason, I think I'm a total idiot for not going to the charge nurse an hour ago, and a sweet nurse's aide is still not getting any response from the nutrition gang several floors below.

This has been the last time that I have given in to playing Mr. Nice Guy at the behest of our patient. Judy was so upset, crying, thinking that the whole world had come to an end—just because some bozo on the whatever floor couldn't fill a simple order. Judy sees it as a do-or-be-damned situation: If she doesn't eat, she won't poop, and thus she won't go home. How much more basic can we get?

Tonight, sis-in-law Candace is with her, giving me another break. Hey, I might go on vacation. :) Speaking of, tomorrow I'll have to cancel our trip to Cancun in two weeks. We had held out, just for the R&R factor, but it has become obvious that going would be irresponsible, so I'll try to rebook for April. (Talking about traveling: This morning, the UCI sent me two assignments for next summer, one to Canada [Canmore, AB] and one to Costa Rica, and I'm intending to work those two races, so we better be ready.)

I think we have rectified the protein situation as I had a talk with the Charge Nurse on the way out. No more Mr. or Ms. Nice Folks here. Jack W., if you read this, I should have used your USMC tactics (OK, you were not part of the Marines, but you sure act like it) and taken charge right of. I wanted to give Judy a chance to do just that, empowering her, but it backfired. I better remember in the months to come. When it comes to Judy's well-being, I must take charge over her protestations.

So, that's the news. I suppose it's good, because once we start complaining that means it's no longer life and death but just the little stuff, right? The L&D part starts again in a few weeks. Sorry to break it to you, but that's the big race on the schedule. I wish I could just wake up some morning and say, "Boy, that was a bad dream."

I don't mean to sound dejected, because I really am not. Judy's progress has been so pronounced over the past few weeks that it's impossible not to be upbeat--but those who know me well also know that I look at the peripherals.

Thursday looks as if it may be the big day for us to go home--provided they can set Judy up with 1,000 pounds of Protein powder. :) Boy, the Lil' Bit really wants to go home, and so do I.

Jürgen