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09/16/2008: "Thankful For Our Family"

His grandson flew home from Iraq where he works as an electrician. I'm so thankful he was here these last few days to help lift him in and out of the bathtub and on the commode. There's some things I just can't do by myself and it's great that I haven't had to rely on strangers so far.
His body is shutting down with his kidneys going first. His urine is almost brown and he's losing control of his bowels, not even knowing that he lost control of them during the night. We tried going to a crab feed a few weeks ago and were probably there 15 minutes when he said he needed to go to the bathroom in a hurry. He was sitting on the seat of his walker and his son had trouble rolling it across the stepping stones and walk-ways and even though he had on his adult diapers, he crapped all over himself and his clothes before getting him on the toilet. The washer and dryer are in the bathroom so I washed off his pants and his son put him into the shower while his pants dried. He was so afraid he'd have another accident he made me drive him home.
I let him read the paper that the hospice nurse gave me on what to expect now and I think he finally realizes that he won't be around very much longer. He had hopes of seeing the litter of puppies that are due the first week of October but I don't think that will happen.
I hate seeing him waste away.