SATURDAY:
Susan began the day by scrolling through the husband's phone contacts so she could let people know what was going on & come to say goodbye if they were so inclined. The husband had over 900 contacts in his phone and often he used codes, not names, so it was difficult to figure out who was who. He also mis-spelled names & used nick names. His phone was insane.

Susan remembered a year or so back when she picked up the husband's phone to call home. She pressed the button for HOME, but it connected her to the wrong number.
She tried again. Wrong number again.
She finally figured out that he had multiple designations for home. There was Home 1 (Susan's family), Home 2 (daughter) and Home 3 (other daughter).

Meanwhile, the husband's eldest daughter had driven all night with her family, including the twin six year old boys and got to the hospital at 6 am. Her father recognized her, gave her a hug and said I love you.

When Susan got there he looked like he had another five minutes left on earth, but then he perked up, recognized all his visitors and was even funny. He was a sick, fatigued version of himself and Susan was not always sure what he was saying, but he made sense when she figured it out. She spoke to nurse Kelly about moving him to hospice.

The husband still had a crazy amount of visitors; his daughters, his sister, Susan's family, their friends, his friends, even the twins came in to see Grandpa. He got lots of attention and Susan raked in the compliments about being strong.

Strong Susan was having trouble keeping up with the small amount of things she had to do, even staying in contact with people proved to be too much. Her little sister took over & became her personal assistant, doing everything, including making sure Susan was fed. Little sister was at the top of a big heap of people helping carry Susan gently along.

The IV situation in the husband's arm remained a problem, he wanted to move around like a free man in his hospital bed, but his arm had to remain straight and at his side. Night nurse Bonnie told Susan that they could only keep the current IV in his arm for 3 days, which was almost up, before a new IV site would have to be found. The husband's veins had been teeny tiny even before he hit the hospital, and it was very difficult & painful to keep finding new ones. Bonnie told Susan that a PICC line could be inserted through a larger vein in his arm and stay there for as long as was needed. Plus, he would be able to bend the arm to his heart's content and get rid of the BP cuff which he hated. Susan asked why the PA had originally only recommended the port in the neck, and not the PICC line. Bonnie hypothesized that the port may have been suggested because of the immediacy of the blood pressure problem. Susan said that she wanted the husband to have the PICC line inserted tomorrow.

Susan's next door neighbor texted her to give the husband a big bedtime hug and kiss. Susan texted back: I delivered your hug & kiss, he gave me a tired laugh that sounded like 'he he he'.