Dad was so tired from not sleeping for the last two weeks that he wheeled himself into his bedroom without me. I followed him in and asked him what he needed.
"I want to go to bed." He said.
"Well, you can't." I told him. "It's 4:30 in the afternoon and if I let you go to bed now, you'll be up at midnight wanting breakfast."
"That's what time it is? Oh, I can't go to bed yet." He allowed me to bring him back into the living room and watch another episode of the West Wing.
I managed to keep him awake until about 7:30 but then it was crash time. I gave him tylenol and melatonin, as Mom instructed. I myself was tucked into the air mattress outside his bedroom door by 9:30.
He had called me into his room 8 times by midnight.
It was a very long night.
The good news is that he didn't complain about his hips hurting him even once. the bad news is that I think he was sleep walking. Sleep walking, talking, moaning, groaning and sighing. In between calling my name or just "Help!" he sounded like he was building construction with his bare hands. More than once, he called my name not ten minutes after I'd tucked him back into bed. Taking him to the bathroom several times a night is one thing, having to tuck the covers around him every ten minutes is too much. He never remembered that I'd just been there. Around 3:30, I took him to the toilet, a trip that always takes at least 10 minutes. At 4:20, I awoke to the sound of his walker crashing to the floor. I shot into the room and there he was, flat on his back on the floor at the end of his bed. He was unhurt but had no good reason for being out of bed. All he said was that he was looking for his shoes. I pulled the string and the gal on call and I managed to get him back into bed. It was 4:45 by then. At 5:10, I caught him trying to get out of bed again. He said he wanted cheese and crackers.
In the morning, he didn't remember any of it. I think he was asleep the whole time. I wish I had been.
After we picked him up off the floor, I was afraid I'd wrenched my back but two tylenol and a hot shower later, I feel fine. Not awake, but fine.
We talked to Mom, who sounded good. I also spoke to a nurse at Fairview about Mom's discharge protocol, which should take place in four days. Four more days.
I also spoke to a few people at AMADA, the new home health service Heidi set up for us, which should be starting this afternoon and going for the next two weeks so Mom won't be alone here with Dad when she comes home.
If I can just get some sleep at night, four days is nothing in the days of the Great Coronavirus Scare.
The nurse from the hospital told me not to let Dad watch any more news. "That can't be good for his anxiety level." she said. "And there's nothing new, anyway."
So I told him there was a medical moratorium on watching the All Virus All the Time News.
We're watching The Office instead! Now that's healthy viewing.