Oooooo I’m in for the postcard thing
Me too! Of course you realize that they will be addressed to Schmoopie Horseshoe, right?
Haven’t posted in here in awhile, but just wanted you to know that I’m still pulling for Mr and Mrs Shoe. 
Sounds like we’ll be getting our first blast of “cold” weather this weekend - go ahead and toss your jacket into your car right now so you don’t forget it.
When this is all over, maybe we ought to have a North Texas Dopefest?
Man oh man, am I looking forward to that cool front, Sarabellum! It’s the kind of weather that makes me wish I had a dog to take on long walks … and then it’s gonna rain, which always makes me grateful that I don’t have a dog.
Ooooh, and they took him off the fentanyl drip earlier today. He’s still receiving injected doses as needed, but the drip’s gone, for now at least. I take it that’s a good sign … And, no, he wasn’t the least bit crabby, but then, that’s probably the Xanax talking.
Ran into his main doc in the hallway on my way out and asked if there was anything to report: “Nope, no news.” No news = good news as far as I’m concerned. He did say they’re planning to keep gently weaning him off the breathing support over the weekend - the main goal now is for him to get stronger.
ETA: postcards. Why wouldn’t he want them? It’s not like they’re somehow inferior to regular cards! I’ll PM the address to anyone who wants it, but for the love of Og come up with something other than Schmoopie!!1! (Don’t make me regret having posted that initial reference … that was a really tough night for me.) Anyway, it’s the equivalent of a spinster great-aunt pinching a little boy’s cheeks. 
More and more good wishes!
Postcards are kinda impersonal. You don’t have to dig through all of the get-well cards to find one that says what you want. Not to mention that they are small, so for those of us who don’t really know what to write have only a little room to do that. Makes it easy to just write the address and a few words.
Anyhow, I’m still praying for you and your sweet baboo.
Bill tells me that there are trucks driving through the Houston roads spraying poison. Bill has sprayers in his yard that sprays poison 3 times a day. I honestly had no idea that Texas was so dangrous. Purple, please use deet whenever you go outside. Just get into the habit…I cover my skin with sunscreen just to check the mail.
/kicks Flatlined off the last post
Still rooting for you! I love the postcard idea We could have 50 or 60 people send one, each with one, big, black-markered word, and you could arrange them into a sentence. 
Like Doper magnet poetry for the wall!
Oy like this idea 
What I’m thinkin is starting an offshoot thread - somthin like “Ideas to entertain and prove that us SDMB loonies care for Mr Shoe”. With Purple’s permission of course. That way it will be a surprise for PH. What thinks ye?
Oxygen was back up to 50% but resp. tech said he’d try dialing it back down a bit today. Said Shoe had some trouble breathing at one point last night.
Finally saw the kidney doc in person. She’s quite optimistic about her little jurisdiction, said Shoe’s kidney numbers/stats are nice and stable. He was in a good mood this morning despite saying he hadn’t slept well. Ah, and I had a nightmare last night that I had acenitobacter in my lungs and that I couldn’t go in to see him, and when I asked, “Well, can I still at least go to work?” they fell over laughing, and were about to Saran-Wrap me to get my infected butt safely back out of the hospital when my cat very kindly woke me up.
It’s selfish of me, I’m sorry he’s still uncomfortable and/or in pain, but I’m so glad to see him off that fentanyl drip. It’s him when I go in to visit, not some weird unfocused shell that physically resembles him. That’s 100% about my own comfort, but, man is it nice to have him “back.”
We’re kinda like Australia. We even come with a funny accent! However, on the one hand, we have far fewer deadly spiders … but on the other hand (depending on what county you’re in) we may have far less beer.
Having gotten ill myself at the same time Shoe did, I’m told I now have immunity to future West Nile infections. Kinda like having gotten the chickenpox. Mwua-ha-HAA!
I like the postcard idea. Purplehorseshoe, could you PM me the address? I can send an individual card or take part in whatever scheme we come up with- or both.
Glad to hear his kidneys are stable. And I know what you mean about getting the real Mr. Shoe back. Several years ago my sister was hit by a truck and spent 6 weeks in a coma and another 6 weeks in ICU (followed by 12 weeks of in-patient physical therapy). It sucks seeing a loved one in that condition and waiting for any signs of improvement.
It’s a cause for celebration when bits of their real personality show through. I remember when my sister was still pretty out of it, one day she said “That’s Todd. He says he’s my husband.” She still had her old sense of humor. She may not have been completely sure at that point, but just the way she said it was so like her (she’s fine now, by the way).
Yeah, me too!
I think the postcard idea is cool.
I’m glad to hear he is off the Fentanyl too and that you are seeing more of the ‘real’ Schmoopie.
Huh. 55% oxygen tonight, for the statisticians who are playing along at home. He was sound-the-holy-fuck-asleep, so I couldn’t ask him what was up with that, and I looked around briefly for whichever nurse was handling him tonight but the ICU was quite hectic so I figured they’ve got their reasons and hightailed it outta there. Sometimes that area turns into such sensory overload; I can’t imagine how people have that as their work environment.
He was relatively bright-eyed and bushy-tailed earlier so 's’cool. I couldn’t understand several things he was trying to mouth this afternoon* so he was writing notes and his handwriting is just about back to normal. For the day.
- kinda wish we both knew ASL.
Ohhh, that was surreal. I just got a text from his phone: “???” So I texted him back saying we’d been there earlier, you were asleep, yadda yadda. I stared at my phone for a while. Finally couldn’t stand it anymore. Then, I dialed. He picked up, I could hear the vent hissing rhythmically in the background. I told him it was me (duh) and to click for me. He did - or at least, I heard some kind of clattering sound over the line. So I talked to him, telling him his dad and I had been by earlier, that he’d been sleeping, that we hadn’t ignored him or anything, etc. And each time I’d stop talking, in the pause, I’d hear clicking. So I guess that was him. Eventually I said, okay, I’m gonna hang up now but I’ll be back in the morning …
I send cards to a friend of mine from high school who joined a cloistered nunnery and can’t write back. I’ve now called and spoken to someone who can’t talk back. Weird, surreal, it all breaks all the usual rules of social interaction. This is hard, up there with making cheerful small talk with a family member who was in the process of shooting up heroin as I was chatting.
That is some weird shit purplehorseshoe. You now have fodder for several different threads.
I’d like to send a postcard, too. Could you PM me the name & address?
You know, although it might have been weird to talk to him that way, I bet it was very soothing for him to be able to hear your voice. For a guy that’s not able to do very much of anything for himself at the moment, it must feel damn good to be able to get his wife on the phone and hear her voice when he wants to hear his wife’s voice, being able to converse with her be damned.
Also, you know that new iPad of his, why don’t you set him up with some sign language classes? There’s some great ones on YouTube that are basic and easy. I have taught my 3 year old son (he has apraxia - “mute” ) about 50 signs plus the alphabet so far, and it makes communicating with him SO much easier. A lot of the time, if he doesn’t know the specific word he wants to say, he’ll sign the first letter so that I can guess better.
It didn’t really take us very long to pick up that much. Maybe a couple of weeks of watching the videos for 20-30 minutes a day.
Melissa teaches some basic words and phrases (16 videos, about 3 minutes each)
Melissa teaches the alphabet and numbers 1-10 (broken down into 15 lessons of about 3 minutes each)
Today is our wedding anniversary. How did a guy who can’t talk and is bedridden arrange an incredibly thoughtful gift and a card* to give me this morning when I visited? Resourceful little bastard, is what he is.
- the contents of which will never be divulged
Very sweet! I am so sorry that he has to spend this special day in the hospital. Sending out more hopes for a complete recovery - and soon!
Wow! That’s awesome. Good for TOH! Good for Purple. Obviously a great combination.
This. I be it means more to him than ever before to be able to do that for you.