On one hand, Carolyn is getting better. Her knees have almost healed, and she is not crawling around on the floor at night.
On the other hand, every day she sleeps later and deeper. So deep that now and then I have to walk over and stare at her to make sure she is still breathing. I got to her room at about 9:30 AM and she never moved until 5:30 PM. I opened the shades before noon and turned on the overhead light. I wet a washcloth in cold water and rubbed her face, arms and legs. She didn’t even flinch. At 2:00 PM an aide came to give her some pain medication, but was unable to wake her.
About 4:00 PM our daughter Darlene walked over with her little dog Poppy, and still Carolyn slept. She didn’t awake until the puppy jumped up on her and started licking her face. Then she woke up enough to wave her arms and push the dog away.
We were glad to see her come around, and we were hoping that she might want to eat, so we had the kitchen hold out a tray of food and bring it to her room. After sipping a half can of Dr. Pepper, she slowly ate a whole grilled cheese sandwich, and then the small bowl of mandarin orange slices. She was still moving very slowly, almost catatonic, and having trouble focussing.
She took the spoon with which I was feeding her the orange slices and put it in her mouth, but then she couldn’t move the spoon over to pick up another slice. So we ended up with me picking up a slice with the fork and putting it in her spoon, and then she would move the spoon to her mouth.
I have contacted our favorite nurse from Guardian Hospice and we have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning to review her meds. I am thinking that this may be a case of overdosing medication as she gets older and thinner. What was a good dose a month ago seems too much now.
On a lighter note, our piano player couldn’t make it this afternoon. Being the Chaplain for Guardian Hospice, sometimes more important things impinge on his time. Rachel came over and asked if I would play instead, and I begged off, because I don’t know some of the songs, and my skills are not ready for prime time yet.
But after listening to the group try to sing a capella, I relented and sat down at the piano. I attempted to play whatever hymn they requested, and they were very appreciative. I hit some clinkers, and a couple of times my left hand got lost, but I just continued with the melody until I could get back on track, and they loved it. Several came over and just thanked me over and over again. It’s hard to say no to fans like these!
As I was paging back and forth searching for the song requests, I stumbled on a tune I hadn’t seen since I was learning piano back as a teenager. They play out of the Baptist Hymnal, and there on page 105 was the song “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” from the Passion Chorale by Hans L. Hassler, harmonized by J. S. Bach.
After everyone had finished singing, and were getting up to leave, I told them I was going to play one more, but they couldn’t sing it. I just wanted to know if I could still play it. It was on page 130 in the old Adventist Hymnal.
My brain and fingers still knew this music after almost sixty years, and it sounded really good. Typical of anything harmonized by Bach, it is full of chord progressions, and especially bass lines that walk right through beautiful dischords that just clash wonderfully.
Someday I hope to have a chance to sit at a real cathedral pipe organ and try this song. With real bass pedals pumping out the low notes, this would sound very impressive and moving. I could die happy then!
In the meantime, I guess I’m the backup church pianist. It’s an old familiar feeling returned from my youth.
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