2026 Life Logs, Day 99: A Difficult Day
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My day started with a 6:30 am call from the nurse attending my sister in the hospital in North Carolina. She was refusing to drink water and nurse wanted me to talk to her to see if that would make a difference. I did and it did. So I put that issue on hold for a few hours while I was off to the April Newcomers-Encore combined program which I was in charge of. We had a huge crowd, I think the most well attended meeting since Covid. But then what should have been a truly wonderful Encore program this morning ended up being very trying due to technical difficulties. Ugh. I was so excited to finally have a program focused on the Wampanoag culture, but the wonderful program ended up to be a nightmare for me. The presenter, who I know to be top notch, had computer issues that stopped the entire program for at least 15 minutes while we did trouble shooting and then we had trouble with the Bluetooth connection to the church speaker system. It is behind me now, but it was a difficult and disappointing morning.
Then I got home to deal with my sister’s situation. First, I had to talk to a palliative care person from the hospital who was kindly trying to prepare me for the worst-case scenario with my sister. Then I talked to the doctor and got a full briefing. She has not two, but three strikes against her–bilaterial pneumonia, Covid, and now bacteremia or infection in the bloodstream. But somehow, her almost 93-year-old body is holding it together. Early today she was out of bed, sitting up in a chair, and “alert, talking, and laughing a little” according to my nephew who stopped by to visit. She is on multiple medications, but still her heart is strong, and her blood pressure is something we would all aspire to have. But the infection in the bloodstream is very troubling. The doctor explained that we must wait and see, take it hour by hour, day by day. Do I book and flight and go down now? Or do I wait and see how things go and fly down when she is released from the hospital and will need extra support? The doctor’s advice was to wait and see. So for now, that is what I am doing.
