Excitement

Good morning! If you're a neighbor, you're probably wondering about the fire truck this morning...

I awoke to normal getting-around sounds in the house. I heard my mother up and around; I didn't hear any voices; in short, I had no clues that anything was amiss. The Kaiser nurse Linda called to say she was on her way, so I got up to check on Dad.

He was on the bedroom floor, slumped against the door, so that nobody could get in.

After some time, he was able to shift away from the door so I could get in. He was exhausted, so I laid him out on the floor and got his oxygen going again. Linda arrived and told me that in a case likethis, I should call the Roseville Fire Department non-emergency number and explain that we had a non-emergency man-down situation. (I now dimly remember her telling me that, among tons of other instructions I got when hospice first kicked in.) They arrived, got him back in bed, and left again.

All this was over a cup of tea. Dad explained that the first thing you do in the morning is make a cup of tea. (Dad is as die-hard British as they come.) Of course, he no longer has the strength to do any such thing. As Linda put it, "his mind was writing checks that his body couldn't cash." On their way out, one of the firemen looked at me and said, "You should get him that cup of tea."

We need to borrow a baby monitor from somebody. We also need to booby-trap his bed with bells, so that if he tries to get out again, there will be clear clues next time!