MON. 07/04/11--FREEMAN I.C.U. DAY 7...ONE YEAR LATER

So after an incredibly strange Day 6, at 1900 hours we were in Day 7...which happened to be the Fourth of July...a day of much needed celebration and hope....for the residents of Joplin....and for Mom, Dad, and me... no additional creepy crawlers presented themselves in any of Dad's tubing in Day 7...and repeated washes down into Dad's lungs and Stomach presented no additional monsters.  "Inky and Blinky" in the canister seemed to be doing okay, crawling around doing their thing...and Dad seemed just to continue to hold his status....the repeated X-Rays showed a possible very slight improvement occurring in the fluid that had accumulated in Dad's lungs, but this was most likely wishful thinking.  We all wanted things to be improving, but the data was not supporting our wishes or prayers.

I noticed that Dad's internist, Dr. Ali, had been making rounds and staying late into the evening charting and obviously straining with all he had to figure out if there was some avenue we had overlooked, some treatment we had not yet found...but thus far it was to no avail.  Dad's Pulmonologist leveled with me....the bugs had everybody stumped, but the Infectious Control Doc flatly ruled out any possibility that those types of organisms could have originated, or even survived for any period of time inside Dad, and were at most probably unrelated.  The source of Dad's Atypical Pneumonia had not been identified, and we might want to consider treatment at another facility that had more resources that they did not possess at Freeman.  That was all I had to hear...."By all means, Doc, if you think some place can give Dad a better shot, let's go there!"  and to me we couldn't get there fast enough if Freeman felt they had reached a dead end!!!  Unfortunately, the Fourth of July was going to be a near-impossible day to call and get a transfer approved, so we would be waiting it out for another night...

Joplin and the surrounding community came together on the North side of town for a Fourth of July fireworks celebration that was perhaps the most meaningful Joplin had ever had!  Mom and I spent some time with Laremy, Phaedra, Gayle,and their girls, which served to lift our spirits a bit. We left at dusk, and I even managed to talk Mom into parking  for a bit to watch the fireworks show overhead. It wasn't long before Mom changed her mind, and simply wanted immediately to get back to Dad, which I couldn't blame her for. She simply couldn't enjoy any of the fireworks without Dad while he was back in the room at Freeman.  The Fourth of July Night Sky was on fire high above Joplin, lifting the hearts of several thousand people below, but all Mom could think about was returning to Dad's bedside.  Herself a very experienced Nurse, Dad's appearance, and the lack of improvement up to that point were painting an increasingly dark picture of Dad's outcome. She was becoming increasingly depressed, and highly distraught as she saw him there in the room. Leaving a vast array of amazing fireworks behind us as we drove South on Main Street back through the dark tornado damaged area toward Freeman seemed meaningful somehow. I felt like all of the fireworks were somehow for Dad, celebrating that he was there with us for at least another night...the occasional lone starburst rose up above the town in various places around us, and my pride in Joplin and in our nation's ability to endure amidst adversity swelled up within me.

My drawing for the day was easy to come up with....Dad as Captain America for the Fourth of July Holiday...but, of course, LCDR America was a bit more accurate, so I adjusted accordingly, and filled the background with the Stars and Stripes.

Mom and the drawings in the Freeman I.C.U.