Living with Bob and "Al"

The beginning of the end Chapter 16

After assuring the aid that she did the right thing, She explained that she had a meeting with hospice in the morning. The aid was teary eyed, and Sheri settled in to chair in 'the boy's" room , to wait out the rest of the night/morning until hospice would arrive. The aid went on about her routine, it was not long after the aid left the room that the tears in the aides eyes started running down Sheri's cheeks.

Living with Bob and "Al"

The beginning of the end Chapter 15

Sheri assured the women she did the right thing, and proceeded to explain to her the emergency room visit and all the tests Bob had done. The aid was fixing Bob's sheets and mumbled under her breath, "well that would have been nice to know."
Sheri took a deep breath, and then told herself to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth.

Living with Bob and "Al"

The beginning of the end Chapter 14

Sheri got to the faculty,  she was tired, she was confused, she was angry. The person that opened the door was not someone she had met before. She introduced herself to the staff member and quickly walked to Bob's room, Bob and "Al" were out cold as Sheri would have thought after all the medication the emergency room pumped into "them".  With in minutes the female staff member that let Sheri in, came into the room. Sheri's blood was nearing the boiling point. Out of the comer of eye she could see this the soul of this woman. She looked very sad, and started apologizing for calling Sheri.  She said I have been caring for Bob on overnights the whole time he has lived here, he is my buddy, he follows me around at night, this is just not like him, as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
Though her tears and shaken voice she said, "I just did not want to do the wrong thing". Sheri new in that moment that this woman had know idea that Bob and "Al" had been in the hospital all those hours. This was not this sweet woman's fault, there was clearly a major breakdown in communication. 
The system is broken.

Living with Bob and "Al"

The beginning of the end Chapter 13

Sheri quickly called back the number. Sheri said who she was and apologized for missing the calls and inquired about what was happening. She replied that they were sending him over to the emergency room, because he was not responding to the staff , that he had a bloody discharge coming out of his male parts and that usually he is way more alert. Sheri held her tongue, well somewhat. in a tone that was pretty much yelling into the phone "Absolutely not! We just spent 8 hours there! I am meeting with hospice in the morning !" (All the while Sheri is holding her cell phone up by her shoulder as she scrambled to get dressed ) The on call nurse said "I see the notes... but he is not on hospice yet , so we have to address the staffs concerns." Sheri finally pulled up her big girl panties and said "you are not sending him anywhere, I am 30 minutes away, I will be there and stay with him until hospice comes to meet with me in the morning, do NOT send him to the hospital! "

Sheri needed to pause, praise and pray. She did not. She was reliving the past 24 hours and was struggling to fight back tears so she could drive.

Living with Bob and "Al"

The beginning of the end Chapter 9

The chest x-ray came back with a small amount of fluid in Bob's lungs, but apparently nothing to be too concerned about. By the time the results of the Brain CT scan came back it was a 8:30pm. Now because of all the drugs they had given "the boys" Bob and "Al" were pretty much catatonic. Sheri waited for the results of the last test, and when the doctor came in Sheri took a deep breath, and waited for what ever she was going to say next.