March 1, 2006

Bess reporting from Boston:

As we welcome March at the B-dub I am happy to be able to pass along some messages and information regarding our favorite lady, Miss Erica. I am happy to be here while Jaci is packing up for her move to Boston. These were some big shoes to fill and I am so thankful to Jaci (and I am certainly not alone) everyday for being such a great caretaker.

Last night we had a fiesta and had some yummy mexican food brought in (thank you Auntie Kathy) with some Fletcher friends, Kent, David, and Anna! Anna arrived yesterday morning and Erica has been so happy to have her wise, insightful and sweet Anai around! We took some more photos for the wig wall (photos to come), listened to some West Coast rap and Erica sat in a chair the whole night! Leslie arrived later in the evening and we got to visit with her for an hour before it was time for E to attempt to get a good night sleep.

As I was kicking everyone out of the room (see, I am trying, Jaci) the nurse administered her nightly cocktail of happy sleep medicine so that hopefully since the first time since she got here, could have an uninterrupted night of sleep. Erica wanted to go to the bathroom one last time so that wouldn't wake her up. So the usual drill, get up out of bed, tug the IV tower, do the business- except that the next thing I know she took a head dive into the shower. Since she was attached to the tower, the Picc line in her arm was so tight and I couldn't get it any closer. I ran to get the nurse and when we got her up she kept falling forward, almost like her head was too heavy (and she wasn't even drinking). She was a bit confused and disoriented so she got some oxygen. We got her back in bed, checked her vitals, docotors came and went, and she is doing fine today. There was a CT scan this morning just to be safe and it appears that she just bit her lip. Even falling she is graceful! We think the medicine just hit her really fast but her headaches are still around.

She had a sleepy morning, just ate some more breakfast and is looking at high school photos with Leslie. Erica was very stylish in the 80's and I will leave that up to your wildest imagination. Bongo tapered jeans- WOO HOO- HOTTIE! Thanks to Leslie for being here and all the reminiscing. It was fun to listen to them try to decode the list of inside jokes they made when they were younger.

All in all, I think the constant stream of visitors are doing wonders for Erica. It is amazing how fast time flies in this room. We keep joking it is a vortex because all we do is sit, talk, eat, nap, read and the next thing you know the whole day has passed. We manage to keep her laughing, Dr. Sirulnik constantly has a comeback or two when he comes into visit, we tried to explain to Judy who Nick and Jessica Simpson are and mail time is her favorite time of day (so keep them coming). Speaking of Judy- she has been such a great person to hug and drink some tea with. She is progressing with her technology skills- I imagine soon she will be blogging too!

The nurses fight over who get to be her nurse for the day, she has such a great attitude and she cannot wait to move into her new place with Jaci. I tried to include as much info and fun facts as I could when I am not here in Boston, I stalk the blog. I should sign off now, thanks for all of your support and love.