Psychiatrist

There was some construction work that had to be done on the windows of our new place and we couldn’t get to the hospital till quite late in the afternoon but Hajime wasn’t so lonely because he had some visitors.

Hajime’s best friend Chris came again. Chris plays football and baseball so he couldn’t find the time, but he came the far distance and was showing pictures of the choir tour. Hajime was really happy and I was glad and comforted!

I was actually very worried because we came very late today.

But the thing that caught my attention as soon as I got there was how soiled he was from the excretions.

The gown was dirty, hard and crusty, and around the trach was dirty from the excretions too. He wants to change but because he can’t speak, he can’t say so. I think it’s a problem that they leave a patient like that. When I told the nurse, the nurse said something unreasonable like, “I thought I could do it when you or his father comes.”
The sheets were dirty from the night before when the nurse spilled some nutrition on it, but even that was not changed and left in a dirty state.

I think it’s a huge problem that they can’t clean the patient or the room if we’re not there.
Moreover, Hajime can’t speak and he can’t get the communication board, a paper with the alphabets either. I had a chance to talk to the psychiatrist about this so I did.

This psychiatrist, Dr. Lee is a doctor that cares for Hajime’s heart and he comes to check Hajime almost daily. He spends his time trying to help Hajime open up his heart, and he is a great doctor, but I think it’s going to take some more time for Hajime to open up his heart.
This doctor cooperates with us and asks about the concerns so that Hajime can spend the day comfortably. I’m hoping that this will help Hajime to spend day by day without problems even if it helps just a little.

And today, we tried leaving the catheter inside to suction out the saliva.
Hajime has a tremendous amount of saliva so we had to suction it out every few minutes.
But it would automatically be done so it was great for us both. But maybe because the suctioning power was too strong and it sucked on his gums and inner cheeks, he felt pain.
It would be great if there was some other way that works, but we have an appointment to get botox on Monday, so I hope that works.


Translated by CS