Liquids

As the rest of the family had work to go to and other commitments, Angie and I were due to go to Sepp for the afternoon visit. They are in fact quite flexible on the subject in intensive care - half-brother Peter who lives and works locally tends to go mornings to get the docs update and again in the evening after work. They do prefer one doesn't come in the mornings as that's when they carry out the most work.

We had heard overnight that Sepp had been in reasonable form yesterday and had requested peaches and milk. Although we also heard he now had a lactic acid infection on his tongue and thus presumably stomach, I went to Ottobeuren in the morning to get a can of tinned peaches and a crate of Angie's strange Cola/Orangeade soft drink "Spezi" as it's commonly called and is even one of the brands. Given my Blip on Monday about Saftladen and drink markets, I took this photo to try and give some idea of one.

I could only capture one half of the shop, mainly the beers and on the front right, some of the soft drinks including the said Spezi. Out of view are the dozens and dozens of bottled juices and mineral waters nor the somewhat limited wines and spirits. Particularly in more rural areas without older, lift-less towerblocks and most people having to drive, buying beer, water, juices and soft drinks in cases is the norm. Canned drinks are rare but one-way (with €0.25c deposit) plastic bottles are the rule in the likes of Aldi & Lidl. I think we have about 10 such drink supermarkets within 6km of home. Most are owned by individuals but some, including today's,  belong to small regional family-run chains.

Back home, Angie pureed the peaches and with a bottle of Spezi which Sepp will drink too, we set off. Angie driving and I cower somewhere under the dash - she's doing over 1,000km a week on this stretch and can drive it blind and does. 

When we got to the hospital we were told he was very sleepy and had just been dosed up with painkillers. I have a problem with this commonly used "reason" as I sadly have enough experience to know that in modern medicine, this type of medication is very closely monitored and almost always constantly infused.

So we found Sepp asleep or at least with his eyes closed but looking very pale and unwell. He did react very quickly to our presence but little more than half opening an eye. He barely moved and couldn't utter more than one word at a time and that was slurred. We were very concerned.

At one stage the nurses came to get him to sit up outside of the bed. Again I know how important this is and also how difficult and agonising for the patient. For Angie it was a nightmare as the four of us maneouvered him around, Angie repeatedly asking if it was necessary as he was clearly so weak. The nurse - a new one - was well let's say "robust" and said it had to be. When he was up, they asked us to take a break while they cleaned him up.

We left returning half an hour later. Again he was very sleepy, understandable from the exertions. However soon afterwards things went downhill rapidly - his heartbeat stopped once and later fell to alarm giving levels on two occasions. The nurse though calming us that it was nothing special despite the cardiac arrest machine being wheeled in. Luckily through manual methods, the problem was overcome.

We stayed until half-brother Peter arrived after work and handed over. We were anything but happy as we left. The only slight moments of hope had been when I put my mobile phone on "Selfie" mode so that Sepp could see himself and he smiled even managing to grasp it briefly. That photo, presumably his first ever Selfie, would have been great for Blip if I hadn't also been in it! And at one stage when a nurse came to do/tell him something and while I was telling him something myself, he muttered to her the only sentence heard all day "My son-in-law can talk to me when I want". That choked me up and I really did have the feeling it may be the last sentence I heard from him