I picked up my three sons tonight and brought them to the hospital to say goodbye to their grandpa. When we got to his bedside, I squeezed his hand and started talking to him. He turned and looked at me and the boys, and they started saying “Hey grandpa” to him. I reminded them that he was in a vegetative state, even though his eyes were open. One of them said anyway, “Grandpa, squeeze my dad’s hand if you can hear us.” I said, “Well, he’s clenching my hand but it’s not in response to you guys.” But they persisted and he kept squeezing my hand. “He’s doing it, Dad” they said. I was thinking, “What the hell?”
They helped me sit him up and they kept up the chatter. On a whim, I put a sponge swab in his mouth and he began to suck on it madly. We went crazy. I grabbed a cup of water and he drank the whole fucking thing! “My god, he’s dying of thirst, the poor guy” one of the boys said. I got ahold of the nurse’s aid who told us he ate a whole meal tonight. I couldn’t believe it. Then his nurse came in and said, “Yeah, he ate last night, too… and even smiled at me.” I was too excited to be pissed that they didn’t notify anyone, but I called my brother who was shocked, and then my mother who’d been making funeral arrangements all day. Neither of them had any idea this was happening.
I got in my dad’s face and said “Hey, I said a Hail Mary in your face yesterday, remember that? Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death?” and he smiled at me. I leaned over and pressed my cheek against his mouth and he kissed it. He even put his hand up to his mouth and took out the sponge swab. The boys kept at him, and got him to smile, too. Unbelievable.
I asked the nurse about his blood pressure and she said it was fine. I said “He’s not receiving any medications, right?” And she said, “No, he’s still on Triceptal for seizures.” She had no idea why. I’ll head back there in the morning for another fight with his doctor.