7:30AM - Mom picks me up at my house with my bags packed and ready to go. Joe (very understanding husband) and I have been up until 5AM packing and making sure I have everything that Gary or I might need. I already feel beat to smithereens.
8:30AM - We stop at the Boerne HEB to use the bathrooms and buy extra cigs for Gary -- just in case he wants them.
9:00AM - At Gary's house. He's rummaging through bags and shuffling over a card table to find his latest prescriptions. He's trying to remember everything. He comes out to the truck and gives my grandmother and envelope with pictures he's saved and his dogtag (which he wore all the time).
10:00AM - Airport. There is much consternation over Gary's steel toed boots. There has been for days. He decides he'll just wear them and take them off to get through the metal detector. We get our baggage unloaded and he talks for a while on the side with my grandmother. Don't know what they're talking about. He is already tired. We get the bags checked and the porter informs us that he takes tips. We scramble for dollar bills. Hadn't even considered it. Gary refuses my offer for a wheelchair. We barely make it onto the plane. It leaves at 11:42.
11:50 - We're on the plane and relieved we've made it. Immediately before landing, Gary says, "When we get off, look for a head. I think I'm going to puke."
3:35 - We're in Dallas and due to board on the plane for Portland. Of course, the terminal is on the opposite side of the airport, and Gary just can't walk without losing his breath. He's also stopping at every bathroom to throw up, sometimes staying in there for 30 minutes. I'm worried we won't make the connecting flight, or maybe we shouldn't even try. He assures me that this is the right thing to do. I flag down one of those electric cart dudes who gives us a ride to the correct terminal. Finally, we board. Gary's really sick.
6:20 PST - We land at the Portland airport. Gary has thrown up all the way (that's a three hour flight, folks). He smells like bile. I follow Gordon's instructions and call for the admission and cab, and we wait. Gary seems to be feeling a bit better now that we're on solid ground. I flag down the cab and he strikes up a conversation about hunting and fishing in Oregon as opposed to Texas. He convinces the taxi driver to stop off at a SafeWay on the way to the Liver Lodge. He hasn't eaten all day. So I run in and get one of those roasted chicken, some potato salad and some bread, water and diet coke. It seems to be a long way to the Lodge, and the neighborhood looks like a lot of warehouses and junk yards.
9:00 PST - We arrive at the Liver Lodge. The taxi driver assures us that it just looks so dismal because it's late and dark. We're greeted at the door by Roberto, who was transplanted in January and can't help me sling luggage and another guy who says he's in chronic rejection and that no body from Temple ever makes it. Seems he's kind of moved into the Lodge permanetly. Later I notice he's the only one with an air conditioning unit hanging from his window. I think his name is Paul. I'm out of breath, and Gary's half nuts. Paul gives me a quick tour of the Lodge and I sign something that says I know what's going on. I'm in a daze. We move in to room 11 and flip the sign to "occupied." I dump out the bag of medicine he's brought, because I was told I needed to report a list of what he was taking, when, etc. We spend about half an hour figuring it out. Here's what we wound up with:
Promethazine - 25mg tab - 1 every 6 hours as needed for nausea/vomiting
Lithium Carbonate - 300 mg SA tab - 2 twice a day
Diazepam - 5 mg - 1 twice a day as needed
Tramadol - 50 mg - 1 every 6 hours for pain as needed
Furosemide - 40 mg - 1 twice a day to reduce fluid retention
Ciprofloxacin - 500 mg - 1/2 per day for prophylaxis peritonitis
Omeprazole - 20 mg - 1 per day 20 minutes before largest meal
Spironolactone - 25 mg - for fluid retention - he forgot it; we think this should be the dosage
Lactulose Solution - 2 tablespoons per day
Finally, we eat our chicken, and we're in bed by 11PM PST. I listen to Gary snore, talk in his sleep, and breath... and when I can doze, I have nightmares. This Lodge is creepy.