A huge THANK YOU to the donors and attempted donors of blood in my Dad's name

I wanted to take a few minutes to thank those of you who made a donation in my Dad's name. I think I may try to call the blood bank just to see what the final number ended up at, but I believe that the number of donations received outnumbered the units he was given. My office was able to host a blood drive and 25 of our agents were able to donate, with many others who tried but for various reasons couldn't donate. That means that not only did you help to save his life, but you also helped save the lives of others.
I am beyond grateful and touched by your generosity and support. I know I can speak for my whole family when I say THANK YOU!!!
P.S. I also want to thank those of you who donated your pto to him in whichever way it was done, be it a cash donation or sick time. You are all so amazing and my Dad is so lucky to have such a great family at RCH!

Every Week There is a Big Difference

Things have been crazy in my little world the past couple of weeks, and I haven't had as much time to be at the computer to update the blog. Our Summer has come to a close. Cadence starts her first day of first grade on Thursday, so we have been cramming our last hoorah and fun into the past couple of weeks. Josh was here for a short, but wonderful, visit. We had an overnight trip to Palm Desert to stay at a beautiful resort for next to nothing thanks to a good friend of mine. We had a day at the water park, another day at Disneyland. Lots of playdates and some back to school shopping. To top it all off, I've been fitting a little bit of work in as well and I'm helping some people in their search for homes.
So, with all of that out of the way, you can imagine how much quiet time I have these days. Gone are the days where I spend hours at my Dad's bedside while he slumbers, connected to RCH's WiFi and updating away. Figures, that as soon as there is a lot more to update on daily, I have less time to fill everybody in. So, email me...stay on me about getting updates to you. If I know you are all counting on me to get something posted, I will be more likely to stay up (it's currently 12:40 am) and post.
We had an awesome visit with Josh. My Dad was in the middle of speech therapy when we arrived. Boy oh boy, he wasn't a happy camper. He was convinced that he was being interrogated by some drone who was sent by the Bush Administration. He was being asked simple questions, for example: "Do you know what your address is?", and in his mind, he believed that he was being held in some sort of government facility after returning from Afghanistan.
As soon as Josh and I arrived, he was so relieved because he thought we were there to rescue him. He called us in and we promised to take care of things and make sure that he was treated respectfully. Actually, I think he thought we were there to spring him. He even told us that he knew that they were @#$%ing with him so he was giving them BS answers on purpose. We reminded him that if he didn't give them the correct answers, that he wouldn't get to go home until he got them right.
Anyhow, once the speech therapist finished his session, we were granted access into his room and he was much calmer. Of course, we had to make some noise to get him some pain medication. They have been somewhat slow to get his dosing correct and manage his pain levels. Originally, they told us that he couldn't possibly be in as much pain as he thought he was with the doses of medications he was receiving. They went on to explain to us that the pain was in his head.
Here's my issue with that. Whether it's in his head or real, either way, he is experiencing it. Why not do what you can to make him comfortable. I believe that they should have proven their theory by giving him a placebo and testing his pain level at that point. What would it have hurt?
Josh and I were invited to accompany my Dad to his physical therapy session. I am going to put a couple of pictures of him and a video of him playing catch with Josh up so you can see. It was actually cool to be able to toss a ball around with him. It reminded me of when Josh was little. He and Josh were passing it back and forth, back and forth. Then, out of nowhere, my Dad heaved it at me! I wasn't expecting it, but I managed to catch it and join in the game for a few rounds before hitting my Dad square in the nose with it. (he got distracted and looked away when I tossed it, and for those of you who know me, you know I am the least athletic and coordinated person on the planet) After that, he didn't want to play ball anymore.

His therapist then had him stand up, sit down, stand up, lay down, and then get back into his chair. Once he was back in his chair, we took him for a little walk and went outside for some fresh air. Too bad the noise pollution was unbearable, they were doing construction of some sort and there was a screaching saw or something.
We took him to the day room and managed to stop there for about 30 seconds, but by then, he was in a lot of pain and wanted to get back into bed. He was shouting and yelling at us to take him back and stop torturing him. So we did.
Josh stayed with us that night and I took him back to the hospital the next morning before he had to catch his train. Grandma and Grandpa and Linda were all there as well. We all had a really nice visit and he seemed a little more comfortable.
Then, I went to see him this past Sunday morning. I took my Mom because he had expressed an interest in her visiting. He hears us out in the hall before we go in because we have to put gowns and gloves on. He always says... "HELLO?" Well, when he heard my voice, he seemed very happy that I was there. I had spoken to him the day before on the phone and told him I would come, and he remembered.
He also remembered our visit the prior week with Josh and he even remembered when his buddy Mike had come to see him. He seems to be holding onto his short term memories a little better these days. He still forgets some peoples names, or exactly how many grandchildren he has, but he was so much better than he had been even the week before.
He and my Mom chatted about random things. The old days and people they knew and still know mutually. He remembers things from the distant past with quite a bit of clarity, it's just his short term memory that seems to have taken the biggest toll.
He was able to sit up in bed with very little assistance and eat his lunch on his own. The only help I provided was holding his bread while he fished the butter out of the little container (with a fork) and spread it around and cutting his chicken up for him. He is no longer being fed a diet of chopped everything. He got a whole chicken breast, carrots and rice with some sort of soup on them side. He is also now able to drink water, when before, he was only allowed this thick syrup type juice called nectar.
A picture of him enjoying his lunch:

We were able to have serious conversations about certain topics and important issues and he was able to clearly tell me what he wanted. He was very lucid and with it the day we saw him. It was so encouraging to see him that way. He even encouraged his CNA to continue on to get her RN and offered to mentor her if she ever needed it.
He even assured me that he won't be driving for awhile, but that maybe around Christmas he might be ready to do a little bit of driving. He feels that he will be able to be home and getting around on his own by then. He also says he wants to go home, but he knows that he isn't ready yet, so he'll do whatever he has to do in order to get well enough to go home.
I think that may be all I have the capacity to remember for tonight. It's after 1am and my brain is toast. I'm showing property tomorrow to two different clients, so I need to go to bed. If I think of anything pressing, then I will post again tomorrow hopefully. I'll leave you with a little video message he made for my daughters to see.

Josh is here for a visit and he's doing a little better day by day

Josh has arrived by train this evening and I will pick him up in the morning and we'll go visit my Dad. I spoke to him yesterday on the phone, and he had a really lucid day. He was able to carry on the most sensible conversation to date with me. He knew that he was in a health care setting and that he was in an accident. He said he was feeling much better, although that his back still hurt and his leg was still in quite a bit of pain.
He had a visit with his orthopedic surgeon earlier last week for a follow up. All seems to be healing well and he has another follow up appointment in four weeks. He is now almost able to sit all the way up on his own without assistance. That's great because before he couldn't support his own weight in order to sit up before.
I will update more tomorrow after our visit.

Some more slow progress

My Dad removed his own tracheostomy the other night (ouch!) and the doctors decided to leave it out at this point. He is breathing, eating and speaking pretty well now on his own so there isn't any real reason to leave it in. Thank goodness because that's one less thing for him to tug and yank at.
He seems to be doing well when he receives his pain meds at regular intervals. When they're late however, things get rough. He becomes increasingly agitated and angry, sometimes even violent. He isn't comfortable or happy with his current living quarters and wants to go home. He still doesn't really grasp what's going on around him and why he can't go home. Unfortunately, it isn't likely that he'll be able to go home until he has a better cognative ability to grasp his situation. At this time, he's still very baffled and speaks nonsense most of the time.
On that note, I know many of you would like to call him and wish him a speedy recovery. Since he doesn't have the mental awareness to carry on any sort of conversation in person, much less over the phone, they don't have a telephone connected in his room. If they did, it would only sit there and ring, he would realize that it his phone ringing. In addition, unfortunately it is unlikely that he'd even know who he's speaking to. He really only seems to recognize his family at this point and sometimes still confuses Linda and my mom even though my mom hasn't visited him yet. He will even refer to me as though I'm not there when he is speaking directly to him.
I will make sure that I post as soon as he is mentally able to have visitors outside of his family. It may not be until he is at home.
Our pending family/physician meeting has been delayed for another couple of weeks because they feel that it is still too early to give us any real answers. So, for the time being, we continue to carry on business as usual and take turns sitting at his bedside and helping him sift through the madness.

A Long Over Due Update

I haven't seen my Dad for the past week, so I haven't had a lot to post about. I probably should have told you all that he was finally transferred to an acute rehab facility on Tuesday evening. They have spent the last several days evaluating his mental capacity and condition and will be determining a plan of treatment early next week.
Linda is working on scheduling a family meeting with his physicians there for mid next week. At this meeting, they should be able to prepare us for what to expect over the next several weeks as well as answer any questions that we all may have for them. We have been told that we can expect as long as two years before his brain heals from the trauma.
He has been having many types of therapy. Speach, physical and occupational from my understanding. Initially, his pain medication wasn't actually helping to relieve much of his pain, however they have now doubled his dose. The medication that they are giving him for pain is Oxycodone.
He is able to eat solid food that has been chopped finely, similar to my one year old daughter. His dinner tonight consisted of mashed potatos, chopped up green beans and a pile of ground beef. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Then some applesauce for desert and 'nector' to drink. The nector is a juice, but it's thickened with electrolytes. He ate about 1/2-2/3 of his dinner, although he gave my Grandmother and myself quite a lot of crap about it. He kept wanting to leave, and we kept telling him we couldn't leave until after he finished his food. We knew he had had enough when he started spitting his applesauce back at us.
He has this tent like apparatus over his bed that they keep closed when he doesn't have visitors or caregivers in his room. This prevents him from getting out of bed on his own, or trying to get out of bed and actually falling out. He tell him that they knows he likes to camp, so he got a special tent bed. It may seem silly, but I think it helps him justify why he is in there and why he can't get out so easily.
Here is a picture:

The thing his leg is resting in is a CPM machine. CPM stands for Continuous Passive Motion, and it bends his knee in order to keep his joints from stiffening up, without him having to use his muscles to do so. It has a faux sheep skin lining and he was sure that he had a cat laying on his leg. He wanted to kick it off and go lock it in the car.
He is still very confused. He was talking a lot about going up to the "Res" which we believe meant the Reservation. He was talking about the Lakota Souix and peyote ceremonies. He said he'd been a member of the church since 1972 and that my Grandfather and I were also practicing. I have no idea what he is talking about, maybe some of you do. He also thought that my Mom, Theresa, and Linda were there and would talk to them from time to time, although neither of them were there at the time.
He did laugh when I told him about the dude with the super mullet outside the window of his room. He couldn't see him, but he laughed when I told him about the guy.
The Rehabilitation Therapy Doctor has told us to expect him to be an inpatient there for 3-4 weeks at this point and then he can be changed to an outpatient. I guess it all depends on the workers comp insurance and his condition.
Your continued prayers are much appreciated. Those of you who have sent cards, thank you. My Grandmother takes them in and reads them to him and he has expressed a desire to respond to all of them. So, on his behalf, he is thanking everybody for their prayers and loving support and the kind words that you have all spoken and writted to him and also to us.
Tomorrow we celebrate my youngest daughters first birthday. It will be another bittersweet day for us. I know that when my Dad is coherent enough to understand that he wasn't able to be there for that, it will break his heart. He loves his Grandchildren so much and I know that he'll be sad to know that he wasn't able to be there on her first birthday like he was for the others. We are just grateful that he will be able to be here to celebrate future birthdays.

July 18th

I made it in for a short visit yesterday and found out that my Dad had moved rooms because of staffing reasons and his need for a 1:1 ratio. When they finally buzzed Ted and I through and we went looking for him in his room, all of the nurses called to us at the nurses station because, there he was! Sitting up in a modified bed/chair thing right there at the nurses station with his foot up on the desk!
We were so excited to see him up and about. He was there keeping them all company and entertaining the crowd. He seemed very happy to see us. After some small talk, his back started to really bother him so he decided it was time to get back in bed.
Once they helped him back into bed, we were allowed in to see him for a short time before he fell asleep. He was exhausted from being up and interacting so much, but hopefully the change of scenery helped him out a little bit. He keeps trying to get out of bed and saying "Let's go, let's get out of here", so hopefully it felt like he had a chance to go and get out a little bit.
At this point, his confusion is primarily due to his brain damage. He is hardly on any medications anymore. He has been on a diet consisting of pureed food the consistancy of honey. He seems to be doing well with that and even was encouraged to feed himself with a spoon that had a special attachment to help him grip it better. He was able to successfully feed himself for a short time before he got tired and had to be fed the remainder of his meal.
He still has the PEG tube in that is feeding him through his stomach as well. I am not sure when they intend to remove that, but it is likely not going to be until he is able to eat more solid foods on his own.
I am going to post a picture of him with Ted and I from yesterday that his nurse took for us. I have not posted pictures before this due to my concern for his privacy and the possibility that he may not want people to see him in his condition.
The reason I have decided to post this picture is because he is looking so much better. He was up and alert and smiling and this is the first time that I've seen him so with us. I also want everybody who has been following so closely to be able to see for themselves some of his facial damage. It looks 150% better than it has looked over the past few weeks even though there is quite a bit of drooping on his left side. He will have to undergo more surgeries to position his eye back up where it belongs and hopefully diminish some of the scarring as well.

Friday, July 16th

My Dad's recovery is like that old song... "Slow and steady, steady and slow, that's the way we always go". It's maddening. But, as I've said before, at least he is progressing.
He is still at RCH awaiting transfer to acute rehab due to some lag in final paperwork/insurance red tape, etc. I think we are somewhat anxious for his transfer because as of right now, there isn't much more they can do for him in the hospital. He needs acute rehab in order to really start gaining back so much of what he's lost.
I did get to speak to him over the phone today. That was nice. He was carrying on good conversation and following the topics pretty well. Then I put him on the phone with my two oldest daughters so that they could say hi and he could hear their voices. They miss their Grandpa so much and they are anxious for the day to come when he can sit and read books with them, or take them out in the back crime and go rock hunting again. They decided to sing him a song, so they sang 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and my Dad chimed in to sing along. Just recalling it puts a smile on my face.
He also got to speak with Josh for a bit as well. Josh was so pleased to find Dad so coherent. He was not expecting him to be able to carry on a sensible conversation at this point so I think that helped make his day.