My Dad is Officially HOME!!!!

As of today, my Dad is an outpatient. He gets to go home everyday and spend the night. He'll have to return to rehab daily, five days a week, but now he can live at home again!
Woooooooo Hoooooooo!!!

Dinner with my Dad...At Home

So, my Dad scored a weekend pass home. He's been working his way up to it over the past couple of weekends. He has been able to take a couple of day trips home over the past several weeks and has done very well, so this weekend, he got to go home for the night.
The girls and I went down to Riverside and were able to spend several hours with my Dad and Linda in a normal setting. Linda got the toys out that she keeps for when the Grandchildren visit, and the girls played while we all visited.
Initially, my Dad put his sunglasses and hat on because he was afraid that his scars will scare the girls, but after awhile, he took them off. I assured him that I had a chat with Cadence and Cody about it. I asked them awhile back if it was scary to see where Grandpa was hurt, and they both told me no. They love their Grandpa no matter what, and they knew that was where he got hurt in his accident. So, the hat and sunglasses were abandoned before too long.
We ordered pizza and had ice cream cones for dessert. It was wonderful to be able to sit in my parents home and have my Dad there like a normal visit. We were able to sit on sofas in the family room rather than chairs that we had gathered from various areas. I didn't have to worry about my children wandering off into another patients room.
Last week, my Dad's therapist did a home evaluation with him so that she could determine what modifications needed to be done to the house before he could come home. The modifications are very minor and can probably be done in hardly any time at all. We are hopeful that my Dad can come home for good in a few more weeks.

Another family meeting

We had another family meeting today. Things are progressing well. I was reminded today that, even though it seems like it's been a year since the accident, it's really only been three months. The amount of progress my dad has made in three short months is incredible.
He has seen a neuro-opthamologist and should be getting a new pair of glasses soon. Hopefully that will clear up a lot of his vision issues. They did determine that he is partially blind in his right eye due to cranial nerve damage. Interestingly enough, that's not the eye that had to be re-supported by the titanium plate. That's his left eye, or as he calls it, his good eye.
He has been doing really well in therapy. He should be getting a walker soon and he'll be able to use that to get around rather than a wheelchair. He told me earlier this week that he can feel where the pins and rods are when he is walking and exercising. He said it's really weird.
After the family meeting, we were met by Rydel, his boss at RCH, Mary Lou and Donna, both friends and coworkers. They brought dinner. Panset and lumpia, per my dad's request. For those who don't know, that is the Phillipino version of lo mein and egg rolls. All I have to say is DELICIOUS! Rydel also brought amazing banana bread.
We all ate family style around the kitten table in his unit. It was a wonderful meal with friends and family. We had great conversation and lots of laughs. Thank you, ladies, for that.

He has his wits about him...

I stopped in yesterday to see my Dad for a little bit with all three of my girls. The Transitional Living Center allows children inside to visit. We spent the first twenty minutes or so outside in a shady area with grass and benches. The girls did cartwheels, summersaults, backbends and front handsprings for my Dad to show off their gymnastics skills. He was pretty impressed.
In turn, he showed us how he pushes his own wheelchair around now and doesn't need any help. He has been able to walk about fifty feet with a walker, which is remarkable progress considering that he has only been re-learning to walk for less than a week. Now, he can get himself out of bed and into his chair without assistance. They merely supervise to make sure he doesn't need help, but so far, he hasn't.
I believe that all of this new found freedom has done wonders for his mental capacity as well. He is completely with it and has his 'wits about him', or as he put it, 'he has all of his faculties'. We were able to discuss topics that we would normally discuss prior to his accident and he is still passionate about the things that he has always loved. He has never lost his sense of humor throughout this entire ordeal. He has remained very entertaining with his jokes and jovial personality.
You can tell that his caregivers honestly enjoy having him as a patient. Everybody that we met had already heard so much about me and the girls. They all seemed so excited to get to meet us in person and told us what a wonderful and hard working person my Dad is. He was able to introduce us to a couple of his fellow 'inmates', as he called them. You can tell that they all have a real sense of camaraderie and they help to encourage each other to work harder and get better.
We were able to go inside after a bit and see what his living quarters is like now. We didn't see his room because his roommate was in there. Apparently, his roommate is kind of like that guy on that movie, 50 first dates. His short term memory doesn't last very long, so he has to be re-introduced to my Dad (and everybody else) on a regular basis because he doesn't remember much past his accident. When my Dad told me that, I immediately made the comparison to the movie, and my Dad started laughing because his roommate watches that movie over and over and over on his laptop, so my Dad has heard it multiple times, but never actually seen it.
We were able to see the rest of the facility though. It is very similar to a large house. It has a main living type room with a hand full of recreation rooms that have TV's for them to watch, tables to hang out at and play cards or other games, etc. There is a kitchen area where it appears that they can get coffee or water to drink. A dining room table to gather at and then the semi-private bedrooms.
Overall, he seems to be in pretty good spirits and very willing to work hard so that he can come home soon.

Time Marches On...

Days and weeks have a way of sneaking past you without any warning. I'm long overdue for posting...again.
No news, in this case, has been good news.
My Dad was transferred last week to a step down unit called TLC. TLC stands for Transitional Living Center. In TLC, he has a roommate, goes to have meals in a cafeteria and gets to participate in more group activities.
He has been on field trips to Starbucks, a record store, the mall and he even got to go bowling. He now has his cell phone and can take calls when he isn't in therapy. He does participate in different types of therapy for about six hours a day. He has been tolerating sitting in his chair for 4-6 hours, which is leaps and bounds from where he was a few short weeks ago.
Today, he had an appointment with his Orthopedic Doctor, and he was released to start bearing weight on all four limbs now. Before today, he could only bear weight on his right leg and right elbow. As you can imagine, that made supporting himself and daily activities very difficult.
Car trouble has prevented me from making it to see him for the past week. I did take my girls down to visit him the weekend before last. That was a wonderful visit. My oldest daughter, Cadence, completely lit up when she saw him get wheeled through the door. She was so happy to see him. Cody was a little bit more shy. I think it was hard for her to see her Grandpa hurt and it scared her a little bit. Camdyn was oblivious, she was more interested in trying to crawl into the fountain or getting down the stairs. He was just delighted to see them and hug them and get their little kisses again.
He calls me almost daily now, which is really a treat. He always sounds very upbeat and positive. He is very happy with the level of care he is receiving in TLC and seems to be enjoying the challenges that he is presented with. He said today that he is ready to learn to walk again because he really likes to hike, and in order to hike, you have to be able to walk.
Continue to keep him in your prayers, he still has many challenges ahead, but he is facing them with a positive mental outlook.

Family meeting w doctors and therapists

Last week, Linda, Grandma and Grandpa, Lindsay, myself and...MY DAD were all able to Romero the table and meet to discuss my Dad's progress up to this point and his near future. It was very cool that he was able to sit in and give his thoughts.
Over and over, we heard the word "Remarkable" in reference to his progress over the previous week. He is so much more oriented and with it these days. Speech therapy has been administering a test called the GOAT. GOAT is an acronym for Galvaston Orientation and Amnesia Test. Here is a link to it: http://www.utmb.edu/psychology/Adultrehab/GOAT.htm
He had to be able to pass this test with 100% in orderto graduate to a neuropsychologist. He started out scoring pretty low, bun in a matter of a couple of weeks was able to score 100%. This was the test that he was giving BS answers to on purpose (so he said). Also, it's the same test that was being given when he believed that he was being interrogated by the government.
He starts his sessions with the neuropsychologist today. Her job is to really dig down to the nitty gritty and challeng his cognitive abilities. Things like putting the correct time frame on his memories and his ability to learn and retain new data. He is looking forward to the challenge and seems excited about moving up in levels of therapy.
His physical therapist said that he has been working very hard in the gym. He's gone from only tolerating about 10-15 minutes out of bed and sittin in a wheelchair, to an hour and sometimes a little more. He often has to be reminded motto support his weight on his left arm due to his broken humorous. His right wrist is splinted and his left leg has obvious scarring, so it's easy to remember (for him and his various caregivers) that they are injured, but because he has no immobilization on his left arm, sometimes they forget that it's broken as well. Really, he can bear weight only on his right leg and right elbow. So adjusting his position and getting in and out of bed are still quite a challenge.
He has gone from what they called "total assist" to "min to mod assist" when it comes to his occupational therapy. Occupational therapy, for those who don't know, is teaching him how to do the tasks of daily living. Things like walking, eating, bathing, grooming, etc. Their job is to prepare him to go back out into the real world and care for himself again. At this point, he can comb his own hair, brush his teeth, feed himself and many other daily tasks that he couldn't do when he was first transferred from RCH. He still needs assistance to shower though, due to his physical limitations and the danger thy a wet slippery floor presents.
They have also worked out a really good system and dosage schedule to manage his pain. He has actually been able to drop one of his pain meds successfully and doesn't need to be given medication as often as he was before.
He is on a full solid diet so his PEG tube (or as he has dubbed it, the tube of discontent) should beremoved today. The Gastrondoc was supposed to remove it on Friday, but unfortunately, he forgot to come by to remove it so my Dad had to keep it in over the weekend.
They expect to transfer him to a TLC sometime next week. TLC stands for Transitional Living Center. In TLC, he will still be inpatient, but it is less like a hospital and more like a dormitory setting. The levels oftherapy are more intense and he will be in some sort of therapy from 9am to 3pm. So, he will be working very hard in TLC and will have a lot less down time. The cool thing about TLC is that he will get to take field trips off hospital grounds which I am sure is exciting because he can have a change of scenery. Another great thing is that the neuropathologist at the TLC location specializes in pain management, so he can help my Dad manage his pain levels in alternative ways and not have to take so many medications. He seems up to the challenge, although he does believe he needs at least one more week.

Talked on the phone today

On a whim, I decided to call my Dad in his room today. In the past, I've waited for my Grandmother or Linda to call me from his room to speak to him because I never know how he is going to be from day to day. He still has bad days here and there and gets pretty angry.
So, today, I called him up and my Grandfather answered and handed him the phone. We had a very good chat. He was very lucid and made sense the entire time. He was upset about his care through the night and the fact that his nurse kept calling him 'Honey'. He felt that it was degrading and inappropriate, especially since he wasn't a happy patient last night.
He said he knows that he has a lot of work ahead of him in order to recover, but that he's up to it. He can't wait to get better and get the heck out of there. He is able to sit up in his wheelchair now for two hours at a time which is wonderful. When Josh and I were there about a week and a half ago, he was very uncomfortable after about twenty minutes and wanted to go back to bed.
He heard my middle daughter, Cody, in the background and asked to speak to her. She is three, so it was a pretty brief conversation, but there were plenty of "I love you's" and "I miss you's". Then he spoke to my oldest daughter, Cadence. When I mentioned that her first day of school is tomorrow, he knew that she was starting first grade. That was very cool, because as I've said before, often his short term memory isn't too great. He then told her he couldn't believe how big she was and that he remembered when she was just a little baby and they would hang out.
He was aware of this blog. Apparently, word has gotten back to him that I've been keeping it and you are all very impressed with it. That means a lot to me because I have put a lot of time and energy into it. It's as much for him as it is for all of you and I look forward to the day when he can check it out himself.
I will be seeing him on Friday because we have an appointment with his doctors to go over his progress and prognosis along with their treatment plan. At that point, I believe we all intend to address our concerns with his level of care and the attention that he receives (or doesn't receive, actually). Plus, hopefully, we'll have an idea of how much longer he will have to be an inpatient. I am thinking that with the way he has been progressing, hopefully only a few more weeks.