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.

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.