Therapy, Therapy and More Therapy

I'm beginning to realize that these blog posts are going to get pretty repetative! Most of dad's days now consist of 5-6 sessions of therapy. And all the days are running together. So its getting hard to keep track of everything and even harder to remember to leave notes for everyone! I know that everyone is anxious about him and want to know more about his recovery. But hopefully you know that no news is good news! It mostly just means that he is continuing to work hard and get better!

I spent most of the day at the hospital today, so I was able to sit in on all six of his therapy sessions. He had Occupational, Physical and Speech two times each, so it made for a long and exhausting day! (More on that in a minute.)

We had two wonderful surprises today. The first one was a visit from Von, who showed up at 9:00 and was able to go to three sessions of therapy with us! We were so happy to see him and hope that he can come a lot more while he is in Utah. Thank you so much for coming, Von!

The second surprise was that Dad was moved to a private room today! Yahoo!!! We cannot express how awesome this is. We were getting really tired of constant noise from his roommate and his guests and nurses. And I'm quite sure his roommate was tired of our noise, too! It so hard to share a room! (His roommate was so nice and was actually discharged today! Thats great news and we are happy for him!) But now Dad will be able to really rest during the night and only have to wake up when his own nurses come in. That will make a huge difference. And now we won't have to worry nearly as much about "being in the way." Its not 100% sure that we will get to stay in this room, since new head trauma patients will always be first priority. But we'll take it for as long as they are willing to let us have it!

Occupational was a pretty typical today. The first session was spent practicing every day skills, like getting ready for the day. They did retape his right shoulder (very, VERY tightly) so that the joints to sag and separate due to gravity and not using them. The second session was spent practicing tranfers to and from his wheelchair. He is getting better and better at helping them as much as he can. They have been constantly impressed with his hard work. (He does still have a long way to go... he is far from doing it himself. But any progress is great!)

Physical Therapy was the usual, too. First session was spent getting him into the "machine" where he stood for 25 minutes! His old record was 15, so that was a huge accomplishment. The second session was spent in his wheelchair doing leg exercises. He was glad that he didn't have to stand again!

It was the first day that he had two Speech sessions. This is not his favorite and he always pulls faces when we take him into the speech therapy room. LOL! I'm sure that its extremely frustrating for him. The first session was spent practicing swallowing. He still isn't ready for regular liquids and has to stay on "nector-thick" liquids (gag) but he was upgraded to casserole-consistency foods! That doesn't sound super appetizing, but I can imagine that anything would be better than pureed food after two weeks straight! The second session was practicing comprehension and repeating words. Very hard for him and frustrating. But every day shows improvement. Baby steps. :)

By 4:00, when therapy was over, he was exhausted. He had already been groggy all day from being on pain meds. But after working so hard, he earned a nap!

Susan took over for the evening shift. The only thing I've heard so far is that he has been enjoying an evening of ABBA with her. He has been lip-synching along and bobbing his head. :) I love these moments, because they help us feel like everything is back to normal for a while. :)

Thanks again for all the prayers and support. We still have a long road ahead so keep them coming!

Wednesday

Hi, it's Karen. I was able to spend ALL day with dad today. I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 this morning because we had several items we wanted to discuss with the Doctors, that do their rounds first thing in the morning.

It was actually a very interesting day, because I got to go with dad to his entire day of Recreational, Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapies. He had six, 45 min. sessions of therapy today. Most days they are broken up a bit, and staggered, but today they were all back to back, with only a 1 hour break for lunch. So it was a very long, tiring, but productive day for dad! As the days progress, and more a 'routine' becomes established, posts to this blog might be fewer, as the days become busier, it is really hard to find time to sit and post. I found one minute here or there, before we were on to the next task, but hardly had any time to spend sitting at the computer. Most of the therapy sessions, are getting more routine, so there is not a lot of new information to post, so instead I will post a little bit about each of the different types of therapy and what dad does there. Today was the first day, he had 4 types of therapy in the same day, which will be his new 'standard' day.

Recreational Therapy This therapy is perhaps the one I feel is the least 'important'. Although I know that they will all teach dad different skills about his daily life, after sitting through 2 sessions of this therapy, I would rather trade and see if we could forgo this session, and do another sessions of speech therapy. I asked....they basically said, 'no way jose'. Anyway, so the purpose of R.T, is to teach dad to be able to enjoy the recreational activities that he enjoyed before his stroke. On the first day, they asked dad (and me), if he enjoyed any of the following: crafts....no. Sports.....no. Fishing.....no. Camping.....no. Gardening....(bahaha)..no. etc..etc.. Dad rolled his eyes at each suggestion (which btw...is one of the little things he does that I LOVE, because these moments show me that my dad, is still 'my dad'. LOL). The therapist even asked dad if he would be interested in making a leather belt during craft time. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Oh wait, until today that is, when the R.T. therapist asked dad if he'd like to have a chance to do therapy with a Dog, An actual dog that was there roaming around the gym. I proceeded to tell them, that that is perhaps the thing he would LEAST like to do. Which followed by a huge nod by dad. So, what they will be working with dad to do, is to enjoy using his new iPad. There are several apps available to help stroke patients with therapy & recovery. This was interesting to dad, and he enjoyed being able to learn to navigate the iPad on his own. This will be more the line of things they will work on with him during their time. No indian crafts for him. ;)

Occupational Therapy This is the first oppotunity I had to attend O.T. with dad. It was very interesting. They do skills with dad, that will be everyday tasks for him. Get dressed. Brush teeth. Comb hair. etc. This is the most 'diverse' fom of therapy, as the things they work on, touch an aspect of each type of therapy. Today, they worked on problem solving skills and cognitive skills. It was really fun to watch, and see dad be so successful at this, especially right now where his speech is such a struggle. They gave him patterns to match with blocks, items to sort, etc., which he does very well, and is actually very precise in what he does, making sure everything is even and straight. Another 'dad' thing that shows us he is the same dad as before. The highlight of this therapy was when the therapist decided to introduce word cards. They usually do not do this so early in therapy, but because he was doing the other things well, she wanted to try it. And just so you know...up until this point, we have not fully understood what exactly he does still understand. This discovery takes place on a daily basis. The only indication we've had so far about him recognizing letters, was a little experiement I decided to do with him last week, one day when we had time to kill, where at that point, it was clear he did not recognize letters and/or numbers, although visual images were clear and recognizable to him. Anyway, the O.T. therapist, pulled out a few word cards and asked him to look at the word, and match them to objects she had. Dad did every one she asked! This was a huge accomplishment, and one that gives us great hope for the future. I was cheering out loud during this, and dad smiled and did thumbs up.

Physcial Therapy the grueling physical therapy continues. Mostly practicing at standing. He has to have help to stand upright, as he still has little or no use of his right side, other than realizing he can put weight on it, once he is standing. Once standing, he stood for 2 full minutes. Again....more than the physical therapist expected him to be able to do at this point. The good news (good to him long term....not so much right now) is that dad is starting to have significant pain in his right leg. This means that his brain is starting to recognize that side...which up until this point, he has not really felt at all. The pain in his right side today was great, and it was hard to see him be in so much pain. So they will treat his pain as needed, but we reassure him that overall this is good. He really understands that, but pain still stinks. So in therapy today, they stretched his right side, as it becomes very stiff with no use. This caused dad even greater pain, and that was very difficult to watch, but he perservered, and when they asked if he needed a break, he said no. It was more like a 'let's just get this over with'. I was proud of him for sticking it out. I know it was so hard for him.

Speech Therapy Speech therapy continues....and there are still slow improvements each day. One of the main things they addressed today, was how dad is whispering, instead of using his full voice. They didn't know, until we told them today, that he had been intubated (breathing tube), for the first 2 days. This was an 'ah-ha' moment for them, as they suspsect now that the intubation might have caused injury to his vocal cords and throat. They hope these will just self heal over time, and if not...they will have an ENT (Ear, nose Throat) Dr. come investigate further. The speech therapy exercises consist mostly of things like Count to 10, Recite the days of the week (with help), things that are memorized, and that will start to just come naturally. He does fairly well with these. When he isn't exhausted he does better. Today he was exhausted. The speech therapists are great, and again, we see improvement everyday....even if it's small.

So, that was the main bulk of what we did today. It was a long, exhausting day, but dad really was in good spirits throughout the day, (except for the stretching in P.T.), and he somehow manages to continue to laugh off the speech issues, in which we continue to guess wrong, and find other ways to figure things out. I am truly amazed at his patience and tell him this often. He overall retains the things that make him 'dad' to us. This is hard to explain to people that don't see him all day, or the Dr.'s who don't 'know' him. But when you are with him all day, little things here and there reassure us that he is the same 'dad', and we are truly grateful for this. Just an example of this, is tonight when Susan and I were changing 'shifts', I gave him a drink of a slush and told him I didn't know if it was thawed enough to drink from the straw, but he wanted to try that rather than use a spoon, so he sucked, and sucked, and sucked, and started to raise his eyebrows and pull faces....again, hard to explain, but it was just so 'dad'. Fun to see and we all got a good laugh at that.

A fun part of the evening tonight was a suprise visit from Brook & Denise Hales. They brought a small poster of the BYU Basketball team, fresh off the press. They knew it would be a welcome change from all the red 'U's that are everywhere in this place. LOL! I put the poster in the window where dad had a perfect view, and he did a big thumb up! A perfect end to a long productive day!

Sorry for the late night post. Busy, busy day. Thanks for checking in, and keep the prayers coming!

Lunch Break

It's Alison. Rob and I got to the hospital around 12:30 to spend time with Dad during our lunch break. He had already eaten by the time we got there, so he had a little bit of his cream slush for dessert.

He was super tired--dozing off in his wheelchair--and not thrilled about going to three hours of therapy. But, he's always willing, even when he doesn't want to do it. Chelsie came and got us and took us down to the gym. Occupational therapy today was all while he was sitting on the edge of a mat/table. She said she wanted to work on his hand because it is starting to show some tone (apparently that's what it's called when it starts going into a fist on its own) that Diane mentioned. She fitted him for a resting hand splint that she said he needs to use at night. She said this will help prevent his hand from going into that involuntary fist while he sleeps. Next, she put several colored cones on a table in front of him and had him lean forward to get them, one at a time, and put them on the mat next to him. It was quite a stretch and reach for him, but he did great. Each time, while he stretched forward with his left hand, he put weight on his right hand to support himself. I was pleasantly surprised with how sturdy he was while doing this. Chelsie and Danielle only had to support him a little bit to keep him from falling. Most of his weight was on his own right arm. He finished the cones and then put them back on the table. Then she set them up again and had him move the cones from one side of the table to the other.

Next, she had him sit without supporting his weight with his arms at all, so he was just balancing. Then she threw a beach ball to him and had him hit it back to her. He did great! They hit it back and forth for about 10 minutes.

Dad was totally pooped, but we had to go over to physical therapy next.  Collin decided to really challenge Dad today, even though he was completely worn out already. He had Rob and me help support Dad while he had him stand up holding onto a bar (that's right... standing without The Machine). Dad stood up for 90 seconds, twice. Collin said that it was better than he expected.  He let Dad rest for a few minutes after that since he said it had to have been incredibly exhausting.

Unfortunately, Rob and I had to get back to work, so we left just before Susan was getting there for the afternoon. So, let's hope that Susan decides to update us later (I think it will be her first post, even though she's been in the hospital many, many times). No pressure, Sue. :)

One day at a time

Hi all, it's Diane. I got to the hospital just before 9:00 this morning. I got stuck behind a traffic accident AGAIN. I swear... Actually, I don't swear but the traffic is enough to make me start!

Anyway...

Dad was still snoozing when I got here. The nurses told me he had slept well overnight. His breakfast had just been delivered. I looked at his therapy schedule, and he didn't have anything scheduled until 10:30. I guess they decided to give him a break this morning after the early start yesterday. He started stirring shortly after I got here. Dad was not interested in his breakfast at all. Sausage and oatmeal did not excite him this morning. I coaxed him into eating a few bites, and he drank most of his milk and orange juice and ate his mandarin oranges, so that's something.

Occupational therapy this morning started with Dad brushing his teeth and combing his hair. Not too shabby. He got a new sling designed to support his weak arm and shoulder. Then we headed down to the gym for a few minutes, where they tried an electrical stimulator on his right arm to try to get the muscles working, especially the extensor muscles because his right fingers are getting too used to closing into a fist all the time. They said they will do more of that in his session this afternoon. Physical therapy was leg stretching and strengthening exercises, after which we headed back to his room for lunch.

He ate most of his lunch -- ground beef and gravy with mashed potatoes. I tasted it and I thought it was yummy! Especially with vanilla pudding for dessert. He dozed in his wheelchair for a few minutes before it was time for his busy afternoon of more therapy.

I wanted to share something I did with Dad in the hour between breakfast and occupational therapy this morning. I wanted something different for Dad to look at and think about. I decided to get out the iPad and let Dad look at his own blogs -- of his photographs, paintings, drawings, and poems. We started with the photos. I let him just look at each one, and sometimes I read what he had written about it. Then we did paintings, followed by drawings. He seemed very attentive and thoughtful. He was quiet this morning, but didn't seem really down. I asked him occasionally if he remembered the things we were looking at, and he always nodded. Finally, we went to his poetry blog. I read him two of his poems. Here is one of my favorites:

Me He Made a Dreamer

The day of life is brief and I do waste what time is mine
In sentimental musings with my thoughts in serpentine.
The worldly ways are naught to me and business seems a bore,
I seek to know what lilies think and what the stars are for.

When I walk the city streets where people sell and buy,
I contemplate the silly jest and seek the butterfly.
In money, news and politics, interest have I none.
My thoughts are rapt in poetry and lying in the sun.

I’ve never wanted land or gold, care not a whit for fame.
If I can sketch and write and think, I don’t even need a name.
As long as I have ought to eat and place to lay my head,
I’m happy leaving greater cares to other fools instead.

When God designed his creatures and placed us here below,
He made some feel responsible and made some just for show.
And me he made a dreamer, without a thought or care,
And when I’m gone no one will know that I was even there.

Standing Tall

It's Karen. Hi friends and family! I just wanted to post a quick update. Dad started his last session of physical therapy for today shortly after I arrived. I was happy to meet the 'favorite' P.T., Collin, and I told him I had heard good things so far about him, but I was here now to decide for myself. No pressure. LOL. He is super nice and you can tell he genuinely cares about dad's recovery. He had my dad stand up today, in the 'machine' as described earlier by Ryan. My dad stood for almost 20 min. It was nice to see him 'tall' again. (I guess it was especially noticeable because when I introduced myself to Collin he said, 'oh Karen...let's see, you are the short sister' as I had been described to him by my other siblings. Rach...you might be the only one who understands. Thanks to my siblings. Glad the only thing that could come to their mind about how to describe me was....short. ;0) jk Anyway, I was so proud of dad for standing for so long. It is extremely exhausting for him to do this....but when Collin asked him he needed a break, dad said 'no' and he kept standing. Good for you Dad! After therapy we came back and got settled in his room. I gave him a 'reward' for doing so well....a blended root beer float from Sonic! YUM! His eyes got big with that news, and he loved every sip! I read him the recent posts to his FB page, and he loves those. There were several very funny ones, and dad and I both had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard. (Not sure if that is good or bad for his blood pressure....I'm hoping good!) Keep the messages coming please! :) Anyway, I am just heading out now, and Sharon is taking over. We just enjoyed a very welcome visit from Ef & Lois. Dad was happy to see them and Ef and Dad look quite the pair....Ef in his wheelchair and dad in the hospital bed. Next time we want to get a picture of them side by side wheeling down the hall of the hospital together. That's all for now!

Monday, Monday

It's Diane now. The title of this post is because of the Mamas & Papas song that Dad loves. Dad has had a very busy Monday morning. Occupational therapy got him started at 7:30 this morning! The early session included helping him get dressed and move from his bed to his wheelchair. He ate breakfast sitting in his wheelchair.

I was so happy to see that Dad's nurse is Ryan again today. Ryan told me something exciting. When he walked into Dad's room this morning, he said, "Good morning. How are you?" And Dad said, "Good. How are you?" Sometimes words just pop out, clear as can be. Even though that's the exception, it's encouraging!

I got here in time to tag along as he headed to his second session of OT. It was so great! They started with having him really focus and try to move his right arm. They were very encouraged, because he's definitely showing more movement than he was on Saturday. Keep in mind that when we mention improvements, they are usually very small, but any improvement is a victory!

The next task in OT was opening various types of containers. Dad's job was to grab the container with his left hand, move it to his right and hold it there, and then use his left hand to open it. He did really well. They tried 5 or 6 different types of containers. With each one, Chelsie gave Dad a minute to problem solve and try to figure out how to open it. If he couldn't quite get it, she showed him how and then had him try again and repeat it until he could do each type consistently. I think there was one medicine bottle that was too tricky, but he did really great with everything else. I love how she was patient and gave him time to think through it. She said every learning opportunity like that challenges him and helps him reconnect those loose wires.

After his second session of OT, he stayed in the gym for physical therapy. Unfortunately, he was very worn out by the time it started. They had him sit unassisted for quite a while, and they did a few leg exercises, but Collin was worried about Dad's blood pressure and didn't want to try anything more strenuous, especially with Dad being so tired. So after a very low-key session of PT, I brought him back to his room and he is sleeping now.

Dad's next therapy session is speech at 1:45, so he should be well-rested for that. After speech, he'll have more PT, and Collin wants to get him standing up again if possible. He also has his first session of recreational therapy scheduled right after PT, so the busy day continues. Keep the prayers and the notes of encouragement coming! We'll keep you posted.....

Sunday Evening

Hi...it's Karen. There is not a lot to report, after Sharon's report earlier today. It was a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon. I started my 'shift' at 3:00. Dad was resting quietly, but woke up as soon as I walked in the room. He looked SO good! Hard to explain, but just seems to be getting back to his 'old self'. Soon after I got there, the CNA, Mark came to get him in his wheelchair. This is how they weigh some patients I guess. So I asked Mark to help get him dressed first, so that we could go on a little walk. I asked Dad if he would like that, and he said yes! So, once he was all situated in his wheelchair, I started to comb his hair. He touched my arm, and began to try to tell me something. We went through the normal routine, of me guessing, and being wrong. All the while I was trying to guess, I was combing his hair. Finally I gave up guessing, and said, 'dad...is this the way you normally comb your hair..(meaning from left to right)...He opened his eyes wide, smiled and said 'NO'. I asked him if that was what he had been trying to tell me all along. He said, 'YES'. So, I fixed his hair by coming it the other direction, and we were set to go. I told him thanks for being patient....and said that next time...he should just tell me what he wants. (wink) He nodded and agreed. I had asked the nurse where I could take my dad for a walk. I didn't know if they would restrict me from taking him outside the Unit he is in. But she informed me that I could really take him anywhere he could go in the wheelchair. So, we set off.

Sunday is a relatively quiet day in the hospital. We walked up and down the halls, stopping to look at anything that dad seemed to have a question about. I showed him where we park, what way we come in. I walked to where he was the first week, in ICU. We went to the lobby and listened to someone playing the piano. We walked through the cafeteria, looking for anything that might be a welcome change for Dad to eat, but still 'qualify' with his eating restrictions. No such luck. So we found a quiet spot in the cafeteria lounge, to sit and chat. I did most of the chatting. ;) We went outside and walked around the hospital. It was such a nice day, and it was so nice to let him get some fresh air. We even got to see a life flight helicopter take off, as we were sitting right next to the building the helicopter pad is located on. I asked him if he was ready to head back. He said no, he'd like to continue. So, we decided that we'd head to the top floor, to see if we could find a good view of the SL Valley. We walked up and down the halls, looking for windows, low enough to look through...but when we finally found some, they only looked out on another part of the hospital, blocking the view of the city. So, we had to settle with the view from the 2nd floor, which was still pretty good. I noticed tonight, when I was leaving, that the view was prettier with the night lights, so I'll have to take him on a walk in the evening next time.

After taking our little 'field trip' for a little over an hour, we decided we'd head back to see if his dinner had arrived. It had. No big surprise however...it was mashed potatoes. I think he's had that 10 times, while I've been there, so it's gotten a little old. After dinner, we watched a few of the 'mormon messages' on You Tube. If you haven't seen these, check them out. I love them. I read Dad his facebook messages. Thank you everyone who posts. I know we've said it before, but these are indeed a highlight of his day, as they are one of the few connections he has with the 'real world'. They always make him smile, and he always seems surprised at how many people leave him a message.

We sat and visited quietly for awhile. During one of our visits, I was trying to guess again, what my dad was trying to tell me. At times, this seems to be improving as I get bits and pieces....but usually that's about as far as I get, and we give up, usually laughing it off. Today, when I thought I was getting close to figuring something out....he shrugged and nodded. I asked him if he usually just resigns himself to what we guess. He said yes. LOL. I can't imagine how frustrating it is to him. Keep the prayers coming that he will regain his speech. This would be a huge help to his recovery. I am truly amazed at how patient he has remained thus far. He usually finds a way to just smile and decide we'll try again later.

We had a welcome surprise later this eveving. Alison, Rob and their cute little 1 year old Brooke, came to visit! They brought Dad an orange creamslush from Sonic. A VERY welcome break from the thick liquids the hospital has to offer. I had also asked Alison to bring him something to eat, if she could find something that would work. Well, ask and ye shall receive. She brought 3 things for him to choose from. He chose trying some spaghetti, and said YUM after the first bite. Something that actually had a bit of flavor! It was fun for Dad to see Brooke, and she even sang Wheels on the Bus for him. It made him smile!

After Alison and Rob left, Dad was pretty tuckered out. He was awake for the good portion of the day today. I am glad that his days and nights are getting sorted out now, as he will need a good night sleep to be able to resume his therapy tomorrow. Overall, he enjoyed a much needed day off today. He promised me that he would work hard tomorrow, and I know he will!

My daughter Megan (9) today, told me that she thinks that her Grandpa's stroke was part of Heavenly Father's plan. As a test to see how we would handle it. And to see how Grandpa handles it. She said that she was going to do her best, to help Grandpa with whatever he needs, including being good, so I can go to the hospital to help him. She wrote him a note for me to read to him, asking him to be strong and work hard so that he could get home quickly. Then she told me not to worry about her and the other kids, because they would be okay, while I go to help Grandpa. (sniff) Thank goodness for the reminders these little ones give to us, about what is really important. I am so grateful that I got to spend today with my Dad. It was a good day. :) Thanks for your continued prayers!

Sunday Morning

We had a GREAT morning. Seriously, best one yet. I got there this morning at 8:30ish and he was still sleeping. They had just brought breakfast, so I woke up him to eat. This was the only frustrating part of today, because I told him that he had to try to do it himself as much as possible. It was scrambled eggs and he kept dropping each bite. But he just laughed every time and didn't act too bothered by it.

I asked the nurse what the therapy schedule was for the day and she said there isn't any therapy on Sundays. Yay! I want him to work hard in therapy, but I was SO relieved to hear that he gets one full day of rest each week. I told him and he raised his eyebrows and seemed relieved, too. So I told him that he could do whatever he wanted. After a few suggestions and realizing that his roommate was going to be very loud as he got read for his church service, he decided on listening to some music with headphones. (We'll try to go to church service next week.) I downloaded some Celtic Woman and Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which he really liked. He rested for a while and when the room was empty, I pulled up today's Priesthood lesson on the iPad. Just as we were getting this ready, some people brought sacrament to us. It was so good to see dad taking the sacrament without help and I think it was great for him, too. It took me about 20 minutes to read the entire lesson to him, and I stopped a few times to see if he wanted me to continue. He always did.

After that, he had a busy morning with some visitors. My mom brought her sister Ros with her, who had only seen my dad once since she got here over a week ago. She is leaving sometime this week, so I'm so glad that he got to see her before she left! Then Leslie stopped by and had a nice, long visit. I think he was very glad to see them! Thanks so much for coming!

After all of that, it was about 1:00 and he was exhausted. I told him that he needed to eat lunch but he said he didn't want to. I asked him if he would eat if I fed him and he said he would. I know we aren't supposed to, but he was SO tired and I didn't want him going without lunch. So I fed him about half his lunch before I made sure he was comfortable enough to sleep. Then I told Dad that I was leaving and that Karen would be here in a couple hours. He just nodded and passed out within a few minutes. Its always going to be nervewracking to leave when someone isn't there to "take over" the shift. But I know he is well taken care of there!

So... all in all, it was great morning! A much-needed relaxing day for my dad! And me!

Saturday Evening

I got to the hospital at 2:00 to take over from Ryan. I was fully expecting a hard time after hearing that Dad had been down during the morning. But two things happened just before I got there that (I think) really helped Dad's mood. Ryan said that he had a little talk with him and told him that he is allowed to feel frustrated, mad, sad, and whatever he wants to feel. But we all hope that he is able to set that aside when its time to work hard. Also, he put some noise-cancelling headphones on Dad and put on some relaxing music. I think that went a long way to help "reset" the day so that he could feel a little more upbeat and energized. Thanks, Ryan, for being the best son in the world and the best brother that we could ever ask for. Seriously.

After Dad woke up from his cat nap, I told him that he had about one hour until his last session of therapy. So we had some time to kill. I told him we could look at Facebook, look through the pictures that I brought, or watch an episode of Friends that I had just downloaded to his iPad. He looked surprised at the last option and chose that. Then I offered the headphones and he told me (in his way) that he wanted me to watch and listen with him. For about five minutes, I felt like I was back in high school, watching Friends at home on the couch.

Diana, the speech therapist came in. She was nice and I had a chance to visit with her for just a minute before she started. She did mainly an evaluation of Dad, since it was her first time meeting him. She used flash cards and asked questions to get an idea of where he is. I think this is one area that needs the most work, but has the possibility for the quickest improvement. I hope, I hope, I hope.

The bright spot of my dad's day was definitely his very special visitors that came at about 5:00. Karen was in SLC with her family for her boys' soccer games, so she decided to bring her girls, Megan (age 9) and Lauren (age 7) to come for a quick visit. Karen's family lives just two blocks away from my dad in Grantsville, so they seem him every day. They have missed him terribly and had been begging to come visit. It must have been very uncomfortable and new for them to be in the hospital, but they handled it so well, even when they had to wait for almost 45 min to even see him. They each brought cards that they had made and brought books to read to him. I guess at home they would read to him on a regular basis and it was there special thing with Grandpa. So they each read two books to him and visited for a little bit before leaving. I think this was a huge boost for him. I love those girlies!

Thank You, Ef & Lois

I'll update more later tonight when I get a chance. But I wanted to thank Ef & Lois for the flowers! I was just thinking of bringing some flowers today to brighten my dad's room a bit. He looked surprised to see them and happy to know they were from the "Orgill" family. Thanks, guys! It was a much needed boost! (I just found out that it was Rachel that ordered the flowers for my dad. *Sniff* Thanks, Smach!)

Saturday Afternoon - The Machine

Ryan checking in for blogging duties. As Alison said I got to the hospital this morning just after 11 and just in time for Dad's second physical therapy session of the day. Collin had to rouse Dad and asked if Dad was ready for another session. He waited a little while for an answer and then somewhat unconvincingly but with a small grin Collin said, "There we go, I saw a nod." Alison and I laughed and I said, "Sure, but which way was the nod?"

Undeterred, Collin started to help Dad out of bed and into a wheelchair. He explained that if Dad felt up to it he was going to try to get him to stand up in an apparatus called the Standing Frame. Hearing that triggered in my mind a memory of The Machine in the movie The Princess Bride. I mentioned it do Dad and the three of us chuckled about it as we took the elevator down to the gym.

It was great to see Dad standing. The Machine...err, Standing Frame...is a chair with a back rest, feet holds, and then a cushion that locks Dad's knees and shins into place so his legs can lean forward without his knees buckling. Once in position a little hydraulic pump raises the chair up slowly until Dad is standing up. I pulled back on Dad's shoulders as he was raised up but once standing I let go and he maintained his posture with only a few reminders to raise his chin. He stood for 5 minutes, conquering the Standing Frame in only his 2nd day of rehab. Another therapist that helped transfer Dad back to his wheelchair said, "This is only Day 2? Your therapist (Collin) is crazy, and you are doing really well."

Back in Dad's room physical therapy went on for about 5 more minutes with leg exercises while in a chair. Collin asked Dad to raise his left leg up while keeping the knee bent and to do it 10 times. He was counting out loud, but when he hit the count of 7 Dad started counting in a quiet whisper as well and said, "10". Totally unexpected and absolutely hilarious. So the punishment was to go to 20 instead of 10 which Dad did fairly easily and counted most of the way. Then he did 20 reps of the same leg lift on the right let, which he lifted almost as high as he had the left. The next task was to move his legs in together and then back out, 20 times. Dad hadn't been able to do either of those exercises while I was with him yesterday. It is good to see some mobility in the right leg even in these early stages of rehab.

Occupational therapy started with practice opening and closing medicine bottles and twisting open the top of a bottle of baby powder. Dad could secure the bottle in his right hand and then performed the tasks pretty easily with his left. While he was working, Chelsie noticed some movements in Dad's right arm. "He wasn't doing that yesterday," she said. She worked with his right arm for a few minutes, pushing and pulling on it to see if Dad could offer the opposite force against her arm, and then asking him to bend at the elbow and touch his lips with his fingers. Dad would use his left arm as a guide, apparently trying to visualize what his right arm should be doing. Not a lot of voluntary movement out of the right arm yet, but definitively little moments of muscle triggers, sensation, response.

Chelsie next used the game Jenga to work with Dad on spatial awareness, fine motor skills, and to measure his level of understanding and following instructions. She would arrange the pieces in a pattern and ask him to distinguish and point to certain ones, and then gave Dad four step instructions that he had to listen to and then execute. Dad's sense of humor reared its head again this time around when he had a piece in his hand and was told to place it in a certain place 3-4 times. Finally he set the piece on his lap, under the tray they were using, and left it there. Chelsie took the hint and closed the therapy session for the day.

One final thought...since this is my first entry on the blog I'll say thank you to everyone, and particularly at this time for your kind words towards my siblings that have been so selfless and caring as they've watched over Dad. But much of the thanks should go to the wonderful people that have joined our family through marriage that have made ample sacrifices to allow Dad's kids to spend so much time with him this past week. As has been mentioned many times, being in the hospital really is the easy part. It is being away and worrying that is the most difficult, so a special thanks to family and friends that have helped with our kids and other responsibilities to free up our time.

Saturday Morning - More Therapy

It's Alison. Dad seemed to do really well his first night alone (and by alone, I mean with at least two nurses who checked on him all night long). I'm quite certain his children have much more anxiety over him being alone than he does. :)

I arrived this morning at 8:00 to find Dad sound asleep still. I tried to let him sleep for as long as possible but, because his therapy schedule indicated occupational therapy at 9:00, I had to wake him up for breakfast at 8:30. I may or may not have smuggled in some McDonald's oatmeal and a cream slush from Sonic. ;)

After a sleepy breakfast, Dad started occupational therapy with Chelsie and Rachel. They were great with him again, very kind and positive. Occupational therapy today consisted of moving to his wheelchair, getting dressed, brushing teeth, washing his face and combing his hair. This sounds simple enough, but took the full 45 minutes. Dad did great and, while still very sleepy, was very obedient and cooperative.

Right after occupational therapy, Collin showed up to take Dad to physical therapy in the gym. He did some leg stretches, which is painful because my Dad's right leg is VERY tight and stiff. Then, Dad practiced sitting unassisted on the edge of a table, with Collin trying to push him over so he could assess my Dad's strength and balance. Dad did great. During therapy, I asked Collin if recovery and treatment differs significantly between those who have suffered a hemorrhagic stroke (like Dad) vs. the more typical ischemic stroke (caused by a blood clot). He said that they don't see as many hemorrhagic stroke patients because it is fatal much more frequently than ischemic strokes. But, he said, those who do survive usually have the potential for a better recovery. This made me even more grateful for two things -- 1) that my dad is still here with us after we have learned more and more over the last week about how serious his type of stroke really is and 2) that his long-term prognosis is hopefully much better than we are seeing right now. There is truly some light at the end of this long tunnel, even if we can't see it right now.

After therapy, we headed back up to the room. Collin had moved Dad's afternoon physical therapy appointment up to 11:15, so we only had 45 minutes in between. He said he would prefer if Dad stayed in the wheelchair until he came back, so they wouldn't lose any therapy time doing the transfer into the wheelchair again. Dad agreed to this, but within one minute of Collin leaving, Dad was dozing in the chair. I asked if he wanted to lay down and he said yes. So, we moved him to his bed and he was able to get in a few minutes of much needed rest.

Ryan showed up for his shift just before Collin came back to take Dad to therapy again. Dad did some amazing things during his second physical therapy appointment. Ryan has promised to do an update this time, so you should be able to read about it later.

I'm so proud of my dad. He was so tired and worn out today and maybe a little more down than he has been. But he still worked as hard as I've ever seen and did everything that was asked of him. He knows that it will take hard work to get better and he's willing to do it.

On a side note, Dad's brother Ef called and said that he'll likely be in for a visit tomorrow. Dad has been asking for Ef ever since the stroke, but unfortunately, Ef has been recovering from his own knee surgery and hasn't been able to come in yet. So, I think a visit from Ef is just what Dad needs to have a boost going into his first full week of therapy. I look forward to hearing about their visit. Let's hope Ef speaks Cherokee. ;)

Okay, one more side note. I realize I sound like a broken record, especially for those of you who are also my friends on Facebook. But, if you could please take a minute or two out of each day and send Dad a message or comment on Facebook, it would mean a lot to all of us. After a long, hard day, one of his favorite things is to sit with us and listen to us read these notes. It literally makes his day. So, if you could take a minute or two and do this as often as you can, it would be great. Even just a note about what you did that day would be fun for him to hear. Thank you! Thank you!

Friday night

It's Diane. When I started typing the title of this post, I put "Saturday." My goodness, my days have been so off this week!

I just got back from a few hours at the hospital with Dad. How did I get the job of being the first one to leave him for a night alone? Sheesh! The nurses might have thought I was just a tiny bit overprotective, with all my questions and instructions before I left. They reassured me that they would take good care of him, and I believe them. Sunghee is his night nurse again, and she is every bit as wonderful as Sharon said. And Alan, the CNA, gave me the direct phone number to the nurses' station and said we could call anytime.

Anyway, this post will not be very informative. Ryan really needs to write a post about Dad's physical therapy and speech therapy this afternoon. It sounds like Dad worked hard and did great, but I'll let Ryan fill in the details (hint, hint).

I got to the hospital right after Dad finished dinner, a "real" dinner of lasagna, along with various mashed/pureed side dishes. Apparently they upgraded his diet level after his swallowing evaluation this afternoon. I saw what was left over on his tray, and the lasagna actually looked good enough to eat. Now that's progress! At this rate, I expect that his dessert tomorrow will be something like peanut brittle. ;)

We had a quiet evening. I wasn't able to understand a lot of what he said, but I figured out a lot of what he wanted -- the blinds closed, a drink of juice, the blanket, to sit up, the pillow under his arm, etc. We watched a little basketball and Dad rested some before waking up for the bedtime routine..... Regular checks, medications, and a luxurious mouth and teeth cleaning from Sunghee. He got a phone call from Susan and Regan, which brought a big smile to his face. Right before I left, I read him all the new posts and messages from Facebook. He loves those. Please keep them coming!

When I told Dad I was getting ready to leave, I asked if he needed anything. He said no. I asked if he needed me to stay. He said, "Uh, no!" I laughed and said his daughters must think he needs a babysitter even if he doesn't. I gave him a hug and kiss, and he kissed my ear/cheek. I have to admit, I got a little teary as I walked down the hall.

That's all for now. Alison will be going first thing in the morning, so we'll likely hear from her next.

Friday Morning - First Day of Therapy

It's Alison. I'm a bit late in posting... it was a BUSY morning in Dad's room. I was there from about 8am to 1pm, so I'll update to that point and then hopefully Ryan can catch us up later.

When I got there this morning, Dad was sleeping. Sharon had stayed overnight and hadn't gotten any sleep. But she wanted to stay for his morning therapy, so ended up staying another 90 minutes or so. She's a trooper!

They have Dad on a very structured therapy routine which at this point consists of 45 minutes of occupational therapy and 45 minutes of physical therapy in the morning and then 45 minutes each of occupational, speech and physical therapy in the afternoon. So, a total of 3 hours and 45 minutes each day. That's quite the schedule!

Here's the highlights from the morning therapy:

Occupational Therapy with Chelsie and Danielle
The goal of occupational therapy is to reteach and improve Dad's ability to do his basic daily tasks -- bathing, eating, dressing, etc. The hope is that, by the end of treatment, he'll be able to care for himself independently and enjoy most, if not all, of his favorite hobbies and activities.

They were WONDERFUL with Dad. They started out with an assessment of his strength and utilization of left and right sides. This was consistent with previous tests -- left side strong, right side not so much. They said that he appears to have some muscle triggering on his right side, but can't feel it and can't move it.

They had him eat his breakfast and showed him how to use his right hand to stabalize and support his food and dishes, even though he can't really use it for the actual eating. That way, he can use his left hand for the primary functions. He did awesome! I can't imagine how difficult it is to use your non-dominant hand for things like eating. But he is doing awesome. It is hard for us to watch him do it because we want to help him, but we understand it is important for him to do it on his own, even if it's a little slow going at first.

After eating, Chelsie put four playing cards down on the table (2, 4, 6, and 8) and asked him to put them in order from low to high. I was pretty skeptical, because he hasn't been able to demonstrate that he understands letters and/or numbers yet. He moved them on the table and looked at them for a while and then slooooowly moved them in the right order. We were so excited!

Chelsie wanted to practice getting dressed, but we ran out of time. She said she'd do that with him during his afternoon session.

Physical Therapy with Collin
So, my family is sick of hearing how much I LOVED Collin. He was so wonderful. So natural and kind with Dad. He was funny and talked to Dad like an adult (which seems to be hard for some of the staff). He explained the goals of physical therapy (pretty obvious -- to improve Dad's strength and use of his right side, and to reteach him to walk, climb stairs, etc). He asked Dad if he wanted to try getting in a wheelchair and Dad said, "Yes!" He had not been out of his bed for almost a week. Collin and an aide got Dad into a wheelchair quickly and efficiently. They were impressed with Dad's balance and said that he even helped quite a bit with getting into the chair -- this was unexpected and a great sign.

When Dad was in the wheelchair, we went for a ride around the floor. Sharon was right -- it's sort of like a nursing home. We went to the common room and watched the big screen TV. There was a door out to the patio, but it was snowing. The snow must have set off the motion sensor on the door because the doors kept opening and shutting constantly. This annoyed Dad greatly, so we left. LOL  We went walking around the floor again, where he became annoyed with me because I kept running into things. In our defense, though, we were pushing a wheelchair around a narrow hallway and dragging his IV pole and oxygen tank with us. He kept shaking his head when I'd bump into things. LOL I told you I'm a hopeless nurse...

Anyway, when we got back to the room, he'd been in the chair about 45 minutes. We assumed he'd want to get back into bed to rest, but he wanted to chill in the chair. We sat him in front of the TV, right next to the window so he could see out, and he watched Good Day Utah and relaxed. It was so good to see him sitting up and relaxing. After a while, he motioned that he needed something and it only took a couple of guesses for Sharon to realize he wanted a blanket. Score for Sharon!

Sharon left at that point and I sat down to talk to Dad. We did Facebook on the iPad and I read him the blog comments. He laughed at several of the comments -- he likes the funny ones. Keep it up!  Afterward, I opened the notepad on the iPad and typed his name to see if he could read it. He said he could and pointed to himself. Another huge accomplishment!

He is still pretty hard to understand. But he's consistent with yes, no, okay, and sure, which is very helpful. He also nods and shakes his head consistently. But when he talks, he still sounds like he's speaking Cherokee. I told him that today and he laughed. I showed him the movies on the iPad and told him to think about any more he might like. I told him we should get Dances With Wolves and he wouldn't even need subtitles because he now speaks the language. He laughed again. He's got a good sense of humor about the situation most of the time.

The rehab unit at the hospital appears to be wonderful. The staff are all amazing. I just hope we get him a single room soon. That will make it pretty perfect.

Ryan can update on the afternoon's activities, which I'm sure were very busy. I asked Dad if he was looking forward to therapy and he said yes. He knows that working hard is going to be his quickest ticket to getting out and his best bet at the best recovery possible.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We love you all and appreciate your offers to help and especially your encouraging messages to Dad.

First Night in Rehab

I got to tho hospital around 7:15ish. It took a while to find this room and when I did, Ryan and Dad were watching the last two minutes of the game. Such a bummer that its over for the Cougs, but I am SO glad that Ryan was able to come in to watch it with him. It would have been an even bigger bummer if he had been forced to watch it with me!

Dad is in the rehab section of the hospital now. Here is my overview so far.

My First Impression
- Smells like a nursing home.
- Feels like a nursing home.
- Has a roommate who introduced himself to me and said, "Hi Sharon. If you are staying overnight, I thought I should warn you that my medications make me hallucinate, so just ignore me if I yell out during the night." Seriously, he did. Felt like I was on candid camera. But he was serious. Yikes.
- Night nurse is Sunghee, who is from Korea and hard to understand. Good pick for a stroke patient that has a hard time communicating.
- Has a CNA that talks way too loud for someone that is checking on patients late at night.
- Worried that this was a bad situation and would be a depressing place for Dad.

Now that I've been here for a few hours:
- Smell is far less noticeable after being here for a while.
- Can't do anything about the look of the place. But his room is big and has curtains that divide it down the middle, so its semi-private. The room is right outside the nurses station, so response time is quick.
- His roommate (a guy about dad's age named Haley) is super nice, calm and easy going. He is polite to me and the nurses. He is here for something to do with his leg, not sure what. And I didn't hear any outbursts during the night, thank heavens.
- Sunghee just might be my new favorite nurse. Dad seems to understand most of what she says, and it doesn't seem to bother him when he doesn't. She has a mother who just suffered her third stroke this week, so she is very close to dad's condition and super patient with him. She is the most considerate nurse I've seen yet. When all the lights were off, she came in and used a tiny keychain flashlight when she was trying to find something. LOL! She jokes with dad and explains things to him and us in detail. LOVE her.
- Still not sure about CNA Ryan (not to be confused with Nurse Ryan or Dr. Ryan Orgill) but he seems nice. Might have to muzzle him next time he comes in, though.
- The few times I talked to dad before he went to sleep, he was upbeat and we had a few laughs about our miscommunication. I was able to guess correctly a couple times. (Yay!) He wanted to know why they come in so often and what they are doing each time. He seemed satisfied with the explanation that I gave him. When I couldn't' guess something, he kind of gave up and I asked him if he wanted to pray. He immediately said, "Yes please." I told him that if he wanted to say it, I would love to hear it. Especially since Heavenly Father is the one person he can talk to right now without communication troubles. He smiled and pointed at me so I said a quick prayer. He seemed very thoughtful after that. Not sad, just thoughtful.


So my assessment is mainly positive of his new room/area, which is a relief because I was ready to head for the hills when I first got here. The staff is cheerful and respectful and VERY quick at everything that they do. Twice during the night so far they have come to turn/move him. They did it in two minutes and changed his pillowcases and adjusted the fan for him. They seem very concerned about his comfort which is exactly what we want for him! Once one of the nurse alerts accidentally went off and two people were in the room before I could even get to dad. (He had just bumped a wire.) HUGE improvement from the NCCU, where they would sometimes take ten minutes to respond and even then barely said a word. Sunghee said that patient safety is the first priority here, so they will always be quick. Yay!

I'm excited to go to the "gym" tomorrow with dad to see what they do during Physical Therapy. He has 90 minutes of that in the morning, then 90 minutes of Speech Therapy in the late afternoon. We've talked to dad several times about working hard and keeping a good attitude, because that is his ticket home. He usually nods or says, "I know." Tonight I told him that after being away from him almost 24 hours, I could tell an improvement in his speech and that I was "this close" to understanding more of his words. He seemed surprised by that.

Dad has been sleeping soundly for several hours now, which is great. But just before he went to sleep, he motioned to me. I couldn't guess what he wanted (which I HATE) but I asked him if he wanted to know what I was doing on the computer, thinking maybe he could hear me typing. He nodded. So I explained that I was writing an email to my Ryan and my sisters. We've been sending regular email updates so that we are all consistently aware of everything that is going on and don't have to depend on the blog for updates. I told him that we are doing it so that we are more prepared when we come in for our shift. And that its VERY difficult sitting at home while waiting for an update. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Cool." Seemed very pleased with us.

Looking forward to seeing what progress he makes in the coming days. Thanks again for all your prayers and well wishes. Keep the comments and messages coming. They really make his day!

Thursday Evening.....Rehabilitation Center

This is still Karen...just getting ready to head out for the night. We had a very loooong day today. After my last post...we finally got dad moved to the rehabilitation center about 5:15. BARELY in time for Ryan to get here and turn the game on. Unfortunately, we had to turn it on...on dad's tiny 7 inch screen tv. I don't think that is what Ryan had in mind...but we had the game on and that was my goal...after begging the Acute Care nurse, the Rehabilitation nurse, the guy transferring dad, etc. "PLEASE GET US TO A TV BEFORE 5:30!". Well it worked...I had everyone pulling for me. The guy transferring him was even telling people to get out of the way cause we were on a mission. LOL.

So, we got moved to the 2nd floor, in the Inpatient Medical Rehabilitation. The not-so-great news is that he is in a shared room. Boo. I had no idea this was even an possibility...but as soon as we arrived I asked how we could get him moved to a single room. The center is pretty full right now, but after Alison (she called) and I spoke to everyone we could think of....the Rehabilitation Dr. came and spoke to us, and told us that they would move him to a single room, as soon as one becomes available. We are hoping this is sooner than later. Luckily his 'roommate' is a very nice guy, about dad's age, that so far doesn't seem overly annoyed that 3 of dads kids are here being very nit-picky about everything.

Unfortunately during the game, they had to draw blood, do assessments, etc. so he was a little agitated that he couldn't just be left alone for a minute. Dad's blood pressure has been too high for the past 2 days, to they have given him medication to try to bring that down. He seemed a little stressed tonight, after moving...but who wouldn't be? He had to be poked and prodded all over again. We just try to keep him well informed about what's going on as much as possible, since he can't really ask us questions right now.

On the bright side...his sister Kathy & her husband stopped in for a visit (they live very close to here), and he was very glad to see her! It always brightens his day when he sees a familiar face, so I was so glad they stopped by.

Things are a bit more settled now, and they informed us that in the morning, they will come in and help him get dressed (for the 1st time this week). He will then begin, what I'm sure will be a grueling day of physical therapy. I told him to try to get a good nights sleep, and so far he seems to be resting peacefully.

Keep the prayers coming.....dad is going to need strength, determination, perseverence and lots of hope for much progress in the coming weeks!

Thursday Afternoon

Hi all....it's still Karen. We have had a nice, quiet, 'low-stress' kind of day. This room is SO much less busy. So, we have 2 or 3 hours in between each visit...YAY. The physical therapists stopped by and worked with dad. He was able to stay sitting upright, w/o leaning on anything, and supported himself unassisted for several minutes. This was a big improvement from previous visits. They said he is getting much stronger. He didn't do much with his right leg....kept trying. Overall, they are really pleased with how much he is improving. They told him to get rested up for the Rehab Center and said, 'If you think we're mean....you just wait'. (gulp)

The nurse told me to get our room all packed up, so that we are ready to move when they come to get him. So I did. This was 2 hours ago. So now everything is packed up, and yet we wait. Our hope is that he is moved before Ryan gets here at 5:00 to watch the game with dad. He has asked several times today what time the game starts....so he is anxious to see it. Is it okay to pray that he gets moved quickly to watch the game? ;)

Dad has been awake and sitting up in his bed for several hours watching TV. We found an old BYU football game being replayed and he enjoyed watching that. Now we are listening to 'Jimmer news' on some sports channel.

Dad's spirits are good today! He's been smiling and upbeat most of the time... I was even able to understand a couple of the things he needed. When I did, and was able to repeat what he had said, he nodded enthusiastically and I jumped up and down cheering. And because his sense of humor has been in tact the entire time...when I told him he was speaking too quietly, and whispered to him, to show him how he sounds to us, he started talking like Barry White. Always the funny man. LOL. Hope you are all having a good day...thanks for checking in. :)

Thursday Morning Update

Hi everyone...it's Karen now. Susan just left and I'm not sure if she'll report on last night or not. It was a pretty quiet night, so there was not much new to report. She mentioned that he slept pretty well, and was at least able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.


This morning....things are going good. Dad is now in a Acute Care Center, just another division of the Neuro Care Unit. He has no I.V., and is not hooked up to any machines now, other then still monitoring his oxygen levels. This is all good news. The patient care needs are much more 'basic' in this wing. (Help with baths, blood pressure monitoring, medications, if needed, etc.) Dad still cannot stand or sit up unassisted, so he will need help with most things still for now...but those needs are improving daily.

The new nurse (Eric) came in to do his routine evaluations. Dad is responding more quickly to the things he's asked to do (stick your tongue out, follow my fingers with your eyes, give me the thumbs up sign). The great news is he is moving his right leg today. Not huge movements, but movements nontheless. And for the past couple of days he has not had any feeling in his right side, from his head to his toes. But this morning when Eric touched the right side of his face, dad could feel it! This, accompanied with being able to command some movement in his leg, is very encouraging!


The team of neurologists stopped by and when they came in, dad and I were laughing. They asked what we were laughing about and I said 'his breakfast', and proceeded to show them his 'toast'. The main Dr....(Dr. DeWitt) gasped and said 'what is it?'. I said 'toast'. And she said, 'no really...what is it?'. And I told her it was bread, blended and mushed, and formed into the shape of toast. All 9 of the them came over to peek at the 'toast' and had a newfound sympathy for their patients. None of them had ever seen that before and couldn't believe they actually tried to feed that to people. LOL! But we all got a good laugh, which felt great to have something to smile about! Anyway, then they got back to evaluating dad. They immediately saw movement in his right leg, and wondered if it was mainly a reflex movement. So they asked him to move his right let, and sure enough...he did! I explained about him being able to feel touch on the right side of his face today, and they were also very pleased about that. They told dad, he was doing really well and keep up the hard work....then told him goodbye, as he is being moved to rehabilitation this afternoon for certain now. **Just a side note: I told my mom that I believe we are entitled to some sort of 'discount' in the hospital bill, because they have dad's tremor (which he has in his left arm that he was diagnosed with about 6 months ago), as a learning tool. Dr. DeWitt took several minutes observing the tremor and talking to the residents and students about it. Anyway....I just thought maybe dad should be compensated for providing them with a learning experience. LOL!

Dad is resting now....after choking down a bite or two of his breakfast. I explained to him that because he is no longer on IV fluids, he's got to try to eat as much as possible, so he can get his strength back for the hard work ahead of him. He shrugged and agreed to eat a little bit.

The nurse told me that it would most likely be late this afternoon, that dad would be moved to rehab. The bad news, is that he may have to have a shared room at first, until a single room opens up. This will not be welcome news to him, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will change and that will not have to happen. If it does...we'll just keep doing our best to keep his spirits up, so he can get better, and get home!

I'll post again later, but I don't expect any major changes to report, until his big move! So, hopefully it'll be a quiet day, resting...and building up a reserve of the much needed strength he'll need later. Thank you for the continued prayers!

Doesn't Taste Like Chicken

It's Alison. I'm hanging out with Dad for the evening shift. When I got here at 6pm, they had just moved him out of the Critical Care unit to the Acute Care unit, or something like that.
Diane told me at "shift change" that they had ordered his dinner and it should be arriving soon. After an hour of waiting, I asked. I guess they had delivered it to his old room (which yes, is now empty) and it had been sitting there. So, they brought it over. I offered Dad the chicken and he said yes. After the first forkful, he made a face. I looked at the menu and it said salmon. Oops! I said, "You don't like salmon I take it?" He made a face again and shook his head. So, he had a vegetarian meal tonight... potatoes and corn. He wasn't super hungry and after he said he didn't want anymore I said, "Do you want dessert?" He raised his eyebrows and said, "Sure." Then I told him it was a peach (pureed peach shaped like a peach), and he scowled. LOL He ate a few bites anyway.

The TV was on ESPN and he kept pointing at the TV and asking something. After several guesses, I figured out that he was asking about the BYU game tomorrow. I said, "You want to know when it is?" Yes. "It's tomorrow." (More questions and talking.) "You want to know what TIME it is?" Yes. I told him the time of the game and assured him that we'd make sure he could watch it. He nodded and relaxed. I was glad to finally guess something right.

I brought an iPad for Dad to use, thinking that maybe he could use it with his left hand. He perked right up when I got it out and told him it was his. I showed him an app I bought that helps with non-verbal communication. (You point to a picture of a toilet, a drink, a bed, etc. and it says what you want.) Then I showed him the March Madness app and he said, "Cool." I opened Facebook and read him notes and comments left by people. Every couple of minutes, I asked if he wanted to continue, and he did, until we finished. Before I read each comment, I'd say the person's name, and he'd nod that he knew who they were. After we finished, I said, "Should I say something back to all of them from you?" He nodded. I said, "Should I say thank you and that you love them?" He scowled like, "that's boring." LOL! I said, "Yeah, I probably would have to think of something much more sarcastic for any chance that they'd believe it was you." He laughed at that one. (Brad, he especially likely your message and gave it a very enthusiastic nod. Thank you.)

After dinner, he started pulling up on the bed rail, looking like he was trying to sit up. I sat the bed up, but he kept doing it. Then, he picked up his left leg and tried to swing it off the side of the bed. I asked if he wanted to sit on the edge of the bed and he said yes. Well... easier said than done. We tried for several minutes. He's still hooked to several wires and tubes, and let's be honest, wasn't doing a lot to help me try to sit him up. :) I kept laughing and he chuckled with me. I told him not to tell anyone that I was not only the worst guesser (at what he tries to say), but the most inept nurse as well. He laughed again. It's so good to hear him laugh. I finally called the nurse to come and help us. She helped sit him on the side of the bed for a few minutes, which he enjoyed.

Afterward, we watched American Idol for a few minutes. He started getting sleepy. Luckily, the move to acute care (and apparent shortage of nurses) means he only has to get checked every four hours instead of every 1-2 hours. The room is darker and quieter too. Yay! I'm hopeful that he'll be able to get some real, good, restorative sleep tonight.

That's about it. Susan will be taking over for the night shift in a while, so I think she'll do the next update.

Another quick update

Dad was trying to tell me something else he wanted. I tried and tried to figure it out but couldn't get it. He kept laughing at me. I told him I'm glad he can laugh. I asked him if I'm pathetic. He said no. I asked if I'm useless, and he said yes. I asked if he wanted me to keep trying to guess and he said no. I asked if he's giving up on me and he said yes. But then I thought of a question I knew he would answer yes. I asked if he wanted to talk to his brother Ef, and he said yes! So we called Ef, and he talked to him for a few minutes. I'm sure it was wonderful for Dad to hear his brother's voice.

Right now, the respiratory therapists are here giving Dad a new kind of breathing treatment. They had been doing albuterol nebulizer treatments, but that didn't really help, because his breathing problems aren't caused by his asthma, but rather by being in bed. When patients lie in bed, they breathe very shallow breaths, because they're not working hard enough to force them to breathe more deeply. So as Carol put it, "Their lungs get lazy and full of crud." So now they're doing something called PEP, or positive expiratory pressure. It forces him to breathe against pressure, which forces air into the deeper parts of the lungs. They're also going to try CPAP tonight while he sleeps. They're taking good care of him, staying on top of everything.

PT & the Motabs

The physical therapists just left after working with Dad for a half hour or so. They got him sitting up and looking out the window. While he was sitting, they had him do some reach exercises, where one girl told him to reach up and touch her hand. She moved her hand a little bit each time, higher, or from side to side. They also helped him stand for a minute or so. They said they're trying to do anything they can to help him use his muscles, especially those on the affected side. He did fine but seemed very tired.

Dad is resting now. A couple of minutes ago, he started shifting around in his bed and saying, "I need..." something. I figured out he wanted a pillow under his arm. The physical therapists had forgotten to put it back. That was a major victory for me. I asked is that better and he said, "Yes. Thank you."

I put on some quiet Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. I asked him if he's enjoying the music and he said yes. Right now it's "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." I know he loves that song. I can't listen to it without crying. Of course, it doesn't take much these days, with all of our emotions so close to the surface....

Speech therapy

It's Diane now. Cheri, the cute little pregnant speech therapist, just finished working with Dad. She is one of my favorite people here! She took Dad through various exercises... counting to 10, saying the days of the week, saying "eee" repeatedly, at a higher tone each time. Dad hit exactly the same note she did every time, unless it was out of his range. So apparently he's ready for ward choir, even if he can't quite say every word just right. She also had him point to different things: a knife and a fork, etc. He did pretty well. She told him to wave and say good-bye at the end. He waved but wouldn't say it at first. She just smiled big and said she wasn't leaving until he said it too, and finally he did it. :)

Cheri used the little whiteboard Karen had brought in. She was so impressed with Karen's drawings, she didn't want to erase them and write anything else. I told her that Dad is an artist. She told Dad she would bring charts that already have pictures on them, because she can't draw like Karen and she doesn't want him judging her pictures. She's adorable.

In other news, Dad wasn't too hungry at lunchtime. He ate a little mashed potatoes and meatloaf. After lunch, I asked him if he wanted me to read out of the Ensign, and he said yes. So I read him a talk from the last session of General Conference.

They just told us they're taking him down for another CT scan soon. They gave him a dose of Provigil to wake him up before his scan, put it in chocolate pudding instead of applesauce this time, so I think he liked it better. They also said he would likely be moved to a regular room today, and possibly to rehab tomorrow. We'll keep you posted on when any of that happens.

The biggest frustration continues to be communication. I feel terrible when he's trying so hard to tell me something and I just can't get it. We'll keep trying and hoping.

I'll post again if there's anything new to report.

Wednesday Morning

Hi...this is Karen. Not much to report this morning. I think because he was awake so much of the day yesterday, he might have plans to make up for it today. :) He's been pretty sleepy since I got here at 8. He woke up a tiny bit....long enough to take a few bites of breakfast, but didn't have much of an appetite. But he promised me that if he feels hungry later, he'll let me know. The Stroke Rehabilitation representatives stopped by and said that he was stable enough to move to the rehab center soon. This will most likely (nothing definitive decided yet), be moved tomorrow, to the University Hospital Stroke Rehabilitation Center, that is in this hospital on the 2nd Floor (we are currently on the 3rd floor). This sounds like it would be the best alternative for him at this point, because they do very aggressive physcial & speech therapy, to provide the best results in the shortest amount of time.

In the meantime, things are pretty quiet. The nurses come in less now, to check his vitals and things, because he is more stable, which is nice for him, cause he is getting tired of being bothered every 15 min. So now, it's just a waiting game, until we get the word that he'll be transferred to Rehabilitation. I'll update in awhile, after the physical therapists and/or speech therapists stop by.

Night Report

Dad slept for four solid hours until they needed to come in to check a few things. They tried to re-do his IV three times (much to his sleepy annoyance) and it never did work. So they will try again later, I guess. He seemed to have a leg cramp in his left leg for a while, so we helped him change positions and he has been much more comfortable since then. He slept soundly for another 2-3 hours and has been in and out for the past hour.

Dr. Hall (another resident) stopped by to check. She is nice enough, but the two times I've seen her, I've wished that someone else was coming. She asks me strange questions about him to me, instead of trying to talk to him. I think that immediately puts him off, so he doesn't try to answer her much after that. LOL. Lots of personalities coming in and out, so we've definitely found some that we like more than others. But they are all wonderful and going great jobs, of course.

Thats about it for this morning so far! He's still pretty sleepy and doesn't want anything when I ask, so I'm trying to just let him rest. I've been here since 4:00pm yesterday, so he might just be ready to talk to someone else! LOL!

Finally Sleeping

Before I try to get some sleep myself, I thought I would let all of you know that he did fall into a deep sleep just after my last post. He has been out ever since, so the nurse let him sleep when she came in to check on him. So relieved to see him relaxed. :)

Hopefully he'll sleep most of the night. I'll update before I leave in the morning.

Quick Update

While Alison and Ryan were here, I made a bed on the couch in my dad's room and tried to get some sleep. With headphones in, I was able to sleep for a solid couple of hours, and when I woke up, Alison was gone. As far as I know, it sounds like he hasn't really fallen into a deep sleep yet tonight. He hasn't really today at all, without being interrupted shortly after. So he has to be super tired. As I was waking up, the nurse was helping Ryan move my dad to a better position and he kept grabbing at his left leg. He has relaxed now, so we thought maybe it was asleep after being in one position for so long. Ryan said this is the most relaxed he has looked during the past several hours, so he felt okay about heading home.

So now its me on the night shift. Dad seems to be falling asleep, so I really hope he is able to get some good rest. He has a lot of hard work to do tomorrow!

Tuesday Evening

Just typed a huge, long update and then got disconnected from the internet. BOO!

Anyway, I got here at 4:00 to let Diane go home. I got here in time for them to take Dad's blood and then haul him off to get an MRI. LOL! I felt kind of silly sitting in here by myself for over an hour. But I was able to call a few people and catch a quick five minute nap. While he was gone, his doctor stopped by. She said she would send someone later, since she was going home. It was nice to finally meet her myself, even if I can't remember her name right now.

He got back to the room at about 6:30 pm and was starving. Good thing his CNA (Flora, who is wonderful) had left his dinner tray. So I asked Ann to hurry and get him hooked back up to everything so I could sit him up and feed him. He liked the chicken and corn, but I'm sure he would have rather had ice cold milk. :) We tried to work out a system for him telling me what he wanted to eat, but it was just frustrating him. We finally gave up and I'm not sure what he was asking for. :(

We spent about an hour after that trying to "talk." He kept laughing at my guesses when I was obviously way off. I asked him if Karen was a better guesser than me and he said, "Not really." LOL! Over time, I figured out that he was asking about his brother, Ef. I explained to him that Ef recently had knee replacement surgery and can't get up himself. I promised him that he would come as soon as he could. (I later found out that Ef has been trying to call his room all day long, but there isn't a phone in this room. We'll call you tomorrow, Ef!) Then I figured out that he was asking about his granddaughters, Megan and Lauren. They are super close to him because they live close and see him every day. Very sweet.

He also mentioned that he wants to go home and when I said that he couldn't right now, he asked, "Why?" So I tried to explain the best that I could. :( Poor guy. It has to be so frustrating. While we were having this conversation, Ryan walked in. He always perks up when he sees Ryan. I asked Dad if I could explain our conversation to him and he nodded and kept nodding at everything that I said. I'm so glad that we did figure out some of the things he had been trying to say.

Ryan had the best idea tonight! He brought an ipod and speaker dock and has been playing music for the past couple of hours. He read the entire artist list and Dad picked The Beatles. (We were both surprised he passed on ABBA.) He listened to several Beatles songs and "sang" along with all the words. He just mouthed the words really, and was bobbing his head along to the beat. Such a good idea for him. Then Alison came in and offered to give him a hand massage. I'm think he may want to stay here if this treatment continues! LOL!

After the shift switch, his nurse (tiny Tori again) came in to do the routine checks. Ryan asked if we could get some antihistamine eye drops for him because he has been itching his eyes like crazy tonight. Also, I asked her about the MRI and she said she had just checked it and that everything looked unchanged. She said we could have a consult if we wanted, but she wasn't concerned and thought it could wait until morning. Then someone from respiratory came in and did a quick breathing treatment. And just as Dad was starting to drift off, the cleaning lady came in and started banging things around. I know they are doing their job... but that was very frustrating.

He has been up nearly all day long today. He has to be exhausted, but he is just lying there listening to music. I hope that he gets some good sleep tonight. :) Alison and Ryan are going to sit with him while I try to catch up on some sleep. Then they will head home and I'll do the night shift. More later.

Speech, Chest X-ray, & Rehab

It's Diane now. I'm actually home. I didn't get a chance to update while I was at the hospital. Karen told you part of what happened, and here's the rest.

Speech therapy finally, FINALLY came to see Dad shortly after 3:00. He had been wide awake for several hours, so we kept asking if speech could come. When the speech therapist got there, Dad was very worn out from being awake for so long. He mostly stayed awake during the evaluation, but I could tell he was tired and not as responsive as he would have been earlier. The highlights of the speech evaluation were that he counted to 10 with all the numbers being understandable and said the days of the week, although they weren't quite as recognizable.

The speech therapist talked to me about how we can help.... Keep our questions to simple yes or no questions, try to prompt Dad with the beginning of a word if we think we know what he's trying to say, and try to encourage him to communicate through gestures. Dad's speech is improving, but it's frustrating for him when he wants to communicate something that we can't quite understand. We'll keep trying and hoping for progress.

The speech therapist also evaluated Dad's swallowing again, to see if he can be moved up to the next level of diet. She said he was very borderline and she wasn't sure she was comfortable moving him up. I told her we don't want his diet changed unless he's ready, but that he had really been asking for something to drink other than those thick nectar-like drinks. She okayed ice chips and very small sips of water only. She said if water accidentally slips down the wrong pipe, it won't cause the kinds of problems that other beverages would. Maybe it's not much, but I think even those small changes will be welcome for Dad.

I asked for the results of the chest x-ray from earlier, because we had never heard anything. They said it looked better than the previous one, so that is definitely good news. The people who gave him the breathing treatment suggested an incentive spirometer, something that helps patients to breathe more deeply. Maybe whoever is there tonight could ask again about that?

Right before I left, the Director of Stroke Rehabilitation stopped by. He did a few evaluations (again with a very sleepy patient). He said he's hopeful that Dad can make great progress in rehab. He said we're taking things one day at a time, but he thinks Dad could be ready to move to rehab as early as Thursday. The way things seem to move, I don't think we should hold our breath. Maybe by the end of the week? Who knows? He also said to plan on a minimum of about 4 weeks in rehab. The neurosurgeon had told us 1 to 2 months, so that didn't come as a surprise.

I think that's all of my updating for now. The prayers we continue to need are that Dad will be better able to communicate, that his speech will improve, that he will be able to regain strength and movement in his right side, and that his spirits will be good, so he will be hopeful and motivated to work hard. That's not too tall of an order, is it?

Thank you all for your love, concern, and prayers. We love you!

Neurologist Visit

It's Karen. The 'team' of neurologists (9 to be exact...including medical students and residents) just stopped by. They said that his speech has made progress, and that it will continue to do that. They also believe that he will regain some function in his right arm. Most likely not all, but some. Because they originally attributed his stroke to hypertension, they have been watching his blood pressure carefully. He has not had any blood pressure medication while he has been in the hospital, but his blood pressure has remained consistently good. Because of this, they have scheduled him for an MRI, just to make sure his stroke was not caused by an underlying issue. This is just a precaution, nothing they are 'concerned' about.

Dad seems to have had a bit of trouble breathing today. It might be due to his asthma, but they did a chest x-ray, and are doing a breathing treatment right now, to see if that helps...but they think it might be due to the fact that he has been lying in bed for 3 days, so his lungs are getting "bored & lazy." LOL. So, hopefully this will help, and he will get some relief.

Dad has been talking a lot more today. And only slept just a few brief times....so he is much more alert today. But that has brought on more difficulties. Mainly, me not being able to understand him. We'll keep trying.

I'm leaving now. Diane will update more a bit later!

Big Day

This is Karen. I got here bit ago, and as you can tell from reading the previous post, Sharon and I had a bit of a comedy routine going on in here this morning, trying to understand what dad wanted, and trying to make him a good 'drink'. I do have to admit however, that after feeding him a couple spoonfuls of the Dr.Pepper concoction we got the 'okay' to make him, I found out that it really is quite nasty. (It tastes like Dr.Pepper mixed with baking soda...*blech*) I'm hoping that today the speech therapist will give him the go ahead to starting having liquids, sans the baking soda stuff. But in the meantime, his nurse Ann (who is super), is on a 'ice cream hunt', looking to make him a chocolate shake, because as she put it "Hey...ice cream is thick right?!" LOL! She is very nice, and hopefully that will be a nice break from baking soda flavored 'drinks'.

I am super happy to report that when the physical therapists came in today, dad was pretty wide awake so they were able to get a good 'work out' in with him...and were even able to help him stand! This was a great accomplishment, as he hasn't stood up since Saturday. He has almost no feeling on his right side, so they had to support him on that side, but he stood nonetheless and it was wonderful! After that, they left his bed in a chair position and let him sit upright for as long as he wanted to. So we sat and watched a little bit of the Dancing with the Stars episode from last night. After about 20 min...he started to get sleepy, so I asked the nurse to come in and change his chair back to a bed, for a much needed rest. The therapists reassured him that although he can not 'feel' his right side, that he does have function in it...(when pinched or something, he jerks his arm or leg), and they said that it will improve with time.

After a brief (15 min.) rest, he woke up again, and expressed that he was hungry. Luckily it was time for lunch anyway...so he is eating now. His appetite has increased a litte more, and he does pretty well, even though nothing is very appetizing.

At times today, his speech has been very clear, which is very encouraging. But for the most part, he tries to speak quite a bit, but we still have a hard time understanding. He is trying to speak one word at a time, which helps with some words. He realizes that it will take some work, and I can't even imagine his frustration with trying to tell us something, and we sit and guess 100 things...to no avail. I brought a white board with me today, and as soon as he feels up to it, we might try to see if he can write at all. This in itself with be difficult because he is right handed, and right now can not seem to use his right hand at all...but we will try anyway! Overall, it appears that his speech is improving each day. And he is more alert for longer periods of time, which allows for more time to 'practice' speaking.

He was able to communicate clear enough this question: "What do they say about how long I'll be here?" So I explained to him, everything they have told us so far. And he understands that it is based on how he does each day. But that he would be going to a Rehabilitation Center, once he is released from here. I was also able to explain to him more about his diagnosis and about getting better (physical therapy, etc.). Anyway he seems to have a full understanding about the entire situation.

His attitude right now is positive. I think he's glad to have company, even though we frustrate him sometimes, because we can't read his mind! I did read him the comments (at his request) that people have left for him. He chuckled at some, and appreciated them all! He was also able to enjoy a video that my 2 girls made for him, of them wishing him well, and blowing him kisses, and telling him they love him, that seemed to make him happy. All of his grandkids miss him terribly, and look forward to seeing him again soon!

That's all for now! Keep the prayers coming....they are working!

Dr. Pepper and Charades

Funny story from this morning....

Karen got here and Dad woke up soon after. So we asked him if he wanted some Dr. Pepper. He was thrilled with that idea until we told him that it had to be "thickened" before he could try it. The nurses gave us some powder to put in any drinks that he might want. So I mixed up a cup of Dr. Pepper gel/soup/mush and tested it to make sure it would come through a straw. I put the straw up to his mouth and he kept sucking on it and laughing. We thought he was laughing because it was gross. So I took it away and he kept kind of laughing and trying to tell us something. We just couldn't understand him and kept guessing and he would just laugh and shake his head. So finally I said, "Did you even get to taste the Dr. Pepper?" And he said, "No!" LOL! I guess I made it a little too thick. So we added some more DP and fed it to him with a spoon. He said it didn't taste anything like DP, but that he still wanted it. Pretty funny. It was good to see him having some laughs for a minute.

He's pretty worn out from the Dr. Pepper confusion and has konked out now.

Shift Change & Breakfast

My dad has been mostly sleeping this morning, but when he has been awake, he seems a bit down today. Doesn't seem to want to try as hard to do what the doctors and nurses ask. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to want to say something and not be able to. He is starting to get a bit discouraged when he can't do something or can't feel something. I'm sure he is becoming much more aware of the situation and isn't sure how to deal with it.

At one point I just tried to ask him about it. I asked him if he was feeling sad and frustrated and he just nodded. So I told him that I understood and that we were going to be here with him the entire time to figure this thing out. And I tried to reassure him that it would get easier with time and that he wasn't "stuck" like this.

Another neuro resident came in to do a quick check. They asked him to stick out his tongue and move it from side to side, to smile, and to wiggle his eyebrows. He did all of them without any problem. He doesn't seem to be able to feel much on his right side yet, but is still able to move it. So they said that will get better with time.

The new nurse, Ann, came at 8:00. Ann is so wonderful with dad. I expressed to her that I was a little concerned about him feeling depressed or sad about his situation because he is becoming more aware. She has been talking to him directly and explaining everything to him. She has been really understanding about how frustrated he is and trying to explain to him that his brain needs time to heal, but that things will get better with time. He seemed pleased to hear that from her. Also, Flora is the new CNA and has been in several times to see if we needed anything. She said she would come back to see if dad wanted a shave later and teased him for getting scruffy. LOL!

Ann brought breakfast at 8:45 and whispered in my ear, "It looks disgusting, but don't tell him that." LOL! And wow, yes it did. But he did like the cream of wheat and orange juice quite a bit. In fact, after his first bite of cream of wheat, he very clearly said, "Oh I like that!" And when she crushed up a pill in his applesauce, I warned him that it would be gross and he gave me a look like, "You weren't kidding!"

After breakfast, I asked him if he wanted to sleep and he said no. So I asked him if he wanted me to talk to him for a while and he nodded. So I told him about my day with Ros & Kathryn yesterday (my mom's sister and niece that are visiting from England.) He wanted to know every detail of that. Then I told him about all of the well-wishers on Facebook and mentioned several of you by name. He was glad to hear about everyone and I think it really lifted his spirits.

He drifted off while I was talking (thanks a lot, Dad) so I put his bed back down and told him to rest for a while. After a few minutes he got my attention and said fairly clearly, "My neck is hurting." So I was able to fix the pillows and make him more comfortable.

Its been an eventful morning for him, so I'm sure he will sleep for the next little while. I think the physical therapists will come in soon, so I hope that he will be alert enough to work hard!

Karen is taking over soon, so she'll be the next one to update. :)