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!