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!