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!