How I spent my summer vacation

Dad used this term today while on a walk/ride with Karlene and I..... The wind suddenly picked up and lifted the sheet we had on him covering his legs from the intense SF sun. He said it was like a kite, and his sudden exclamation of "how I spent my summer vacation" sent both of us into giggles!!!!

Yeah dad one heck of a way to spend a summer vacation!!!!

E Ticket ride

Growing up we heard the term "e ticket ride" often.... Once upon a time Disneyland had booklets of tickets one used, it's wasn't until Magic Mountain opened that Disney went to a all inclusive admission fee.... The tickets started as A-C, A being the smallest and least popular.... Over the years D and E tickets were introduced, as new and exciting rides were added, the E ticket remained the highest attraction/ coupon designation for 20 years!!  The tickets are gone, but the association is not forgotten....

Particularly exciting experiences or situations over the years have been celebrated by being deemed an"E-Ticket ride"... My learning how to drive so many years ago was one of these exciting experiences I do believe..

The newest experience to gain this title, is the always thrilling sometimes heart skipping ride dad takes via the EZ Lift to get him in and out of the bed.... Shifting him can be done with the aid of  couple physical therapists or the lift team, but often it is the nurses left to this task. The EZ lift makes this process much safer for both aids and patients alike, but watching the process is quite the experience. A heavy canvas sling is slipped under dads body, each of the four corners is fitted with several heavy duty loops.. Black is he shortest, green the middle and deep red the longest.. Depending oh how they intend the patient to be situated at the end of the move, the appropriate loop is chosen to hook onto the lift. in shifting dad from the bed to the wheelchair they use the black loops on the top of the sling and the red loops on the bottom..

Once secured the lift does the "heavy lifting", easily shifting dad from the bed to the wheelchair with minor adjustments needed form the aids for proper placement... This is quite the sight to see, dad gliding through the air with the greatest of ease.... Dad's "E-Ticket ride", per his words......

Baby steps......

In physical therapy it's... Sit before you can stand, before you can walk.... In eating its thickened liquids, before soft dice, before solids and "real foods"..... Everything happens in baby steps. For infants and toddlers these are measured in weeks or months, for dad the process had been a bit more quickly....

In just over a week he has progressed from sitting up with significant assistance, to sitting up with minimal assistance... From not risking his frame to allow him to stand, to with assistance having him stand. Initially he defaulted to a "flamingo stance" coined by mom, standing with his left leg bent in a pose that was reminiscent of how a flamingo stands. To standing today and leaning against a wall for added support. But with both feet on the ground, accessing his own sense of balance, and feeling his own weight.

His dietary improvements have been equally as swift... From just over a week ago he has progressed from a continuous feeding regime, to an occasional trial of soft puréed foods. Now he has enjoyed several days of  stage 1 of "real foods" to a possibility of graduating to "stage 2" of soft diced foods in the next few days.... Quickly moving through the necessary stages to fully graduate!!!!

Dads nurses and therapists are very impressed, and although he may be frustrated that it's not fast enough... He is doing great, and will only continue to get better!!! Baby steps...

Steady as he goes...

The last few days have been remarkable, when asked this afternoon how he felt he was doing by the occupational therapist he said "fair" her response was "AWESOME".... Dads progress has been a steady trudge uphill, battling his way back to normal...

Since having the feeding tube changed just over a week ago, the improvement in his speach and swallow has been nothing short of amaxing, he is now allowed to have soft pureed foods (with supervision) for all meals.. This may be supplemented by the occasional tube feeding, if the nutritionist deems his caloric intake not sufficient enough for proper healing.... So far eggs and french toast have been the breakfast selections, he preferred the pureed french toast to the powdered eggs... and savory choices have been interesting to say the least... Chicken and broccoli souffle with mashed potatoes, pureed Salisbury steak with cauliflower, and pudding like sides... He says they taste alright, but not like my cooking (ok so I asked him, can you blame me), giving him a goal to work towards...

Strides made in physichal therapy have been equally as remarkable, sitting more centered with less assistance... Standing but briefly to feel his weight and work on his balance, a welcomed relief to all the hours lying in bed... Bending and stretching working with the therapists on reaching and moving (today using oval rings that reminded him of his grandkids toys)...Regular excursions out of doors for some fresh air, sunshine, and change of scenery...

What I find most encouraging is his awarness to the world around him, an occasional slip up here and there... But generally he is aware of what is happening around him, he is participating in conversations (even when we were trying to talk around him) and asking questions about the people in his life.... Even had the chance tonight to make decisions on his meals for tomorrow, a very positive sign indeed.....

One at a time.......

So Saturday turned out to be quite an adventure...... Arrived at the hospital in time to help the physical therapists dress dad, and shift him into his wheelchair.... He did quite well, listening to what the therapist was asking of him and following directions.. We were able to take a walk (roll) outside and enjoy the beautiful Indian Summer in San Francisco.. Warm sun and an refreshing cool breeze, perfect for a late morning stroll..... Spent a good half an hour out on the deck overlooking a neighborhood park, watching kids learn how to skateboard and doggies chasing one another in circles..but the wind was quite cool and dad decided he wanted to go back into the room...

After settling back into the room, I wandered off to get lunch for mom, Greg and myself from a local corner market.. Greg joined us for lunch, but then decided to have an adventure of his own... Needless to say it was convenient that the ER was just downstairs, l floor ride on the elevator.... After checking vitals, and administering multiple medications the decision was made to admit Greg. Naturally admitting him into the same hospital would have been too easy, so Greg once again took a ride to PAC the sister hospital to Davies.... I ran back upstairs to dads room to gather my belongings, to discover dad had caught wind of what was happening and was concerned for Greg.. He had heard my voice when I was speaking to the nurses asking for a wheelchair for Greg, and wanted to know how he was doing..... A wonderful sign of dads awareness for his surroundings, and of those around him..

Well, Greg is still at PAC, his cardiologist  is not sure what is going on exactly.. Does appear he had a minor heart attack, do not yet know why..... Hopefully we will find out more tomorrow, after more tests and an exploratory surgery.... Thank goodness for friends (family) in SF taking care of us !!!! Can't handle more than one at a time!!!!!!!!!

Do no harm........

I've been struggling to get through to dad that the therapists are not going to let him down.... They are not going to let him fall, to trust in them..... What I didn't know was that in his mind it was less the fear of falling, then of trusting that he would not hurt those trying to help him... Something I had not contemplated... He is truly worried that he is accidentally going to cause an injury to one of the therapists.. This is the reason he has been resisting, and struggling with the physical therapists (doesn't explain his I'm annoyed attitude with the occupational therapist) but that is a different story..... 

So we had a long conversation on the topic..... We discussed the therapists roll and that they are trained in how to work with all varieties of patients.. That they work in tandem for a reason, that they have tools such as belts to help them move and shift patients with limited mobility...  That his resisting and pushing back with his strong right side could actually cause more harm, to both he and the therapists potentially.. He is not pushing the therapists directly rather he is using the strength in his right arm to hold himself up, pushing his body over to what his brain believes is midline.....Rather than letting the therapists move him to his true center, letting his core strength do the hard work... 

He understood but is still apprehensive and resistant to letting go.... But not because he is afraid of getting hurt himself, but rather afraid of hurting others...... 

Brunch date.......

I arrived at the hospital this morning after running some errands and such.. To an amazing sight...Dad eating eggs and thickened coffee!!!!!! His first attempt at eating more solid foods!!! His speech therapist thought that his drive to have coffee, would motivate him to work harder... She was correct, almost.. He does want coffee, but the syrupy thick barely tastes like coffee did not exactly spark his interest... What did get him motivated was the chance to impress Mom and Karlene (and the rest of us with his eating skills).. To this I asked him to let me film him with my phone, he agreed and took several spoonfulls of eggs followed up by spoonfulls of coffee.... Maybe a bit to eager to impress, went a bit faster then he should have and had to work on fully finishing the process.. But he was pleased by his accomplishment and even flashed us a big smile in the end.....

Ironically he was not as interested in the coffee as the therapist thought he would be, (I suspect it was the quality, but then I am a coffee snob)... But the truth of the matter is he really is not that hungry... I know hard to imagine that someone that has not eaten solid foods in over three weeks is NOT hungry,  but truly he is not driven to eat..... In speaking with the therapist after the fact we came to the conclusion that the continuous drip feeding keeping his body fed, is hindering his need to eat the foods they are bringing him.... And ultimately a hindrance to improving his swallow and ability to graduate to the next level.... A talk with the dietitian will hopefully improve this, by changing his continuous drip to a bolus feeding.... Delivering to him the necessary calories and nutrition in several individual sessions as opposed to his current routine..

The hope is this change will then make him actually feel hungry in the mornings, when the speech therapists comes to work with him.. And ultimately drive him to work harder and improve his ability to swallow completely faster..... Looking forward to my next brunch date...