Wednesday, September 30, 2009

HE'S SITTING UP IN A CHAIR!!! Praise be to God...it is so good to see him in a chair. It's those little things that mean so much!!!

We are making progress and now that he's up they have realized what a strong individual he is...both physically and mentally. The physical therapist has said they will be working aggressively with him AND for that we are thankful!!!!!!

Just wanted to share...

More to come later today!!!

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WoW!! What a day! Lots of good news and Daddy is absolutely worn out tonight from all the activity.

After sitting this morning for about an hour, he got to go do the "swallow test" and proved us right...NO FEEDING TUBE!!! That was wonderful news, because it means he will have one less hurdle to get over on this journey to recovery.

He also traded his "digs" in Cardiac ICU for a room on the 3rd floor. So he's movin' on up!!!

Tonight Daddy is exhausted but hungry (also a good sign) - tho' not too exhausted to ask to watch football. So here we sit watching the Hawaii - LA Tech game - for no other reason than it is on.

We are so grateful for answered prayer and for prayer warriors from coast to coast. Please continue to remember Dad and Nelda when you go to our Heavenly Father in prayer...because now the real Journey begins.

• His physical therapy will be aggressive - which means three hours a day.
• His speech therapy will be frustrating because he knows what he's saying...we just can't understand. I'm sure he thinks we have gotten really stupid really fast!
• Hia recovery will take time...and whether it's 3 weeks, 3 months or 3 years it will be too long for his liking - he has wanted to go home and has been wondering what we were waiting on for several days.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Today is the day Daddy gets his permanent pacemaker, they told us it would be late this morning, but as it turns out it is scheduled at 1:00 pm (maybe they were thinking "left coast" time when they said late morning).

Actually, let me back up...Nelda's day started with a visit from the neurologist at midnight - waking her from a semi-restful sleep and telling her Daddy was not progressing as quickly as he had hoped and it would probably be two to three YEARS before he was over this. Well, we are thinking he's off by a good year and a half to two and a half years!!!

• Why is it that a great number of medical professionals look at a patient's chart and see 81 years old (for example) and think "old person"?
• They don't know my daddy, he may be 81 years old chronologically, but he's much younger physically and mentally.
• We believe he will fight to get back to his "new norm" and get there much faster than expected.

OK - now back to the pacemaker insertion...the procedure went well and by 4:30 pm (CDT) he had a new pacemaker, plus the wiring and tube from the temporary pacemaker had been removed. We are so grateful!

The fears of aspiration and possible pneumonia were dispelled when the doctor read this morning's x-rays (one lung was completely clear and the other had a little congestion); so we're a little confused as to why they are so ready to start a feeding tube. He is going to get to be sitting up tomorrow and they will only now begin to evaluate him...so we requested he be given the chance to prove he can swallow.

This afternoon before going into surgery, we were trying to get him to use his right hand. We have been going through this exercise of "squeeze my hand - pretend it's a golf club and squeeze it" and that had worked up until today, I think he's figured us out! So I popped off and said "OK, Daddy, if you won't squeeze my hand, we'll just have to arm wrestle" (hoping he'd just try to grip my hand). Well, you can imagine my surprise when he took my hand to the mattress. AND to top that, when I started to bring it back up, he tightened his grip and took it down again. This happened four times. He's a mess!!! We have laughed at how his sense of humor and orneriness continue to show through. I love his crooked little smile!!!

So tonight he sleeps, and tomorrow the tough part begins...rehab! He's determined...we can tell because he's feisty!

Please pray for his ability to swallow and for a quick and complete healing. We are grateful for your continued prayers and support.

Friday - Monday, September 25 - 28, 2009

Daddy is holding his own and fortunately (or unfortunately for him at this time) he understands and hears EVERYTHING we say and do. (which he reminded Nelda and Hattie of this afternoon!)

But he sometimes can't communicate...I know the words are there in his head and coming out of his mouth, we just can't always understand. BUT then there are times we understand very clearly.

We know he gets a little disoriented at times and doesn't remember where he is, because he has asked...

• "who are we waiting for?"
• "where did this bed come from?"
• "what are we waiting for?" (which is what we are wanting to ask)

We also know he is getting better and agitated all at the same time, because he is ready to get out of bed...in fact, he has made numerous attempts...which scares us because he still can't move his right leg.

Five days on his back...he's a little tired of this and rightly so.

We know he's frustrated, especially when we've had to ask him, for the fifth time, to repeat what he's said. That's usually when he blurts it out.

• Like last night, when I knew he was hungry, but I wasn't sure what he was asking for and he blurted out "SANDWICH".
• Sorry, Daddy, the chocolate pudding was as good as it was going to get!

But, we also know his sense of humor is very much intact...

Yesterday, he was trying to get Nelda to understand that he wanted out of bed and she told him that he couldn't. His response...

• "Hide and watch"

And his stubborn streak...very much alive and well...

• The nurse was trying to get him to squeeze with his right hand and he wouldn't budge.
• Then I walked in a little bit later and asked him to squeeze my hand like he was gripping a golf club (sorry, nurse, you have to know your audience) and I thought he was trying to break my fingers.
• Then the added bonus...he lifted my hand halfway to his face from the bed. (It's the little things that mean so much now - I believe this has changed all our lives.)

For the most part his memory is also good...

• He remembered I had told him, last week, that James had gotten a promotion and raise.
• He said..."James...raise?" "WHEN?"
• He asked if Brett had left and when...and we think he may have been asking when he was coming back instead of when did he leave.

He enjoyed hearing from his grandchildren and great grandchildren...

• when Melissa placed the phone next to his ear for the kids to say "We love you, PaPa" - he smiled real big!
• and when Brayden told him he was praying for him...we KNOW that thrilled his soul.

He has so many friends and I think most of them have come by the hospital at least once...and he enjoys every visit (whether he's snoring or not).

His blood pressure had been elevated both yesterday and today, but they are trying to control that with meds. He has developed a cough and when you can't sit up more than 30% your chances of getting pneumonia increase. Those are two prayer requests...as we prepare for tomorrow.

The plan remains to insert the pacemaker tomorrow (Tuesday, September 29th) so we can start really working the physical therapist...please pray that both of these issues will have subsided and he can really start recovering.

We know he has a long road ahead of him, but our prayer remains for a full recovery. God hears the prayers of His people and we believe He is still in the miracle and healing business.

Thank you so much for continuing to keep Daddy in your prayers.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Daddy had a good night and was able to rest. When we checked on him first thing he was joking and laughing. Looks like the pacemaker is going to be the answer. From what we understand they could insert the permanent pacemaker as soon this afternoon and if that's the case he will probably be able to go home tomorrow.

Feeling good about Daddy's progress, we all left his room and didn't return for about 30 minutes or so. Much to our surprise, he was having a stroke. It happened all too fast...from laughing and cutting up to unintelligible speech and little use of his right side in less than an hour.

The nurses were great...they worked fast and did all they could do to make Daddy comfortable and help us understand. Not that any of us really did. I think we were in shock...this very active 81 year old man, our dad - husband - grandad - uncle who was playing golf less than 24 hours earlier now laying in a hospital bed barely able to communicate and totally helpless. Life can change so quickly.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Wednesday started out like most of Daddy's days...on the golf course. He played 18 holes and shot an 85...not bad for someone who turned 81 only one week before. He loves golf and it shows!!!

Following his golf game and a bite for lunch, he and Nelda went to the funeral of a member of their church before going to their financial advisor's office to sign some paperwork. It was at that time we believe this particular journey of Dad's life started.

He mentioned not feeling well and being dizzy, then when it was time to sign the papers he couldn't write his name (we would learn later this was probably the beginning of the TIA's [transient ischemic attack], mini-strokes or "showers" as the Neurologist referred to them). Nelda suggested going to the hospital, but was told he was probably just hungry. Fortunately, Nelda insisted on driving and got no resistance.

After arriving at home, Nelda fixed dinner and they sat down to eat. After a little bit, Nelda looked over and Daddy was passed out with his head hanging over the back of his chair. She got to him as quickly as she could to make sure he didn't choke on his food and insure he wouldn't slip out of the chair. She called 9-1-1. When he regained consciousness he was very weak and began to get sick.

The firetruck arrived before the ambulance, but they began working with him as soon as they arrived (he passed out again once they arrived) and when they were ready to put him in the ambulance, instead of bringing the stretcher all the way into the house, they rolled him out in his chair (for those of you that have never been to their home, their kitchen table has chairs on casters and they roll!) and got him prepared for transport out in the garage. (I'm not sure why I'm even mentioning this, except that Nelda has mentioned it more than once...guess it's one of those things we'll laugh about down the road.)

Daddy told the paramedics to take him to Walls Regional, but they insisted on bringing him into Fort Worth to the Heart Center at Texas Health Harris Methodist AND are we glad they did!!!

Daddy's heart rate went to zero at least four more times on the trip into the city. And it continued to misbehave even after arriving at the Emergency Room. The decision was made to put a temporary pacemaker in to see if that would help fix the failing heart.

So to the Cath Lab waiting area we went and they started the procedure on Dad of inserting the temporary pacemaker. This is done by feeding leads through a vein into the heart...the vein they used on Daddy is from the groin area. This means no movement of the right leg and no sitting up until the permanent pacemaker can be inserted.

Following the procedure Dad was alert and like a new man. We are so grateful.