First shower

Just got off the phone with mom. She said they moved dad today to a different room with a supposedly longer bed but mom said she doesn't think the new bed is that much bigger. Dad is just too tall for those hospital beds. The nurse said they might try to put an extender on the end of his bed so he doesn't keep having his feet touch the end of the bed.

Mom said dad got to sit on a bench while he took an actual shower today! It's the first one he has had since the whole ordeal. Mom said there isn't a lot of improvement with his legs today but at least he can still move both of them.

Mom told me they plan to move him out of the hospital on January 6th to a skilled nursing facility. He will stay at that facility for 3 weeks and then be moved home. Since he will be coming home in a wheel chair, there will have to be some updates and changes made to their house. This has certainly been a huge and sudden change to both their lives. Please continue to pray for dad to heal and for mom to stay strong through it all.

Update from Christian

Dad is doing well in rehab.  He spends about 6-8 hours each day working with physical therapists, speech, and occupational therapists.  He's made a lot of progress learning to sit up and reposition himself. 

Swallow test and improvements

Mom talked with me yesterday and today. Dad's swallow test went well yesterday; everything looks good.

Today as I talked to mom she said Dad was sitting in his wheelchair. She said Bob is there again and had been discussing work related topics with Dad. Dad did really well with the conversation. It shows those parts of the brain are waking up. He still has trouble with the simple things, but they see improvements day by day.

There have been small improvements in his leg function according to Bob.

Right before I got off the phone, Dad's physical therapist came in to work with him and get him back in bed, which is good, because his back was starting to hurt and he was feeling tired.  

Moving from ICU to Rehab

Today dad got moved from ICU to Rehab! Another step forward!

Here is Brian helping dad get ready to move.

Here they are transferring him from one bed to another.

Here they are about ready to go into the elevator. Notice all of dad's many belongings. They were teasing him because of all the things he had, including a latex foam pad.

Here he is in his new BIG room. 

Here is the hall that Mom walked down a zillion times.

Good news

Just got off the phone with mom. She sounded very upbeat. She wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and faith. She is so grateful for everyone's support up to this point.

She finally got the results back from the liver testing they did. They said the sonogram looked really good. They said there isn't anything to worry about. She did say dad had some gall stones but they weren't causing any pain or problems. They think he had elevated liver enzymes because he might have passed a gall stone. They don't know for sure but they think that is what happened. Mom said they plan on eventually doing a cleanse to try and get rid of them.

Right now mom and dad are just waiting for Dr. S to come and sign some paper work to release dad from the ICU. He will then be moved down to rehab! Once he gets to rehab they plan on doing another swallow test.

Mom also said that dad is moving his left leg a little better today! She said it isn't a lot but it is a noticeable improvement. The massage therapist has been rubbing dad's feet which he has enjoyed a lot.

They also removed the bandages from his incision sites.

Liver concern

Mom called me this morning and told me that they did a test this morning on dad to check his liver. When the results came back, they noticed something on the results that could be concerning. They are going to have a gastroenterologist come in and look at the results to get more information. They said his liver might be ok and that we might not have anything to worry about but at this point they are a little concerned.

Mom asked to not let up on your prayers and hope that his liver is ok. We don't know for sure whether or not they will move him to rehab today, especially with the liver scare, but it might still happen.

Mom said yesterday was a much better day. She got a Priesthood blessing from the home teachers and dad got another one too. She even sounded much more upbeat when I talked to her. She said dad was doing a little better cognitively yesterday as well. She also feels really good about keeping dad at St. Marks. She said she went and talked to the people in the rehab center at St. Mark's and also looked around. She said she really liked it. They assured her that they were completely capable of providing proper therapy and rehab for dad. They said the only thing the U of U has over them is that they are better with quadriplegics, but of course dad is not a quadriplegic. Mom is grateful that she will be able to keep dad there because she didn't like the U of U as much and it would be a longer drive. She also said the U was much bigger, busier and dad would probably not have his own room.

She said dad has slept well the past two nights and has done really well. Because of the crazy winter storm and the fact that my life is busy beyond control, I decided not to drive to Salt Lake and spend the night with dad at the hospital. I was really worried and feeling guilty but I was grateful that he did well and I am glad I didn't go out in the snow because I heard the roads were really slick.

Little improvements and rehab on Monday

I'm at the hospital again tonight. I got here around 5:45 pm. Mom was still here and we all had a good time visiting. I haven't seen dad since Monday morning so to me, he looks much better and has progressed a lot. Mom had dad do some tongue and throat exercises tonight that he is supposed to do multiple times a day. He did a really great job and was able to do them all well. We also asked him a lot of questions and he did pretty darn good with them. He missed a few questions but he was doing really well with opposites. He had a little difficulty thinking of the word "rainbow" when we showed him a picture of a rainbow that one of his grandkids drew him and he had a hard time thinking of different kinds of trees, but overall I can see a big improvement. He wrote a couple of sentences tonight and it was much better than what he had done previously. He also read a card from a family member and did just fine doing that.

He also was able to move his right leg up and down, side-to-side, and he could push against mom's hand. His left leg has just a little bit of movement. Dad no longer is hooked up to oxygen, or really anything else except for the blood pressure cuff. It is very good to see him like this. Dad's voice is also improving. It still sounds a little hoarse but they have been encouraging him to talk at full volume rather than at a whisper.

They were thinking of moving dad from the ICU to rehab today but the doctor decided to wait until Monday because dad's blood pressure is still not quite balanced. Today it was a little low.

Mom said dad's upper body strength is excellent. She said she arm wrestled him and even though she tried, she lost.

Bob and Nurses in ICU

Bob brought his laptop to try and entertain Dad.

One of Dad's physical therapists, Bruce, is a BIG Ute fan (if you couldn't tell). And he likes to give Dad a hard time about being a BYU fan.

Bruce making fun of BYU.

Niki is our favorite nurse in the ICU. Her mom had had something similar to what happened to dad so she said that patients like dad "have a special place in her heart." She was very protective of dad and made sure all the nurses were taking good care of him. We all loved Niki. She was serious and smart but could also joke around.

This nurse was very kind and gentle with Dad. He was another favorite.

MRI Results

Mom called me to tell me the results of dad's MRI. The neurosurgeon said everything looks great but the brain is slightly "deflated" (that was the word mom used). He said that the reason it looks this way is because of the lumbar drain that had been in. He said he isn't concerned about dad's mental abilities. He is pretty confident that within a couple of days, dad should be much sharper mentally. Mom was so so grateful for this news. She said "even if his legs have partial paralysis for the rest of his life, if he has his mind, everything will be much better."

Everyone keep hoping and praying for the best. 

Difficulty thinking clearly

I just talked to mom. She said dad is really struggling to think today. She was doing an exercise with him to try and have him think of the opposite word she said (cold vs hot, rude vs nice, etc). She said he really really struggled with it and just couldn't come up with the correct words. She asked me to tell everyone to pray extra hard today because he is struggling so much.

She said he is eating well but has been really tired and hasn't been able to do to much physical therapy because of how tired he is. She said when he was eating she asked him if he liked what he was eating and he said "I am not sure."

She said they just took him to do an MRI. She wasn't sure exactly what all they are checking but he will be gone for a couple of hours doing that.

She also said that the doctors aren't worried about his stomach and gut working properly because he has had good gut sounds. There was concern after the surgery about his gut so we are glad everything is going well there. I'll give an update soon.

Another rough night. Lumbar drain removed.

I just asked Bob how dad's night was last night. He told me dad was awake and lively for a good portion of the night. He was pulling off bracelets, blood pressure cuffs, etc. He was and still is a little less sharp mentally. Bob said though that he at least recognizes he isn't thinking as clearly.

Bob will stay with dad until Friday morning. I plan on staying with dad Fri, Sat, and Sun night.

Bob said that they also removed the lumbar drain this morning! More progress. Hopefully the pressure doesn't build now that it is removed. He will be able to move around a little better with it out now.

Dad's improved thinking

I talked to mom tonight and she said that the doctor decided to slow his lumbar drain today and then remove it tomorrow. Mom said she wasn't sure why but she just felt like that was the right thing to do. She felt really good about the decision. The nurses have said that once the drain is removed, he will be able to do more physical therapy.

Mom had been praying all day that dad would show some kind of significant improvement either mentally or physically. She said that her and Bob were just sitting there with dad and out of the blue dad said "I have disability insurance through work that we could use." Mom and Bob both looked at each other rather surprised because it showed dad could remember and reason a little better than he has been able to. She said after that dad started talking to Bob about BYU football. She said they were discussing the players a little bit. Bob said he was bringing up names of players and teams that they were on that Bob had to really think on but Dad had them all right. This little discussion gave mom a lot of hope. She was really excited that he was able to think a little more clearly.

A message from dad

What follows is a message from Dad. Mom is acting as scribe as Dad doesn't feel up to typing by himself quite yet. We'll get to that point later tonight or tomorrow perhaps. Enjoy.

We have some good doctors. They really know what they are doing but they are still disagreeing among themselves. (about the lumbar drain)  It shows how much they are thinking about this whole thing.

I love you all a whole bunch! Bob has been giving me excellent foot rubs! What my wife provides in the way of food is far superior to cafeteria food. (I brought him a mixture of the stuff I put in his smoothie each morning and mixed it into yogurt, which he loved)

This might take longer than I initially thought but let's trust in the Lord.

love,

Dad

Meeting with the Neurosurgeon

Mom talked with the neurosurgeon Dr. Margetts today. He is not worried about the dementia and believes that Dad's mental acuity will come back. There doesn't appear to be any injury to Dad's brain, it looks good.

The nurse asked Dad to write his name, he wrote "name" and then he saw the "e" on the end of name and wrote "N" and then his last name. She said his writing is a bit shaky.

Dad has good movement in his arms. They had him sit on the side of his bed again today and were having him do some arm exercises. This caused a him to be a little more unsteady than usual (because of the arm movements) and he would sometimes start falling back.

The dr. also talked with her about what is causing dad to not be able to move his legs that well. The doctor gave two possible explanations. One is swelling and if that is the problem it would get better. The other is that it could be a anterior spinal cord stroke causing incomplete paralysis of the legs. Dad's posterior (large motor muscles) work better because he can lift his legs but has a hard time moving his toes. He also said that there may be ischemia which is lack of blood flow and infarction resulting in death of tissue. Dr. Margetts said this could be permanent but then again he said he has seen all kinds of things and dad could recover. The doctor said most often patients with these conditions start to compensate in other ways and can go on to walk normally.

Dad still has his lumbar drain in because they think the pressure on his spine may be contributing to the leg problem. They will be taking it out tomorrow because leaving it in could cause meningitis. He took a white blood cell count today that showed there were no white blood cells which is good because it means there is no infection.

They have Dad taking lasix which is a medication to help drain fluid. Mom said he is looking better but still needs to drain fluid. The diuretics are causing Dad to have low potassium so they are giving him potassium supplements every so often.

Dad's digestion is a bit slowed and they are hoping to see an improvement with that. They have started giving him some laxatives to help.

She said to please continue to pray for him and to specifically pray for his legs, intestines, bladder and cognitive functions.

Moving more

Last night was interesting. Dad slept really well until about 1:00 am. The nurse had to give him his pill so she came in and woke him up. She actually had a bit of a hard time getting him to wake up because he was in such a deep sleep. I thought he would just fall back asleep but he was pretty restless for the next couple of hours and really for the rest of the night. I think they let him sleep too much yesterday. He had already gotten some pain meds right before I arrived last night and he said he wasn't in pain so I think he just wasn't tired.

By restless I mean he was reaching down and pulling his legs up close to his body (bending his knee). I asked him if he needed help and he said no. The nurse came in and we both stood there and watched him pull his right leg up into a bent position and then his left leg. He would say "ok." and then move his legs. We asked him what he was doing and he basically said he was going to get up and go. The nurse said "No, you aren't quite ready for that. You need to stay here." We tried to change his position and make him more comfortable but he just kept moving. He would move his arms a lot, scratch his head, wiggle his body, turn to the side, pull his legs up, try to pull forward a little. I asked him a few times what he needed or what he was doing but I finally just sat down and let him do his thing. I figured this was a good sign that he was so active.

Oral blood pressure meds

I'm at the hospital again tonight. Dad is peacefully sleeping right now. Christie was here when I got here and before that, mom was with him all day. Christie said they had to give him a little Tylenol right before I got here because he was getting uncomfortable. He has been doing pretty well during the day as far as not needing pain meds but at night he needs a little to help him settle in and fall asleep.

Mom gave me a report on dad's activities during the day. She said he did a lot better with his tongue exercises, he has slept a fair amount, the PT worked with his legs again and he did pretty well, they sat him on the side of his bed for even longer today, and he ate really well (mashed potatoes, meat, cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce). They also took out the artery line that monitored his blood pressure and the biggest improvement was that they were finally able to take him off the drip blood pressure medication. Now he is only on oral blood pressure meds. He is also only getting his blood pressure monitored by an arm cuff.

Each time I see dad he looks a little better. He is looking more and more like himself. Please continue to pray for dad to continue to progress with moving his legs and remembering things. Also pray for his throat to function properly so that he can swallow normally and not continue to have a risk of food/water getting in his lungs.

Hopefully we can both get some good sleep tonight.

Yogurt, questions and sitting

Tonight (Nov 30) I am spending the night at the hospital again. On the way here I stopped at Good Earth and bought dad some yogurt and bottled water. He was able to eat soft foods today and mom thought the non-sugar yogurt would be dad's favorite. She was right. When I got to the hospital we gave dad some yogurt with pears and he loved it. Mom said that was the best he had eaten.

After mom left, I sat next to dad and he asked me a few questions. He had heard us talking earlier with the nurse about when dad went into cardiac arrest. He asked, "What did you mean by someone having a close call?" So I told him the whole story. He said he remembered going to the church and printing off the programs and then having the extreme pain in his back but that is about all that he can remember. He also asked me a question that kind of caught me off guard, he asked, "What is my life expectancy supposed to be?" Not exactly a fun discussion to have with your father. I explained to him that the doctor was very hopeful and that although the next few weeks are going to be critical, he expected dad to recover and get back to normal and walk and remember things easier. I did tell him that his physical activity would have to be limited from now on. Tasha and Bob later told me that the doctor had told them that he expected dad to have a normal life expectancy after this. A normal life expectancy is 76. He is 71. I hope he sticks around longer than that.

He also asked why everyone was concerned about his kidneys and why the nurses kept asking him the same questions over and over. He also asked if he was supposed to be able to answer their answers better. I told him it was normal for him to have a hard time remembering but the reason they keep asking him the same questions over and over was to exercise his mind and get it working properly again. It was good to see him thinking more deeply and asking about his situation.

Dad struggled throughout the night to answer questions like "When's your birthday?" "What year is it?" "Where are you at?" It was the second or third time tonight that the nurse asked this and he smiled and shook his head and said I don't know. When we helped him and then finally told him the answer he said, "I'm sure glad you guys are being so patient with me." I said "we always will, dad."

I also brought some family pictures to show dad and test his memory. I showed him pictures of Radley, Christian and Tara, me riding a horse with dad when I was younger, a picture of him smelling lilacs. He was able to identify everyone pretty well and the pictures of Radley made him smile and chuckle a little.

Dad needed a little more pain medication tonight to help him sleep. I can only imagine how sore he is getting from being in bed for so long.

In the morning he got a bath, ate some applesauce, brushed his teeth, etc. The nurse said she has never seen someone brush their teeth so thoroughly. It's really cute actually because he literally has to brush his teeth before and after each time he drinks, eats, or takes a pill and each time he brushes for quite a while. He brushes EVERY tooth. He even starts to close his eyes and fall asleep halfway through usually. The nurse said, "So that's why he still has all his teeth."

The nurses have been so happy to help dad because he is such an excellent patient. They said he is so easy to work with and tries so hard to do what they ask. They said it can be really difficult if the patient is angry or rude. Dad has been respectful and cooperative.

Mom told me that they added some tongue exercises to dad's daily routine. She said it was really difficult for him to do today (Nov 30). She also said they sat dad up on the side of the bed today and he sat there for 8 minutes. He's doing really great and making little improvements all the time.

It's just before 7 am and I am about to leave. Mom will be here in a couple of hours.