Prepare again to be amazed by Dad's recovery. Today Dad got in a wheelchair! Excellent news, I know. I will tell you more about this great news in a minute.
I visited Dad around 2:00PM and was happy to see Dad awake and propped up in bed. When he saw me his eyes went wide and he said "Hey." Yeah, Dad finally remembers me! I did a dorky little dance to this. Then I went to his side and asked him if he knew who I was and he shook his head yes. I asked him what my name is. He started to mumble some words that I could not understand. Then I asked him if he wanted me to tell him my name or if he wanted to guess. He said "guess." I thought this was great because I don't think it was so much him trying to guess my name as he wanted to try to say it. Unfortunately, the darn "J" in my name is too difficult for him right now.
Dad again, was more alert today. The bad part about that is we are now moving into the frustrated phase. Dad kept on saying "well, I need to go," in a very slurry fashion. Then he would try to sit up. Mom and I kept pushing him back. Finally, he gave Mom the serious "Jim is getting mad" stink eye! I tried to make suggestions for him like the crossword, read poetry, listen to music. He said no to all of these and when I said listen to music he just shook his head and said "oh, fine." I pretended to be offended!
Then I suggested "well ,why can't Dad get in a wheelchair?" Mom thought that was a great idea and we asked the Nursing Assistant, who in turn asked the nurse, and we were given the go ahead. So our very strong NA got Dad all situated, stood him up, then turned him, and Dad sat down in the chair. It was only one guy helping Dad which means Dad did some himself! At first Dad wasn't sure if he liked being in the chair. I think at first he was dizzy. Mom had to speak to some medical staff so I knelt down by Dad and talked to him. Dad started talking to me and it sounded like he wanted to know about his house. I told him it was all finished. He shook his head at this. He then asked me again about the house and I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what had been finished. He shook his head yes. So I proceeded to give him a list of everything that had been completed since his fall. Then Dad said "pay." I said, "Are you worrying about paying for the house?" He shook his head yes. Leave it up to Dad to be worrying about completing the house while he is in the hospital.
That is just like Dad to worry about other things instead of himself. So I told him that everything was being taken care of. I told him that we were all taking care of things and he didn't need to worry. I told him not to worry about any of us, that we were working things out and we were fine. He then said "heart" and lifted his right hand and pointed to me. I about fell over and cried. I said "I love you too Dad," and he smiled at me.
The physical therapists came in right after that and were very excited to see Dad in the wheelchair. So they decided to wheel him out of the room and do the physical therapy somewhere else. We wheeled him to some big windows where he could look out, and as soon as he could see out he looked surprised and said "cold." We all laughed and told him it had gotten cold while he was out. The PT was very optimistic and told us he felt Dad was ready to handle the 3 hours of physical therapy required by patients. This means he may possibly stay in the hospital longer, but don't quote me on that. This is great news though because they will start working on his speech therapy. I think when he starts this we will begin to see a huge improvement in Dad.
Dad did some great things in physical therapy today. He is using his right hand quite a bit more. He will move his right hand up to his face and try to scratch his nose. He also tapped his right toes on the ground when the PT asked him to. Also, without being asked he clasped his hands together with fingers interlocking. While doing physical therapy the PT would ask Dad to give him a high five. Dad would raise his hand but then he would kiss his hand as if to blow a kiss to someone. It was like he understood he needed to smack something but his brain was sending the wrong signal and he was smacking his lips! Well, he didn't really hit them he kissed his hand! The PT didn't say he was worried about this and perhaps that is normal. Who knows, it made me a little worried though.
After the physical therapy we laid Dad back down in the bed. Dad has excellent core strength because he can push against the PT's hand from all sides. Dad was pretty exhausted after this so I left. I gave Dad a big hug and told him "I Love you," and he said "I love you" back!
So I have another request! Hee Hee. We are trying to think of things Dad can do while in bed. We need to keep him stimulated so he doesn't get bored and then frustrated and then depressed. He can't be in physical therapy all the time so we need ideas that he can do on his down time. I thought of a Nerf basketball hoop that we could attach to the end of his bed. This would also help to strengthen his arms and get his brain coordinating his movements. What else could we do? Any ideas?
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Great to hear about the progress. Does he like puzzles? We have ordered Natural States DVDs, but you will need a machine to put them in. That's nice for synchronized soothing music and pretty scenery (good for family members also). PT will probably use stuff like balls to squeeze, etc. When I couldn't read myself, Byron would read poetry and quote type books to me. Maybe some kind of games, something doable for him though.
ReplyDeleteWe are cheering you on, Byron and Evelyn
This is great news. Do they have a Trapeze over the bed with a triangle bar that hands down for you dad to try and lift himself and resposition. He can pull on that up and down and gain strength. If they did this they should have the siderails up so that he couldn't possibly fall out. You can put Flour, yes flour inside of a Helium ballon and fill it to the size that will fit in his had and encourage him to squeeze on it. I will try and think of some other things. I will be back in town soon and would like to see him and I will rub his feet. I give a great foot rub, left over from my nursing days. You could challenge him in an arm wrestle. Also maybe you can play the opposite game. Say a word like cold and ask him to tell you the opposite. If he starts to say the sound then say the word for him and say great Dad. Try another one. Black/white, up/down etc. See how he does. Love you guys. Tell your mom that I am praying in my morning and my night prayers for her and JIm and all of you. Jill Allsop
ReplyDeletei laughed and cried about him worrying about the house.. very "Jim-like" isn't it. I am glad he was able to tell you he loves you in his way... it's something, isn't it? wish I had ideas about excercises... good luck!
ReplyDeleteI was shopping yesterday at Wal-Mart. They have card memory games for kids for $5. You could start with 4 (2 pairs)....?
ReplyDeleteI love coloring, it's simple and happy and gives him practice at holding a pencil - some crayons and all-a-dollar coloring books. Its doesn't take a lot of concentration either so he won't get too tired, but gives him something to do. Maybe some very simple cross stitch if he'd go for that. Kids lacing cards, play dough....
ReplyDeleteThe trapeze bar that was mentioned earlier was the first thing I thought of when you asked for ideas. Another thought is books on CD. I bought a portable DVD player for Harv when he was in a nursing facility after he fractured his hip, so he could watch movies and concerts (his request.) Can't think of anything else right off hand. So good to hear all the good news of Jim's progress. Everyday has given us a blessing to be counted. Bette
ReplyDeleteI was balling and smiling all at the same time to hear the news!!! So happey for you. I love the basketball idea..I have a small bball stand that we are thinking of getting rid of. I could clean it up and it is just the right height to stand at the end of his bed. Then he could sit in bed and shoot some hoopes!!! Also what about simple word flash cards???
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