Followers

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hello to all of you,
I do not have very much to report today, but will try to let you know what I do. Dad seems to be relatively unchanged for the last week. He was extremely tired most of the day today. He ate a good breakfast, but then ate nothing for lunch. Jamie said he ate most of his supper. He was deeply asleep for most of the morning and afternoon. I tried numerous times to get him to wake up enough to talk, unsuccessfully. I read portions of the Sunday newspaper to him, but he would be asleep almost as soon as I started reading. He said he was looking forward to Church, but when the time came, Brooke and the aide were unable to wake him sufficiently.
He woke up when Don & Linda, Keith and family and Kevin and family came to see him late this afternoon and had a fairly good visit with them. He was awake when I was there around 7:00 pm this evening and we had a fairly good conversation.
He did fairly well yesterday with two of his therapies, but was too sleepy for the third.
They have apparently decided that the residents, including Dad, are using too much bottled oxygen. They wanted to take his oxygen concentrator to the lunch room this morning for breakfast. I went along with it, but later decided that the walk there should be with oxygen from the bottle. The nurse said that he was authorized to have an oxygen bottle when he walks to the therapy rooms, but not otherwise. I told Brooke when she came in to insist on having the oxygen bottle on him when he walked to the lunch room at noon and evening. Both of those meals were delivered to his room, so it was not an issue. I don’t have any problem with them transporting the concentrator to the lunch room when he is eating, but believe we need to be insistent that he have oxygen when he walks. Seth, you will have to deal with this in the morning. If you have any problem, let me know and I will come to help you. I don’t think they will resist the oxygen as he walks if we don’t object to having the concentrator while he is there.
As I talked about in my last email, I decided that we needed to consult with a local neurologist who could examine Dad and review all of the CAT scans and history. To that end, I called the office of Joseph Watkins, a neurologist that Charlotte and I worked with once before (and liked.) His staff informed me that in order for Medicare to pay for it, he had to have a referral from another physician. I called Dr. Dahl’s office and requested such a referral from him on Thursday. Dr Dahl called me on Saturday and indicated that his staff had sent the referral on Friday. I will call tomorrow to set up an appointment as soon as possible. I think that could be 2 – 3 weeks based on my conversation with the staff of Dr. Watkins, but we will try to get it as soon as possible. If any of you would like to participate in that meeting you are welcome to come along. If you have questions you would like to have addressed, please get them to me (preferably in an email) and I will attempt to have them addressed.
I have talked to Karlene, Karl and Don regarding the fast we had as a family. I would love to hear from any of you that have additional insights that we should all understand.
Here is the schedule for the next two weeks. You will see that we don’t have many signed up (my fault because I haven’t sent this out earlier.) I would appreciate it if you can let me know soon about the early days, especially tomorrow night.
9/27 Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/2 - Saturday morning – Karlene
Saturday afternoon – Karlene
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
10/9 - Saturday morning – Open
Saturday afternoon – Open
Saturday evening – Open
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Thanks for all you are doing to help Dad. I continue to be impressed by your commitment to Dad.
I love you,
Martin

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hi to all,

Dad had a fairly good day this morning and afternoon. Randy was with him evening and reports that he was in good spirits, but wanted to go to bed rather early. He ate about half of his dinner and then was insistent on going to bed. When the nurse brought in his medicine, Dad refused to take the medicine. Randy and the Nurse tried to convince him that it was important to take it, but he still refused. The nurse will try again in a little while. I am not aware of him not taking his medicine before. He has given us a bit of a hard time on occasion, but it think that we have always been able to get him to take it. Dad was significantly less sore from his injury today and was fairly alert during the morning therapies. Those of you who don’t know, Dad was extremely sore from the fall, to the point he couldn’t assist in his movement from bed to chair to auto, etc. I have not been able to get a report today from the therapists as to their feelings about his progress, but hope to do so tomorrow.
I spent about 40 minutes on the phone this evening with Matt Evans (Ken’s son) who you will remember is a neurologist back at the Cleveland Clinic. I received a fair amount of insight from talking with him that I will try to convey in this email. Matt tells me that the temporal lobe of the brain is the part responsible for receiving short term memories and converting them into long term memories. The temporal lobes on both sides of the brain are involved in this process, and in a young person one side can be sufficient to do the work fairly well. In an older person like Dad, when one temporal lobe is injured the other one has more difficulty taking up the entire job resulting in some of the memory challenges we are seeing in Dad. He further explained that when there was trauma elsewhere in the body (the TIA, the Congestive Heart Failure, the fall) that it further delays and slows down any recovery – especially in a 94 year-old. He said that it is impossible to know how long significant recovery can occur, but that he wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Dad is near the end of his recovery. He said that the experience of being in another place in time could be a result of other problems in the body, such as infections. Obviously, Matt has not seen Dad and can only react to my verbal descriptions. All of this is handicapped by Dad’s age and decreased ability to recover from problems. We may want to take Dad to a neurologist here locally to get additional input into what we should expect. Do any of you have knowledge of one we should consider?
Charlotte suggested, and I agree that she and I have not involved Heavenly Father enough in our own considerations. We have determined that we are going to fast for Dad on Wednesday of this week and to ask for both insight and wisdom for us and for healing and recovery for Dad. We invite any of you who would like to to join us in this fast.

The schedule for the next few days follows:
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Jamie
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Randy
Tuesday morning – Marlene
Tuesday afternoon – Richard
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
9/25 - Saturday morning – Donna
Saturday afternoon – Donna
Saturday evening – Seth
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open

You will note that we need a lot of help beginning on Wednesday. I would appreciate any help you can give. Thank you for your efforts in the past.


On another note, Karlene has offered to coordinate family use of the St George condo. Any time you want to use the condo, please contact Karlene to schedule it. Thank you Karlene for offering to handle this.



Love,
Martin

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Hi Family,
I think that most of you know that Dad had a relatively minor fall last Wednesday that has had a negative effect on his progress this week. Seth was with him and at noon, went to pick up his lunch. A nurse came in to check his vital signs and Dad was fine and sitting in his easy chair. A couple of minutes after she left someone saw Dad on the floor. No one knows what happened, but it appears that he either 1) leaned forward and lost his balance or 2) tried to stand up and fell. He seemed to be okay with only minor aches as a result of the fall, but overnight his muscles in his left hip/bottom became very stiff and sore. He felt significant pain whenever he tried to move much, especially trying to stand or to go into the bathroom. This has continued, but today it seems to be lessening. Karlene said that he was able to walk from the bathroom to his chair this morning without apparent significant pain after the aide suggested that he lean more heavily on the walker to take pressure off the hip.

Dad is not coughing much anymore, and his x-ray yesterday shows much less involvement in his lungs and chest. His health seems to be generally good.

I talked today to the head therapist about his progress. He said that Dad had been improving well prior to the fall, but has not done well since. I asked for a more complete report Monday after he talks individually with each of the one-on-one therapists.

I assume that you all remember that Don and Linda’s farewell for their mission is tomorrow at 9:00 am in their ward house. They are having an open house at their house after the meeting (10:30 or so) and it is my desire that we meet there sometime that doesn’t conflict with what Don and Linda are doing with as many of you as possible to discuss Dad’s situation and future plans. Let me know if you are not planning to be there so that we can talk prior to the meeting.

On another matter, Donna’s daughter Kim and Justin have previously been told by Dad that they could use the St George condo form 9/30 to 10/3 while they are there for the St George marathon. They would also like to stay there then nights of 10/9 and 10/16 if no one else is planning to use it. Are you aware of any conflicts with these dates? Would one of you be willing to act as the scheduling agent for the use of either of Dad’s condos to try to avoid duplicate expectations.

The schedule for the next couple of weeks follows. Please let me know when you can assist with any of the open dates. You will note that we need help on Tuesday during the day. Seth would like to have the day off to attend a funeral. I appreciate the way you volunteer without me having to call and ask.

9/18-Saturday morning – Karlene
Saturday afternoon – Tiffany
Saturday evening – Karlene
Sunday morning – Karlene
Sunday afternoon -- Karlene
Sunday evening – Jamie
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Randy
Tuesday morning – Open
Tuesday afternoon – Open
Tuesday evening – Sallie
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
9/25 - Saturday morning – Donna
Saturday afternoon – Donna
Saturday evening – Seth
Sunday morning – Open
Sunday afternoon -- Open
Sunday evening – Open
Monday morning and afternoon – Seth
Monday evening – Open
Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Tuesday evening – Open
Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth
Wednesday evening – Open
Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth
Thursday evening – Open
Friday morning and afternoon – Seth
Friday evening – Open
I love you all.
Martin

Monday, September 13, 2010

Hi Family,




I was surprised to see that it has been a week since I sent out my last update. It seems like time goes really fast. Dad’s last week has been somewhat less eventful that most of the last five weeks. He seems to be making regular progress – although sometimes it is frustratingly slow. The doctor saw him Friday and determined there was still Pneumonia in his lungs. He ordered another round of the antibiotic Cipro and he is still on oxygen at the rate of 2 liters. He continues with an occasional deep cough, although it still seems to be declining. When Marlene got there this morning, she found him without the oxygen on and assumed that he had progressed to not need it. When I got there about 9:30 am he was still not on oxygen because Marlene didn’t recognize the need. I put him on the oxygen and talked to the nurse. She was surprised that he had been left off the oxygen at least from the time then got him up, and agreed to talk with those that care for him to emphasize that that should not happen. When you are there, please check to be sure he is on oxygen until I let you know it is not necessary. If there is any question, talk to the nurse and ask when he was removed from oxygen.



There are times when Dad seems really to be making good progress. Sometimes the same day, he will take several steps back (especially when he is tired) and not seem so good. He was in good spirit and awake when I was with him today. I arranged for him to talk with Rex, Florence and Fern on the room phone. I talked with each of them first and gave them the room phone number and asked them to call dad back. He had a good conversation with each of them. I invited them to call anytime 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and told them that one of us would answer the phone if we were there and give the phone to Dad. I told them that he may be out of the room for meals or therapy, or be asleep and unable to talk at some times. Rex is still quite incapacitated by his heart problems, but seemed happy and otherwise well. Florence is recovering from a very bad infection that has her in a rehabilitation center regaining strength for a week or so before she goes back to Jeans. Fern seems to be well and happy.



There have been times this week when Dad seems to be in another place and is not cooperative with what he needs to do. As I inferred above, this seems to be worse when he is tired. It takes patience to help him back to the current situation and to accomplish what is needed. If you ever feel that you are not able to reach him, give me a call. Most of the time I am not very far away and I can come help. To date, the only thing he does is not follow requests (i.e. to get ready for bed, to leave the bathroom, to eat, etc.) Overall he seems to be getting adequate nutrition although sometime he will eat little at certain meals.



The Rehab doctor saw Dad on Friday (seemingly only to address the pneumonia) but after some pressing for answers from Seth and Randy who were both there he decided to prescribe “Aricept” which is used to help Alzheimer’s patients with their clarity of mind. I haven’t been able to discern any effect from this medication yet, but am hopeful that it will help. I have talked with Dr Val King, a physiatrist (rehabilitative care) about accepting Dad as a patient and advising us as to his needs. He was going to call the care center to inquire as to his current status and then would call me back (which he has not yet.) I will let you know further about any progress. It is obviously troubling to feel that his progress is so often so slow.



I mentioned the possibility of hiring other family members to take shifts with Dad when we are unable to cover them all. Please answer back to me about your feelings about this and also if you have anyone in your family who might be interested in being hired. It is conceivable that Jason’s two older boys might be possible hires, although I have not talked to either yet. I really appreciate the love and care that Seth provides for Dad in his time with him.



If any of you have other information to share, please do so with everyone.



The schedule for helping Dad for the next two weeks is pretty bare, because I waited so long to send this. If any of you are available this Tuesday through Friday, please so indicate soon. We need to quickly provide someone to be with him. Here is the schedule:

9/11- Saturday morning – Karl

Saturday afternoon – Tiffany

Saturday evening – Don

Sunday morning and afternoon – Marlene, Jason and Martin

Sunday evening – Karl

Monday morning and afternoon – Seth

Monday evening – Randy

Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Tuesday evening – Open

Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Wednesday evening – Open

Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth

Thursday evening – Open

Friday morning and afternoon – Seth

Friday evening – Open

9/18-Saturday morning – Open

Saturday afternoon – open

Saturday evening – open

Sunday morning – Open

Sunday afternoon -- Open

Sunday evening – open

Monday morning and afternoon – Seth

Monday evening – Open

Tuesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Tuesday evening – Open

Wednesday morning and afternoon – Seth

Wednesday evening – Open

Thursday morning and afternoon – Seth

Thursday evening – Open

Friday morning and afternoon – Seth

Friday evening – Open

Thanks for all you are doing to help Dad. My appreciation for my family has been strengthened even more than it already was through this difficult experience. I love you all.

Martin