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