Day Fifty Six

9:42 PM

Don said he slept well last night. He fed himself breakfast. He seemed very tired and even made the statement that he wasn't going to get up until after lunch. He slept most of the morning and finally about 11:00 Don decided that he would get dressed before lunch. I got him dressed just before lunch. He ate a bowl of chowder and that was pretty much it. The therapists got him up in a wheelchair in the same manner that we had put Don to bed last night. He went to therapy about 1:30. The OT began working with his arms and hands. She had him to do some exercises of putting rings on a telescoping rod. He had to put them all on with each hand and then take them all off. The object was stretching to the top of the rod. The OT also brought him some new eating utensils that are curved to fit into Don's mouth since he cannot bend his right arm enough to reach his mouth and his left hand has the splint and can't bend at the wrist. He will be sent these utensils at every meal. He will have a set for each hand as they are dedicated for one hand or the other. PT began with his legs and had Don to stand up using the same process as yesterday. Two of them under each shoulder and Don pushing with his good leg. The first time he was up he stood for 1 minute and 30 seconds. The second and third attempts he stood for 2 minutes. Don has to build his muscles up a lot in order to be able to pull himself up and stand by himself. He is very tired and feels he hasn't accomplished much. Although everyone tells him how much more he accomplishes each day. His wheel chair arrived while we were in therapy so they put him in it before leaving therapy. We knew he wouldn't be able to stay in the wheel chair as long as did the gerichair. He finally told me he needed to go back to bed about 5:15. The OT and 2 CNAs helped to get him back in the bed. I got him undressed and ready for bed. Supper came with his new utensils and he fed himself using both hands as he tires so easy. After eating Don went to sleep and only woke for a few minutes at a time. I set his oxygen about 8:30 and left him to sleep. He said he felt like the anxiety medicine was beginning to help some.

Day Fifty Five

Tuesday Jan. 27th

Don was not in his room when I arrived at the center. It scared me for a minute but then I realized his chair was missing so I went to look for him. His roommate met me in the hall and let me know that Don was in the day room. When I got to the day room Don was dressed and in his chair. He had been up since 5:00. Since his doctor's appointment was so early they had to start early getting him dressed. They brought his breakfast at 6:30 and he fed himself. We were scheduled to leave at 7:45 so I went to his nurse about 7:15 to get her to change his dressing and get his meds to take with us. We were ready to go by 7:30. At 8:00 the transport van was not there and so the nurse supervisor who handles those arrangements called to verify that they were coming after us. They said they were running behind and would be after us. The transport van arrived about 8:30 and we left the center about 8:40. We didn't get in the doctor's office until 10:00. We had to wait until 11:00 to get in an exam room. They had to take x-ray's and found that Don $is one of the rare group of folks that grows extra bone when they have an injury. The doctor didn't know if it was in the joint itself or in the muscle around the joints, but both the hip and right elbow are growing the extra bone and it is causing some restrictions. His OT was experiencing some resistance in his right arm and didn't know exactly why. They said Don could decide some where down the line if he wanted to have operations to remove the extra bone or not and removing didn't mean it wouldn't grow back. There was no right or wrong decision with this diagnosis. It was what he wanted to live with so to speak. They took out all the sutures in the incision on his belly and told him he could do what ever he could with his right arm. If it hurt don't do it. They wrote orders for him to start using a walker to get up and down instead of the lift and will allow him to put his left leg on the floor just to keep from having to hold it up. Still no weight baring on the left leg. We were finished in the doctor's office at 12:00 and had to wait until after 1:00 for transport to come pick us up. We got back to the center about 2:30 and Don went straight to therapy. He had his back to the door and his aunt walked in. I told him she was there and that he would never guess who was with her. He guessed his other aunt from Ohio and he was right. His aunt & uncle had come in from Ohio and wanted to come and see him. Therapy started working on his right arm immediately and eventually to his legs. The therapists gave him a walker like the doctor had ordered and began get him up. The first time Don stood up was very difficult. He only stood up for 1 minute. The second time he stood up it was for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Don's arms will have to get much stronger before he will be able to stand on his own. Don was lifted by the therapist while he was pushing with his right leg just to get in a standing position. This process is very difficult and tiring for all involved. About 4:00 the therapists finished with him and we moved him to the lobby where the rest of the family. Both of his aunts and uncles left shortly before 5:00 and Don's parents stayed with him while Donnie & I ran to do some errands. Donnie & I came back about 5:30 and one of our friends/co-workers was visiting with Don. Don's parents, our friend and Donnie left and I moved Don back to his room and Kristi came by. Earlier in the day I noticed that the sling was defective on one of the straps that is used to secure him to the lift. I mentioned it to the CNA and told him I didn't think it could be used after the current lift to get him back in bed. I went out of the room and on my way back I passed the CNA (I was gone only minutes). I said surprisingly to the CNA you already have him in the bed. The CNA just shook his head and said no the sling didn't even hold up for us to get him back in bed, it began to tear when they started to lift him. At this point there was no way to get a new sling under Don's body. So we decided to lift Don and have him pivot himself to the bed. Kristi got under one shoulder and the CNA got under the other shoulder and Don pushed with his good leg to stand up. I had a hold of his left leg and together we got him back in the bed. It was difficult for all of us to accomplish this move. Don told me that he had a very difficult time getting to sleep on Monday night and he almost had the center staff to call me a little after midnight. I told him he should have. Don had told Kristi that she may have to stay with him all night because I was very sick most of the afternoon. After getting Don back in the bed I curled up in Don's gerichair with a blanket and went to sleep. Kristi took care of both of us. Sometime after 8:00 Kristi went to get herself some supper and when she returned she said that she would stay with her dad and for me to go home. Kristi asked her dad did he want her to stay with him all night and he said no that he would be fine. Kristi stayed with her dad and got him ready to go to sleep before she left him.

Day Fifty Four Part Two

Monday Jan 26th.

Don stayed up until about 7:00 or so and we got him back in the bed using the lift. I got him ready for bed and our friends from KY called to say they had gotten in and were going to come by if Don wasn't ready to go to sleep. We had talked to them earlier in the day and knew they would arrive sometime that afternoon. We were so glad to see them. We hadn't seen them since July last year. Also one of our friends/co-workers came by too. Don enjoyed their visits and hated to say goodbye. The nurse gave him his anxiety medicine a little after 9:00 and I left about 9:30.