A lot of people have been asking "how's your dad?" and I realized I haven't given an update on him in quite a while. I just talked to him Monday when they called for my birthday. It does my heart good to hear my dad's voice, and to be able to carry on a conversation with him. It was six months ago when I got the call that he had had a stroke and heart attack and his condition was critical. I think I actually felt my heart stop when the doctor told me I "might want to make arrangements".
Fast forward from that August day, and my dad is doing so much better than I could have imagined during those dark early days in the hospital. He still has a lot of issues, both mentally and physically, but his recovery has been amazing in my opinion. He is home and able to get around on his own (with the help of a walker when he's tired). He sounds like he's in good spirits when I talk to him, and he has a team of VA doctors and therapists working with him to get him healthy.
The major problem he has now is swelling in his legs. The doctors say this is an after-effect of the stroke. He's supposed to keep them wrapped, as well as elevate them whenever he is sitting down. Those are two things he's not very cooperative about. I tried to nag him a little bit the other night and he kept changing the subject, saying "So anyway...". He laughs it off, but it's serious and Marion has her hands full trying to make him follow doctor's orders.
He is going on Monday to the VA hospital in Albany for a full physical with the doctors there. I know he still has issues with his blood pressure and his prostate is enlarged. Those are the most serious of his physical issues.
Mentally he is doing well for the most part. He usually knows what's going on and can hold his own in a conversation. For instance, the other night I said something about them getting snow, and he said, "Yeah, we got quite a bit. I think we got around fourteen inches." He does still get confused, though. He sometimes has a hard time thinking of the right words, and sometimes it seems like his thoughts are all jumbled. When we were talking, he was telling me something that Marion did but couldn't think of her name. I told him, and Marion was there telling him her name, and he kept saying, "No, you're not Marion." He truly couldn't think of her name and didn't believe us. Those times are hard. I try to keep it light, correct him when needed and then move on, but it's sad when you see glimpses of just how much his brain was injured during the stroke.
I'm so grateful that my dad pulled through. Life is not easy, for him and especially not for Marion, but considering we didn't know if he was even going to live, I'm so thankful that we still have him in our lives. He's not the same, and may not ever be, but he's still my dad and he has a lot of life left to live.
Thank you for the prayers, and keep them coming!
No comments:
Post a Comment