Paul's Update - 10/17/07

Dear Friends:

Monday Dad got up early to get Paul started. Paul was still asleep and Dad had to wake him. Dora was off so Dad got Paul up and dress by himself. We headed out at 8:00am to go to Richmond. We had an appointment at 11am at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. The trip was going well. We stopped at the rest stop about half way to do a bathroom break. We got to the parking garage for the hospital and while we were going through trying to find a place to park Paul suddenly got sick. It had been more than two hours since he ate breakfast. We got him cleaned up as good as we could and took the car to the Valet Parking lot since there was no place in the garage. We had to walk about two blocks to get to the building we needed to be in. Fortunately we took the walker. Paul was tired when we got there but he did OK. We met with a lady named Taryn who explained the program and we got started. We did a couple of questionnaires (each) and answered questions about what we thought about how Paul was doing and how we felt our lives were most affected. Not much that we didn’t really already know. We will go again next Monday to continue and see if this program will be of any value to us ... or if we are of any value to the program!! After we got done we walked back to where the car was but this time we walked most of the trip through the buildings that are connected by overhead walkways across the streets below. It was LOTS easier! We headed towards Carl’s sister’s house to pick up our cruise tickets for the trip in December. Since we hadn’t eaten lunch we decided to stop at Hardees and get something to eat. Unfortunately Paul got sick again about an hour after we ate. We made it to Ann’s house and got some Dramamine for Paul (hoping it is only motion sickness causing him to get sick). Seemed to do the trick since we made it home without him getting sick again. Paul was VERY tired when we got home. Dad made him a frozen dinner and he kept that down. By 10:00pm he was ready for bed.

Tuesday morning Dora was back! Paul seemed to be feeling better. Paul had an appointment for Physical Therapy at 1pm. Dad missed most of the therapy because he was sent downstairs to re-register him. After a little time they realized that he DIDN’T need to re-register. He is now authorized to have 17 visits of Physical Therapy. The therapist said he did OK. Dad got to watch him walk down the hallway and back. She had him walk along the wall holding a handrail and then back. He did good with that. After they got home much of the afternoon was spent watching movies. Dad said when he was walking down the hall to the bathroom he was trying to take multiple steps with minimal use of his cane. He lost his balance a couple of times but he can recover from it by himself most of the time. The evening was quiet.

Paul had OT on Wednesday ... he only has three more that Medicaid has authorized. Even thought he is doing well ... he isn’t progressing fast enough for Medicaid!! Dad, Dora & Paul arrived at Fair Oaks at 9:30am. The therapist started with stretching. She worked on having Paul lay down and then sit back up. She had him lay on his stomach for a bit and massaged his back. She had him sit tall and raise his arms over his head. She wanted to see how far he could stretch them. Most of the hour was spent stretching and loosening him up. She had him stand by the wall with his back to it and while holding a basketball reach out and turn it from side to side without falling forward (or backward). They worked with some modeling clay. She wanted him to make a “P”, he liked spreading it out but he didn’t want to make a letter with it. She asked him if he would rather write and he said “yes”. She gave him a large pen and asked him to copy her “P” on a piece of paper. He actually did pretty good with that. After therapy Dad decided that they would head to the gym. They haven’t been much lately and are getting out of shape. They got into the pool (it was ICE cold according to Dad) and Paul walked with little assistance. The last time he was in the pool Dad had to assist him a lot. Dad said he did real good. He walks almost normally in the pool. He was lifting his feet up at the knees. Dad also had him do leg lifts while standing still. He got so good at it that he was going faster than Dad! After that Dad got behind him and had him kick while floating on his back. He didn’t do a lot of it but he did more of the kicking with his right leg. He also did a “scissor kick” while Dad supported him. They were in the pool for about 45 minutes. The pool is such good exercise. After they got out of the big pool they went to the little pool. Paul can walk into that one (the big one they use a lift for). It is only about three and a half feet deep and it is heated. They didn’t stay in that long before they headed out to the car. Paul was walking really well and Dad said he felt he could leave Paul while he was getting into the car. Dad looked up to notice that Paul was losing his balance. Dad got to him quick enough to prevent him from falling to the ground but he slid down the side of the car. Once he was up he got into the car by himself. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt. Dad said he was upset and when asked “are you upset about losing your balance?” he said “yes”. He usually doesn’t lose his balance while getting in the car. Paul had a late lunch since they didn’t get home until almost 1:30pm. The afternoon was spent watching TV as usual. After dinner Paul seemed to be feeling bad. I asked him if something hurt and she said “yes”. I asked if it was his stomach or his head and he said “yes”. I asked “which one?” and he said “I don’t know”!! He hasn’t been very talkative lately but every once in a while he “volunteers” something other than yes or no! I gave him some Tylenol and he seemed to feel better. When it got to be about 10pm Dad said “You look tired” and he said “yes” so Dad tried to take him to bed. He stood up and then refused to walk. He ended up sitting back down. About an hour later Dad asked him if he was ready for bed and he said “yes” but when they got to the end of the hall Paul turned around and headed back to the living room! He finally went to bed about 11:30pm. He was actually very tired but didn’t want to go to bed for some reason!! He was always a “late-nighter”!!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl