Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday, January 30 - AND THE WINNER IS...

George Luker, for the “Most Motivated Patient” Award!! C-Mae, the director of therapy, told Dad he was the hands-down winner of her award this week during the team evaluation meeting at Cane Island this morning. She told Mom, Dad, and the rest of the team, that if his motivation was all that was needed to walk, he would be running by now! She said Dad was the first to wheel himself into therapy every morning, and has also made the trek back after lunch some days to ask for more time try to “walk.” C-Mae went on to explain that she feels Dad’s inability to balance himself while standing is the main problem, because after just a minute or so, he “hyper-extends.” So, they are going to take just a little more time stimulating the nerves and working the muscle in Dad’s leg before they try ordering him a type of orthodic brace that would fit in his shoe to help him balance and stabilize that leg so he might have better luck walking. Mae also told Mom and Dad that they were a “very cool couple” to be around and she wished that their paths had crossed for different reasons, but knew that they would make the best of the situation and there was certainly hope on the horizon! Barbara, Dad’s speech therapist from KRH, is also working with him at Cane Island. Dad loved Barbara, so he is always happy to see her; in fact, Dad told Mom that he and Barbara played a couple of games of “Go Fish” this week! The Nursing Manager reported that Dad has surpassed their clinical goal of him being stable … blood pressure, blood sugar, blood count, etc., have all been holding steady within the normal range. So, all in all, dad had a good evaluation for his first week at Cane Island, and we are happy to report that the weekday staff has been nothing but nice and very attentive. We forgot to mention in our Wednesday blog update that the St. Peter’s Care Team sent flowers over to Dad which were hand-delivered by Grandma (along with a cheeseburger and fries) this past Tuesday. They certainly perked up Dad’s room, and he appreciates the care team’s continued prayers and get-well cards he receives from them. And Thursday afternoon, Dr. Bing paid Dad a visit, as well as Shirley & Ike Lucas, and Joanne Ligon. Today, Paul and Terry Ponder came to see Dad and gave him all of the latest scoop within the plumbing industry, and he also received a call from his brother Johnny who lives near Corpus. We can’t tell you how much all of you brighten Dad’s day; thank you for remembering him!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wednesday, January 28 ...Broken Record

I guess we are all starting to sound like a broken record and repeating the same message over and over again to Dad … “you have to work hard to get better so you can go home!” Well, I do believe it has finally registered because he apparently wheeled himself back down to therapy late yesterday afternoon and told them he was tired of sitting in a wheelchair and wanted to walk … now! The director of therapy, “C-Mae,” saw Mom coming through the door yesterday evening and motioned for her to stop. I guess she wanted to tell Mom what had transpired before Dad complained to her that they didn’t do what he had asked! She said that it was true that they did not get Dad up with his walker yesterday to practice, because they noticed on Monday that his right foot is curling in/folding under after the first step. They feel that he needs some sort of a foot brace, and she didn’t get specifics, so we’re not sure if it is a metal brace that goes on the outside of his shoe, or something that wraps around his foot, but they supposedly ordered it and are waiting for that to arrive before getting him up and trying the walker. C-Mae said they explained that to him, but he didn’t like their answer, so she wanted Mom to know as well. Tonight when we all visited, Dad said they still didn’t have it, so Mom walked down to the therapy room but couldn’t find anyone that would know. She told Dad that if they didn’t walk him tomorrow, she would talk to them about it on Friday morning when they have the team meeting again. Dad had a surprise visitor tonight, his son Greg, from Willis. He also had a call from Ricky, son #1, and Terri too. Dave & I were there with Mom as well, so it was “All in the Family” night at Cane Island . Mom tells me that last night Butch Scherer visited Dad, as well as Van Gilbert … both good friends from church. Dad is already dreading the weekend ahead since those days are long without therapy sessions to tire him out. I’m sure Mom will try and bring him home for one of the afternoons … maybe for Super Bowl Sunday … GO STEELERS!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Monday, January 26 - Today’s Forecast: Calmer Winds/Cooler Temperatures!

Mom said she wished she had her camera with her to take pictures of everyone jumping through hoops down at Cane Island this morning! She said it reminded her of that scene from Pretty Woman where Richard Gere was telling the sales clerks to suck up to Julia Roberts … more … more! That really is not what she wanted though, she just wants dad to get the care and therapy he needs so the end result is good. She said she was impressed with the Chief Administrative Officer, Rob Turner, who she had not met before. Mom said she was ushered into his office upon arrival, and both he and another administrator wanted to know all that happened, took notes and promised to look into each and every incident. She was then invited to stay for the team meeting of managers and the two nurse practitioners who will be the liaison between dad and Dr. Bing. She liked both of them, as well as the rest of the nursing staff/managers. The director of therapy also took part in the team meeting (oh, and just so you know, they did finally evaluate dad on Sunday evening, so they were ready to get going this morning!). All team members seemed to be on-the-ball, were very pleasant and friendly, and appeared to take a genuine interest in dad, the situation, and the end result. They will be meeting again on Friday morning to evaluate the first week and project a discharge date. Mom said she felt 100% better about this group of people, than she did with the group that we dealt with over the weekend, and dad said that he was happier this morning with the aides and nurses. So, hopefully, this will be the trend from here on out. Then Mama will be happy, and so will everyone else (ha!). Mike MacKenzie, a brand-new grandpa (Congratulations, Missy & Alex, on the arrival of Addison Mackenzie), came to visit Dad this evening … thanks for stopping by!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sunday, January 25...When Mama's Not Happy, Nobody's Happy!

The management team at Cane Island will have a surprise waiting for them tomorrow morning ... the wrath of Mom! Dad's first 36 hours there have been far from perfect; actually, we'd only give them a "1" on a scale from 1 to 5. I don't know if we were just soo spoiled at KRH, or Cane Island is just terrible. On Friday, we were told that he would have a therapy evaluation on Saturday afternoon, so Mom arrived at noon on Saturday to make sure she didn't miss it. She found Dad in the dining room, and it took him about 15 minutes to get a tray. She noticed when the aide put it in front of Dad, it had the wrong room number on it, so she brought it to their attention. They took it back, and brought another one, and this time when the lid was lifted, it was 3 SCOOPS of food. So once again, she summoned the aide, and asked why he was getting pureed food, and she said, "I guess because he has a swallowing problem." Mom assured her he did not, and told her that they served him regular food for dinner last night, so the aide walked away again, and this time brought him a tray with his name on it, and regular food. From that point on, for nearly 6 hours, Dad did not see any staff members. No one ever came in to check to see if he was okay, no one came to bring him dinner, and most importantly, no therapist ever showed up to evaluate Dad. Mom complained to his evening nurse, and she apologized but said they were running on a short staff ... great news! We arrived this morning, and nothing was any better. We found out that Dad did not get a shower last night as was promised, and he didn't eat breakfast this morning because he didn't go to the dining room ... the staff apparently didn't realize that he couldn't get out of bed by himself!! Mom, Dave & I decided to pack Dad up and bring him home for the afternoon. If he is just going to sit there and be ignored, he may as well be home with us. So, Grandma met us at the house and brought some homemade spaghetti sauce she had in the freezer. We fixed an italian lunch, the dogs took turns laying on the couch by dad, and then Dave got Dad up and let him stretch his legs. He also went out and checked his garden, which is surprisingly still doing okay after being virtually ignored by Mom. We will be heading back to Cane Island soon though, Terri & Paul, are driving down from Willis this evening to visit with Dad. Dad also had some very special visitors on Saturday. He "girlfriends" from Klare Plumbing came to see him along with Karen's son, Derek. They came bearing a gift of seafood gumbo from Babin's ... Mom said she and Dad shared it for dinner, and it was yummy. Dad said your visit sure brightened his day!!