Friday, February 13 … He’s outta there!

Friday the 13th started out with a bang … literally! A new aide at Cane Island dropped dad while helping him out of bed and Dad banged his foot on the bed frame and cut it open right under his little toe. Dad has been on a blood thinner since December when he was diagnosed with a blood clot, so he bled pretty badly. He called Mom at work about 10 a.m. and told her that he might need stitches, so she headed down to Cane Island. The nurse practitioner was still in Dad’s room when she got there and she told her that they decided not to do stitches since the bleeding had stopped, but they were putting him on an antibiotic to prevent infection. This incident solidified Mom’s decision to pull Dad out of Cane Island! On Thursday, after learning that Dr. Bing had indeed signed Dad’s discharge orders and had gotten the wheels in motion for home health, she met with the therapy team, the social worker and the director of nursing and told them that since dad had not made any noticeable improvement since being at Cane Island, she was taking him home. They made a “last ditch” effort to try to convince her to keep him there until the 20th, or at least until Monday, but after this incident, Dad was not going to spend another night there. It took nearly the entire day to process the paperwork and make arrangements, but at 5:30 p.m., Mom wheeled Dad out of Cane Island and never looked back! Shelley, Tracy and Sandy are members of Cane Island’s nursing staff that are very sweet and truly trying their best to make improvements in patient care, but until management lights a fire under the therapy team and hires enough qualified staff at the facility, Mom feels we were just burning benefits. Now, while all of this was going on at Cane Island, there was activity going on back at the ranch! Bill Deerhake, a member of St. Peter’s, was at home putting the finishing touches on the wheelchair ramp he built for the back porch. This will allow us to get Dad in/out of the back door much easier so he can go out and play ball with Brady or just enjoy some sunshine … so thank you, Bill, and also Butch Scherer who got the project started! Another thank you to St. Peter’s Care Team for the delivery of Dad’s cheery valentine balloons … how sweet of you to think of him!! The excitement was far from over on this Friday, the 13th. Besides celebrating Dad’s homecoming, we were also celebrating my father-in-law’s BIG birthday with a fajita dinner with all of the trimmings. The plan was for Dave & I to pick up the food and dessert and meet everyone at my parent’s house. Mom and Dad arrived home first and Mom already had Dad in the wheelchair and in the house when Dave’s parent’s pulled up. As they came in the door, they heard Mom & Grandma wondering what all the red marks were on the carpet, when they realized that Dad had not picked up his foot, and the cut had broken open once again. So, everyone went scrambling for ice and old towels so they could apply pressure and control the bleeding. Dave & I walked in on the chaos, so Dave helped Mom get Dad into bed so his foot could be elevated, while Barb continued to keep the pressure steady. What a way to make an entrance, Dad! And then Dan, my poor father-in-law, got the job of trying to get the blood out of the carpet, while Grandma and I brought the rest of the food in. Thank God, the bleeding stopped, but we didn’t dare let Dad get back out of bed to eat, so I sat the card table up in the bedroom, and we all ate in there! Poor Dan, didn’t even get the time to read all of the birthday signs Mom had hung up that morning for him until much later in the evening. We finally let Dad out of bed to come have dessert in the kitchen. Here’s a picture of the birthday boy celebrating his BIG 6-0; I’m sure he won’t forget this birthday evening for years to come!!

Tuesday, February 10th ... Mama's NOT happy, again!!

Well, Cane Island now has two strikes against them, and I'm not sure they will even get another turn to bat! Dad started his third week at Cane Island on Monday, and the therapists there have only had Dad on his feet two or three times. As you all know, they told us that they felt Dad needed an ankle/foot orthodic to help him with his balance and walking, and they supposedly ordered it the first week he was there, it came in mid-week last week, needed an adjustment, sent it back off, was supposed to be back to him yesterday. Long story short, it has yet to arrive, which translates to no walking time/practice for Dad since he left Katy Rehab! So, Dave was "super sleuth" yesterday and went to Cane Island to observe dad's therapy session. Just like Dad has been telling us, the therapist used the electric stimulator on his nerves/muscles, put him on the stationary bike, and then had him use a pully to work his arms. This is pretty much what happens every day with very little patient/therapist interaction. When Dad asked about his brace once again, supposedly the head of the therapy department asked him, "Why are you asking me?!?" Dave called and reported in to "headquarters," and Mom pretty much lost it. Since Dave's hurricane claims have come to an end, he told Mom if she wanted to pull him out of there, he would help Dad out at home until Mom got things worked out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Dad is losing ground by sitting around in a wheelchair all day instead of building upon the foundation that Katy Rehab laid. So, Mom emailed Kelley at KRH and asked how she could get Dad back there on an out-patient basis. Kelley responded that Mom would need to talk to Dr. Bing about getting Dad discharged and then he would need to write orders for further therapy, etc. Mom immediately called Dr. Bing's office and spoke to his nurse about the situation, and within 30 minutes, Dr. Bing personally called her back. He said that he would have the Nurse Practitioner that he worked with at Cane Island run some traps and figure out what insurance would approve, etc, and they would get back to her with a plan on Wednesday. In the meantime, when Mom arrived at Cane Island after work, Tracy (one of the head nurses) and Shelley (the Director of Nursing) were in with Dad. Apparently, Shelley overheard a conversation between Mom and Dad the day before about how unhappy they were with the therapy program. Shelley and Tracy were in there telling Dad that they had decided that THEY were going to take the time to walk him every day. Mom relayed to Shelley & Tracy the experience we had at KRH along with her concerns and disappointments with therapy at Cane Island. She found them to have "empathetic" ears and caring hearts, and as Mom became emotional and told them she had wheels in motion to get Dad discharged because she wanted to give him the best shot at gaining his independence, supposedly everyone was in tears! Shelley promised that she would relay all of the information to the Administrator and then encouraged Mom to speak to him directly, as well as show him the video that we had taken of Dad "walking" at KRH and other video footage of the interaction between the therapists and Dad, that she and Tracy had just viewed (thanks to Dave's laptop!). So, as you can tell, the last couple of days have been stressful, and the bottom line is we just want Dad to get what the insurance companies are paying for and what a patient deserves. Afterall, Cane Island boasts of their "Stroke Recovery Program!" Hopefully, we will have a plan for moving forward by the end of the day tomorrow, so stay tuned for "game highlights!" HA! Mom wants to thank Jo Gilbert for stopping by Monday evening to visit with she and Dad, and to all of her friends and family who give her a shoulder to cry and/or lean on every day! You are all very much loved and appreciated ...

Friday, February 6th ... TGIF!!!

Thank goodness it's Friday; it's been a long and busy week for all of us. Dad just says it's long ... period!! He told Mom yesterday that the 4 walls are closing in on him and he wants to come home. We don't blame him, of course, but he just hasn't made much more progress and the thought of him being left alone during the day while Mom works is very scary. Dad's discharge date has been set for Friday, January 20, so Mom is going to "shake a stick" at the therapists this week at Cane Island and try to get them doing more than just the daily repetitive things ... stationery bike, hand bike and electrical stimulation, they've done so far. Dad is still waiting on the AFO (ankle/foot orthodic) to arrive that will supposedly help him balance himself while standing/walking on his right foot/leg. The therapist told Mom on Tuesday, that they did order it, but when it came in, it didn't fit properly so adjustments had to be made and hopefully Dad will have it on Monday. Mom plans to take some PTO time on Monday or Tuesday to attend one of Dad's therapy sessions and make sure his new therapists are aware that Dad was walking with assistance from his therapists at KRH and his walker, of course. In fact, Mom took Kelley, Laurie, Barbara and Connie (they missed you, Rachelle!) to lunch on Thursday to ask their opinion on things; she and Dad both miss their enthusiasm and communication style, as well as their aggressive approach in therapy! Dad has been able to continue speech therapy with Barbara, she's a traveling girl, and also works at Cane Island, so we've been thrilled to have her continue to work with Dad. Mom is making me include this little story which happened on Tuesday ... when Mom arrived at Cane Island, Barbara was in with Dad and they were playing word games. Barbara would give 3 clues describing an object, and Dad would have to tell her what it is, for example: gold, swim, bowl ... GOLDFISH! Dad and Barbara were having a little controversary over the next set: roots, ground, leaves ... TREE, right?!? Wrong! Dad likes to give Barbara a hard time, so he argued saying it could be many things, a bush, a flowering plant, etc. So, after their lengthy discussion about that one, Barbara said here's the last one: woman, throne, rule. What's the answer?!? Dad said, "my wife!" Barbara told Dad that she wasn't about to argue that answer either, so they all had a good laugh, and Mom was pleased that Dad finally realizes who rules the roost (ha!). Dad had quite a few visitors this week ... Brian Smith, who entertained us with Har-Con tales as well as how early in his career, Dad told him he should become an estimator, and how much he appreciates that advice to this day; Butch Scherer, who stops by regularly to visit Dad and lends all of us his support;Dad's nephew Alan Stone and his wife, Cindy, from Bryan, and Billy Watson, associate pastor at St. Peter's. Greg, Dad's #2 son, has been staying at Mom & Dad's house this week, and I know Dad has been enjoying seeing him in the evenings, and tomorrow, they have a "yard date" ... Dad is supervising and Greg will be trimming hedges and bushes getting them ready for spring!

Sunday, February 1 ... SUPER Super Bowl Weekend!

Blog update by Cindy. What a great weekend!! The Steelers win, the weather was absolutely beautiful, and George spent the majority of the weekend home and did really well. On Saturday, Bev & Jim Brewer came out to Katy and spent the day with us. They arrived at Cane Island about 12:30, we loaded up George, and headed out to meet Lindsay & Dave at Pei Wei for lunch. From there, we took George and got his eyeglasses adjusted, and then headed home where the guys hung out for a couple of hours and we girls went and had pedicures. George needed to be back at Cane Island around 5 p.m. to get his next dose of medications before dinner, but after we got back there and saw what was on his evening tray, Bev & I went out to Jason's Deli and picked up dinner. The four of us sat around a card table, eating sandwiches and reminiscing about the good ol' days, and we sure look forward to more fun times ahead with them! George told me on Saturday that he was hungry for a home-cooked meal, so I took his "order" and started cooking Sunday morning. When I arrived at Cane Island on Sunday, George had a visitor ... Tommy w/Moore Supply . I didn't know if George was going to want lunch brought to him, or if he wanted to come home to eat, but I should have guessed the answer! Tommy was very kind (even though I did find out he was a Cardinal's fan!) and helped me get George into the car because I was bit nervous to try it solo. However, when we got to the house, George & I did manage just fine. The only snag we hit was getting the wheelchair up and over the door step, so George just had to use his good leg to push down and help me boost it up and over ... we made a pretty darn good team! Brady, of course, was glad to see George back again. He just sat by George's wheelchair and made George pet him and scratch his ears while I finished up lunch. I baked a chicken, made garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed squash and zucchini, and sliced a tomato freshly picked from George's garden. After lunch, I tried taking Brady AND George for a walk; that was not so successful! I decided not to press my luck for one day, so we headed back after only making it two houses down and got George ready to return to Cane Island. My brother was hosting a Super Bowl party this evening, so after getting George settled, I headed over to say hello. I only planned to stay until half-time since I was pretty worn out, but the game was so exciting and close, I decided to stay until the end. Lindsay had the winning numbers for the 2nd quarter of the football pool when the Steelers intercepted and ran for a touchdown in the final seconds before half-time. We were all standing up and cheering so loudly, that I think we were the reason James Harrison was able to break a few tackles before heading into the end zone to make Super Bowl history (ha!!). Hope everyone has a great week ahead ... oh, and here's a picture of George's visitor's last Thursday night.

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 ...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!!

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!!