Well, right now we are here in Huron Valley Hospital. Things were going OK, last week, dad was doing OK, as to be expected. He could walk very slow and very slowly get up the 5 stairs to his bedroom. He has to really rest afterward though. Things like taking a shower really wears him out, but that is the norm for the time being. He has a hard time with short term memory but managed to make sense and get his message across without to much frustration.
We started to notice on Monday that he was getting really, really weak. He was in OK spirits and wanted to go out to eat. So my husband, my sister, myself and my dad went to eat. We did alot of talking in the car. This was the first time we noticed that loud talking or commotion really upset him. At the restaraunt I helped him like I do at home, and didn't realize how much this upset him. He began to act very "cocky" and aggressive. At this point we knew something was wrong and decided it was time to start giving him the Zanax the doctors prescribed.
We had a pulmanary apt. the next day and his weigh in was 171! We were shocked that he dropped close to 15 pounds in 2 weeks or so.
The next couple of days his mood had not changed and he got weaker and weaker.
We took him to emergency on Wed. and they did discover that he has a bladder/kidney infection. We are not sure if his outburst was due to the infection or not. He is here in the hospital and they are adminstering antibiotics. He is very weak and can't walk on his own.
He has kidney stones and is scheduled to have them blasted on Monday. They put a stent in him a few weeks ago and this could be the source of the infection. At this point they still have him scheduled for the surgery, but it depends on his mental and physical state. If he is still overly confused they do not like to put you under. He needs to stay on Zanax because his is still very agitated.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Post 01: Let Me Explain...
Hi Family and Friends,
I chose to keep everyone updated through this blog, This way you can check up on things in your own time and read this at your leisure. Also I have been reading many blogs from people going through the same thing and found it very helpful that I felt I needed to pass on my experiences to hopefully help someone else.
This is all so new to me, being a caregiver and blogging! His illness is so out of our hands that its is very hard to feel in control of anything, including our own emotions. So I felt if I do this I can at least be some sort of control by passing on his progress to you and possibly being support to someone else. I am not sure if that makes any sense, I just want to help in some way. It is so difficult not being able to make it all better for my dad and it makes me feel very small at times.
OK, enough about me.
A little history:
My dad had 2 mini strokes in May of 2007. The strokes affected his speech and he suffered from aphasia. He also lost his periphial vision in his right eye. Nothing else seemed to be affected and the aphasia went away pretty fast. In the first week of August 2007 he suffered another mini stroke that the docs now thought might be a siezer. He had another MRI and a large 4.5 cm mass was now discovered on his brain. My brother was living with my dad at the time in Florida and as soon as we found out this information, my sister and I flew down there immediatly. The tumor is in a place that is basically inoperable. He would have been paralyized in half of his body and being 82, this would make life quality very hard.
My dad chose Cyberknife radiation. It worked out great that there was an opening in the next couple of days and we could get him in. After that we flew him back up to Michigan so he could live with me. He needs someone with him 24/7 and my brother and sister work full time.
He was adjusting pretty well in my house and we had a good routine going for the next 7 weeks. I did notice he was getting weaker and his weight was going down. Before any of this he weighted 200lbs, and 2 weeks ago he weighted 186
I chose to keep everyone updated through this blog, This way you can check up on things in your own time and read this at your leisure. Also I have been reading many blogs from people going through the same thing and found it very helpful that I felt I needed to pass on my experiences to hopefully help someone else.
This is all so new to me, being a caregiver and blogging! His illness is so out of our hands that its is very hard to feel in control of anything, including our own emotions. So I felt if I do this I can at least be some sort of control by passing on his progress to you and possibly being support to someone else. I am not sure if that makes any sense, I just want to help in some way. It is so difficult not being able to make it all better for my dad and it makes me feel very small at times.
OK, enough about me.
A little history:
My dad had 2 mini strokes in May of 2007. The strokes affected his speech and he suffered from aphasia. He also lost his periphial vision in his right eye. Nothing else seemed to be affected and the aphasia went away pretty fast. In the first week of August 2007 he suffered another mini stroke that the docs now thought might be a siezer. He had another MRI and a large 4.5 cm mass was now discovered on his brain. My brother was living with my dad at the time in Florida and as soon as we found out this information, my sister and I flew down there immediatly. The tumor is in a place that is basically inoperable. He would have been paralyized in half of his body and being 82, this would make life quality very hard.
My dad chose Cyberknife radiation. It worked out great that there was an opening in the next couple of days and we could get him in. After that we flew him back up to Michigan so he could live with me. He needs someone with him 24/7 and my brother and sister work full time.
He was adjusting pretty well in my house and we had a good routine going for the next 7 weeks. I did notice he was getting weaker and his weight was going down. Before any of this he weighted 200lbs, and 2 weeks ago he weighted 186
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