Dads Current Status - Ryan's Thoughts

It is truly hard to describe the affects that dad’s stroke has had on him. Many friends and family have visited him, and I’m quite sure that each person has walked away with a different idea of his status. I’m guessing that it has caused a bit of confusion, since your idea of how he is doing will depend on who you have spoken to, so I’ll try to describe it the best I can

It seems like over the last 7 days, each day has brought about a different set of circumstances. First off, each day, and even each hour can change his status. Unlike a stroke that affects a side of the body, for the most part dad is physically un-changed by this stroke. There are certainly days, or hours, that he doesn’t get out of bed, or that he doesn’t have enough strength to get up and walk around. I’m not sure if that is because of the stroke, because of the medication he may have been given that day, or even some combination of his Parkinsons mixed with his stroke or medication. At other times, he can get up and walk around, and at times be quite determined (to put it nicely) with the physical strength to give the nurses a run for their money.

The biggest change that the stroke has brought on is a mental and personality change for dad. Yet again, each day can bring fairly major swings in his speech and personality. The first day in the hospital in Heber will probably go down in history since he gave many of the nurses and staff stories to pass around. Between Keri, Lori, and I, we spent the better part of 14 hours walking the halls of the hospital with dad. His only goal was to find a way to exit the hospital. He wasn’t looking to go home, just to leave there. I’m pretty sure that his body had so much adrenalin from feeling confused and stuck in a place that he had no desire to be, that it drove him to walk until completely exhausted.

The second day he would not even open his eyes, and spent quite a bit of time laying in bed whispering unrecognizable works and reaching in the air. He sat up and ate what was fed to him, but was unwilling to open his eyes, even seemed at times to be squeezing them shut on purpose. In watching dad’s health struggles over the last 20 or so years, through most of my childhood and teenage years, this was certainly the most heart breaking thing to see. Finally in the evening he decided to wake up, open his eyes, and get out of bed. He was too weak to walk, but sat in a chair and stood up a few times, and ate some ice cream, of course.

The last few days in the care center have brought much of the same. Some days are better than others. He recognizes people, and calls them by name, but really doesn’t make a lot sense with his conversations. He is looking “to go upstairs”, swears that the place has an upstairs and would like to find a way to get up there. No line of reasoning will convince him that he is asking to do something that we cannot do, it seems that his mind is caught in an endless loop.

This morning he fed himself breakfast, and ate some of his lunch. The highlight of his day was when they brought around the chocolate ice cream. It seems that most of the hospitals and care centers only believe in vanilla. Anyone who knows dad will fully understand how important chocolate flavoring can be. Needless to say, he was quite happy eating the chocolate ice cream that was brought around. One major change in his personality, and only time will tell if it sticks, is that he was satisfied to stop at a single scoop of ice cream. I’m pretty sure that this was the first time in 72 years that a single scoop of chocolate ice cream has ever completely satisfied him.

I hope that this gives a bit clearer of a picture of dad’s current status. I will try to get my brother and sisters to give some of their own perceptions and post them to the blog in the upcoming days, but since I was the one who setup the blog this evening, I figured I’d be the first to post my thoughts.

Once again, I am so grateful for all of the love and concern that has been shown by friends and family members over the last week. I pray that the Lord will bless my parents through this trial, especially my mother. How grateful I am for the knowledge of His plan of salvation and the peace that it can bring during times such as this.

Ryan