Tuesday 8/30

Dad had a fairly good day.  As far as alertness, he comes and goes.  I showed him some pictures and asked him to point to certain people.  He got all of them right... so we are glad to know he still knows who his family is!! =)  We are sooo glad he is at the Long term acute care in Baptist.  We are just hoping and praying he can stay there.  They work with him soo well and got him so strong the last time he was there.  Our only concern, is the fact that I was approached by the social worker the first day he was there.  He asked me where we planned on going after here.  I said hopefully rehab and if he's not ready for rehab then maybe back to recoup.  He wasn't too encouraging about him getting to stay very long.  He told me we needed to have a "Plan B" in case he isn't ready for the other two.  NOT what we wanted to hear the first day he was in that unit.  We are kinda on pins and needles.  I mean we are willing to do ANYTHING to keep him there! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Pray that he is able to stay there and get stronger.  They work with him everyday!  He has physical therapy and occupational therapy usually daily and speech a couple times a week. 
As I was watching Dad today with his speech therapist, I couldn't help but think this is all a dream.  I just can't believe this has happened to MY daddy.  I have tried to be soo strong through all of this and it is getting soo soo hard on ALL of us.  We are soo ready to have him back.  We rely on him so much and there are times I catch myself picking up the phone to call him and ask him what I should do, and realize I can't do that.  :/  The one thing I have learned, is you never know what tomorrow will bring.  Please go give your loved ones a great big hug or call them up and tell them how much you love them.  I know my daddy knows I love him, but there is soo much I wish I would have told him.  I am hopefully I will be able to one day...soon!

Sat 8/27

Nothing new to report. We hope everyone has a great weekend!



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Thursday 8/25

Happy Thursday! I am writing from Dads new room on the 10th floor!!!! He is doing lots of exploring today! He is tugging at everything! OT came in this morning and she said he did well!!! We love all the nurses up here and are so glad he was able to get come back.
I left for lunch and came back and saw this......



I know you can't make out he is reaching for, so I took a better picture......



As you can see in the background we have a shrine of pictures in his room....ESP pics of Gracie!!!!! I guess one of the nurses taped this up for him while I was gone! I LOVE it! He just smiles at it!!!! =)
He is still off the vent and doing well. Not so sure he recognized me when I first got here but he mouthed my name later. He is watching an old movie right now. Hopefully we will have an uneventful afternoon.

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Wednesday

I just realized I don't even know what the date is! I just dropped Gracie off at her new daycare, that she just LOVES, and mom called to tell me Dad is going to get to stay at Baptist!!!!!!! Our prayers have been answered! We aren't sure when he is moving but the room is locked for him!!!!!! What a wonderful way to start the day!!!! Yay!!!
His temp dropped this am so he is under the warming blanket again. Will update more later!



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Tuesday 8/23

*3:30 pm
UGHHHHH. It's always something! The social worker called and said there isn't a bed for Dad in the long term acute care unit, and he cant stay in ICU, so he will be discharged. Why does this always happen to us???? We just want him to stay at Baptist, get stronger and go over to rehab. I'm so mad, angry, ticked, lots more words I don't need to type. They were talking about hospitals in NWA. How is this going to be possible for us????? UGHHHH. There always has to be something that gets In our way.


Gracie and I made the move to Heber Sunday. I told Mom the first thing I wanted to do was unpack my suitcase! I am soo tired of living out of a suitcase... Been doing it 4 months now!!! It's nice being at "home" but we still miss Josh and our home in TN. Josh is working on the road for the next month or so, so it makes it a little easier knowing he's not at home either.






Gracie wanted to send "cheese" to her daddy this morning!

Dad is about the same. He is on the lowest setting on the vent. He's been handling it very well. I spent the day with him yesterday. They got him in the cardia chair and he sat up for about 2 hours! My aunt is spending some time with him today and I haven't gotten a report yet, so I always assume no news is good news.
Will update more later!!!!





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Friday 8/19

*10:30 pm
Dad had an ok day. He slept off and on and seemed pretty spacey. He ended up having a low grade fever and his bp was looking good. He mouths stuff to us, but we just can't understand what he's saying. He is unable to right as well. PT came by this afternoon and had him move his arms and legs some. OT came shortly after and we sat him halfway up! We weren't strong enough to sit him all the way up! Lol
Mom said tonight his bp was pretty high and he was really hot. Hopefully this is not the beginning of something.......
Will update tomorrow. I'm exhausted.....heading to bed!



I can't believe I didn't get a Birthday post in yesterday! For some reason yesterday flew by! On days I'm with Dad all day, they are usually hectic.
He had some sweet birthday guests and we made him a big happy birthday banner and got him a big card that played happy birthday. I think I got on his nerves, cause I walked in singing HB and then sang it or said it at least once every 30 minutes! Lol
I got here this morning and they said his temp had dropped. They put him under a warming blanket and it came up. He still is under the warming blanket and he is sleeping. His bp is a lil low. Hopefully he's just tired and nothing else is going on.
I will update this afternoon on how his day is going.
We love you all!!!!!


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Wednesday 8/17

Dad slept during my morning visit today. However, he was awake and alert during Mom and Caroline's visit this afternoon. He has been moved to PCU (Progressive Care Unit). It's still in ICU South, just a different hallway.
Dad's birthday is tomorrow. What a bummy way to be spending your birthday, huh?!?? Mom asked him how old he is going to be and he said 18! Ha!!! Doesn't he wish!!!!!



Mom sent me this picture last week when Gracie was in Heber. Sure looks like she was enjoying her dinner, huh?!? This is her newest cheese pose!!!!
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Tuesday 8/16

Dad looked really good this morning. He was alert and we looked at pictures! He pointed to everyone when I asked where they were. He said my name.... Like actually said it! I heard his voice and was sooo excited! Dr. Mogbo came in and said he is going to go to the 10th floor (long term acute care). This is where we first went when we came to Baptist at the end of May. We love that unit and are soo happy! He said he should be moved by the end of the week. Now we just have to try to wean him off the vent. He is not tolerating it well.
I've had several people tell me they have tried to leave a comment and cant or just don't know how. I thought I would give a lil tutorial! We would love hearing from everyone that checks up on us!!!!
Below each post you see "Post a comment". Click on that. A box appears and you can type your message in there. Next, You see a box below that and it reads comment as. You can select the drop down arrow (it says select profile) and make your selection. I tell everyone if you aren't sure, the easiest one to do is anonymous. Make sure you add your name to the comment and click post comment. It will probably ask you to type in the word verification and whaalahh!!!!!! =)
Hopefully this didn't confuse anyone!!!! I will update more on Dad this afternoon!


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Monday 8/15

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!!! Every time I go to Memphis for the weekend I totally forget about updating. (Plus my hubby hates seeing me with my phone in my face the entire time! Lol)
Dad is doing better. Off the BP drip, but still on the vent. We are hoping they can start weaning him off soon! He was pretty alert today and mouthed Gracie Kate!!!! Caroline said he asked her how Gracie Kate was doing! He sure loves that little girl and boy does she love her Pop! She points at every picture of him throughout everyone's house and yells, "POP"!
I will update more in the AM!
Thanks to everyone that keeps up with this blog. I know there are lots of you that do, and it means soo much to all of us!!!!


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Thursday 8/11

Dad is still on the bp drip (40). His bp is still a lil low. He is still on the vent as well (40 %). He is sitting up in the bed this morning and is pretty alert!!!! He's watching a western right now and we listened to some James Taylor on Pandora a bit ago!
I haven't seen any Drs this morning, so I probably will this afternoon. I'll update any new news we may have.
Here is Dad this morning. I told him to smile for a picture so I could send to Caroline and Mom!!!!



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Tuesday 8/9

*9 pm update
They had to put Dad back on the BP drip. His blood pressure had been a little low. They turned him and it dropped. They waited for it to come back up and it never did. Mom said he was having some breathing issues tonight as well.
Mom, Caroline and Gracie drove in from Heber tonight. I met them at the hospital to get Gracie. As we were pulling away Gracie yells, "Bye DeDe". I tell her we are going to see Mema and Papa. She repeats, "Mawmaaaa, Paapaaa" then throws her hands up and says, "Where's Pop?" I looked at her and said, "Do you miss Pop??? Momma misses Pop so much". She just looked at me. It felt like someone had ripped my heart in two. We all miss him so much and bless her heart she just doesn't understand what all is going on.




So much has happened since my last post. I guess I thought if I didn't write it, things would get better. Dad is still on the vent....40%. The nurse this morning said they have tried to ween him off and have just been unsuccessful. She said it's going to take some time. He has been on an iv drip for his blood pressure. They were able to ween him off of that last night. He became agitated and fidgety this morning so the nurse gave him some morphine. He is now sleeping and probably will be for awhile.
The DR says his chest X-rays haven't been looking any better. They have him on 2 antibiotics to treat his mrsa pneumonia..... Hopefully they will start working soon. His DR tells us this is a life threatening condition. I don't like those words one bit..... Typing them or saying them. However, he said he is critical, but stable. I leave you with one of the last pictures I took of my Dad before all this happened. Who would have known????











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Saturday 8/6

The EEG from yesterday shows no sign of seizures!!!!!! Praise the lord!!!!! It must be tremors Dad is having. The DR said he could give him some meds.
After meeting with the Neurologist yesterday, we were soo happy!!! He pulled up Dads CT scans and let us look at them. He then told us the area where the bleed was, should not have affected his thinking!!!!!!! This was the greatest news we have heard in awhile. He did say he may have some problems with coordination and walking may take awhile and be harder, but like he said..... I'd take my mind over walking any day!!!!!!!
I'm sitting in the room with Dad right now. He is awake and watching TV. He is still on the ventilator.... 50% and they have reduced his BP drip to 65%. He will stay in ICU until he is off of the drip and his blood pressure is doing well without the meds.

Happy Saturday everyone!!!! Hope you all are staying cool!!!!!
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Friday 8/5

*4:30 pm
We got some encouraging neurological news from the Neurologist just a bit ago! Brightens our afternoon some! Will share more shortly!

*2:00 pm
Dad has slept all morning. We were unable to arouse him and it worried us all. However, We just got back to his room from lunch and he is awake and mouthing words to us! They were able to reduce his BP drip and he is on 50% oxygen. They are calling a neurologist in to look into some tremors he is having. We are praying these are just tremors and that he is not having seizures.
Will keep everyone updated.


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Thursday 8/4

*12:45 pm
Dad's bp dropped. They have started him on a iv drip and they are monitoring. They were checking blood gasses as I was leaving from seeing him. The nurse said he responded to her a little as she was changing his trach out. He is so weak. Caroline will be here any minute and Mom is coming in from Heber shortly.


Dad has been moved to ICU and they are putting him on the ventilator. He has had some respiratory issues throughout the night. His pulse ox dropped and they tried aggressively to treat him, but were unsuccessful, so the decision was made to move him to critical care. He smiled when I spoke to him this morning, but never opened his eyes and wouldn't follow any of my commands. I am waiting for the nurse to call me back to see him. I will keep everyone posted.


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Wednesday 8/3

We just found out Dad has new pneumonia in his left lung. He is having respiratory issues and is on 80% oxygen. His pulse ox and blood gasses are low. He did do well in Physical Therapy today, so we are thankful for that.
I have been in Oxford and Memphis the past few days and was glad to be greeted with a smile when I got here. His eyes did close shortly after and he is now resting. I am sooo ready to have my Daddy back. It has been 15 loooong weeks. What I would give to be able to wake up and this all be a dream. Please treasure the time you have with your loved ones. We never know what tomorrow is going to bring. :/


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