Day 17 - January 7, 2013

What an incredible day for my dad and all of us. When we arrived in the morning the sedation of Versed was on a drip of 10. By 9:30/10:00 a.m. the drip was at 5. By 12:00 p.m. the drip was off. Throughout the morning, dad would mumble things like, "I want to stay alive." "Good morning." "I love you." and "I have to go to the bathroom." As the sedation wore off dad's agitation only made an appearance when he had to go to the bathroom. He absolutely hates his catheter (who can blame him?)

Within 10 minutes of the Versed being turned off, dad's eyes popped open and he started talking more clearly. We met with Dr. A. he said his goal was to do everything possible to prep dad for Chelsea Acute Rehab. This included 1.) Doing Physical Therapy; 2.) Consulting with the Cardiologist; 3.) getting Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy working with dad to see if we could get dad standing up; and 4.) get the trach out of dad's throat. He even mentioned the possibility of dad getting to drink water to see how he did. Everyone was SO incredibly excited about this news.

Around 1:30 the physical therapists came in to work with dad. Unfortunately, the nurse had given dad some morphine 10 minutes prior, so he was pretty groggy. He did a good job, followed all of their commands, however he did not talk or look at them too much. They had the PT person holding dad up, and the OT person worked with dad to grip things and move his hands and arms. Dad was able to pinch, grip, and move his arms over his head. Because the PT was holding dad back, he pinched her hand and winked at the OT who was working with him. She asked if dad has a sense of humor, we explained that dad is a very sarcastic and funny. They thought he was trying to joke with them because he wanted her to let go so he could get up and walk. Next, the PT person moved in front of dad to work with him on his legs. He did a good job moving his feet and legs. He tried pinching her with his feet...again he thought he was being funny. It is good to see some of dad's personality come out. When dad had to be laid back in the bed Nathan had to hold him down as they put the restraints back on.  Dad went to in an angry temper tantrum. He told Nathan, "You're not my buddy. Not my friend. I'm mad at you."

The PT wore dad out pretty good and soon he was sleeping on his own (without medication). When dad woke up he felt VERY bad for being mean to Nathan. He looked at Nathan and started saying, "you're my buddy. You're my best buddy." Nathan asked dad if he remembered what he said to Nathan before his nap. Dad instantly said "yes" and started crying. He repeatedly said, "I love you. You're my best friend." I asked dad if he remembered my name. He called me Aubraille. I told him I was his daughter and he instantly started crying and saying, "My daughter, Aubraille. My daughter Aubraille." I corrected dad and told him I was his favorite daughter, to which he responded with lots of laughter. Glad to see glimmers of my dad return. Today has been a great day (and it's only 4:00 p.m.)

UPDATE BY CHANTEL:  All of us kids were able to stop by for a bit in the evening.  Dad was so much better than I had seen him when he was awake on Saturday.  When I first walked in he got emotional and kept saying "I want to live, I want to live."  We assured him that each day he is getting better and better.  He did not have to be restrained and was able to sit in the bed without trying to get out all of the time.  The trach was out of his throat.  He had no oxygen or other respiratory help and still had really good O2 saturation.

As the night wore on he got a little more frustrated and upset as I think he starts realizing his situation more.  He really wants to be more independent, have the ability to get out of the bed and tae care of some things himself.  When we tell him he can't he gets really frustrated asking "Why?!?  Is it really so hard to let me get out of bed?!?"  At that point in the night, Nathan was able to explain to him that he couldn't today because he was still hooked up to some lines and that we didn't want him to do any damage to himself, but that tomorrow in the morning they would let him get out of the bed.  He would sigh loudly and lean back and say "Fine!  Tomorrow...10am!" and we would be okay for a little while.  It was nice to see that we could rationalize with him a little bit.  We were also able to redirect him when he would get upset as well, which we couldn't do earlier. At one point I suggested that we talk about Maylin (his granddaughter), and reminded him that she is such a cutie-pie and got her picture for him to see.  He took her picture out of my hands and turned over and said "Yeah, Maylin, she is a cutie pie....a real cutie pie."  I suggested that we should take her to the beach in South Haven this summer and he liked that idea.  I suggested he could build her a big sand castle, that she would really like that and he said "Yeah - A HUGE ONE!"  Then we talked about watching the sailboats and sitting on Uncle Tim's porch.  He thought all of those things sounded good.

After I left, it sounds like he may have proceeded to get a little worse, and take out his anger on the people around him.  I hear that he got a few good knocks in on Nate, and tried to with Aubrey, Uncle Tim, and the nurses as well.  Based on what I have read in the last few weeks, all of these are normal stages and emotions that these patients work through...both being sentimental and agitated/aggressive.