An update on dad's progress and heart.

Therapy: Dad continues to improve in therapy. He only has two weeks left of outpatient therapy at Chelsea. Dad is very excited to be done with therapy. Dad's reading and comprehension continue to improve. He is currently reading at the 10th grade level (approx. 140 wpm).

Driving: Dad has been cleared to start the process of getting his license back. Dad is extremely excited to gain this freedom and skill back! He is currently waiting on a permit from the state of Michigan. Once he gets his permit, the doctor has recommended that he takes some classes to help prepare him for the road and paper test. Once he completes all of those things, dad will be road legal again.

Heart: On Friday, Amber and I took dad to a cardiology appointment at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital. Dad's doctor was very impressed with dad's progress (the last time he saw dad, he was at Allegiance Hospital). He mentioned that dad was the main topic of conversation at the last cardiology conference he attended. My dad's healing and progress has all of the doctor's stumped. Dr. S. is amazed that my dad is alive (he said repeatedly that my dad shouldn't be alive) and amazed at how well my dad is doing. The doctor mentioned multiple times that dad was a "lucky" man. However, we know luck had nothing to do with it. God put the right people in place to help keep him alive at the farm (from getting CPR from Tom to the fire department who shocked dad's heart 9 times before getting to the hospital!), He had the right doctor's working the afternoon dad was brought into the emergency room (the hypothermia therapy that was done saved his brain), and He brought us Dr. M (who helped wake my dad up). Ultimately, the healing power of God has EVERYTHING to do with my dad's recovery and success.

In listening to my dad's heart, the cardiologist was concerned with how loud it was. The doctor could hear my dad's heart beat through three layers of clothes (including a sweatshirt). My dad thought that this was a good thing (loud = strong heart). However, Dr. S. said that it was not a good thing to hear his heart beat so loudly. We then talked about dad's upcoming surgery. On Thursday morning, I will take dad up to Saint Joseph for the first test on his heart. Dad will be getting an ultrasound of his heart to get a clear picture of what his heart valve looks like and what it is doing. The surgeon (Dr. K.) will need one day to look over the ultrasound pictures, and then he will meet with dad probably the following week. As of right now Dr. S does not believe that dad will qualify for the less invasive surgery (using the Da Vinci robot), at this time Dr. S. sees my dad needing open heart surgery. Ultimately Dr. K. will make that decision after he knows more about the state of his heart valve.

Dad has not been cleared to lift weights or go back to the YMCA to work out. Until dad's heart has been fixed, they don't want my dad to put too much strain on his heart. He is allowed to walk, jog, run, bike, and swim, however dad cannot focus on building muscle at this time.

I will update everyone as soon as we know more. Until then, please pray that:

• The tests will go well on Thursday
• Dad won't be too nervous or scared on Thursday (he is going to have to be sedated and he is not looking forward to that).
• Dad will continue to improve even after therapy is done (March 29th). 
• The doctors working on my dad's heart will have the wisdom and skill to do what is best for his long term health.

Dad's latest assessment...Getting closer to driving!!

Nathan took dad to Speech and Occupational Therapy today. Today was spent assessing dad's progress. Dad started with Occupational Therapy. They did the same assessment on dad as the first day of his outpatient therapy. They assessed his eyes and his vision again. There has been improvement in dad's vision. The mid-line in his vision has started shifting back to the center line. They also tested his depth perception, which has also improved.

They did another test (the first test to assess to see if the patient is able to start looking at the possibility of driving). In previous attempts at doing this test, dad was unable to complete the test at all. For this first assessment, dad has to connect the dots in a number/letter pattern (for example: 1 a 2 b 3 c 4 d), and he has to complete the task in 4.5 minutes. Dad scored, "normal" on this assessment. Dad is EXTREMELY EXCITED!!! With only 4 weeks left in out patient therapy, dad is hoping that he will be driving before the end of therapy. The occupational therapist did not put a time line on when it will happen, but she did say that they can start doing more assessments/prep to help dad get behind the wheel again.

During dad's speech time, they assessed his reading and comprehension. Again, thankfully his reading and comprehension has increased! He was reading at a 5th grade level (last time they assessed him) and he now reads at a 6.5 grade reading level.  At one point dad was able to read at the 8th grade level, however his comprehension was at 20%. When he reads at the 6.5 level his comprehension is at 80%. 

We are so thankful to see the continued improvement in dad's progress. Thank you to everyone who has continued to pray for my dad. Please keep praying for his continued recovery! 

What an amazing God we serve!

"Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'" ~ Mark 10:27

A Celebration of Life!!

On Saturday February 23, 2013 we had an open house to celebrate not only dad's 55th birthday, but also to celebrate the miracle of his recovery. We had approximately 70-80 people stop in to visit with dad from 2:00-6:00 p.m. It was a wonderful day full of food, family, friends, and celebration. Thank you so much to everyone who came out!!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Maylin and a "Happy Birthday" crown.

Lots of company and lots of delicious food!

We had many very special guests who came out to visit with dad. The Pulaski fire guys came out to the house. Dad was able to meet and thank them for saving his life. (I was going to get a picture of them with dad but they left before I could get a picture). We are so incredibly thankful for all that they did to save my dad.

Dad and Tom Cure are pictured above. When my dad collapsed on December 22, 2012 it was Tom who immediately started CPR on my dad. Every doctor and nurse that worked on my dad said that Tom's actions saved my dad's life. We are eternally grateful for what he did for our family and for my dad. 

Pictured above is Dad and Dr. Murray. Dr. Murray was one of the doctors that over saw my dad's care at Allegiance Hospital. It was such a blessing having him come to our home and talk with dad. Dad does not remember his stay at the hospital and does not remember ever having met Dr. Murray. However, Dr. Murray will never forget meeting my dad. While visiting with us he said that dad's recovery and healing are absolutely without a doubt "miraculous." Many came up and thanked Dr. Murray for all that he did for my dad. He humbly responded every time by saying, "I didn't do anything but sit back and watch the miracle happen." (Of course to which dad replied: "What do you mean you just sat back and watched? I just got a bill for $348,000.00 in the mail!) :-) 

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported my dad and our family. It was a wonderful day and incredible celebration!!

The latest assessment on dad's progress

Today at Therapy they did another assessment on dad. In fact, they did the exact same assessment from dad's first day at Chelsea. They found that dad has made a ton of progress! Every activity dad did was timed, he cut his time in  half across the board. He has improved in every single area in HUGE ways! Reading/comprehension is still a struggle for him, this could be because his eyes are still not working together, I'm honestly not sure. Unfortunately, I don't have the specifics because I was not there to talk with his Speech Therapist. All that matters at the end of the day is that dad continues to get better and better!!

Feeding Tube Removal

The procedure to take out dad's stomach feeding tube went great! I was a very simple out patient procedure. He was done with the doctor in about 15 minutes time. Dad is relieved to have this gone!

Still no driving, but more independance

Yesterday was a day full of ups and downs for dad. Dad has been very determined to drive again. I think that he will be given this privilege eventually, however he is not quite ready yet. We took dad to get the plates on his car renewed and dad tried to renew his drivers license as well.  Once they heard of dad's heart attack and brain injury, they told dad that they would not be allowed to renew his driver's license until he was cleared from the doctor. Dad was very disappointed, but he handled the news well.

After being taken to the secretary of state, Tom took dad to Chelsea for his therapy. Because, this was Tom's first day back in the US (he went to Haiti for a while with the church), he asked a lot of questions and tried to get a better understanding of where dad is at in his recovery. It was determined that dad has been granted some more "independence" around the home. This means that we are transitioning from a very rigid routine for dad, to dad creating and following a check list for his daily routine. This also means that he does not have to be supervised for every single activity that he does around the house. However, it does mean that once dad finishes an activity that we need to look over what he did and correct any mistakes that he may/may not have made. Even though dad has been granted some more independence, he still has not been cleared drive, use power tools, guns or ladders.  Because dad no longer needs 24/7 supervision, Nathan and I are going to be transitioning out of my parents home. We are going to stick around to help dad get into his new self monitoring routine, help mom and Tom transition into the new routine, then we are moving home. (Dad is VERY excited about us leaving!! He loves us, but he knows that by us leaving it means that he is getting better!)

At least 50% of dad's in home therapy is going to be done online now. There is a reading program that forces dad to read at 100 wpm (words per minute), then tests his comprehension of the subject matter. The last two times we did this at home, dad has scored a 70% in comprehension. Through this same program there is a branch of the program that tests his memory through numbers. There are several other online programs that we will be accessing through the Internet that will help to work his memory and making those connections in his brain.

Today (2/12/13), dad will be getting the feeding tube in his stomach removed. He is very excited about no longer having to flush the tube with water or worrying about it getting infected (dad and I got in to the nightly routine of cleaning and disinfecting the area around the stomach tube...he will be very happy to never have me do this again. To be honest, I am not going to miss doing this either!)

An Update on Dad

Good morning! I apologize for the lack of updates on dad. Times are busy, and it is hard keeping up with the Blog while I am at mom and dads because they do not have Internet.

Dad has been doing outpatient rehabilitation at Chelsea Hospital three days a week. Last week it was determined that dad no longer needed Physical Therapy. He was walking so well that the physical therapist was getting winded. Based on her assessment, dad is moving and walking like that of a 55 year old man (in 20 days he will be 55...so I would saw that he is right on with where he is supposed to be).

Because of the therapy and schedule we have dad on at home, Occupational Therapy only needs to meet with dad once a week. We have dad on a pretty rigorous schedule at home. Mom wakes dad up at 6:30, they spend 30 minutes working on dad's routine in the bathroom. After that they have a specific routine they follow in the morning until 9:30 when they sit down and have their first therapy session together. Therapy usually takes a about an hour to do. I have spent a lot of time researching things to do for dad. His occupational and speech therapist have also been wonderful about providing at home activities for dad. Once therapy is done dad has "free" time. In this time he has to do some exercise (riding the bike, going for a walk in the field with the dogs, etc.), sometimes he cleans and organizes, sometimes he reads. Then he and mom have a lunch time routine, then dad has "free" time until either he goes to Chelsea for therapy or does another round of therapy in the afternoon at home with mom.

Dad meets with the Speech Therapist three times a week (Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays). They do a lot of things with dad from working on his memory to helping him read and write. According to the last assessment they did, dad is reading at 5th grade reading level. He has found that it is much easier to read large print. If the print is too small he tends to struggle more. Something else that they discovered is that as a result of the brain injury dad's eyes do not currently work together. If you watch dad closely while he is doing his eye exercises you can see that the right eye is slightly slower than the left. How does this affect his vision? Well, it means that dad sees things lightly to the left and down from where it is actually at. Does this mean that dad will never be back to himself again? Absolutely not! Dad's brain is already compensating for this change in vision. If it was not compensating then every time he reached for something he would miss it. OT is working with dad to strengthen his eyes and we have been given exercises to do with dad at home that will help to improve this as well.

Dad needs to be on a rigid routine right now to help him get into the habit of doing every day type activities (if he doesn't have someone supervising him and guiding him then he has a tendency to miss steps). We try to schedule time for dad to do some therapeutic activities outside of the house as well. On Saturday, Amber and I took dad grocery shopping, another time Nathan took dad to the hardware store and to the Barber to get a hair cut. Although these things seem simple, they are still therapeutic. We have dad Navigate for us, he has to pay for things with cash so he is forced to add up the money and make sure he is getting the right change back, he has to find the things on the list, etc.

We continue to see improvements every day. If dad struggles with one task one day, we teach him how to do the task and the next day it is much much easier for him. We are so thankful for the continued improvement in dad. (I know dad is too!)

I will try my best to update this a few times a week from this point forward. If you have specific questions about dad don't hesitate to call and talk to us or dad. If you want to visit with dad just call in advance so that we can make sure it's not a time he has therapy.