Slowly but Surely

Today is Friday June 4 and there is little progress to report as things are slowly coming along. Dad has been making progress but not as quickly as we would like. He was off the ventilator (breathing machine) for a few days and was doing ok but it was starting to put a lot of strain on his heart so they decided to put him back on. He's been on for about a week and they normally won't keep them on for more than 2 weeks. They've given us a few more decisions to consider. They believe the feeding tube in his nose might be causing the slight infection in his sinuses, so they've talked about putting a port in his stomach for feeding purposes and the second part of the procedure would be to give him a tracheostomy to help him breath. The only thing we worried about with that is whether or not dad would be able to communicate. He is such an articulate speaker and deep thinker that life would be miserable for him if he were not able to convey the things on his mind.

The next issue was that he had been losing quite a bit of blood but were not able to find the source of the bleed. After drawing blood cultures and taking a few xrays, they believed (but still not certain) the source was an ulcer in his stomach. A few bits of bad news had been somewhat discouraging for us, but later Wednesday night our Stake President (who is a Radiologist) came to visit and talk to my mom. He said that whenever the body experiences trauma, it is normal for the stomach to secrete acids and cause ulcers but that was something that was easy to treat with medication. A small miracle happened that same night when my mom was asked to leave about 6:10 (visiting hours end at 6:30) so they could do a few things. When they were done, they let her go back even though it was after 6:30 and she was able to see his eyes flutter. She had been there all day and not seen that, so when she was able to stay late and see that, it was a tiny miracle and a welcomed sign of progress.

Today the physical therapist has been in working with dad, moving his legs and his arms and helping his muscles so they do not atrophy. He is responsive at times to moving his fingers and toes on command, but not always. Today the nurse has told us she is working on asking questions to dad and having him respond with a thumbs up for yes and the pointer finger up for no. So we are also doing the same, trying to get him to keep using his brain and muscles and making those connections.

Slowly but surely he is making progress and we are so happy to see that, but we know we have a long road of decisions ahead of us and we pray we will make the best decisions for our dear father and husband as he has always been our biggest supporter. We Love You DAD!!!