Yeah so it's been a while...my bad! But hear me out; when your whole life revolves around taking care of someone, there comes a point when you are tired of thinking about it...and talking about it...and writing about it. Luckily I have some positive news for this update! Let's dive right in, shall we? I'll start with a brief summary of the past two months:
The year actually started out on a pretty positive note! That might sound surprising considering my last update, but Mom and I decided to take on a more "no nonsense, take no prisoners" approach to Dad's care in this new year. The bottom line? He needs intensive physical therapy. And a lot of it. And when insurance stops paying for it (because they will...oh yes, they will...), well, we're just going to pay for it out of pocket.
So we started out with a fabulous new therapist who specializes in therapy for brain injury victims, and right after the the first visit...bam! We were back in the hospital. And in true Tom Comstock fashion, Dad not only had pneumonia, he had three kinds of pneumonia! Such an overachiever, this one! But this is apparently something that's going to happen on a pretty regular basis. Because of his condition, Dad is simply more vulnerable to certain infections than healthy people who can stand up, cough, swallow...you get the point. Upon discharging Dad, the infectious disease doctor said Dad would be in and out of the hospital from here on out (specifically he said it'd be a "revolving door" for us). So that sounds like fun, huh?
But I said I have positive news and I wasn't just trying to sucker you into reading on! Dad has been out of the hospital for a couple weeks and almost immediately after his discharge we started with back with the new therapist. Our goal is to control his "tone" (what makes him spasm and tense up) without dulling his cognitive abilities. Julia (PT) is pretty sure we can improve all of this through positioning, stretching, movement...I mean, I'm a fan of the valium, myself, but hey, who isn't?? All kidding aside, she has already shown us in a just a few visits that she knows what she's doing. She is positive and hopeful and has plenty of plans for Dad's recovery. We also just purchased a new therapy mat platform for the house so that we can continue Dad's therapy here on a daily basis. Even with 3 visits to Julia per week, we'll need to supplement his therapy with work at home. AND I think it'll make a great decorative statement in the dining room...
To give you an idea, picture a 6'x8' version of this in purple :)
So that pretty much brings us up to date! We're also planning on purchasing a standing frame (explanation and description to follow once we've got it) for the house as well. That's a bit trickier than the mat platform though, so it'll be a little while before we order it.
Mom and I are doing alright...over Thanksgiving I purchased some unconditional love under the guise of getting a therapy dog for Dad. Which is where Maxwell comes in...so I'll share with you a picture of the first day he came home!
He's about 3x that size now, but you get the picture! He's brought a LOT of happiness and light into our house through a rough couple of months! He's quite a snuggler too, but we have to keep a good eye on him with Dad...I have this fear he'll chew through Dad's gtube. Eeeeeww. Don't worry, we won't let that happen.
With that I'll save something for next time. Feel free to call either my mom or myself or email either one of us if you want to hear more about what's going on with Dad. Hope this finds you all well!
