Sunday, October 30, 2010

Just when I thought nobody was reading the blog anymore, four friends over this past week said they had checked it and were eager for an update on the old man. So, here goes, folks.
It's good news: Tommy is still working his way through his nine lives. And we are finally enjoying our "summer"...I say that because the actual summer months proved to be yet another trial for us. Within weeks of Tommy getting home from his two months in rehab following the spring gall-bladder crisis, Tommy had a totally unexpected "heart event" while pedaling on his exerciser. This culminated in another ambulance ride, with me following in my car behind--this time, all the way to Washington Hospital Center in D.C.--to get two stents installed in Tommy's lower anterior descending artery (the artery that is also called "the widowmaker"). (The cardiologists at the major regional hospital in Salisbury, Md., where Tommy was taken first, said it was too dangerous to try to do the procedure there.) We were supposed to be two nights in D.C. and ended up being there five nights. It's a terrific hospital, but the experience was exhausting for both of us. Thank heaven our good friend Amy Smith lives only a mile down the street and welcomed me with a chilled glass of white wine every night around 9 when I stumbled in. While I sat staring at the kitchen wall, she rustled up homemade burritos for me...and listened to me babble. I keep saying it--thank heaven for our friends.
When we got back home, Tommy began another stint of home health care, plus we had weeks of juggling his new drug regimen with the help of the home-health nurse, appropriately named Angel. We got through it all with the help of Gaie (who drove out for a week to help me get back on my feet), Tommy's wonderful Dr. Giddins, my brother Marshall, and Patti and Irv.
Now things are on an even keel once again. I tell Tommy that he's like an old classic car that's being restored; everything is getting replaced and pretty soon he'll be like new. Getting the stents in his artery has definitely made a difference in his awareness or whatever the word would be; we have longer conversations and his episodes of confusion are less frequent.
So, at this point, Tommy is working his way back to where he was in the early spring, before the first of the two unplanned hospital visits. This means that he walks (with walker and me helping) to the dining room every morning, and he pedals daily (although not as vigorously as he did before the stents were put in). We often go out in the afternoon for errands. We have a wonderful woman named Billie who hangs out with him once a week while I go out.
This week, Marty Wolfe visited for the first time since last Thanksgiving, and he told Tommy that he seems much improved since his last visit. Thanks, Marty.
Oh--and on November 4, Tommy turns 75! We'll have an open house for him next Sunday, with the usual suspects stopping by. Give him a call this week--he would love it...302-539-8079, or drop him a card (P.O. Box 1427, Ocean View, DE 19970). And come visit!

May 22, 2010

Great news: Two days ago, I attended the second care-plan meeting for Tommy at Atlantic Shores rehab. The social worker told me that Tommy has been meeting the goals that were set for his therapy, and that if he continues to progress as expected, he will be discharged on Memorial Day. Just in time for us to enjoy summer. My brother, Marshall, is coming for the weekend, and Patti and Irv will come by to welcome Tommy back home. I picture us all sitting on the back deck, with Penny and Sandy running around looking for handouts. We'll watch the jet-skiers dodge the go-fast boats out on the creek--always exciting viewing, especially on sunny holiday weekends--and we'll take turns lobbing tennis balls for the dogs with the Chuck-it that Diana and Larry gave us (truly the best dog toy ever invented).
Tommy has been working hard in therapy and now is almost able to walk the same distance (with a walker and an assist) that he was able to walk prior to the gall-bladder surgery. He can lift almost all of his own weight during transfers. He has gained back some 12 or 15 pounds--he now weighs 154 lb.--helped along by the high protein "Magic Cups" he wolfs down and the daily power drink that I've been bringing him (low-fat yogurt, ground almonds, fresh fruit and a dash of vanilla). Speaking of wolves, he is now joking with the caregiving aides (some of whom are floored, because they had gotten the idea over the first few weeks that he was unable to talk). The other day he told one of them to "climb in bed with me" as she was helping him lie down. He's baaack.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Yesterday was kind of hectic--in the morning I went to Harris-Teeter (always a pleasure) to grab ingredients for some edible "puree diet" food for Tommy, since pureed food and "thickened" liquids are basically yucky. Tommy won't even touch the gluey liquids. My approach is just to go with delicious soups, instead--at least they're "intended" to be pureed. I mean, pureed pancakes? Please. I got him lobster bisque and then ran it through the blender at home just in case there were any little chunks of lobster, and he gobbled it up at dinner. For tonight I have made gazpacho.

Just before dinner I met with the nutritionist and, like the head of physical therapy, she is young and extremely bright and nice. Good sign. They had Tommy in the gym when I got there around 4--a Filipino guy named Peter, who seemed very good and was also very warm to Tommy, was working with him at the parallel bars and got him to stand for maybe 20 seconds (with a lot of support), so that was good.

At dinner Tommy was extremely tired. A friend of his, Frank Carr, came to visit right after dinner, and also the facility's doctor arrived at about the same time. The doctor turns out to be Dr. Raj, who was Tommy's primary-care doctor until last summer (at that time, I changed Tommy to Dr. Giddins because Dr. Raj was basically unavailable when Tommy was having a gallstone emergency and was being led around the barn by all kinds of unfocused specialists' assistants...we couldn't even get to the specialists). But we always have loved Dr. Raj, so we are very happy that he is on the case while Tommy is at Atlantic Shores rehab because he knows Tommy very well.

Also, yesterday Tommy's lungs were making a lot of noise so they gave him an X ray and found that there is a small area in his lower right lung that they think is pneumonia, so Dr. Raj has prescribed a stronger antibiotic than what he has been getting.

I asked Tommy at bedtime if he feels comfortable and secure at this new place and he said yes. One day down...more to come.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Well, as Diana recently told Janis, Tommy has nine lives. A week ago
Tuesday he was raced into emergency surgery at Atlantic General
Hospital in Berlin, Md. (a very good hospital) for removal of a
disintegrating gall bladder. For two days after that, he was "septic"
and fighting for life in the ICU. He had so many tubes and wires going
into him he looked like a robot. Two days after surgery, his system
finally kicked in as his white blood cell count started to fall and he
was able to begin to keep up his blood pressure without being pumped
full of fluids. His recovery was steady after that. He is now on a
puree diet and his swallowing is improving daily, so he should soon be
able to handle actual "food".

Yesterday afternoon he was moved to the residential rehab place, which
is in Millsboro, a 20-minute drive from the house. The docs can't say
exactly how long he will be there, but that it will probably be a
matter of weeks rather than months. He is still very tired and
sometimes confused, but when he's awake he's often alert and hits me
with the occasional zinger. Example: Yesterday at lunch time, when I told him
I was going to run down to the hospital's cafeteria to grab a bite, he
said, "Check and see if there's any beer in the fridge." (He hasn't
had a beer in more than two years, of course.)

Tommy has a lot of work to do to get back to where he was before the
gall-bladder surgery--he is unable to stand up on his own, so even
transfers are being done with the help of various mechanical lifts--but
he says he wants to come home and that he's ready to buckle down. He
will have therapy sessions in the morning and afternoon. I will be
with him for dinner every evening, so a good time to call him (on my
cell phone--302-344-8652) would be from about 6 to 7 (i.e., right after
dinner).

If you want to send him a card, here is the address:

Atlantic Shores Rehab Center
231 S. Washington St.
Millsboro, De. 19966
Attention: Tom Long, Rm. 703D

Thank you for all the support and good wishes. I know it means a lot
to Tommy to hear from his family and friends. (Me, too '-) ~Connie