Hey everyone and hope all my friends are having a good weekend so far. As everyone of you know by now I have been dealing with my grandfathers hospital stay since May. He had surgery and as you know it has not been good ever since. We have had little victories here and there but overall its been a battle day in and out for grandfather physically and mentally for my sis and I. We have watched the man who raised us go from being jovial,hardworking(at 85 years old mind you),loving and the remaining monarch of the family to a shell of weakness,inability to communicate, cannot eat foods and so many other things that if you have kept up with my blogs well then yanno.
Yesterday would be considered a victory day. He had a good day. We arrived at around 10 and they had already had him in a recliner for a hour. Of course there has to be alot of special cushions for him. His body is so frail and frankly covered in skin tears that anything can cause him discomfort or cause another spot on his skin to bust open. When that happens he will bleed for a couple days from that spot. He is still wearing bandages on one spot dated back to 22 of last month. They want to make sure they scab totally over. Then with his weight and strength so low he cannot tolerate what weight his body does have for long. So 15 minutes after we got there he indicated he did not like being in the chair anymore. Which that in itself was nice to see. Instead of the blank stare that you all know we have seen so much of. On another good note he wore his Passy Muir valve almost all day yesterday. Now that is the thing that fits over the end of his trach that comes out his throat and it allows him to vocalize. Again strength and not using his vocal cords in sooooooo long has left them in bad shape. Still we could understand a few words like yes,no, back, and a couple others. Basically we got the gest of what he meant sometimes. Sometimes it came out as no more than low slow grunts or moans but he was trying and even tried to put words together. His speech therapist came in and they did a swallow test on him. What happened was she brought in a plate of food and put a camera down his nose and watched him try to swallow. Not to mention she could see how his vocal cords and windpipe were doing and if he was having a problem getting phlem out of his throat. Turns out that sometimes he ends up with phlem basically caught above his trach. So when they suction out his trach this stuff does not come out. However she did say that when you take the Passy Muir off that this stuff will drop down and he can cough it out his trach. So sis and I watch her doing this test and sis actually fed him the things the doc asked. Everything had blue food dye in it to see it better by the way. So we started with ice chips and he seemed somewhat ok with that. Then came apple sauce and next some skim milk and juice and lastly pudding. Each thing was going up in thickness. This whole time all of us are watching on a TV what the camera is seeing. Even grandfather seemed engaged as he watched the process too. I also want to point out this is the first time since his surgery he has had any kind of food in his stomach. He seemed to enjoy the taste of what we gave him. He wanted to take his time swallowing. Sadly though the test did show that he is not yet ready for food. He could end up swallowing food into his windpipe and not to his stomach. The epoglotis (I know its not spelled right but you get the meaning)is a flap that closes so that food and air each go where they need to. Sometimes food gets pass that and we all know how that feels. We cough it back up. With grandfather he might not even realize that food has gone into the wrong spot and be able to cough it up. They are going to do exstensive therapy for the next 2 weeks on his throat and retest him in two weeks. The thing to gain from all this is that we know there is goal to reach on that front. We have so many goals and now another one. Sis and I dont mind one bit. The staff has been behind grandfather and has become a cause for many of them. There is a personal interest in him not just on a patient level but a almost deeper meaning. I don't know if I can really explain it and give it justice.
On a bad note one of the bed sores on his back has begun to tunnel as they say. Which we take to mean it is getting deeper and worst. Now the have to literally pack in gauze and bandages to this area. They are looking into getting a wound vac for his back. This will pull dead skin away from the wound and keep the area clean. Modern technology gotta love it. On another note I found what maybe a cyst forming on his foot. I showed my sis and we got his nurses in to show them and they moved it around and grandfather showed no signs of discomfort. It has been noted to be looked at and just another thing to add to the list.
So yesterday was a good day compared to so many bad ones. Those prayers you all have been saying may and I think have been making a difference. Keep them coming and again I cannot thank you enough for the support you all give.
On a personal note I want to send a shout out to my "Midnight Riders Express" partner Robbie. Bro it was so fucking great to hang out with you last night and gave me a much needed boost that you cannot fathom. Btw hope that hehe thing worked out for last night. Yanno what I mean ROFL.
Jason hope your up and moving around. We both have shit to work through and I think we will be fine in the end.
Big fight night tonight with UFC. I see GSP winning. Brock Lesnar in a slug fest and winning and Kenny Florian getting a tap out victory.
Well I think that's all I have for right now. You all have my love and deepest appreciation for what you have shown and given me over these dark months. I will not forget it.
Ron
