Monday was not the day of revelations we anticipated.
Not a bad day at all; the doctors simply didn't meet in the collective powwow we had thought would happen. Dad's main Md, Dr. Mumtaz, has ordered a neurologist consult, and it's a bit counterintuitive to have physical and occupational therapists flinging him around before the head squad's had their say.
The delay was actually great for Mom and I- we've been doing legal housekeeping. My folks have always had separate checking accounts and split the home's expenses. But these pesky things called bills have shown up in Dad's name, and they are due, um...now. So we're working to make it possible for Mom to handle those, and putting my name on a few documents as backup.
We also got a chance to meet with Brenda, our case worker at SSH. We set goals for his stay (1. get him off ventilation, 2. WAKE him) and discussed long term options. She's incredibly nice, and went out of her way to get me a list of facilities so I can start doing research for a possible transfer later.
Earlier today Dad got his first EEG (and it's about flipping time- I've been asking about them for 2 weeks- I'm a musician and I know you can't get a good read on brain function from a CT). We'll know official results tomorrow, but the second hand hearsay we got (the neurotech mumbled to fabulous Nurse David who talked to us) is ok, but not devastating. Again, though, we won't know much until tomorrow.
We tried to tackle Dr. Mumtaz in the hall today before my flight, but missed. I've got his number and he has mine, so we'll do a phone date tomorrow to touch base. There are weekly team meetings with all therapists, MDs and case workers which we're allowed to attend, so I'm sending Mom to Dad's first one Thursday.
As far as his vitals, Dad's staying strong. He breathes on his own with a tiny 30% oxygen burst on inhales. He's still got a bit of a temperature, but he's fighting an infection somewhere (we haven't totally found the cause yet). Yawns a lot, moves when something hurts, typical good day stuff.
I flew back to Chicago today with no meltdown upon departure. Now that Dad's in a facility that can really cater to his needs, I feel confident leaving him in their care. Mom's getting into the groove of the commute, and as luck would have it, a good friend of mine from high school and college works in Little Rock healthcare and has graciously offered to help Mom with travel (Thanks, Mo!). I've finally begun to learn some of the nurse and tech names over here, and I've apparently been dubbed "girl with pretty hair." Heck, I'll take it.
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Hey! Just something I forgot to say yesterday. When finding out who is his neurologist, I told you that he is a great doctor but I forgot to tell you that he is not the nicest man. He doesn't have the bedside manner you wish for, but definitely makes up for it in his knowledge,experience, and nurse. So don't be alarmed when he doesn't show any empathy or smiles or basically any conversation. When you get more involved on the neurological side, just let me know and I can give you the back door contact information for him and his precious nurse, Nikki. Hope the room doesn't smell too much like a bathroon that when he does wake up from his little rest he's not screaming about the smell :)
ReplyDeleteMo!