4/30/10

4/30/10

A miracle occurred -Dad got up and walked today!!! We were totally surprised – we were thinking that it would be a gradual process to get him moving again, but today he got hold of the walker and used it to navigate himself from the bedroom to the living room, with Jaelynn and JD in close pursuit. His breathing and his speech are also better, and he's eating well.

Unfortunately, the problem that's persisting is continence. I don't know if it's because he's lying down so much or what, but Dad doesn't seem to be able to consistently tell us when he's going to shit – tonight he told me he had to pee, so I got him the urinal and we wound up having another shit disaster. Kate S. generously offered to handle it if I was going to puke again, but I decided to stick it out. I have to get used to it. We're running out of clean sheets – tonight I had to use one Jaelynn stole from the hospital. I thought the amount of stuff she took was rather excessive, but we seem to be using almost all of it.

Tonight I was alone with Dad for a couple hours for the first time since this all started. I expected to be nervous, but I really wasn't. He was sleeping and it just felt peaceful.

Dad said “Am I really 86? Wow! I am expected to live a couple more years, maybe 200.”