Hi all,
I just wanted to leave a quick update on the appointment my dad had with his brain surgeon on Wednesday. I was not there but my mom gave me the lowdown.
Dr. Schwalb is not going to put the bone flap back in my dad's head for another couple months. As many of you know, he has had a big scab on the side of his head where the injury was which has been progressively removed over the last few months. The remainder of the scab was removed by Dr. Schwalb's nurse (who happens to be a family friend!) on Wednesday and the doctor wants to wait a few months for that area to heal more. We are very worried about the fragile nature of his head due to the fact that he no longer has a posey bed at St. Mary's but we understand that he has to be in tip top shape in order to have another surgery. He is so tough!
My dad answered a few of the doctor's questions at the appointment (For example, Dr. Schwalb held up a pen and ask my dad what it was and he said pen. Yet, he had difficulty naming other common items) but it was a long day for him and he was extremely tired. Overall, we just have to hang in there and keep supporting him as much as we can. I started back at school and work this week in Buffalo so sadly, I will not be able to visit my dad as much as I was able to during the summer. Please continue to support my mom and uncle as best as you can, especially in my increasing but necessary absence. As we all have learned during this arduous process, it will take a village to help him be comfortable, feel supported, and get better. We truly appreciate all the support, prayers, and positive thoughts. Thank you.
L
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Tom here
Saw walt on Friday after work. We went outside for some air and had a little conversation about things. Not bad, but could be better. I tried working his right arm for a few minutes but walt wasn't interested in doing that. I told him I didn't want to hear that and he needed to move his right arm and leg as much as possible. I'm going to focus on that part of Walt's issues. He needs to move those parts of his body. Everyone please try to get Walter to stretch his arm, leg, and fingers when you visit him. Just tell him to do it so you can see his progress. I think a little tough love is necessary here. Don't take no for an answer. Insist Walt show you some kind of right side arm, hand, or leg movement. If he doesn't use them he will loose them.
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for the blog posting - we were all wondering how things went with the surgeon. I had the most amazing visit with Walt last time I was there. I think how tired he is has a huge effect on his ability (and desire) to converse.
When I was there he eventually told me he was tired and wanted to go to his room to rest. That was just before pizza-making time. I repeated his request to the first nurse I saw. Of course they said no. That it was too early. Walter seemed to appreciate me going to bat for him though.
I know when I don't get enough sleep (8 to 12 hours) I feel under par and will even get sick. So I am very sensitive to Walt's exhaustion and can easily believe it strongly affects him.
We will not give up on our friend. You concentrate on school and rest assured there are several people on hand.
Tom, your suggestions are good. I did have Walt show me how he did his leg lifts. His right hand was in a brace to help prevent the constriction so we couldn't do much about that. You are a good friend and Walter is lucky to have you.
Kathy J.
Thanks Kathy. I know I sound a bit harsh, but I am genuinely concerned that Walt does not move his right side enough. Most times I see him he does not have his hand brace on, and it is difficult for us to open his hand. I wish I could stop by every day but I can't. His arm and leg muscles are hard as rocks. I know he is tired, and does not always want to move his hand and arm. I just go easy with him and make sure I get things to move even if just a bit. My grandmother had a bad stroke long ago, and stopped using her hand,arm, and leg. She never exercised them and lost the ability to use them. I don't know for sure if I'm doing the right thing for Walt, but I know doing nothing means Walt looses. I think Walter has lost enough, and he can't do this alone, so I'm trying the best way I know. If anyone can get Walt to open his fist and shake hands that would be a good thing.
Patty says: Yes, the right side is an issue-one that Walter cannot control. He has what is called "tone". In brain injury language that means the brain is not allowing him to use that arm and hand. The therapist stretches his arm and fingers. It does hurt Walter. This problem has been since the brain injury 3/13. His arm was very still and his hand since the injury. The therapist (finally) has put a brace on his fingers. Thanks to Gary D. suggestion, Dan is going to brace the arm tomorrow. If you go up, he has not broken his arm and hopefully this will help to straighten the arm. I do not know why this therapist has waited so long for these braces.
Today, Walter was just great!! He spoke about 15% English which is the best he has been since June. He smiled lots for me and called me "his queen". He spoke to Lindsay and she was very pleased!! I told him how proud I was and to keep up the good work. We all have to remember this will probably take years and that the Dr's are not really being positive about his recovery. I, on the other hand, feel that he survived this horrible accident-and almost died 3 times. He deserves to have everyone's patience and love. He certainly has mine. No negative vibes are welcome!!
Thanks to all that have visited this week. It really means so much to us. I do wish that some of his best friends would visit. That would mean the world to Walter. It is amazing to me that some people go into "isolation" and you never see or hear from them. Unreal!!
Tuesday, at 11:15 Walter has a Dr's appt. Do not go up between 10:15 and 2:15.
Thanks again, for all of your love and support.
Hi All,
Just wanted to add my Walt experiences from Friday. I am not surprised that he was tired on Friday afternoon as he put in a very solid morning. I was able to get there early and join all his morning therapies and it was excellent. I could see when I arrived how alert he was compared to other visits recently. Dan from occupational therapy was massaging his right arm and shoulder and stretching it out. he also had him working on the pulleys which Walt really enjoyed. It was great to see our friend initiating activity again after this down period.
Dan said that he was planning to put Walt's right arm in a fibregalss cast for several days to really stretch out the tendons. He would then cut it off (the cast that is)and see how his arm was progressing and then use the cast as a removable splint. I am sure that this will be vert uncomfortable for Walt but is a good strategy if it gets the arm straight again then the stretching can keep it that way.
Speech therapy was next and Walt had to have a lot of prompting about the date and the Hospital name etc. He then had to name a series of common houshold items. The first one was a pale green saucer. Walt said brown. Elvira was thinking he was way off because she hadn't asked what colour it was and anyway it was green. I reminded her that he was colour blind. When Elvira asked Walt if this was true he agreed. So while it took him a while to find the name plate in his memory bank, to him it was indeed brown!
Next was off to work with Aaron and the parrallel bars. I was really happy to see Walt raring to go. He was able to stand with much less assistance than last week. With Aaron helping him move his right leg and reminding him to shift his weight he very slowly walked the lenght of the bars then walked backward to his chair which he collapse back into it with a big sigh.
Aaron and I both congratulated him on the improvement and pushing himself hard. When we asked him if he was pleased he said no. On prompting he told us it was not good enough and he had lost so much. I told him that this was a really good sign because that meant that his brain was clearing up again as last week he didn't even seem to know what he had lost.
Aaron then had him put his feet in the peddaling machine like he had at Strong. It was very hard for him at first but gradually he was able to get the legs working and getting them to go round. He did this for 5 minutes and was a really good workout.
Walt was really ready for a break at this time so we ventured back to the dinning hall for some water, neck massage, a little chatting and then a nap (Foe Walt). He still had one more Speech therapy before lunch so at 11 I rudely awoke him and back to Elvira we went. This time Walt had to recognize a number in a box then look across a line to find that number and circle it. He was having so much trouble in doing this that I could feel my heart sinking and my eyes prickling with tears. Elvira is so patient and flexible with helping work his way through the confusion though. Again what appeared to be happenning was that he was getting distracted by his thinking about what was not working well that it got in the way of the process. after a little chat and some more encouragement he flew through the next 2 sheets without any prompting and with 100% accuaccy. Woo Hoo!
I had to leave and as I was saying goodbye Walt was able to tell me for the first time in weeks what my name was. Each time I go up and several times while I am there I will tell him my name and ask him to repeat it. Then I will ask him my name a little bit later and he cannot remember so i would tell him again. So it was a wonderful momment when he remembered.
It is always so hard to leave Walt there alone so it was great to meet Tim (fellow ratbag classmate from Charlotte High) arriving to have lunch with Walt. Tim is a regular lunch date of Walt's. I hope that Walt had enough energy left to eat!
Cheers To you all.
Corinne
Patty, I didn't know all that about Walts right side. Maybe I should not move his arm and fingers. I just find it hard to see the arm and hand in the position it's in. That's great about the cast.
Should I not try to move his arm and fingers. I really don't know what I can do and not do with Walt when I visit. I did take him outside the other day but I don't know if that was the right thing to do.
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