November 17, 2012 - Family

Family

Mom and I went to see dad this morning. When we got there his door was closed. One of the nurses said that might be because dad had lots of company. The day he move to this room there were six chairs in there ... More than we needed so the nurse took a couple out. Today we needed them all! Bill and Christy were there, along with some of my parents good friends, Ron and Loretta. The room was quite warm, so we turned the thermostat down and cracked the door.
We all had a pleasant conversation, including dad. He's making up his own sign language and it's working quite well. Christy is great at reading lips, and I am doing alright, so were doing okay communicating.
Dad looked very good today. He was awake, alert, smiling, interacting with us, and ... You guessed it ... Asking for ice chips! I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be for him to not be able to eat or drink. The reason is that anything that goes into him mouth might end up in his lungs rather than in his stomach. If that happens, he might het pneumonia, and that would be bad! Supposedly the speech therapist can teach him how to swallow with the trach, but he hasn't had a session with them yet.
Speaking of not having sessions ... He still hasn't had a radiation treatment yet. We are all hoping the machine is repaired by Monday so he can continue down the path if recovery. 30 treatments is a lot, and I has so hoping he'd have between 5 - 8 behind him before we head back to California.
Dad is sensitive to sounds, so it's not uncommon for the nurses to keep his door closed. He is directly across from the nurses station, so they are only a few steps away if he needs anything. He has come so far and is continuing to improve daily. We are all so proud of him!