Hello!

Dad has had an excellent week. This weekend was my wedding and Dad was able to come to pretty well everything and more importantly, enjoy himself! He came to the rehearsal at Mom's house on Friday night but didn't come out for supper so he would have lots of energy Saturday. He got to the wedding at around 5:30 and didn't leave until after 10! He said he was exhausted at the end but he had a really good time. :). He also looked fantastic!!!! Because we have been getting such good weather on and off, he has been outside at the Miller Centre a lot and has gotten a bit of sun. Does a lot of good! Sunday he came to my new in-laws house for a brunch and ate more than I have seen him eat in MONTHS. Probably since before Christmas! It was so good to see him feeling so well.

Monday he had his appointment with Dr. Englebrecht. Mom took him to it and they were mostly talking about what Dad's options are now. From what he said, there is no "right thing to do". Some people will choose to have whatever possible done because they can't live thinking about having the aneurysm there all the time. Saying that, he said that he also feels that doing nothing, is a good option because all of the procedures are so risky. Dr. Fleetwood (halifax) seems interested in putting in some more coils since the blood hasn't stopped going into the aneurysm yet. That experience was so horrible last time that pretty much none of us want to go through it again - especially Dad. Of course, we will support any decision Dad makes.

Also, looks like there is a possibility of a strike in Capitol Health which would affect the hospital in Halifax anyway so they aren't in a position to take him on right now anyway. This means that we have more time to think about things. Dad is so good right now that the thought of him having complications like before and going back to that is horrifying, but, really, he could have another bleed at any time so that is pretty much equally as scary. At least there is nothing that can be decided yet.

They are holding off on another angiogram until Halifax is in a better position, then they will do one and we can decide then.

Today he had an EEG, which tests for seizure activity.

He is still at the Miller Centre for now, but we aren't sure how long he will be there as an in-patient. He has made such fantastic progress that it may be a shorter stay than we thought. Now we need to figure out where he will go from there! He loves it at the MC and wants to stay there as long as possible.

Best time for visitors is in the evening after all this therapies are over.


Nicole

Hi everyone,

Dad is still doing great! He is really benefiting from the therapy at the Miller Centre and he is beat out at the end of the day. It has been great for him to be able to spend some time outside during the good weather we have been having. As most of you know, he also made an appearance at the Goodwill Concert on Sunday evening. It was so great for him to see some friends and have a good time. I am SO glad he was able to make it there. It really was an amazing time. The amount of work put into organizing it and pulling it off was unreal, especially from Joe Thompkins (and Tracy too!) and Billy Sharpe, among MANY others!!!!! Keep your eye out for a note in the paper from Dad to thank everyone. I know that this Goodwill concert along with all the visits, calls, cards, and prayers had an important role in getting Dad to where he is today. He hasn't lost hope and he is good spirits thanks to all of you :)
I think he is also looking forward to this weekend as he will be able to attend my wedding on Saturday night! His doctor has given him the go ahead to leave whenever he has anything on the go.
Monday he has another appointment with Dr. Englebrect and we have about a million questions to ask him about what might happen next. I know his answer already will be "we don't know", but we have to keep asking. It is hard for the to say because they don't see aneurysms like Dads.... ever. He is supposed to have another angio soon too but it hasn't been scheduled yet. I am a little nervous about that as the last one may have caused his stroke. At least right now there is a lot of positives to keep in mind!!!
Again, thank you to everyone who came out and celebrated on Sunday night!

Cheers,
Nicole

Hey everyone,

Yet another good day!!! Dad has moved to the Miller Centre!! He is on floor 2North which is the Rehabilitation Unit. E-mail me if you want the room number or they'll tell you at the nursing station. From the sounds of it Dad will be having about an hour a day of physio, occupational and recreational therapy! Really looking forward to seeing how good this will be for him! This is a GOOD thing!!!! :) they also said it shouldn't be a problem for him to make it to the wedding in 10 days but they aren't sure about the benefit concert. We shall see!!! Fingers crossed!!!

Good news!

Hello all,

Sorry to have been neglecting this blog lately. Things have been very very busy.

Dad is doing super well the last couple of days. Has been up on the go out of bed - walking much more steadily!!! I am so happy to report this.

His speech has also nearly completely recovered. He still has trouble finding words sometimes but he doesn't get so frustrated because it isn't happening as often, and he can usually find a way around it. Speech and Language was in to see him yesterday and the only area where he 'struggled' a tiny bit was expressive oral language. The asked him to name as many animals as he could in a minute and he only got about 6 (if you could "one-eyed sheep" and "two eyed sheep" as different animals). He said he was done after that. They have the ball rolling on his admission to the Miller Centre and we are hoping he will be moving over there ASAP!!! Could be as early as Friday, but I am thinking it will be Monday. It would be nice for him to be over there because it would be more likely that he will make it to the benefit for a bit at least. I am praying that he stays this good for a couple of weeks as my wedding is quickly approaching!!! And he will be there regardless. Even if we have to have it in his hospital room he is going to be there.

I am very happy to be able to report some good news. It is not easy when there is little positive to say.

Don't forget!!! Benefit concert is THIS SUNDAY! 2-10 at Club One! Auction will be from 6:45-7:15! Would love to see all of you there.

Nicole

Hi everyone...

Again, not much to report. He is still at St. Clare's. If anyone would like to know the room # send me an e-mail - nbarela@gmail.com

Not sure how long he will be in there for, and not really any farther ahead than before with figuring out about the Miller Centre thing. We have spoken to the social workers at both St. Clare's and the Miller Centre and they both know about whats going on. Mentally he is about the same as the last few days. Short term memory is very short, he is pretty confused, and still having issues verbalizing (finding the words is hard).

He is also being super difficult when it comes to eating. We have had to really encourage him to eat and it has been a fight every night. Brutal!!

I only dropped in to see Dad for a few minutes on the way home today, but I managed to get a bit of an update while I was there. Dr. Bhalla (sp?) saw him today and said that he is very malnourished and probably wasn't eating very well even before all of this. That isn't too surprising to me. We have all talked about how since probably just before Christmas Dad didn't seem to have much of an appetite and probably wasn't eating very much at home. This, combined with not being fed for an entire week from the Friday he got sick to the Friday he went into ICU has made for a very malnourished body. It has been a struggle to get him to eat much even since he has been stable. Needless to say, after this news, there was no sympathy at dinner time today and he was pretty close to force fed his supper. They also have started him on a diabetic diet as they are testing him for diabetes.

ALSO, he now has himself a case of gout, which is like inflammation in your big toe (mostly) that all the men on Dad's side of the family seem to get. It is VERY painful. He is started on meds for that now today.

He had his CT but they didn't have the report back. He did not have the ultrasound of his neck/carotid arteries yet today. He is also scheduled for the test that sees if there is seizure activity (echo? EEG? can't remember what it's called).

He also had a visit from a neurologist. Not sure who or what happened with that - this is the unfortunate part of having to be at work all day!!!

And finally, physio was in to see him but he didn't manage to do much I guess where the gout was flared up.

He was still pretty quiet but Rick said he was a little more chatty than yesterday but he is still having major difficulty communicating. Rick was with him for a few hours this afternoon and Mary Lynn was going to be there with him this evening. We are trying to switch it up so that we aren't all there at the same time and there all night every night. We have to realize that this could be like this for a VERY long time and we have to start getting into a routine. Or else none of us will be very much use! He was super cranky tonight too with the whole eating thing too so it will be good to switch it up.

Ok, will update again tomorrow.

I don't have much to post today but I wanted to let everyone know that he is about the same as yesterday. If anything he is a little bit better. I imagine after the blood transfusion he felt a bit better. HeHe has a bunch of tests tomorrow so I'm sure I will have some updates tomorrow evening. No word on what his blood was today - not sure they tested it as he didn't appear to have had any blood taken.

His ability to verbalize was still a serious issue but he did say a few more things today. Takin it one day at a time.