Robert's Posts

Dad had a few doctor appointments this week. They have taken him off of the diuretics (hopefully he will start sleeping more at night!), and he has been cleared to drive - although we all know he was driving before that. He is healing rapidly, and almost all of the swelling is gone from his legs. A physical therapist came out to the house a week or so ago to meet with him and asked if he had a cane or walker. Dad told her they were downstairs and he could get them if she needed him to. After about a half an hour discussion about what he could and could not do, she decided that this was her last visit. I know he is eagerly anticipating our family reunion in Colorado in August, and has decided it would be better to fly than to drive at this point. Thank you again to everyone for your warm thoughts and prayers. It appears they worked!

Hi Everyone, My dad is enjoying his time home now. He is sleeping frequently in his stress free chairs, and taking walks to the mailbox and to the lake. His two biggest complaints at this point are that he is resting, but doesn't feel rested and doesn't sleep well at night, and that his brain has a hard time "making turns". He is able to hold and conduct conversations quite well, but he is having a hard time with reading - he is capable- but just doesn't get anything out of it. I am encouraging him to discuss these with the Dr. at his appointment in the morning. There has always been a concern that he has "pump head", which is a slightly diminished mental capacity that seems to be directly correlated to being on a bypass pump. Hopefully all of this will fade over time, but we will just have to wait and see. So at this point, if you are looking to contact him, I would encourage you to call him as he is not doing much with his emails right now, althought he might not answer his phone if he is napping!

Well after 13 days in the hospital, my dad was finally released yesterday to go home. The Nurse Practitioner did not want to let him go home because his heart paused for 4 seconds on Tuesday and she wanted to observe him for another 24 hours. Well my dad wanted nothing to do with this, so he convinced her to talk to Dr. Robinson, who said he was cleared to go home around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. He enjoyed a dinner of cornbread smothered in peanut butter and some watermelon, and then proceeded to go nap in the recliner his children acquired for him. Once we got all of his evening meds squared away - which was not an easy task - he was ready to enjoy a good night's sleep in his own bed.