Well, here I am back home again after spending the weekend with my Dad and my sister.  I wasn’t really looking forward to the trip as my Dad and I just weren’t getting along but I went anyway.

Our Friday night was quiet, very small talk, and I was freaking out watching my Dad go up the stairs…..he was using a crutch and the rail was wobbly and I could just see the rail falling and him ending up on the bottom set of stairs once he was home all by himself.  It really freaked me out and my sister and I talked and talked about what the options were and what Dad would agree to coming to no great solution.

Saturday, my alarm clock (my daughter ) woke me early so I was the one that helped Dad go downstairs in the morning…when I came out of my room he was up and dressed and had the bed made and was waiting for someone to be up, mind it was only 7AM or something!  He really did pretty good, using his crutch again, and I felt a tinsy bit better but still worried. Once downstairs to the kitchen area I helped Dad (as much as he would let me!) get the fruit out to make his juice and he got his breakfast ready and by the time he sat down for me to bring his breakfast on a tray over to him he was winded and sweating!

After that the morning was pretty quiet, he has been coming downstairs and staying downstairs for the day for the most part and going up about 9PM or so to bed.  So, the minimum is down in the mornings and up in the evenings barring any necessary bathroom trips up which we sorta minimized by being creative and using a urinal from the rehab center.

We were expecting a Physical Therapist to come about 1PM that day and we, my sister and I, had lots of questions for her.  She arrived and went over some exercises with him and wanted to watch him move around the house… the kitchen, the stairs, and upstairs in the bathroom and shower.  He had been using a walker to get around and a crutch to do the stairs and one problem we had considered is how does he get the walker upstairs/downstairs and the crutches where he needs them to be when we aren’t there etc.  Well the PT solved the problem by showing him how to use his walker to go up and down the stairs which works brilliantly and solved all the issues we had about him getting stuff up and down when he is all by himself.  We tightened up the railing and she showed him how to move around with the walker in his tiny bathroom which he hadn’t been doing and he was very pleased with all of her suggestions.  We asked about First Alert and also told her we wanted him to have therapy as much as was available and warned her he probably wouldn’t be up for it.  She just took all our information on board and talked him through another gal coming 3 times a week up until his doctor appointment and then depending how that went how it may change after that.

As she was leaving my sister walked her out and asked her frankly how she thought Dad was doing and she said he was doing great, very well for being almost 4 weeks out and that we would be amazed at the progress he made from here on out, with the PT coming 3 days a week to work with him on the stairs especially and just helping do things for himself while keeping in mind his precautions etc.  So, we both felt a lot better after her visit.  Dad wouldn’t even talk about getting First Alert but did say he would take his cordless phone with him when he was doing the stair thing and would that make us happy?  And we agreed that would be great if he would do that.

My little one ended up with a fever that afternoon and so I stayed home while they went to the store, Dad has been just staying in the car but enjoying just getting out of the house.  We made some brownies and a nice dinner and had a little birthday party for Grandpa that evening and my daughter was feeling a bit better after some Tylenol and a nap.

Dad opening presents

Lighting a candle on Grandpa's brownie!

Dad tried the walker thing that evening going up the stairs and the trickiest part is just getting the positioning of it right as you go up but with practice and now with the more solid railing I think he will do fine.

Sunday morning dawned and Dad decided not to wait for us to head downstairs and when my sister went down he was grumpy and not allowing her to help him at all, she ended up in tears and was furious with him!  He does pretty good but then just gets stubborn and stops listening and does stuff he shouldn’t do.   (I was asleep when all this was happening!!!!!) and she told me my daughter went down and told Grandpa to “Be good and not do the wrong things!”, she is very smart and very “perceptive” per my sister!!

So, after a while we all talked about it a little bit and he agreed to let her help and she would work on watching him do somethings as if she wasn’t still there…..a workable compromise!  He just needs to leave the little specks on the floor alone though as he isn’t supposed to bend down to pick stuff up!!!!! (This is going to be hard for him as that kind of stuff drives him crazy!)

Afterwords, I loaded up my car and we took dad to the mall, my sister and I wanted to go get some new bras….(another post I think!) and he wanted to come, it was a lot of exercise for him but he did just great.

With our shopping done we went our separate ways, my daughter and I headed for home after stopping for a bite to eat.  She talked my ear off the whole way home, feeling much better I think! The weekend ended up pretty well, Dad and I got along better and he apologized in his way and gave me a big hug before I left.

I am so glad to be home once again, we got home early enough to enjoy a bit of the day and have a nice evening with my hubby!

Till next time….Cheers!

Grace

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