Journal entry by Rick Cavenaugh —
It is hard to believe a month has passed. Busy is not the right word. Here's the good news. Chief has gotten dramatically better the past 4 weeks and improved physically, mentally and cognizantly. Just in the last two weeks he has gone from 25 steps to over 250 feet of walking distance. He started eating solid foods almost three weeks ago and now feeds himself 50% of the time. Tim gave him a McDonald's hamburger (plain with salt) last week and almost choked him to death, but he was happy.
While he thinks that he is now fine and can walk out of the place, he can't. Amazing how the mind plays tricks on your body. Yes, he can stand out of bed, yes he can use the walker and now he pedals himself around with his feet in the wheelchair, but the simple fact is his body just isn't as strong as his attitude and his mental recollection is still 10% for recent events. He doesn't remember his house from a year ago, but he remembers his car from 15 years ago. He thinks he is ready to go home and live by himself but when you ask him what that entails, he has no clue. One's mind can play tricks on the emotions while not able to affect the physical connections necessary to carry them out.
This week, we saw the optometrist and neuropsychologist. Actually, Chief's eyesight is decent, but his processing is jumbled. In the stroke, he lost his right peripheral vision, so anything to the right of center has no image in the brain. If you show his a picture of a star and ask him to draw it, he writes the word STAR. The visual cortex is very finicky and doesn't regenerate, only the memories surrounding it can be manipulated, which means he's not heading back to DMV for a new license anytime soon.
The neuropsychologist had some very interesting insights to share. What you need to know is that you cannot rationalize with an irrational mind but you can steer it in new directions. So getting friends in to see him, taking him for walks and outside is great and anything other than the wall colors in his room is good for his brain.
Chief suffers from some pretty vivid delusions right now. One is that he has Navy orderlies beating him up at night and bending his toes back (that's why they hurt). I guess the Air Force guys got into it with Navy guys in 1952. Second is that since the new commander was posted at the VA Hospital (forget that he is at the Lutheran Home) a year ago, the food and management have gone downhill. Third, is that the Shore Patrol took his driver and pilot license and VA card because he didn't need them while in the hospital. I must be the Shore Patrol because I have those items. I say this not to be a smart alek, but mental health issues are real when the brain is partially functioning and making stuff up. Best cure is to redirect, don't argue.
What's next? May 17th is a big day as the possible release from Rehab. He could use more, but Medicare hates a patient making progress that isn't stellar. Medicaid still hasn't responded in writing after 60 days. He has a bed for long term care at LH, but no one to pay for it. Medical invoices are piling up and they are getting nice letters from the power of attorney guy who handles them (me).
Paperwork is a key thing these days. take the time now to get it in place so you don't have to create it in a pinch. Anyone with someone over 80 needs to get this stuff in place, or they will fall in the system. Doctors never are there when you need them, nurses do most of the heavy lifting and CNA's are worthless if they don't feed and change a full time nursing client as needed. I wonder if it is this one location or all nursing facilities everywhere? Hard to tell.
Keep up the prayers. For now, Chief will be making LH his new home. he can use all the visitors and friends he can to start to piece back his memory. Please stop by 223C at LH. We'll be moving in 3 weeks and will let you know where.
Next week is John's wedding and we're heading down there. What a treat that will be.
While he thinks that he is now fine and can walk out of the place, he can't. Amazing how the mind plays tricks on your body. Yes, he can stand out of bed, yes he can use the walker and now he pedals himself around with his feet in the wheelchair, but the simple fact is his body just isn't as strong as his attitude and his mental recollection is still 10% for recent events. He doesn't remember his house from a year ago, but he remembers his car from 15 years ago. He thinks he is ready to go home and live by himself but when you ask him what that entails, he has no clue. One's mind can play tricks on the emotions while not able to affect the physical connections necessary to carry them out.
This week, we saw the optometrist and neuropsychologist. Actually, Chief's eyesight is decent, but his processing is jumbled. In the stroke, he lost his right peripheral vision, so anything to the right of center has no image in the brain. If you show his a picture of a star and ask him to draw it, he writes the word STAR. The visual cortex is very finicky and doesn't regenerate, only the memories surrounding it can be manipulated, which means he's not heading back to DMV for a new license anytime soon.
The neuropsychologist had some very interesting insights to share. What you need to know is that you cannot rationalize with an irrational mind but you can steer it in new directions. So getting friends in to see him, taking him for walks and outside is great and anything other than the wall colors in his room is good for his brain.
Chief suffers from some pretty vivid delusions right now. One is that he has Navy orderlies beating him up at night and bending his toes back (that's why they hurt). I guess the Air Force guys got into it with Navy guys in 1952. Second is that since the new commander was posted at the VA Hospital (forget that he is at the Lutheran Home) a year ago, the food and management have gone downhill. Third, is that the Shore Patrol took his driver and pilot license and VA card because he didn't need them while in the hospital. I must be the Shore Patrol because I have those items. I say this not to be a smart alek, but mental health issues are real when the brain is partially functioning and making stuff up. Best cure is to redirect, don't argue.
What's next? May 17th is a big day as the possible release from Rehab. He could use more, but Medicare hates a patient making progress that isn't stellar. Medicaid still hasn't responded in writing after 60 days. He has a bed for long term care at LH, but no one to pay for it. Medical invoices are piling up and they are getting nice letters from the power of attorney guy who handles them (me).
Paperwork is a key thing these days. take the time now to get it in place so you don't have to create it in a pinch. Anyone with someone over 80 needs to get this stuff in place, or they will fall in the system. Doctors never are there when you need them, nurses do most of the heavy lifting and CNA's are worthless if they don't feed and change a full time nursing client as needed. I wonder if it is this one location or all nursing facilities everywhere? Hard to tell.
Keep up the prayers. For now, Chief will be making LH his new home. he can use all the visitors and friends he can to start to piece back his memory. Please stop by 223C at LH. We'll be moving in 3 weeks and will let you know where.
Next week is John's wedding and we're heading down there. What a treat that will be.
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