Dearest friends and family near and far! I am writing with a Christmas update, as many of you have been asking about how dad is doing.
After a few weeks in a skilled nursing facility, dad made so much progress that he was transferred to Oregon Rehabilitation Center, where he received speech, occupational, and physical therapy daily. The staff are great and he's been making a ton of progress, albeit still slow. He can walk with assistance, talk just above a whisper, and no more feeding tube - he's eating on his own, including a trip out for Thai food, complete with a beer. The rehab facility grants day passes, so he's been able to take some trips out for dinner and even spent Christmas Eve with mom, Michael, Beth, and the boys at their home. Most importantly, he's retained the majority of his cognitive functioning - he remembers people and places and not surprisingly, still wants to talk work when I call.
On the less positive side of things, he has some damage to his left optical nerve and it's not clear whether or not he'll regain vision. Additionally, his affect is relatively flat, which is challenging to see, since we all think of Harry as a bit larger than life. Much of the brain's emotional processing and expression work happens in the frontal cortex, which is especially susceptible to damage in a TBI due to its location. This flatness could improve with time, or it could be more permanent, in which case therapy would focus on helping him leverage his cognitive abilties to adjust his expression.
Dad will stay at the rehab center until December 28th, when he is being discharged from in-patient medical facilities entirely! Mom and dad will be moving into a gorgeous retirement community in Eugene, OR called The Springs at Greer Gardens. Really, check it out
here - it's like Vail built a ski chalet and transported it to Eugene. This is not your average retirement home - think 24 concierge, demo kitchen, full theater, farm to table restaurant, and daily wine tastings. Mom and Dad have an apartment on the assisted living side, so they'll have plenty of help as dad continues to recover. They're keeping the house in Salida, and exact plans of when, if, or how to often to return are still up in the air. For now, it's wonderful to be so close to Michael and Beth, who deserve all the good karma the world has to offer for how much of a help they've been, and continue to be.
Finally, a note about the caring bridge site. We recognize everyone is eager for continuous updates, but we also hope you understand it is challenging to keep the site updated regularly while also attending to the rest of life's joys and demands. Additionally, as we enter this stage of recovery, progress is slow and much better measured in longer lengths of time. As such, you can expect an update on the site about once a month OR in the case of something noteworthy (good or otherwise, though let us hope the latter is unnecessary). That said, below are a few other ways to stay updated:
- Call Harry! He can now read the phone and speak in a whisper and I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. Know that he's not quite as animated as he used to be, so those of you used to him carrying the conversation may need to work a bit harder.
- If you talk to him or visit, YOU can write a caring bridge post. Just send it to my email and I will post it for everyone to see!
