Journal entry by Julie Levake —
Tim has really moved forward more than we could've imagined in the last couple of weeks! After I last updated, Tim was able to keep trying new foods each day. More soft foods and solids than anything as he was not at risk for choking, more so a risk of aspirating on liquids. Last Tuesday he passed the swallowing test with no problems! His diet keeps being advanced and currently, he can eat most anything. He just has to take his time and watch that he doesn't eat too much or it can get uncomfortable. He has more of a hard time with things that are carbonated or things that maybe you shouldn't eat if you have acid reflux as he doesn't have the pyloric sphincter anymore to help keep things down. He is also going to be working more on swallowing pills as he will need to convert over to be able to get rid of that feeding tube.
We met with the surgeon for a follow up last Wednesday and that went great as well! His surgeon is happy with Tim's progress and had us cut his feeding tube food down to half and he is eating the other half of his calories himself. In another 2 weeks, we will try to go off of the feeding tube completely and if that goes well for 2 weeks, then we can set up an appointment to remove the feeding tube! So he will probably be transitioned over by Thanksgiving.
Tim is in really good spirits and it has been so fun for him to re-introduce himself to some of his old favorite foods. He gets excited like a kid in a candy store.
We met with the neurologist last Thursday to analyze the strokes and see where we are at. Tim is coming along well. She said that it will probably take about a year to get where he is going to get back to physically and usually more like 2 years mentally. Although Tim's progress is great, there are a lot of little areas to improve on. They are having him take a test that will really help break down where he is at and what he needs to work on. This is a 4 hour test and we are currently waiting to get scheduled for that. For now, she will not give him back his drivers license or release him to work, but all in due time. He still sleeps a lot which is common we are told after having strokes. Apparently, you need the extra sleep to help your brain heal.
Tim has another appointment with the neuro-ophthalmologist in early November to see where he's at with his peripheral vision. He will be seeing his cardiologist in December in order to try to figure out what to do about the afib problem that never got fixed. He says he definitely does NOT want the ablasion procedure that started this whole thing, so we'll have to see what else he can do.
We met with the surgeon for a follow up last Wednesday and that went great as well! His surgeon is happy with Tim's progress and had us cut his feeding tube food down to half and he is eating the other half of his calories himself. In another 2 weeks, we will try to go off of the feeding tube completely and if that goes well for 2 weeks, then we can set up an appointment to remove the feeding tube! So he will probably be transitioned over by Thanksgiving.
Tim is in really good spirits and it has been so fun for him to re-introduce himself to some of his old favorite foods. He gets excited like a kid in a candy store.
We met with the neurologist last Thursday to analyze the strokes and see where we are at. Tim is coming along well. She said that it will probably take about a year to get where he is going to get back to physically and usually more like 2 years mentally. Although Tim's progress is great, there are a lot of little areas to improve on. They are having him take a test that will really help break down where he is at and what he needs to work on. This is a 4 hour test and we are currently waiting to get scheduled for that. For now, she will not give him back his drivers license or release him to work, but all in due time. He still sleeps a lot which is common we are told after having strokes. Apparently, you need the extra sleep to help your brain heal.
Tim has another appointment with the neuro-ophthalmologist in early November to see where he's at with his peripheral vision. He will be seeing his cardiologist in December in order to try to figure out what to do about the afib problem that never got fixed. He says he definitely does NOT want the ablasion procedure that started this whole thing, so we'll have to see what else he can do.
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