Losing the ability to speak

I had a very hard time trying to understand my Dad yesterday.  He kept talking and my mom wasn't there to interpret, so I have no idea what he was talking about.  When he got mad at my son though, I could understand him just fine!  I'm worried about further down the road.  He knew sign language, but that's not much help.  I bought my son a record a book this week and I'm hoping that one of his better days, they can record him.  I know my kids love their Papaw!  It's progressing so fast!  My family ordered a communication device.  I have no idea how it works, but I'm hopeful!

Another week

We were super worried about my dad, because he couldn't put weight on his legs.  It wasn't as bad yesterday.  I saw him slowly reach up to scratch his nose and was super excited about it!  He can't always reach!  We were celebrating my baby's first birthday, so I set a party hat on my dad's head, without the string.  It stayed on over 3 hours.  That's how still he holds.  I put my baby on his lap and had my sister spot him as I took the pictures.  I don't know if he'll ever know his Papaw, so I want to have pictures of him with his Papaw, so he can see what he looked like at least!  Sometimes it's really hard to think about what he'll be missing, but I think how lucky we are to have him right now.  He's still really intelligent and isn't losing his knowledge of us.  We really are getting the opportunity to slowly lose this amazing man in our life.  No sudden car accident or instant death, we're lucky to be able to say our goodbyes.  I keep telling myself that!
My family takes turns feeding him.  My mom will do it and then pass it off to one of my siblings.  He was able to eat a cookie instead of a cupcake (I got both to cover my bases), and he ate the ice cream I bought (I got his favorite flavor from Braum's)!  His appetite isn't completely gone, so that's good too!

 Seriously this gait belt is necessary!

 You can't even tell that he couldn't catch my little guy!

My mom in position (sitting on the walker as she feeds him)

A little training

Yesterday I got some training in what to do to help my dad first thing in the morning.  So, I thought I'd write some of it here.
My Dad's on a CPAP, so that comes off first.  Then pick out his clothes and put his pants on around his ankles.
It takes two people, so I was helping my mom.  I grabbed his feet and legs and she grabbed his torso to turn him sideways with his feet off.  I sat with my back against his as my mom helped him go to the bathroom using the portable urinal.  Then he had to practice his chicken wings in order to limber up his arms enough to get his deodorant on.  He can barely pick them up and I had his right armpit, so he made sure I was careful (that's his hurt arm, so it doesn't go up as high).  After his deodorant is on, then we each put an arm in his shirt after it was over his head.  His hands are pretty hard to maneuver, so it's harder than it sounds!  Then we put the gait belt on under his armpits fairly tight.  Mom held him up as I pulled his pants up.  It was super hard to button, even though he's lost a significant amount of weight!  Once he was zipped up, he got to sit back down.  He wanted to try and walk (he's lost a lot of his right foot/leg control), and so we helped him stand up and get his hands on his walker, but his right hand kept slipping and he wasn't able to support himself at all, so I went and got my brother and then we got him onto his rolling computer chair.  Bill puts his knees to Dad's and then pulls him up and pivots him to get him into the chair.  Then he stands him back up and sits him back down in the right position.  I held the back of the computer chair to keep it from rolling.  Bill pushed the computer chair and I helped with Dad's feet, so they weren't dragging.  Once we got to the stair climber (woot woot), it went the same as getting him into the computer chair.  Stand up, pivot, sit down, stand up to readjust sitting position, fall to correct sitting position.  Then put the foot rest and arm rests down, and get his feet partially on the foot rest, because they won't move exactly.  He works hard to jerk his hand to move the switch that starts him going down.  Once he's down, I'm back at the computer chair, but my brother stands him up and I get the stair climber up past the wall, so the computer chair is ready for him.  I keep the wheels from moving as he sits and then sits again.  Bill has the hard job with the pulling him up and down!  He wheels him to his lift chair and makes sure it's all the way down with the cushions and pillows where they need to be.  He pivots him and sits him down, but he's crooked on the cushion, so he stands him up and sits him back down.  It's hard work!  After all of that, it's time for his 2 pills and his breakfast drink.  He drank some from the Carnation instant breakfast (it's his favorite), and then I put the 2 pills in his mouth, and put the straw to his mouth to let him drink.  He works hard to swallow the pills and then he finishes his drink.  He wanted his laptop, so I put it up fairly high on his lap, put his glasses on, and he gets to work.  I'm not sure what he does, but he's happy doing it!  He has a bluetooth connected to his ear, so he can answer calls when people call.  He swipes his hand at it until it connects and answers.  It's difficult watching my dad go through all of this, but at least I still have him around!  So that's his basic morning.

Hoyer Lift

My dad got his hospital bed on Thursday and a cool Hoyer lift.  While we were over for Mother's Day, my mom practiced using the lift on my brother-in-law.  I'm glad she practiced, because it took a few tries!  We were cracking up!  My poor Dad felt left out, so I made a video of some of the last of it! 

Getting out and about

This weekend my brother and his family came into town.  It's been great spending more time with family!  My sister-in-law is a nurse, so she has no problem helping out and my brother never gets to help, so he's all over it!  We started going through the garage, because we desperately need that space to be clear!  Then we did family pictures, so I'll finally have good pictures of my dad on here!  I also got to take pictures of how hard it is to get him in the car!  I kept a hand up to try and keep his head from hitting the door frame!  The first thing to do is get a gait belt around and ready!  Then get him up out of the wheelchair.  He works to get his feet under him right (he didn't wear shoes at all), then leans forward some.  This takes a good five minutes or so.  After awhile someone just bodily picks him up using the gait belt and gets him in.

We can't wait to get the VA papers  saying he can get a van with wheelchair lift!  He has an amazing wheelchair that he can't use until then!  It just sits in a corner.  We're also waiting for the paperwork to make the house handicap accessible!  Patience is the name of the game!