Update

I promised an update on dad after I went to the doctor.  We just got back and a few things have come out of the visit.  Dad as usual was in rare form so they couldn't check his weight or vitals.  He refused  to sit down the whole time and as those of you who have called know what I mean--the volume was on high! 

A little background.  Dad is sleeping about 14 hours a day and sometimes more.  For over a week he takes a 2 to 3 hour nap and then is ready to go back to bed around 7:30 and sleeps all night.  The sleeping for me is a true blessing because that means I can sleep too.  He won't or can't get out of bed unless I come to help him.  Recently he fell and couldn't get up so I called Christian (it wasn't the middle of the night) to come and help me.  The bed and pad were wet so I took the covers off to wash and while doing that he sat up and was able to get the rest of the way up.  Fortunately I got ahold of Christian before he drove all the way over.  I then cleaned him up and put on clean clothes, changed the bedding and put him back to bed where he fell asleep and slept until about 8:30 the next morning.  Often when I help him get up he is very unsteady.  His speech is often slurred and he repeats words over and over and they seldom make sense.  He now refuses to sit on the toilet so is now completely incontinent.  It has been several weeks since I was able to shower him because he absolutely refuses to get into the bathtub so I can.  His eating is iffy at best and now even ice cream doesn't have much appeal.  The M&M jar is not emptying out near as fast.  He shuffles now and mostly when he is anxious he just stands in once place for large periods of time.

These are the reason for me making a visit to the doctor.  I had contacted the barber's daughter who had helped so much last year.  I emailed her and told her some of the things that were going on.  She told me that the first thing I needed to do was take him in to make sure he didn't have any kind of infection that may be causing the problems.  If there isn't then he would make recommendations.  After a 40 minute visit the doctor said he believes that dad has had a certain kind of stroke (it had a name but I'm not sure what it was.)  Because of that and other indications he is sending out Hospice to set up a program.  This is NOT end of life care.  They will come in and help me bathe him, update information for the doctor and monitor his behaviors and  make recommendations.  They are calling me in the morning to set up a time for them to come in and do an evaluation.  I will be calling our insurance to make sure that they will cover much of the cost of hospice.  I talked to a person in the fall who said that they would but I want to be sure.

Yesterday Amy and I met for lunch in the Shake Shack parking lot and she stayed in the car with dad while Graham and I went in to order.  When I came back out she said, "I can't believe he hasn't had a stroke!"  I hadn't thought of that before but it is kind of amazing when he is absolutely out of control and yells non-stop for hours at a time.  Apparently, he has had one!  Fortunately, it was very mild but realistically it could happen again.  I feel much better knowing that a nurse will be here on a regular basis to lend support and encouragement.   Once they come I will be able to give you more information about what will be happening.