Update on Ronnie's Dad
This past week we flew down to N.O. to go visit Ronnie's dad in the hospital. It turned out to be more of a trip for Pam (Ronnie's mom) than it was for Ronald. And I only say that because we didn't spend nearly as much time at the hospital than I thought we were going to. But hey, if Ronald only needs nursing care right now, and Pam needs moral support, we're here for her.
We got to New Orleans on Monday and went out to eat at Copelands for lunch. Pam really wanted to go there because Ronald hates that restaurant and refuses to take her there! It was oh-so-good. After a long lunch, we finally got to the hospital around 2 in the afternoon. It was the first time we saw Ronald with all the extra tubes around his bed for the ventilator and feeding tube.... and the first time we saw him with a shaved mustache. In order to keep the tubes taped to his face, the nurses had to shave his mustache. Pam and Ronnie hadn't seen Ronald without a mustache EVER.
Ronald was heavily sedated so it took a while for him to wake up when the nurses turned the sedation level down. He had his eyes opened for a bit, but we could tell he was heavily fighting sleep. When he was finally awake enough to visit, it was difficult communicating with him. We could only ask him yes/no/maybe questions as he could only move his neck and shrug his shoulders. We kind of took Pam's lead in communicating with him --
"Are you hurting anywhere?" Shake of the head.
"Do you need anything?" Nod.
"Are you cold?" Shake.
"Are you hot?" Shake.
"Do you need something to do with your head?" Shake.
"Arms?" Shake.
"Legs?" Shake.
"Allright, let's spell it out. First letter. Is it at the beginning of the alphabet?" Shake.
"End?" Nod.
"W?" Shake.
"X?" Shake, more like a nudge...
"Are we going the wrong way in the alphabet?" Nod.
"V?" Shake.
"U?" Shake.
"T?" Nod.
"Ok, first letter is a T. Second letter, is it a vowel?" Nod.
"A?" Shake.
"E?" Shake.
"I?" Nod.
And you get the point. He eventually spelled out TIRED. "Are you tired?" Nod. "Do you want to go back to sleep?" Nod. "Do you want us to leave?" Nod. So we left, after being at the hospital for about 30 minutes.
The rest of Monday we visited Pam's cousin whom I had never met but heard a lot about. She couldn't make it to our wedding because she was 9 months pregnant and due any day. We also drove over to see
jackieduvand baby Drew. Thanks for letting us crash your place for a while! I think Pam enjoyed being away from the hospital with visions of grandchildren dancing in her head while she fed Drew.
On Tuesday, Ronald was scheduled to have a tracheotomy. This would allow the ventilator to be attached at the throat, rather than down his mouth. The nurses and doctors say that it is extremely uncomfortable to be on a ventilator and awake, so that's why they've been keeping him heavily sedated. With the tracheotomy, he should be able to be awake longer and communicate better. We talked with Ronald some before the procedure and he seemed to be in ok spirits.
"Is something bothering you?" He nodded toward his legs. Pam jumped up and said, "He wants his legs massaged. This is my job." From what I can understand, he can still feel his legs, but he just can't move them. While Pam was massaging them, she got a call on her cell phone so she was talking and massaging at the same time. She really wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and I could see Ronald wincing in pain. So it's odd that his nerves are still in his legs to where he can feel pain, but the nerves aren't all the way there to where he can control his legs. Kind of confusing to me. She also had us feel his calf muscles... or lack thereof. In two weeks his muscles had already atrophied! They felt like a big flap of skin, rather than a nice, healthy calf muscle.
So we chatted some more with Ronald while waiting around for the surgery and we asked him, "Is something still bothering you?" He nodded his head toward Pam! We all laughed and it looked like he was trying to smile. Then Ronnie, Pam and I waited around the hospital while the short procedure was done, and then checked back in on him before leaving to go back to the house. He looked SO much better and more comfortable without the ventilator down his throat. He was still coming off the anesthesia and he needed to rest, so we went back to the house where Ronnie's cousin with her two little ones were stopping by for a visit. Grace is 3 and her little brother is 20 months old. Grace is a hoot!! We had lunch with them and hung out for a couple of hours before heading back to the hospital.
This time Ronald was much more awake. The nurses had weaned him off of the sedation medicine all day, so we didn't have to wait long for him to wake up and visit with us. He still wasn't able to talk because the tracheotomy blocks the vocal cords, but at least he could mouth the words he was trying to say. Some of the words were easy to tell... "shoes off". The nurses had put some shoes on him while he was laying in bed and he wanted them off. Other words were difficult to read his lips, so we had to revert back to the spelling.
One of the first things he spelled out was "drugged too much." He felt like he didn't have any control over what was happening to him. Well, yeah, that's kind of the truth because they purposely kept him sedated while on the ventilator. Otherwise he could become agitated and fight the ventilator too much.
Shortly after that he kept opening and closing his mouth and kind of clicking his teeth together. "Do you want to eat?" Nod. We explained to him that he was on a feeding tube and that he couldn't eat. (I don't think he can eat real food until he gets off the tracheotomy and starts breathing on his own. That way the food won't block the ventilator?? Not too sure on that) He made the same motion again with his teeth. "How about if I get you a nurse?" Nod. So I went into the hallway and found the nurse-of-the-day and she laughed when I told him that he wants to eat. She said that he's already told her that and that they've already told him why he can't eat yet. So she came back into the room and upped his dosage some. She took this can that looks like baby formula and poured it into a bag hanging next to his monitor. Ronald's eyes went big and he mouthed "Wow". Bon appetite! It doesn't taste like steak, but it's much healthier!!
It was so much easier communicating with him on Tuesday compared to Monday. Don't get me wrong, it was still difficult, but at least we could guess easier what he was trying to tell us. He's since been moved to a rehabilitation facility. The rehab ward at the hospital is more geared toward stroke patients and heart attack victims. They have to learn how to function with their disability and possibly re-learn bodily functions and weird things like that. Ronald doesn't have to do any of that kind of stuff. He just needs strength training and more nursing care. This rehab facility is supposed to be better with that.
So that's the update! Doing better, but he still has a LONG way to go. We'll go back to visit the week before Christmas. Thanks, everyone for asking about him.
We got to New Orleans on Monday and went out to eat at Copelands for lunch. Pam really wanted to go there because Ronald hates that restaurant and refuses to take her there! It was oh-so-good. After a long lunch, we finally got to the hospital around 2 in the afternoon. It was the first time we saw Ronald with all the extra tubes around his bed for the ventilator and feeding tube.... and the first time we saw him with a shaved mustache. In order to keep the tubes taped to his face, the nurses had to shave his mustache. Pam and Ronnie hadn't seen Ronald without a mustache EVER.
Ronald was heavily sedated so it took a while for him to wake up when the nurses turned the sedation level down. He had his eyes opened for a bit, but we could tell he was heavily fighting sleep. When he was finally awake enough to visit, it was difficult communicating with him. We could only ask him yes/no/maybe questions as he could only move his neck and shrug his shoulders. We kind of took Pam's lead in communicating with him --
"Are you hurting anywhere?" Shake of the head.
"Do you need anything?" Nod.
"Are you cold?" Shake.
"Are you hot?" Shake.
"Do you need something to do with your head?" Shake.
"Arms?" Shake.
"Legs?" Shake.
"Allright, let's spell it out. First letter. Is it at the beginning of the alphabet?" Shake.
"End?" Nod.
"W?" Shake.
"X?" Shake, more like a nudge...
"Are we going the wrong way in the alphabet?" Nod.
"V?" Shake.
"U?" Shake.
"T?" Nod.
"Ok, first letter is a T. Second letter, is it a vowel?" Nod.
"A?" Shake.
"E?" Shake.
"I?" Nod.
And you get the point. He eventually spelled out TIRED. "Are you tired?" Nod. "Do you want to go back to sleep?" Nod. "Do you want us to leave?" Nod. So we left, after being at the hospital for about 30 minutes.
The rest of Monday we visited Pam's cousin whom I had never met but heard a lot about. She couldn't make it to our wedding because she was 9 months pregnant and due any day. We also drove over to see
jackieduvand baby Drew. Thanks for letting us crash your place for a while! I think Pam enjoyed being away from the hospital with visions of grandchildren dancing in her head while she fed Drew.
On Tuesday, Ronald was scheduled to have a tracheotomy. This would allow the ventilator to be attached at the throat, rather than down his mouth. The nurses and doctors say that it is extremely uncomfortable to be on a ventilator and awake, so that's why they've been keeping him heavily sedated. With the tracheotomy, he should be able to be awake longer and communicate better. We talked with Ronald some before the procedure and he seemed to be in ok spirits.
"Is something bothering you?" He nodded toward his legs. Pam jumped up and said, "He wants his legs massaged. This is my job." From what I can understand, he can still feel his legs, but he just can't move them. While Pam was massaging them, she got a call on her cell phone so she was talking and massaging at the same time. She really wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and I could see Ronald wincing in pain. So it's odd that his nerves are still in his legs to where he can feel pain, but the nerves aren't all the way there to where he can control his legs. Kind of confusing to me. She also had us feel his calf muscles... or lack thereof. In two weeks his muscles had already atrophied! They felt like a big flap of skin, rather than a nice, healthy calf muscle.
So we chatted some more with Ronald while waiting around for the surgery and we asked him, "Is something still bothering you?" He nodded his head toward Pam! We all laughed and it looked like he was trying to smile. Then Ronnie, Pam and I waited around the hospital while the short procedure was done, and then checked back in on him before leaving to go back to the house. He looked SO much better and more comfortable without the ventilator down his throat. He was still coming off the anesthesia and he needed to rest, so we went back to the house where Ronnie's cousin with her two little ones were stopping by for a visit. Grace is 3 and her little brother is 20 months old. Grace is a hoot!! We had lunch with them and hung out for a couple of hours before heading back to the hospital.
This time Ronald was much more awake. The nurses had weaned him off of the sedation medicine all day, so we didn't have to wait long for him to wake up and visit with us. He still wasn't able to talk because the tracheotomy blocks the vocal cords, but at least he could mouth the words he was trying to say. Some of the words were easy to tell... "shoes off". The nurses had put some shoes on him while he was laying in bed and he wanted them off. Other words were difficult to read his lips, so we had to revert back to the spelling.
One of the first things he spelled out was "drugged too much." He felt like he didn't have any control over what was happening to him. Well, yeah, that's kind of the truth because they purposely kept him sedated while on the ventilator. Otherwise he could become agitated and fight the ventilator too much.
Shortly after that he kept opening and closing his mouth and kind of clicking his teeth together. "Do you want to eat?" Nod. We explained to him that he was on a feeding tube and that he couldn't eat. (I don't think he can eat real food until he gets off the tracheotomy and starts breathing on his own. That way the food won't block the ventilator?? Not too sure on that) He made the same motion again with his teeth. "How about if I get you a nurse?" Nod. So I went into the hallway and found the nurse-of-the-day and she laughed when I told him that he wants to eat. She said that he's already told her that and that they've already told him why he can't eat yet. So she came back into the room and upped his dosage some. She took this can that looks like baby formula and poured it into a bag hanging next to his monitor. Ronald's eyes went big and he mouthed "Wow". Bon appetite! It doesn't taste like steak, but it's much healthier!!
It was so much easier communicating with him on Tuesday compared to Monday. Don't get me wrong, it was still difficult, but at least we could guess easier what he was trying to tell us. He's since been moved to a rehabilitation facility. The rehab ward at the hospital is more geared toward stroke patients and heart attack victims. They have to learn how to function with their disability and possibly re-learn bodily functions and weird things like that. Ronald doesn't have to do any of that kind of stuff. He just needs strength training and more nursing care. This rehab facility is supposed to be better with that.
So that's the update! Doing better, but he still has a LONG way to go. We'll go back to visit the week before Christmas. Thanks, everyone for asking about him.