My Father's condition - an update
He went into hospital late August and returned home mid October through the process of early stroke discharge. Blue and yellow coloured ambulances are for while green and silver are for transport. He is in the dining room which has been converted into a bedroom, all the equipment he might need was supplied in good time for his arrival. A bed that can be electronically raised with a handset with up/down for the whole bed or just for certain parts of the bed, legs, head, etc. Electric hoists to allow him to move/transfer from bed to chairs, a commode and sundry waste bottles. His schedule of care is 4 visits a day which is on the high side. Two carers arrive each time, mostly the same people but with occasional changes of personnel. Each visit starts and finishes with paperwork where they note what they did and what they observed in a folder which remains on site. He has a morning visit to get him out of bed, wash, use the commode, change clothes and transfer from bed to chair. This usually runs from 10am-10.45. Then a lunchtime, teatime, 9pm visit to check for the same things. During the week he gets council staff and at the weekend it is a local private agency called Elite Assurance.
Add into this visits by Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists and there can be quite a few callers during a day. The therapists always call ahead to check if it is ok to come over and often bring students from local universities who are doing related courses. In order to give my Mother a break I go over to the house to be there a number of times a week to allow her to visit her friends and do shopping.
In terms of progress everyone is happy with the improvement in his leg and praise his bright spirits and positive attitude. I sense from the carers comments they are a lot of people with struggling with being awkward or curmudgeonly. He does not need the electric hoist which has been sent back. He used to require two people with a electric pulley to transfer him from place to place. Now his leg is strong enough that he can stand on it with someone else to support him. He has a cricket hoist which one person, even my OAP mother, can transfer him from chair to wheelchair. He now has full run of the ground floor, provided someone can move him around. His arm is making slow progress with some activity in the upper arm and little activity in the lower arm and hand. He can feel pressure on his fingers but they are swollen and puffy. He has a task of trying to keep his hand wrapped around a kitchen roll but the hand keeps sliding off. There is talk of cutting the number of calls as he becomes more mobile, possibly beginning with the lunchtime call.
He is now mobile enough to make regular trips to the hospital for longer physio appointments. The physio work at home usually lasts for 30 mins but at hospital they have more toys to play with.
Add into this visits by Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists and there can be quite a few callers during a day. The therapists always call ahead to check if it is ok to come over and often bring students from local universities who are doing related courses. In order to give my Mother a break I go over to the house to be there a number of times a week to allow her to visit her friends and do shopping.
In terms of progress everyone is happy with the improvement in his leg and praise his bright spirits and positive attitude. I sense from the carers comments they are a lot of people with struggling with being awkward or curmudgeonly. He does not need the electric hoist which has been sent back. He used to require two people with a electric pulley to transfer him from place to place. Now his leg is strong enough that he can stand on it with someone else to support him. He has a cricket hoist which one person, even my OAP mother, can transfer him from chair to wheelchair. He now has full run of the ground floor, provided someone can move him around. His arm is making slow progress with some activity in the upper arm and little activity in the lower arm and hand. He can feel pressure on his fingers but they are swollen and puffy. He has a task of trying to keep his hand wrapped around a kitchen roll but the hand keeps sliding off. There is talk of cutting the number of calls as he becomes more mobile, possibly beginning with the lunchtime call.
He is now mobile enough to make regular trips to the hospital for longer physio appointments. The physio work at home usually lasts for 30 mins but at hospital they have more toys to play with.