The Day After (Stroke)
It has been four days now since my dad has been hospitalized. He has lost use of his left leg and while can move his left arm he has no strength in his left hand at all.
The stress that this whole thing places on families is amazing. But there is one thing for sure. Nothing brings a family together like a stroke or a hear attack. I'm sure other catastrophic diseases tend to do the same thing.
The big issue is that of denial of what's really going on. My dad seems to feel like he's ready to go home. He can barely walk or for that matter feed himself. It takes an experienced nurse or two to move him and change him. I suppose there is a lot more we'll have to learn from this episode.
My mom is really being affected, in one way, she's sleeping better at home because he's being taken care at the hospital. The second thing is the fear of having to take care of him when he returns. As I mentioned before it's a very difficult and physical thing to do. Not having dealt with this issue before, we'll have to pull together and talk to the hospital staff that have done a wonderful job in taking care of my dad but in reality of the whole family.
Today we again had some light conversation, we listened to some classical music together, laughed and left on the board the hospital has in the room the faces that are allowed in the room. This is allowed :-) This is not allowed :-( nor this one ;-{ , nor this other one :-[ Silence is Ok, there is no need to force the conversation.
It has been great with all the friends that have come by. It certainly makes time fly. Hopefully my dad will be patient enough to allow for the hospital staff to do more of their job. I suppose when independence is taken away from us, we all react the same way.
Life goes on, the reality is that humanity spends its youth ruining their old age. When will we learn?
The stress that this whole thing places on families is amazing. But there is one thing for sure. Nothing brings a family together like a stroke or a hear attack. I'm sure other catastrophic diseases tend to do the same thing.
The big issue is that of denial of what's really going on. My dad seems to feel like he's ready to go home. He can barely walk or for that matter feed himself. It takes an experienced nurse or two to move him and change him. I suppose there is a lot more we'll have to learn from this episode.
My mom is really being affected, in one way, she's sleeping better at home because he's being taken care at the hospital. The second thing is the fear of having to take care of him when he returns. As I mentioned before it's a very difficult and physical thing to do. Not having dealt with this issue before, we'll have to pull together and talk to the hospital staff that have done a wonderful job in taking care of my dad but in reality of the whole family.
Today we again had some light conversation, we listened to some classical music together, laughed and left on the board the hospital has in the room the faces that are allowed in the room. This is allowed :-) This is not allowed :-( nor this one ;-{ , nor this other one :-[ Silence is Ok, there is no need to force the conversation.
It has been great with all the friends that have come by. It certainly makes time fly. Hopefully my dad will be patient enough to allow for the hospital staff to do more of their job. I suppose when independence is taken away from us, we all react the same way.
Life goes on, the reality is that humanity spends its youth ruining their old age. When will we learn?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment