Another update about Dad

It has been a while since I have sent an update from Rice Lake.  We continue to make good progress here.   For the past few weeks, Dad has had home health visits from Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy twice a week.  He is making good progress on his strength and balance.  The Occupational Therapy folks really went to work on his swollen arm and other edema with very successful results.  Amazing really.  Lymph-edema massage techniques combined with medication to minimize fluid retention have really worked.  The therapists have all commented on Dad's progress and plan to stop the home visits after next week's visits.  Then, if he is still here, he can continue Physical Therapy visits at the clinic.

Dad is back on the Warfarin/Coumadin for blood anticoagulation management and the Marshfield Clinic folks are working on getting his dosage adjusted to have his blood levels be therapeutic for his atrial fibrillation condition and to minimize the risk of stroke.  Hopefully he will be in a therapeutic range in a week or so.

Last night Dad had an overnight sleep study in Eau Claire at the Marshfield Clinic there.  Glenn stayed there overnight as well and then Ev & I met them 1/2 way between EC and RL this morning to get Dad.  After a big breakfast at the Norske Nook, we all came home to rest.  Not sure when he will get the results of the testing, but I expect we will hear from the doctor when he knows if Dad needs a nighttime breathing assistance device.

So, now that Dad is feeling so much better and is getting stronger all the time, we are starting to plan their return to Iowa.  I am not sure exactly when that will happen, we have to coordinate the driving and schedules, but if all goes well, hopefully in 2-3 weeks they can settle back into their Iowa digs and daily routines.  There will be some adjustments to those routines until Dad can drive again and they may need more assistance from the Iowa families, but all is probably doable.  Getting back home sounds good to them, and why not, they planned to come here for an 8 week vacation and have already been here almost 16 weeks, the last 1/2 of which has been filled with lots of medical stuff.  At least we had a beautiful fall for them to enjoy during all this medical stuff.

Ev had another appointment today with the eye doctor and she had another injection into her eye for her macular degeneration.  The doctor is very pleased with the improvement he sees in the scans of her eye although the vision is not much better than 4 weeks ago, but there is still hope that the vision will improve some.  Either way the eye is healthier and there is less fluid present that does not belong there, so yay for that. 

Very interesting scan of Ev's eye, showing progress from the first time we saw the doctor about the blood behind the retina.  Even without knowing what you are looking at, you can see the eye looks better in the top pictures.

As Ev and I left Marshfield Clinic today, I thought about a friend of mine in Colorado who took her toddler to the hospital for an overnight stay for a special medical test.  When they were leaving the hospital and the nurses were saying goodbye to the little girl, she said to them "Goodbye, I'm never coming back!"  

I hope we have seen the last of Lakeview Hospital and Marshfield Clinic for a long time, but they have all taken really good care of Dad and Ev and we feel lucky to have had such good medical folks and facilities here in Rice Lake.  Just the same, I hope we are not going back.

All else in Rice Lake is getting back to normal, 

I went back to piano lessons this week and the cats continue to be spoiled rotten.