Bellbottom Blog

A Hospital And A Family: Update

After some guesswork and a change in medication, my Dad is doing much better.

The official diagnosis is Parkinsons Disease.

You know the one Ali and Michael J. Fox have.  Except his is not the constant shaking version.  The muscles become rigid. A form of dementia occurs.

There is no cure for it.

Just a week or so ago, he wasn’t eating any of the food they brought him at the hospital.  My wife found out there was a menu that we could order from for him. So we switched from mystery meatloaf to simple sandwiches, fruit and drinks that he prefers.  He started eating everything at every meal.

With his improved appetite, he seems to be a little more interested in doing the physical therapy that comes along with the recovery process.  Yesterday, he stood for 4 minutes with token assistance.  That is  nothing short of miraculous considering his health when he was brought there.

BUT, and this is the big hitch, he has different levels of reality now. (I know. Most of us do.) He has the people who come into his room. If they are family, he still knows us.  If they are nurses, most of them are, in his mind, related to a neighbor my parents had years ago.

When the TV is on, he catches the dumb things people say and calls them on it.  So that is good.

The other reality appears when he looks through the large plate glass window at the end of his room. When he looks at that he sees turkeys, horses, women, an old part of town that is miles from where he is.

The truly odd part of that is he will say these unusual things in the same cadence and vernacular as he does the rational things.

One minute he is there, the next ….

Starting Monday his therapy sessions will be doubled. Hopefully, good things will come of that.

We haven’t told him what he has.  The focus is just on the small improvements.

I wanted to thank those of you who sent good thoughts his way.  They have worked so keep sending them if you would.

Peace.