Thursday 4 July 2013

The ups and downs of life: Part 4

The Wednesday - 19 June


Slept pretty well.
Had a few texts asking how Dad was doing.

 I had a text from a neice asking if she could come and visit as she had been in Wellington overnight.
I said sure thing :)

Opted to go in to see Dad early afternoon.
Had to do some work before I went in as the tutu was being picked up that evening!
The young lass had a competition down in Blenheim over the weekend.

J arrived and we chatted as I worked. She likes to sew as well so had a few questions.
She ended up helping me finish the beading. There was only half of what I needed to do left and so we each started at one end and met in the middle.
J learnt something new and the job got done in half the time.
J headed off around noon as she had to head for work in Martinborough
Brains and Locket got up and I could sense a fair amount of tension.
Locket especially was winding up to a meltdown.
To divert that I told her she could come with me to see Grandad.
No arguing allowed.
Separation of the two seemed the best policy.

So Locket got organised and off we went.
Dad was still in MAPU.

I'd had a text from one of my nephews, IK, to say he was heading over to see Dad that afternoon.
His visit was going to coincide with ours.

An ultrasound of Dad's Carotid Arteries had been done just after 1pm.
A doctor came in later in the afternoon.
The right was partially narrowed.
The left was 70-79% narrowed.
They get gunked up with plaque and sometimes bits of it break away and can cause
strokes or CVA
Dad was given the option of an operation to help reduce the risk of further strokes.
Some choose not to have the operation but Dad chose to.

Shortly after this IK and Locket headed off.
Locket was getting a bit restless and as IK was heading towards JVille
where we live he kindly took her home.
And took up the invitation to stay for dinner :)
He also wanted to pop in and see his brother who lives nearby us before he headed back over the hill to Masterton

Dad was transferred up to a ward.
There was mention the operation may be on the Friday or on Wednesday of the next week.
Once he had settled in I headed home for some dinner...
and a tutu pick up!

Dinner over and goodbyes to IK said I headed upstairs to my sewing area.
I took a couple of photos of the tutu so that I would have a record.
I had hoped to get the tutu bag all done, but time had run out.
Soon C arrived to pick up the tutu.
I explained that I would get the tutu bag done and delivered by the next afternoon.
C was fine with this, she completely understood that the last few days had been out of the ordinary!

We chatted for a while and then C headed off....with the tutu.
I tossed up whether to sew or not.
In the end I cut out the material for the tutu bag.
Then I headed for bed...best to get up early to work on the tutu bag.
Experience tells me I will only make mistakes if I sew when I am too tired!


 

Wednesday 3 July 2013

The ups and downs of life: Part 3

The Tuesday... 18th June


In the morning I dragged myself out of bed.
Brains and Locket were still asleep when I left to go to the hospital.
Neither of them had settled early as they were both concerned about Grandad, Mr P.
Locket had completely cleaned up the whole kitchen which was a real blessing.
She has discovered that when things like this happens it makes her feel more settled to clean and tidy up.
I guess it's being able to restore some order when something happens that is out of your control.
It restores a sense of order...and uses up some stress hormones.
Brains had appeared downstairs when I got home...I'd noticed his light was still on and expected he would come down. Not that he was worried you understand! 16 yr old males don't always like to admit to these feelings :)

Before I left for the hospital I had a call from a social worker.
Her role was to find out how much support Dad would have when he was discharged.
He was going to return to us..perhaps temporarily, he hadn't got that far in the decision making yet.
The social worker seemed to think I was very organised!
If only she knew :)

I had some breakfast and headed off to the hospital.
Dad was reasonably comfortable.
He had been seen by a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist (OT)
The OT came back while I was there which was good as I had a few questions.
I think a doctor popped in as well, plus a person I recognised immediately, though I couldn't remember what her role was.
The OT had a good chat with us, asked some questions and was able to answer one of mine.
We have a shower over the bath so the OT arranged for a bath board to be delivered.

It is similar to this one and sits on the rim of the bath, useful if he needs to sit down in a hurry.
He also left Dad with some excercises to do to strengthen his right hand.

Later the woman I hadn't recognised came back.
It was the stroke nurse. She commented that she had recognised me as well.
She was the stroke nurse for Mum back in 2009, which is why I recognised her.
After she'd attended to the discussion that was needed for her role as stroke nurse she asked for us to remind her about Mum.
She had recognised the surname but not Dad's first name.
I happened to have Mum's Total Mobility card in my pocket which has a photo of her on it.
I showed it to L and she recognised Mum.
It all came back to her.
It was quite good to have someone who was already familiar, in a way, with us.
Though I wish the circumstances had been different.

Whilst all this was happening I sent a text to Monneypenny asking if it were possible and they had the time that they call in to see/spend some time with Brains and Locket.
They do pretty well, but in these sorts of things I don't like to leave them alone for too long as emotions can run high and they are neither of them shy about getting into an altercation!
Moneypenny replied that they would be able to.
I could relax a little :)

Dad had the CT Scan and also a physio came back to see him.
She seemed pretty impressed that he could jump off the ground with two feet!
Not bad for an 86yr old...even though it wasn't far off the ground :)

They decided that they would keep him in another day.
During this time I'd been updating my siblings, the adult grandchildren and also Dad's pastor.
Since they were keeping Dad in I headed off mid-afternoon.

I called in to see Mum on the way home.
I'd called in to see her on the Monday as well since Dad wasn't able to go.
She has been a resident at Johnsonvale rest home since August 2009.
Dad usually goes to see her every day and spends a couple of hours with her.
I needed to tell her in person that Dad had more than likely had a stroke and was in hospital.
Also the staff so that they could keep an eye on Mum.
Plus the staff have got to know Dad quite well over the last few years.
Some have changed but there are many there who have been there since Mum was admitted and so know us. They care about the families of the residents as well as the residents.
As I thought they were a bit shocked as well.

Home, dinner, update who I needed to by text and a call to my sis, R, to let her know the latest.
Then bed.
I was pretty tired after a short sleep the night before.
Hmmm I think I was working on a tutu as well...it was being picked up on the Wednesday evening.
Things are a bit hazy now! Life seems to go into some kind of weird time warp when stuff like this happens.
It moves slow and fast at the same time.
A day goes past but you could swear it's been a week!

The ups and downs of life: Part 2

Lives can change in a heart beat


I'm travelling back in time to Monday 17 June... a few weeks ago.
Mr P, my Dad, rang me around lunch-time.
He hadn't had a good night, was very restless.
He was going to bed for a sleep...most unusual for him so my "What's up?" antenna
was quivering. He also wasn't going to see Mrs P as he usually does.
I tried to get more info out of him but he didn't give out much!
I asked him to please call me in the evening.

Around 7pm he called back, felt a bit more rested but still not that great.
After around 5mins of talking to me he said....
"I'm not sure but I think I might have had a little stroke"
I replied I was coming and picking him up and taking him to the after hrs Dr!
Mr P didn't think that was necessary.
I replied it most definitely was!

So off I went.
Subtle changes, if you didn't know him well you may not have known.
His speech was a little slurred, his thinking a little slower,
he'd found a few things difficult to do with his right hand.
E.g. cutting an onion, peeling the skin off his boiled potatoes for his tea.
All of these he'd noticed all day long....
but doesn't let me know!

When we got out of the van I noticed he was hardly using his right arm.
When I queried it he said it was quite sore but,
"Maybe it's my arthritis"

He could hardly hold a pen to sign his name, which was basically illegible,
usually it's easy to read.

Thankfully we didn't have too long to wait to see the doctor.
She looked him over, asked him a heap of questions,
obviously from a stroke assessment tool on the computer as she kept referring to the screen.
She didn't seem to think he was too bad!
No, this wasn't a stroke with severe effects but a stroke is a stroke!
One of the things he had to do was draw a clock face.
He did ok but for him it was really untidy.
"Oh, that's quite good!" she stated.
"Not for him!" I replied

He had to spell "World" forwards...then backwards.
Forwards he did fine.
Backwards he had two goes and got it wrong both times.
"Would he normally be able to....?"she asked
"Yes, he does cryptic crosswords!" I stated.
I was getting a bit annoyed...
No, he may not be paralysed on one side...but something is going on!
He has had a stroke.

Thankfully she decided to ring the medical registrar at the hospital.
I guess with small effects from a stroke it can be hard to tell.
The med reg got her to do a few other simple tests with Mr P and.....
we were off to the Emergency Department.

If he had have been sent home by the Doc I would have ignored that and taken him to the Emergency Department anyway!
There are times having trained as a registered nurse stands me in good stead.
This was one of them as I knew he needed the hospital..and most likely admitting.

He was assessed by the triage nurse...then some more waiting in the waiting area.
They have a new system at Wellington Hospital
Sometimes instead of going through the ED a patient is admitted to MAPU
(Medical Assessment and Planning Unit)
This is what happened with Mr P.

So sometime overnight on Sunday/Monday
a clot from somewhere travelled to his brain...and a part of it died.
And his life was changed irrevocably.
Up till now he has been living independently, slowly sorting things from almost 58yrs of being in his own home prior to moving in with us.
He had spoken with me a couple of weeks earlier and commented on the cold.
I replied that we thought he was going to be with us by winter.
"Oh, I'll just sort a bit more of this up...but if my health changes..."
"You'll move in with us." I stated.
"Yes" he said.

One of the things that has changed is that he has lost the use of his driving licence.
For up to a year.
A huge loss of independence.

So by around 1am on Tuesday morning he was all tucked up in a bed.
I wended my way home around 2am, I think, as I waited till he'd been seen by the Medical Registrar and it was comfirmed he would have a scan in the morning.

I'd sent texts to my sis and 2 bros earlier to let them know what was happening and that I'd update them in the morning.

Home to bed for a few hours before I returned to the hospital the next day.
We've been through this before with Mrs P, though her strokes were worse.
Thankfully Mr P's hasn't been too debilitating physically...at least so far.


The ups and the downs of life

Monday 1 July 2013


Once again life has carried on swiftly since I last updated this blog.

The great parts of the last 2 weeks and a half have been.....

Butcher our second son had an interview and has been employed in a sawmill in Featherston
about two minutes down the road from where they live.
Butcher is really enjoying the work, doing a variety of jobs.
It may only be for a month as it can be seasonal...but for now it is work
and something that can go on his CV.
He has been there two weeks.
This has also meant a time of adjustment for Chuckles, his partner
and for Halfpint their son.
Chuckles has been taking Halfpint to some of the local activities,
which they have been enjoying.

Later that same week Frosty  turned 21
A happy belated birthday on the blog Frosty.


We love you very much!!
We wished you happy birthday on the day so that's the important thing :)
Frosty and Jester chose to celebrate with some friends.
We were blessed to have Globug stay with us for the night.
Globug is six weeks old already...the time goes so quickly!
He was such a settled wee boy. He had a botttle around 7.30pm, then settled till
around 11.30pm.
Then he slept till 5.30am!
Can't complain about that :)
Then he was roused around 10am by Boar & Locket as I was occupied elsewhere!

Another up...I can now tell... we are looking forward to the birth of our 4th
grandbaby. Absent-minded Prof & Moneypenny are expecting
their 2nd baby in Novenber :)