Tuesday, March 24 - Released!

It’s a double car day – ’57 Chevy Bel Air and ’56 Chevy Hot Rod – Whoo Hoo!!

Today was a good day. We had dad’s post-op check up this morning at 10:00 am. Susan was very pleased with how everything turned out. The chest area is a very pretty purple, yellow and blue from his ear down his neck to his nipple where the lead wire was tunneled under his skin. The battery pack is about three inches below his collar bone. It has a nice 3” scar above it and the skin around it is “shrink wrapping” around the battery pack.

Susan took the staples and stitches out today. 12 on the tip of his head, 6 in another spot a little further back and above the ear. Plus a few stitches in the very back of his head where the halo was held in place. Again, everything is healing well so far. And even though he has a really funky haircut right now he is looking good!

I was able to give her a good description of the last few days events and of the med’s that dad had been taking. She did up his voltage from 1.5 volts to 1.7 volts with a contact of -1 (whatever that all means!)

Today has been a record day for his med’s. He has only taken one type of the Parkinson’s med’s instead of the two he usually does and a lesser amount of that one. He hasn’t had a tremor all day. We have to keep in mind that we are still in this “Honeymoon” phase and things may change from day to day for the next couple of weeks.

While we were with Susan she asked if dad would speak to another gentleman, Mr. Legg from Denver, who was in town for a consult for the DBS procedure. He was diagnosed only 5 years ago and was much worse on both sides then dad has been with his left side. They are suggesting he have both sides done at once. He asked a number of questions and he and dad had a good conversation about the surgery and the results. We wish him well in his decisions and for the surgery if he decides to go ahead with it in April.

With that done Susan released dad with the instructions to let her know if anything of the incisions started bleeding, oozing or splitting open.

During a couple of doctor’s exams they had asked dad to write a sentence for them. On Friday just before discharge he wrote “I want to go home”. Well, tomorrow he gets his wish and we will be on our way. Dad and mom back to AZ and me to MN. It will be a long day of travel for all of us, but after a tiring and sometimes stressful past 10 days we are looking forward to being in our own beds tomorrow night.

Hopefully mom and dad will be able to relax a bit once they get home. Dad’s sister Carol is next door to them if they need help. Mark and the kids will be with them tomorrow and leave for MN on Thursday. Sarah (granddaughter) will be flying to AZ on Thursday and staying until Tuesday the 31st. Melissa (another granddaughter) is making plans to be with them from April 3 or 4th until the 8th or 9th. They will have a few days of rest from company before I head out there to help them close up the AZ place and put them on a plane for MN. With dad unable to drive for a month the extra help will be nice for them.

While Sarah is with them she will also be taking mom to a couple of doctor’s appointments for her eyes. Mom had another slight stoke in mid-February that affected her eyesight. Some of her sight has returned, but she will be having an MRI and a follow-up neuro-ophthalmology appointment to see how much was affected. During her time with mom and dad, Sarah will keep up the blog for me.

Bye for now,
Colette