a few new things...

Sorry we are so delayed with our posts these days! Dad has been doing well.  We have been lucky (well until today) to have a pretty dry winter so we've gotten to go on some decent walks around Magnolia.  Although he still finds plenty to complain about, he seems to really like Carlton Park and they take excellent care of him. I am sure he keeps them all on their toes!

 A few weeks ago he wanted to go into the living room area.  He asked me to leave him at the top area (which has a bit of a incline) leading into the room. So I left him up there and opened the doors and turned on the light and before I knew it he was rolling VERY fast down the ramp into the living room. I stopped him and he scowled at me and said "don't stop me!!" I said well dad you were going so fast... after much discussion I asked him if he wanted to do it again... he got a huge smile and said "YES!" So I said ok but I'm filming you this time.... As you can see he was ALL smiles....He didn't think the video justified how fast he feels like he is actually going! He also told one of the nurses "It feels like I'm skiing!"

Another update we were able to find a refurbished iPad at Walmart for a very reasonable price! He is fairly slow responding but able to receive emails. He can also text or FaceTime with anyone who has iphones, or a mac computer.  As I am writing this I realize I could also put skype on there so he could connect with more people.

His contact info for any of the above is  kisslerclan@gmail.com

I will keep you posted on a skype address.

The iPad has been great though allowing him to play games, listen to music or catch up on his favorite tv shows. It is also nice for us to have a way to communicate with him.... even though he sometimes stalks a little more than I'd like :)

His sister Kimmy also was so generous and donated an extra TV she had lying around to Carlton, so he doesn't have to be in his room to watch TV, or share with his roommate! He is very spoiled!!

Oh and lastly he is now at the center all day on Wednesday's. So that would be the only bad day for visiting. He will most likely be there more on the weekends as well going forward.

                                                   

The prince getting cozy in his chair

                                         

Practicing face timing with Johnny

Not sure if this post will work or not as I am writing it on my phone, but we will see...

So dad was checked out of hospital this morning and we are now home at the apartment on Queen Ann.  He is going to spend the day here and then we will take him back to Carlton Park (the adult family home) later tonight. They are all filled in on his condition and are better prepared than us to take care of him and keep him safe. He is feeling well just a little tired. He is relaxing in his big leather chair and is going to shower in a few minutes. He has been put on a blood thinner and cholesterol medicine in order to prevent another stroke.He will be scheduled to see his regular doctor sometime this week.

Just letting you all know, Dad is staying another night in the hospital tonight. No new news really.

Dad update Dec 9

Still no new news yet this morning. Mom wanted me to let everyone know Dad is doing fine and resting and eating all the food in Swedish hospital :) No sign of discharge from hospital yet today. I think they are still monitoring him to see how the medication is working on the artery blockage.  I will keep updating this post as I get more info so check back later...

Scary Night

Hey everyone it's Angie, I just want to say first that my dad is OK.

Last night (Friday Dec 7) he was home at the Queen Ann apartment with mom. Johnny had come over and was going to take them to see his Christmas tree. It was 9:15pm and mom was helping Dad in the bathroom when she noticed that he was not looking right and his whole right side of his body was going limp and he was not answering her. She had Johnny come in and help and they realized something was very wrong. Called 911 and dad was taken to Swedish where they gave him a MRI and a cat scan. I got to the hospital around 10:30 and Dad was awake and alert. After a long wait and not a lot of answers, he was finally moved from ER and admitted into the hospital around 2am. At this point we got to talk to his doctor who told us that dad had had a Transient Ischaemic Attack or TIA which is like a small stroke.  the doctor described it as a "small stroke that got better" so in other words the stroke stopped and so far does not seem to have left any side effects. Dad was alert and cracking jokes at 4am. The doctor told us that this is something that happens with MSA patients.

As of right now he is still in the hospital but should be discharged this afternoon. I think at that point he and mom will head home to get some good sleep. Obviously we will be keeping a close eye on him. Mom has said that anyone with questions or concerns can call or text her. Anyone is welcome to call or text me as well.


Update Sat Dec 8th:
 So dad is not leaving the hospital today after all.  Everything is still ok at the moment but the doc found that dad has a lot of plaque blocking the vessels to his brain and is concerned about him stroking again. She says that they could do a surgery to go in and deal with the plaque but in his condition she thinks that will be too invasive and stressful so she wants to try and treat him with medication. They are keeping him in hospital until at least tomorrow and possibly the next day.

I will update as I get more info...

Changes changes changes

Some recent changes for our family. About two months ago it had gotten past the point where mom could handle dad on her own. Even with the 35 hours of in home care they qualify for it was far to much as he tends to stay up late and tries to do things on his own. It wasn't safe for her to be trying to handle him. He was having major hallucinations and wanting to leave the apt at odd hours. We had a big family meeting and with heavy hearts decided it was time to start looking for some other care. We were told it could take months, so we started a new schedule to relieve Mom of pretty much all the work. Between Myself, Angie, Johnathan and Efrem (caregiver) one of us was there to put dad to bed at a reasonable hour every night and get him up in the morning, dressed ready, fed and on the bus to spend the day at providence elder place. This worked out perfectly, however not a long term solution considering it is getting harder and harder to care for him. Not to mention it didn't allow for any of us to have a child/ parent relationship, or for mom to have a husband/wife relationship.

About a month into the new schedule I received a call from our social worker at providence. She informed me that a spot had opened at an amazing house and I should get the family to take a tour. The home was located in magnolia and generally does not have openings for Providence patients. Dad would have to have a roommate because of this,  but it was hands down the best possible option she would ever have for us. Anyway we went to view the house and it was pretty crazy/emotional as we pulled up. The house is literally a block from the house dad grew up in on viewmont. It was pretty overwhelming to say the least, but certainly feels like grandma June, grandpa Al and mama Marcy  are making sure dad is well taken care of.

We spent the last month waiting for dad to be approved. He officially moved in yesterday. He has a great roommate named Adam who just turned 64 on the 10th.  We were all pretty concerned as dad wasn't very happy about this decision we had made, and was in denial until the last second!

Anyway long story short I wanted to let you know I had a great morning with him. I got there around 10:30, he and Adam were watching tv together in their room and dad was super happy to see me. It was fairly nice out so we went on an hour and a half walk around the neighborhood. We stood outside his old house for about 10 mins and talked about how grandpa used to take such pride in his yard and always had the trees pruned to perfection. We tried to find the "witches" house that grandma and grandpa used to walk all of us kids by! Dad pointed out all the houses his friends lived in and had stories about them all. It's such a beautiful neighborhood and we all feel very lucky that this is where he is now living. Most likely he will be picked up and spend the weekends with mom at the apartment, but Monday through Friday he'll be in magnolia.



He said that he had had a great first nights sleep and that the food they serve is great! It is nice because there are only 6 people that live there, so he gets a good amount of attention and a much more home like feeling. Dad and Adam seem to be getting a long great. The biggest challenge is that no one can hear dad...but I am sure they will figure it out! :)

If anyone is interested in visiting him its extremely easy, they just ask that you call and give them a heads up. The home number is: 206-691-3490
Address: 4221 west armour street
                Seattle, wa 98199

It is a beautiful house with lots of quiet space where you can actually hear him!

Just wanted to pass on the info so you are all in the know. If you find yourself in the neighborhood he'd obviously love to see you.

A day at the Aquarium :)

Hi it's Lisa. Its been awhile since I've written... I've decided that Angie is a FAR better writer so I leave most of the blogging to her :)
Dad completed a full month of going to Provenience Elder Place center on Thursday. He has been doing great getting up at 7:30 every morning and dealing with me being his drill Sargent! We were laughing last night about how I am punctual to a fault and make dad sit outside in the rain for 15 mins waiting for the bus :) I have honestly been enjoying my mornings with dad, but at the same time it isn't as much quality of time as I have been able to spend with him in the past. Thankfully, Sunday Angie and I were able to take dad to the Aquarium! Angie was having a random conversation with him a few weeks ago and he said he had never been to the Seattle Aquarium, so we thought it would be a fun outing. It is hard to take dad places like that alone, so it was great that we both had Sunday open and could make an enjoyable day out of it! 
I think it was safe to say we all agreed the Aquarium wasn't as cool as we were expecting (at least for three adults!), but fun none the less :) We touched a sea star/star fish, saw some clown fish. sea otters and river otters, but I think the highlight was watching the octopus get fed! I got some decent pictures of the octopus changing colors and expanding as it went for its food!
After the Aquarium we took dad to lunch at Ivars! We were able to sit in the bar and watch the first half of the Seahawks game and just hang out.  On our way back to the car we stopped to get dad some ice cream :) We certainly lucked out with with weather!! It didn't start raining until we were in the car on our way home! Thankfully, because I would say the biggest complaint about the day is there is NO handicap parking on the waterfront... Its not a terrible walk from where we had to park but would have been pretty miserable if it had been pouring!

All and all a great day! Looking forward to hopefully having more times to just hang out with dad rather than rushing to get him ready for the bus in the morning!

Getting up out of his chair to get a better look!

The cool octopus!

listening to the info on our Washington waterways from the diver!

looking at all the salmon!

Checking out the Great Wheel....