Tuesday with Dad

There is a new pedestrian ramp on 3rd ave connecting lower Queen Anne to Myrtle Edwards Park. It just opened and Dad and I took advantage of one of the last sunny warm days last Tuesday to try it out.  He got dropped off by the Providence bus at home around 3:00 and I made him a sandwich and helped him eat it and then we set out to check out the new ramp. Dad loved it. We walked around Myrtle Edwards and enjoyed the beach for a bit. I am attaching a bunch of pictures from our walk.

Dad is really benefiting from going to the center.  Yesterday he was able to create a beautiful painting after the physical therapist put weights on his wrists. The weights help control his shaking so he was able to have a little better control over his hands.  I'm sure it feels great to him to have a creative outlet! I'm also hoping maybe he will be able to use the weights to help him write so that maybe that can be a way to communicate when he no longer has a voice.  I know that requires much more control than painting but I'm hopeful...

This Tuesday Dad was a lot more tired. I made him dinner and fed him. It took him from 7:00pm until 9:45pm to finish one plate of food. He was having a really hard time focusing on what he was doing and also not swallowing his food. He kept wanting me to put another bite in his mouth but I had to say no Dad swallow what is in there first! So he finally finished and we watched a bit of TV and then I put him to bed.

He has good days and bad days.

This Friday morning he is going to the Husky coaches breakfast with Johnny and Jay and John Horton and a few other buddies so I'm sure that will be a great time.

Hope you all are well,

Angie

Dad and his painting from yesterday

Halfway across the ramp over Elliot Ave

Enjoying the water and the sun

He wanted a picture of the ramp so I took this picture.

But then he said "no don't take a picture of me and the ramp, just the structure!"
So I took this picture.

Smelling the roses in the rose garden at Myrtle Edwards

Watching the fire boat

Opps! Looks like a couple of those roses fell into Dad's bag. Hmm don't know how that happened ;)

We have started a new schedule that will hopefully work out well for everyone. Dad is now going to the Providence activity center 3 days a week where he gets physical therapy, has access to his doctor, does different daily activities such as wii bowling and he may even make a few new friends :)  The time at the center is freeing up hours for caregivers so there are more hours available for in home care.  This last week was his first week at the center and after a few schedule tweaks it was a pretty good trial run. He's not real keen on the 7:30am wake up call but Lisa has been there to bully him out of bed ;) Between Me, Efrem,  Meghan, and Johnny (and mom of course) we are getting the nights covered.

He is on a new med schedule that is a bit confusing. He takes pills now every 2 hours and every 3 hours. Which is a lot of pills and a lot to keep track of.

Dad has also started wearing a sleep mask that helps him breathe better at night and this has had noticeable good effects on his over all energy. I noticed Monday he had much more energy and was walking a lot and we went and ran a bunch of errands. We went to the grocery store and I got dad on one of those electric carts they have and he drove that thing all around the store. He even ditched me a couple times! We spent about and hour and a half at QFC just cruising. He had me go to true value to get some paint to touch up the white trim in their apartment (ever the contractor) and he said "oh I'll just stay in the car" but then 5 mins after I walked into the store he was standing next to me. He had walked WITHOUT ANY HELP from the car parked on the street into the store to tell me what kind of paint brush to get and not to forget blue tape. This was cool but also scary because if he had fallen on his way from the car to the store I would not have known it.

Tuesday was a whole different story. He was pretty wiped. This was his first day at the center and he liked it better than he had expected.  The sleep mask is definitely helping and he does have more energy, but his "miracle Monday" as I'm calling it, with all the walking seems to be just that, kind of a miracle.

So yep, that's it for now. We will continue to keep you all posted!!!

Angie