Sea World

Monday, we went over to Sea World with Sarah and Eric. There is a new roller coaster there called "Manta" which is what's called a flying coaster. Eric and I are roller coaster fans, but I will say I'm not sure I will ride this one again. You enter the coaster and sit down and then you are lowered to a chest down position so when the coaster is moving, you are in a "flying position." I will say this, it was a very different experience. Dan and Sarah were smart - they stayed on the ground!!
Eric and I were in the front car with no one else in our row.

When you get off the ride, it takes a minute or so to reorient your body to a vertical position. As I said above, "been there, done that, not sure I want to do it again." The best way I can describe the ride is doing barrel rolls in a jet fighter plane (I've never been in a jet fighter, but it would seem this is what it might feel like).

After this ride, we were ready for a break from the park, so we headed over to Lake Buena Vista to Giordano's where we enjoyed our norm - a stuffed cheese and sausage pizza. After eating, we headed back to the park for the evening shows and fireworks. Sea World is open until 10 PM right now and have some special features during the eveing hours. We left the park about 10:30, getting us home about 12:30. It was a nice day and I was actually able to relax and have a few hours where I wasn't thinking about Aunti Vi.

Bible study finished tonight. It was a good study (Daniel), but it will be good to have 3 weeks "off." We're starting "Knowing God by Name" July 9th. It's a relatively short study - only 7 weeks. The ladies were cute tonight - they do not want to take 3 weeks off!!!

We leave for Tennessee and points north tomorrow. With the stress of the last 3 weeks, it will be good to get away!

The Latest Update

We moved Aunti Vi (or rather she was moved by Wheelchair Transport) to Westminster Towers skilled care facility today. As far as how she's doing, it's difficult to say. Sitting in the wheelchair or on the bed, you wouldn't be able to tell anything is wrong. However, when she tries to walk, she hardly moves her right leg at all. She is able to stand by herself and if she's in a chair with arms she is able to push herself to a standing position, but is not able to take any steps without a walker and then only very, very slowly. Her mind is still sharp although both Dan and I have noted some increasing mental impairment. Not to get too graphic, she is not always able to make it to the restroom in time resulting in having to wear protective underwear now.

The question now becomes will she be able to recover enough to make it to assisted living level? As of today, I would say no. As Dan says, she is now in the "bouncing ball" phase with each rebound a little lower.

We are leaving Friday for Tennessee and Ohio, so we will not see her again until Monday, June 29th at the earliest, so this will be my last update until then.

Another Update

Nothing much has changed. Aunti Vi is still in rehab. She was assessed last Tuesday and will be assessed again this Tuesday. She says she is getting weaker and the PT is beginning to take its toll. She says she is getting more and more tired and is having to come back to her room before she completes the 45 minutes PT. However, when I talk to the nurses, they say she is doing very well. When she entered rehab, I asked for a timeline and was told 2-3 weeks is the norm. As of Monday, she will have been in rehab for 2 weeks.

As far as discharge goes, there is no date. Also, will she be able to handle asisted living or will she need to go to skilled care? There are certain benchmarks for assisted and currently, I don't know if she can meet those benchmarks. Of one thing I am certain - she will not be able to live in the independent section any longer.

Nothing much more to update right now. We are obviously busy with our normal activities as well as now having to go down to Aunti Vi's apartment frequently to pick up her mail and also go to the hospital to pick up her laundry, bring it home, wash it and then take it back to her. I'm also trying to spend some time scrapbooking which helps relieve the stress.

Progress

Aunti Vi is doing well. She is in rehab and was assessed today. According to the assessment, she will be in rehab at least another week when they'll assess her again and make a decision on future direction at that time. Her current schedule includes 1-1/2 hours of occupational therapy per day and 1-1/2 hours of physical therapy per day. This is more activity than she's had in quite awhile, so of course she is getting very tired. As far as her tooth goes, her mouth is still tender from the extraction but is improving each day.

Update on Aunti Vi

We went to the hospital this afternoon and Aunti Vi was doing much better. She was sitting up in the chair and looking wonderful. She had walked from the bed to the sink using a walker. She was also being moved to rehab this afternoon. There is no estimate on how long she'll be there, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

After we left her, we went over to Sea World and had a lovely afternoon and evening. We enjoy Sea World - it is a beautiful park - very restful and a definite stress reliever!

Busy 5 Days

This past 5 days have been very busy - Wednesday we took Aunti Vi to have her tooth pulled at the oral surgeon's. She did fine during the extraction and had very little pain/discomfort from it. We stayed with her until about 4:00 and then headed home. I did call her later on in the evening and she was still doing okay. 8:00 Thursday morning, she called me and said her left leg wouldn't support her and she couldn't walk. I couldn't do anything at that point since I was leading Bible study at 9:30. I told her we would stop down after Bible study and check on her and make a decision about her dentist appointment that afternoon (they needed to get an impression so they could adapt her bridge).

When we got there about 12:15, her leg was not back to normal but she was able to use it and walk with her walker. I had made an appointment with our regular doctor after the dentist appointment, but Aunti Vi decided she didn't want to go to the doctor so I cancelled it. After the dentist, we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some soft foods and then headed back to her apartment. We heated up some food for her which she ate. We left her about 4:00 and headed home. Thursday night Bible study went well and we didn't have any messages when we got home so we went to bed thinking Aunti Vi was on the road to recovery. However, it was a false sense of security.

Friday morning at 7:05, we received a call from the nurse at the retirement home where Aunti Vi lives and said Aunti Vi could not move her right arm and right leg and they were calling 911. She asked which hospital we wanted her taken to. We told her which one and got up and headed to the hospital. She hadn't arrived yet by the time we got there so we waited. About 15 minutes later, we were told she had arrived and we could go to admitting and get her paperwork filled out. By the time we got all of the paperwork filled out, she had had all of the tests to find out what was going on and we were told we could go back and see her. We then waited another 5 hours before we were told anything - we didn't know if she was going to be discharged or admitted. Finally about 2:00, the doctor came in and said she had had a minor stroke and was going to be admitted. At that point we headed out since we hadn't had anything to eat and had things to take care of. After getting some lunch, and picking some things up at Aunti Vi's apartment, we headed back to the hospital. Aunti Vi, by the time we got back, had regained use of her arm and also could move her leg some.

Yesterday (Saturday), we didn't go to the hospital until dinner time. When we got there, she was in bed but got up (with a lot of help) and sat in the chair to eat dinner. She was able to move her leg and use her arm some, but was far from normal. After leaving the hospital, we came home and rode our bikes out to the beach and home (13 miles round trip). We thoroughly enjoyed it and biking was a great stress reliever.

We didn't go to the hospital at all today. After the last four days, we just needed a break. Tonight we drove out to the beach for sunset, took our shoes off and walked in the gulf. It's up to 82 degrees so it was just delightful.

I called Aunti Vi when we got home and she does not sound good at all. Her speech was slurred and she was having trouble composing her thoughts. The neurologist who doesn't know her has put her on some new meds. I'm not sure if the slurring is a result of the meds or if her condition is deteriorating.

Tomorrow afternoon we're going to head over to Sea World for the afternoon and evening. We haven't been there since we were there with Dad in February, so it should be fun.

Time Flies

It doesn't seem possible it's been 15 days since I last posted. Days fly by and before I realize it, another week is gone.

This past weekend, we went over to Orlando to the Gaylord Palms for the Scrapbook Expo. We had never stayed at the Gaylord Palms and it was lovely. Sarah and Eric also went over. Our plans were to go to Sea World on Friday and then to the show and crop on Saturday. However, when we got over to Orlando on Friday, it was pouring rain and had been for several hours so the time at Sea World didn't happen! We stayed around the hotel and enjoyed walking around discovering all the resort had to offer. We met Rick and Csilla and the girls for dinner at a barbecue place we really like and then headed back to the hotel. Sarah and Eric had been upgraded to deluxe suite which included a dining area with a large table so Sarah and I spent Friday night cropping pictures and laying out pages we wanted to work on on Saturday at the crop. View from our balconySarah and I before starting - we only were at the crop on Saturday even though the Expo ran Friday and Saturday.This was the table next to us - obviously the ladies were there for the long haul!!!

By about 4:00, our creative juices had about dried up. I had gotten 8 pages done and Sarah had gotten about the same amount done. When Dan and Eric called and said they were on their way back to the hotel (they had spent the day at Sea World), we packed up and headed back down to Bradenton after a stop at Giordano's for stuffed pizza!

Tomorrow, we take Aunti Vi to the oral surgeon's for her tooth extraction. Thursday is Bible study morning and evening and then in the afternoon, we're taking Aunti Vi to our regular dentist so he can get an impression for her new bridge.

We used to have scrapbook night at church once each month, but we stopped due to lack of interest. However, we were talking at Bible study last week and several of the ladies in the evening session are scrapbookers and would like to start the get togethers again. We'll see what we can work out.

It's now 12:36 AM and we need to be up early tomorrow so I'll sign off for now.