Margaret's update, Monday 7/23
Howard came down to our house with Kevin yesterday, Saturday. We have the downstairs bedroom and bathroom set up for him.
Howard will be with us through Wednesday afternoon, when Katie and I will take him back to El Cerrito. His coffee buddies will be picking him up on Thursday for his usual coffee out.
His hearing aids are cleaned and repaired, so he is hearing well when he has them on.
He is getting around only okay.
He has difficulty getting up out of chairs, etc., and needs to sit in stiff backed armed chairs. He has edema in his feet and his feet are swollen. He wears only his slippers and black sneakers unlaced. He is unable to put on his socks.
He has stitches in his right palm and the hand is bandage wrapped. So he is using a fork with his left hand which he is not used to. And, his left forearm has the stitches from when he fell. As a result, he cannot use a knife, trouble lifting cups and glasses. Luckily we have lots of straws here. :)
We have the suspicion that he might have had a minor stroke. A few days ago he was confused and unintelligible. He seems better from that, but is still struggling. He wears the same clothes every day and does not want to change out of them. He had a bathroom accident on Saturday, so at least Kevin got to wash his clothes for him. We're pretty sure he hasn't bathed in a couple of weeks, so we are going to get him at least a sponge bath today.
We will post updates at least daily, and also let Pat and Karen be authors on this blog as well.
M.
3 comments:
The stroke idea makes sense. He has gotten worse quickly. We should have his dr. check him out. Kaiser also has a homecare service for seniors who are home bound that might be a good option. None of us can care for him during the day when school starts.
Good idea. We will look into that.
Got the info for Kaiser home health care. Currently his plan covers someone coming to his home for 35 hours per 7 days. This would need to be authorized by his primary care physician. If he continues doing as well as he is today, that would be good along with the home monitor that Kevin is working on and lots of family check ins.
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