Just got home from the hospital...

[Guest guest]

Dear Abby:

You remind me of myself when I was in your situation. I ended up making all

the desicions. It is good that yu spoke to your dad about getting help. I am

sure your mom is exhausted and would really appreciate the help. Interview

the people carefully, we had a bad experience, but they are usually very

caring. It will be a relief for you to have help for them when you go back to

work.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Take care, hugs and

love,

Josie

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone:

Something must be in the air lately or it must be a very LBD intense

time in hospitals. In either sense, this quick post is just to let

you know I took my dad back to emergency at St. Mike's today because

for the past two days he's had extreme difficulty walking.

One month ago when we learned that my dad's brain tumor had

reoccurred in addition to the LBD the neurosurgeon told us he wanted

to see my dad in 3 months unless there were sudden physical or

cognitive changes. When he spent all of yesterday and again woke up

this morning and was not able to stand on his legs or walk

unassisted, we considered this a sudden physical change and so we

brought him to the hospital. If I'm honest, I suspected that this

was the LBD but because of the brain tumor it's hard to tell and my

mom wanted to check it out.

We arrived at the hospital at 10 am and were released at 9:40 pm.

About 3 hours after we arrived, my dad began to walk once more like

he has for the past few weeks - not great but not horrible at all.

In the end, the neurosurgeon on duty tonight gave us a choice

regarding whether my dad wanted to stay in the hospital overnight and

speak to his neurosurgeon tomorrow (who is the head of neurosurgery

by the way) and have him decide if my dad's tumor needed further

attention or we could bring my dad home, the neurosurgeon would

discuss my dad's xrays and CT scans with my dad's neurosurgeon and we

would call his neurologist and tell him we had a strong suspicion his

LBD was progressing and that my dad should be looked at. We gave my

dad the choice and he decided he wanted to go home.

I have told my dad that his life has to change. He must allow help

to come inside the home because he is simply too heavy for my mom to

lift in and out of bed and because he can no longer do for himself

what he used to. My dad was quiet and I think really sad but he just

cannot make these choices for himself anymore. We have allowed him

to dictate what happens to him insofar as what treatment he wants to

receive for his brain tumor but he just cannot expect my mom and I

(who must return to work in 3 weeks) to care for him like we have

been. His illness has progressed to the point where we can't pretend

it's not there anymore.

When I began, I did intend for this post to be short but, as usual, I

got carried away once I began.

I'll catch up on your posts tomorrow. Sorry for the spelling or

grammar error - I'm too tired to proofread at this point...

Abby

[Guest guest]

Hang in there Abby, I really feel for your family. I am so glad we

have all found this group. At least we can take comfort in knowing

there are really people who understand from a personal point of view.

I hope 2004 will bring positive changes for everyone. Love to

everyone everwhere, Shirley

> Hello everyone:

>

> Something must be in the air lately or it must be a very LBD

intense

> time in hospitals. In either sense, this quick post is just to let

> you know I took my dad back to emergency at St. Mike's today

because

> for the past two days he's had extreme difficulty walking.

>

> One month ago when we learned that my dad's brain tumor had

> reoccurred in addition to the LBD the neurosurgeon told us he

wanted

> to see my dad in 3 months unless there were sudden physical or

> cognitive changes. When he spent all of yesterday and again woke

up

> this morning and was not able to stand on his legs or walk

> unassisted, we considered this a sudden physical change and so we

> brought him to the hospital. If I'm honest, I suspected that this

> was the LBD but because of the brain tumor it's hard to tell and my

> mom wanted to check it out.

>

> We arrived at the hospital at 10 am and were released at 9:40 pm.

> About 3 hours after we arrived, my dad began to walk once more like

> he has for the past few weeks - not great but not horrible at all.

> In the end, the neurosurgeon on duty tonight gave us a choice

> regarding whether my dad wanted to stay in the hospital overnight

and

> speak to his neurosurgeon tomorrow (who is the head of neurosurgery

> by the way) and have him decide if my dad's tumor needed further

> attention or we could bring my dad home, the neurosurgeon would

> discuss my dad's xrays and CT scans with my dad's neurosurgeon and

we

> would call his neurologist and tell him we had a strong suspicion

his

> LBD was progressing and that my dad should be looked at. We gave

my

> dad the choice and he decided he wanted to go home.

>

> I have told my dad that his life has to change. He must allow help

> to come inside the home because he is simply too heavy for my mom

to

> lift in and out of bed and because he can no longer do for himself

> what he used to. My dad was quiet and I think really sad but he

just

> cannot make these choices for himself anymore. We have allowed him

> to dictate what happens to him insofar as what treatment he wants

to

> receive for his brain tumor but he just cannot expect my mom and I

> (who must return to work in 3 weeks) to care for him like we have

> been. His illness has progressed to the point where we can't

pretend

> it's not there anymore.

>

> When I began, I did intend for this post to be short but, as usual,

I

> got carried away once I began.

>

> I'll catch up on your posts tomorrow. Sorry for the spelling or

> grammar error - I'm too tired to proofread at this point...

>

> Abby

[Guest guest]

> Hang in there Abby, I really feel for your family. I am so glad we

> have all found this group. At least we can take comfort in knowing

> there are really people who understand from a personal point of

view.

> I hope 2004 will bring positive changes for everyone. Love to

> everyone everwhere, Shirley

>

Thanks Shirley!

I'm praying 2004 brings a bit more stability to this otherwise

extremely frenetic illness in our lives. I know it won't go away but

can we all just get a bit more positive fluctuations lasting just a

bit longer....

Once more thanks for the sentiments.

Abby