Aug 6 Dad Update

Here is a quick update on Dad today.

He was awake today three different times. In the morning and afternoon for 2 & 1/2 hours each. The third time in the evening for about 1 & 1/2 hours, as he just fell asleep in the chair. Dad’s two top priorities today are the too frequent bowel movements. I saw him eat 1/2 of a banana and then run to the bathroom literally 2 minutes later. Since we were collecting a stoool sample to check for c-diff, I had a chance to see the discharge, and basically it was just ground up banana. I am very concerned that he has not gotten any nutrition since this started Thursday.

Dad’s second concern is his ear pain. It is unclear to me whether this is mastoiditis or this is from the bells palsy. His pain level was up to a 7 tonight. We gave him another Tylenol and offered him one with codeine when he is ready for bed. Right now he is sleeping in his chair with the heating pad on his side of the face.

Dad has said he does not want to go to the drs appointments tomorrow. He is very frustrated and doesn’t feel anything is working. John came over and said his face looks better than last Friday and I told him that he was able to blink about 75% with his left eye. I will try again in the morning to get him to go, but either way I expect Tom, John and I will be there to talk to the doctors. If you have any specific questions you would like asked, please let me know.

Dad has not wanted to play 5 straight, but has been willing to watch the olympics. The only good news is that we gave dad imodium ad today about 2pm. He had two home made cookies around 3:30 and didn’t go to the bathroom until almost 4:30. He ate a little for dinner and did not go to the bathroom afterwards. Keep your fingers crossed that this really helps.

That is it for now, please let me know if you have any questions or feel free to call. Dad’s appointment tomorrow at 10:30 with Dr Trang and 4:00 with Dr Nguyen.

Love to all,

Bill