As you may know, Arden suffered a stroke Thursday (8/14/08) morning. When I went into his room he was partially sitting up. I asked what he was doing and he just muttered and then laid back down. When I tried to change him, he wouldn’t respond to my requests and couldn’t look at me. He just babbled. I asked if he wanted to sleep some more and again he babbled so I left him a lone and kept checking on him. Finally after about 15 minutes, I assessed the situation and determined that something was wrong and so I called 911. They took him to Tuality Hospital in Hillsboro where he still is. The MRI showed that he had suffered a stroke on the right side, affecting his left side. While there is no paralysis, his left side is definitely weaker and requires much more thought for him to move his limbs. He has been assessed by a speech therapist who determined that he needs to have pureed food (applesauce, mashed potatoes, squash) and needs to be fed. The physical therapist determined that he needs PT to get him back to his prior functioning and therefore needs to be in a skilled nursing/rehabilitation facility. Medicare will pay for the first 30 days but he can stay at the facility indefinitely. We will have to see how it goes. If he does not regain his ability to roll from side to side, feed himself, and sit up on his own, he will probably stay. If he regains his abilities, we will have him come back here.
I spent most of the day at the hospital yesterday and today. He is much better than when he first got to the hospital but hasn’t gained much since yesterday (Thursday) evening. Today he was pretty much the same–sleeping a lot, facial drooping on the left side, and having difficulty following simple requests.
He will stay at the hospital until Monday at which time he will have to be moved into the skilled nursing facility. evan and I went to one that has a great reputation in Beaverton. They will have a bed available but they have to review his report to see if he is appropriate for their facility. I will go look at two others tomorrow.
I will blog tomorrow night. They don’t have wi-fi at the hospital and I don’t have a laptop.
Suzeej
Love you mom! Hang in there!