The Latest News on my Dad

I'm back from Minnesota and a few days with my dad. What a roller coaster the trip was. Laura and I met at the airport and when we called Bonnie, we found out that he was getting released to the rehab center that afternoon. We were so happy about that. We got to the hospital and he looked better than I thought he would look. He had sat up for about an hour, ate most of his breakfast and lunch, and was awake the whole time we were there. He got taken over to the rehab center and we got him settled in. He sat in the wheelchair a few times, ate dinner, etc. Gerri showed up and he recognized her as well, so that was good. We all felt good when we left Friday night.

Saturday morning, we went to the rehab center to see Dad. And he looked horrible. He was in a lot of pain, didn't sleep well. He was having problems urinating. He has this rash over his legs, and it looked horrible. He looks like he was burned on his legs. They were blistering and full of puss, and some has opened and were bleeding. His feet look horrible - they are so dried up and have blisters on them. And they looked purple. So he ended up having to get sent back to the ER. They did a bunch of tests - chest, kidneys, etc - but nothing was coming up on them. They decided to admit him back to the hospital until they could find out what was wrong with the rash.

My cousin Beth came by and stayed with us for most of the day. She also called her mom (my aunt) and chewed her out for not coming by before to be there for her sister (my stepmom). So my aunt and uncle came down and spent a few hours with us. That was very helpful - to have someone else to lean on and to have more support.

We got to the hopsital early on Sunday, and he was sleeping most of the morning. They took him to get more tests, and they all came back negative. So that was good. The dermatologist came by in the evening and wanted to take some samples and send them to the Mayo Clinic to figure out what is going on. They decided to keep him there overnight.

The worst part was when we were trying to leave on Sunday night. We took Gerri back to the airport Sunday afternoon, and he was fine with that. But when we tried to leave to go home, he said he didn't want us to leave and asked why were we always leaving him. And that got to all of us. We were all choked up about that. I've never had anything tear my heart up like that. The nurse came in and straightened up his bed and talked to him so we could leave that helped some. But still,

Today Laura and I had to leave. We talked to my stepmom from the airport and they decided to release him to the rehab center again - they felt like he was ready for it and there was nothing they could do for him. My stepmom got him into a different place, one that is very new and better suited for him. They have all rehab patients on one floor, and let the patients be in private rooms. He'll start his therapy tomorrow and we're hoping that he won't be in there for more than a few months.

So I'm heading back there in two weeks, with John. Then Gerri and Rick will go out two weeks after that. Then Laura will go out after that - we're not sure if David will go. I'm going to try and go out there every few weeks, just to be with him. And hopefully when he comes home, I'll be able to go out and help him get acclimated to being at home again.

So we still have the rash and the blood clot to work with, but hopefully we can get those taken care of soon.

So hopefully we'll be able to get off of this roller coaster soon. We're hoping for some good days ahead of us and that my dad will start walking on his own again.
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