It's a new day!

We had a great weekend and great start to the week! It's a new day for dad in his journey. . . and it feels really good. Over the weekend, dad enjoyed getting out for church and then a picnic dinner at my sisters later in the day. We were able to swing by after all-star practice to let the kids swim and visit him before they headed home from there.

Today we went to the Dorothy McCormick Center to get registered for and get evaluated for Outpatient Rehabilitation for dad. It was great. He is going to be seeing a PT who I grew up with and whom my mom used to babysit when were kids. His mother was one of my mom's best friends. What a small world. Dad had a good evaluation and we begin the real work on Thursday. Then they will begin him on a program of 3 days a week (M-W-F) starting next week and they are also going to try to add occupational therapy, in addition to his physical therapy - so that way they can concentrate on his left arm. Not only is this going to be great physical therapy for him, but man, what great social therapy for him too! We were there from about 1:15 to 2:30 and he saw no less than 15 people who knew him and stopped to talk to him and encourage him. I have always loved that about my dad- no matter where we go, someone always knows him and most of the time its more than half the people in the joint! That's just the coolest thing.

We decided to forgo the heart doctor appointment for dad on Thursday so that we can begin physical therapy that day- it was just a checkup and they are able to get us in next month. Mom's heart doctors appointment was also changed to later in the month, so we now can just look forward to therapy on Thursday, July 4th picnic Friday and All Star game on Saturday.

Dad's new private Aide will start tomorrow - she will be providing a full bath to dad two to three times a week and we just "bird - bathe" him in between. This really helps mom, because she is doing all of the other "hygiene" care. We'll post again after his first day of therapy and let you know how it goes. . . God Bless you ALL!

Discharged from Homebound!

We are getting discharged from Homebound Status today with Panhandle Home Health! Yippee! That means FREEDOM! We are excited to be able to come & go when dad feels like it! We are getting this safety locking system for his wheelchair in the van put in this afternoon in the "nick" of time! Then we were able to get his Physical Therapy evaluation setup for Monday afternoon at the Wellness Center Rehab facility - so God is just working things out (we just have to pray that dad's doctor will get the physician order to us by 1:30pm Monday so we can be seen). . .ugh I hate all that paper work we have to go thru!

So we are looking forward to the future and all it holds - next week will be busy! We have the Wellness Center appointment Monday, Mom goes to the doctors Wednesday for her final xray of her chest/heart. . . Dad goes to his heart doctor Thursday for a checkup for his A-fib condition and Friday it's the 4th of July and we are going to a family picnic at my Uncle Tommy Sowers house. Not to mention the boys are in the middle of all-stars and now dad can go see the games! Yipee! We are on the road again - thank you God!

Thanks to everyone who has been stopping by to visit with mom & dad - they have enjoyed everyone's company so much this week!

Great Weekend & great start to the week!

We had a very good weekend, seemed to go by fast. Dad was worn out on Saturday because he had such an active day on Friday. He rested most of the day Saturday. Sunday he enjoyed his weekly greeting post at the front door at church and as you can tell from this picture - he is surrounded by those who love him so dearly - the kids! This day is the one he looks forward to most through out the week. . . seeing his friends, worshiping God and being encouraged by the Word of God. It's always an uplifting day for dad. He is still on the "homebound" status, but we are working changing that when we get the outpatient therapy lined up and a private aide lined up to help with his bathing. We are looking forward to soon being able to take dad where-ever we want, whenever we want. He gets outside most every day now and enjoys watching the traffic go by. . . if you are in the neighborhood - be sure to look their way and stop by if you can to say hello! They love that! We are doing well overall. We are getting ready to celebrate a huge milestone for mom & dad. . . their 50th wedding anniversary is coming up July 12th! Pam and I are taking the van to Frederick Friday to have a "safety system" installed in it so that we can really keep dad more secured in the vehicle. . . the current situation is okay-but not good enough. We are still trying to make some head way on the bathroom. . . hoping to get that project started soon cause it will really help with dad's hygiene. We hope to see you all soon!

Getting Ready for Change & Moving Forward!

I just left mom & dad's after getting dad in his chair to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having today and we have determined that is is time for some change. . .on to bigger and better things! Dad is continuing to do excellent in his home care setting, however, he is "starving" for activity beyond what they can provide him thru in-home physical therapy. With that in mind, his home health nurse is planning to meet with his care team and determine when they can discharge him from home-bound status to outpatient status. When that happens, we lose all the in-home services, but at this point, all we will need to put into place is an aide maybe 3 times a week to help bathe him and then we can take him to the McCormick Center for his regular blood work. He will enjoy that! So we are hoping that when we make "the break" from homebound status - that he can begin a new therapy program nearby at the Wellness Center that will pick up where they left off at Heartland and we can move toward our ultimate goal for dad - which is to walk again one day. The dream and desire is still well alive in his heart and we will do anything to see that it happens or that we have tried every measure available. Never stop believin'! His home health nurse said today that we are doing a very good job of caring for dad and he is very fortunate to have the support of a family like ours to help him live such a good quality of life. Nothing but the best for our Shug!

Dad's spirits have been good, except when he thinks about some of the things he has been missing out on this past month. . . he was unable to attend the graduation ceremony and party for one of his grandchildren - he has never missed one before. It makes him break down in tears every time he thinks about missing my brother Tommy's daughter Kristin's high school graduation and family celebration afterward. So we are now trying to get his focus on is being excited about getting to go to our July 4th family picnic at my Aunt Becky & Uncle Tom's house. . . seeing all mom's family - it's always such an awesome time together. And we are thinking of trying to get him to some of the All-star games of his grandchildren. . . so now we have some things to look forward to.

Last night on the local news, he saw a news story about this new technology being tested in Washington County Hospital for stroke patients who are left with partial paralysis - and how it is helping them to walk again - of course he wants to see if he is a candidate for that type of technology cause the man just wants to walk again! Be in prayer with us for these goals of dad's- we truly believe it is a miracle that he is even alive, but we know that his best days are still ahead! We love you all! Stop in and see the folks - they love company!!!!

Week Three- here we go!

We had a great Fathers Day weekend. . . dad and mom got out to church and then we enjoyed a quiet day at home with lots of family visiting. Dad is doing well. . . he saw his doctor again yesterday and they feel he is doing very well. They made some medication adjustments but overall, we doing well with dad at home. His doctor feels like last week's trip to the ER was a result of Vertigo not the blood INR issue, but were are fixing that INR issue. Mom started her Cardiac Rehab yesterday and will be doing that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a couple of months now. She did really well the first time.

Dad has been a little sad the past few days. . . he was a huge fan of Tim Russert and since he has been watching all the coverage of his sudden death - it has really made dad very emotional. I also think that dad is really missing his regular therapy and at times feels a burden to our family for all we do to care for him. Being home in his own environment has made it more visible to dad of his old life and how much he can not do right now. We're working thru it with him to encourage and reinforce him.

Please stop by and see mom & dad if you can - they really do enjoy having company now. Please feel free to stop in!

Rounding out week 2 at home

Well as we approach the completion of the second week at home - things seem to be running smoothly. Right now I am sitting here watching my dad sleep - it's about 12:45 and he is actually snoring! ha ha. . . He had a busy morning - his aide came and bathed him and got him in his chair. . . then his nurse came and checked him over. . . they had to call in another person to draw his blood again because they couldn't get it the first time. . . he got worn out from all that and they ended up putting him back in bed and he is now sound asleep. He will get a visit from Brent - his occupational therapist at 3pm today. I know he is looking forward to that! Mom's plugging away, back to doing all her favorite things again. She got out her sewing stuff and crocheting stuff the other day -it's nice to see her feeling well enough to want to do the things she loves. Looking forward to a great weekend. . . heading out to church on Sunday and celebrating Father's Day with our awesome dad! Thank you God that we have the honor and privilege of celebrating this holiday with our dad this Sunday. . . there were moments in the past 8 months when it looked as if we may not be blessed to have him with us. . . but one things for sure - your plan for dad is not complete on this earth yet. . .there are still people to meet & influence. Thank God for that!

Things Are Good

Things have been quiet since our ER trip on Tuesday. Dad is doing much better - and we are back to our normal schedule. He even got a hair cut from Pam on Wednesday night. We are really hoping to get him transitioned to outpatient therapy soon - he is really missing that activity and exercise. Not much really to pass on at this time, just an invitation to all who used to visit at Heartland - you are more than welcome to visit dad at home now. He would love to see any of you since he cant really get out much right now. Thanks for checking and for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers!

Trip to the ER -but back home safe

Well today ended up being a bit stressful, but we all stayed calm and at the days end, all is well again. The past 2 days dad has not quite been his full jolly self. He was having periods of head pain, and vision blurring. He also was having some nausea issues again. After lunch today, he just didn't look or feel right - and when he told me he felt similar to the way he did the months leading up to his stroke - I decided to take his blood pressure. . . and sure enough it was getting much higher (169/106). So we made some calls to his doctor and home health nurse and determined that with these symptoms and his history of stroke and his Afib heart condition - there was no time to "wait it out". . . we called 911 and ordered an ambulance. Dad was a bit emotional about the whole trip, and didn't want to go, but at the end of the day he thanked us for making him feel better. They did all the necessary work ups in the ER - CT scans, xrays, EKG, MRI and everything looked okay. So they did some blood work and found that his INR (which determines the thickness of his blood) was very low resulting in a much "thicker" blood. This causes his heart to stress a bit more because of his Afibrilation (irregular heartbeat). Thus, his blood pressure got higher and his head starting hurting and he started feeling those pre-stroke symptoms. After about 5 hours of evaluation, dad's BP returned to a better reading, his head felt better after some tylenol and he began to feel better from some nausea medication. We are adjusting his blood thinning meds to help get his INR back to where it should be and he should be just fine. When I left there this evening, he and mom and my brother Tommy were laughing and he was waving bye to me thru the window.

So, we made the right call. We caught things before they got out of hand and dad is a happy man tonight. You know I have to say as I was sitting in the ER with him this afternoon - I felt such peace and I just felt very strongly that God was being proactive with dad today - and he came to our rescue before anything serious occurred. I was thinking to myself - just because something bad is happening to you - it doesn't mean that something good isn't wrapped around it - i mean. . . yeah, it was stressful and bit worrisome when we were right in the middle of the whole situation, but yet God was working all along thru it all... if we had waited, who knows what tomorrow would have looked like. . . so thank you again to our awesome God who knows what we need and when we need it and will do anything to get our attention to make it happen! Just like mom's last fainting episode. . . if she hadn't had that, we might have waited too long for her surgery and she might not have had such an awesome outcome. . . now she is just an amazingly beautiful site (and my dad tells her that everyday)!

We'll follow up with blood tests, doctors visit and further evaluation, but for now. . . all is good!

Quiet weekend

Good Monday all. . . we had a very quiet and uneventful weekend. Dad and mom's first full week at home has been very good. We are getting back in the swing of things on how to care for dad - it is much easier now that dad is stronger and mentally able to assist us with his care. This week we are hoping for physical therapy to start and so that will really help. We got out to church yesterday - even in this terrible heat. It was great to get dad out again and he enjoyed every second of it. Not much else to report - mom's doing great as well. Feel free to stop by their house in the evenings if you want to visit. . . they love having company.

Very Good Week

It's been a great first week at home overall. Dad had his first out of home trip yesterday when I took him to see his doctor. He enjoyed getting out and getting some fresh air - even though it was muggy & hot! The doctor thinks dad is doing well and has even reduced a few more meds he has to take. He made some "dietary" suggestions based on dad's more sedentary lifestyle now and we had to laugh because he was trying to convince dad to eat some veggies and you can imagine dad's opinion on that! (ha ha!) Dad met one of his Occupational Therapists today - and he really liked him. They did some exercises but mostly dad was just evaluated and a plan will be put in place now to assist dad with OT twice a week. We are still waiting on the Physical Therapy to begin . . . no word yet on when they might be coming.

Mom is doing amazingly well. She is just feeling so much better - and looking like her old self. I just can't believe she is taking such good care of dad already. . . last night she even declined for my brother dave to stay overnight - once they got dad ready for bed, she ordered him to go home! So it looks like with the help we are receiving from Home Health that we are able now to just do a mid-day shift which I usually can cover on my lunch time and an evening/bedtime shift to ready him for the night. Whenever mom needs us in between times, she knows we are just a phone call away.

We are still believing for that miracle for dad to walk - dad says he'll never stop believing it will happen! Love to all! And neither will we. . .

Mid-Week Report

Hey everyone - here's your mid-week report. Day 4 at home and dad is still doing well. Tuesday evening dad & mom were blessed by their weekly visit with our friends from church - Lee & Shelly DeBerry. They have been visiting mom & dad weekly for a while now to share scriptures, encouragement and just visit. Dad and mom really enjoy their companionship and support and friendship and we are so appreciative of their devotion to our parents as well. Dad said he slept much better last night. And this morning, we found out he will be having his aide visit every day after all to help bathe him - so after she came this morning. . . Dad's brother Calvin and his wife Kelly arrived to stay with dad for a few hours while mom & Pam headed to Winchester for a follow up xray and appointment with her surgeon Dr. Roberts. Dad enjoyed his visit with his brother and sister-n-law and mom got a great report at the doctors. Her xray was great and she is released to do most all of her normal activities - she can even begin driving next week. She will begin her cardiac rehab next week some time. The nurse came to see dad this afternoon and she is watching him closely for a developing "bed sore" so we have to take extra precautions to make sure it does not get any worse. We'll be rotating what sides he lays on to help prevent that. We are also patiently awaiting therapist evaluations - so we can get that started. We had this same kind of delay last time when we left the rehab facility - it seems to take a while to get on their schedules. . . hoping they call & come soon because dad hasn't had therapy since last Friday. Tomorrow is dad's doctors appointment - I'll be taking him there for a checkup. Tonight Lexy and I are staying over with them and getting up early to get everyone to school. We'll update later!

Getting Settled In

We are still really getting ourselves settled in - although dad said he feels like he's been home now for a lot longer than 2 days! He had a decent 2nd night at home. . . he said he didn't sleep quite as well because he was thinking about the next day and the new people coming to aide us with his bathing. I guess just the fear of the unknown- of people he hasn't met. Yet, we actually ended up with the same aide we had when dad was home in January. She couldn't believe how much better dad was - she said he was like a different man! So she will be coming every other morning to give dad a bath til we get the shower finished. He hasn't seen any therapists yet, but I guess we'll hear from them when they get openings in their schedule. After we met with his Nurse from home health yesterday, she recommended that dad receive all services from home, including therapy for the first 30 days. . . in order to provide a safe home environment while they monitor it and make sure we are caring for dad in an appropriate manner. If we take him to outpatient therapy at this point, they would not be able to provide the many in-home services we now provide, it's federal guidelines for Medicare. So for the next 30 days, dad will basically be "homebound". . . exceptions they allow are doctors appointments, haircuts and church. So we will have to limit dad's outings to that until we are settled in the home and we no longer need their in-home services. . . then we can transition to outpatient services. Dad is okay with that - although he was a little disappointed he will not get to come see his grandkids play baseball this month. . . but he said he definitely wants us to have these services and help so that is what we will have to do for now. I tried today to help dad out of his wheelchair onto his portable potty chair, but we were not strong enough as a team to pull it off. . . so we will just have to try the bedpan/urinal for now until the occupational therapist is able to be here to help with that or one of my brothers. I think I may not be strong enough to get him to the standing position. I tried!!! We'll just have to keep trying! Mom is doing great and looks better every single day. Thanks for checking in!

First Night at Home - Wonderful!

Dad's first night at home was great! Mom said he slept most all night and was so relieved to not hear all that "hollering" in the hallways like at the rehab facility. Mom said she slept great too and she sounded so good and happy this morning. Pam stayed the night with them last night and I am heading over there at lunch time to help get him up and moving around a bit. Yesterday before dinner, my son Robby and I got dad into his chair and took him out in the driveway for a few minutes (picture at left). We didn't stay out long because it was breezy and he had shorts on. Overall, things are going well so far. Dad has some swelling in his left foot and knee that we want the nurse to look at today when she comes. But so far - so good, as they say! Dad is finding out that we are quite the "personal nursing care team"! Yesterday when I was helping him change clothes, we got to laughing so hard, cause I am out of practice with which arm goes in and out first, and then the bed starting rollin on the hard wood floors and I fell in bed with him - it was quite the scene. But it's great to see that dad's attitude is so positive and fun loving, he is not feeling depressed or sad. He is grateful to be alive and at home with his family. . . and he has accepted where he is at with his health and will continue to believe for more, but until then, he is making the most of his life as is. He laughed so hard last night when he and Robby were watching a movie on tv together - it was just good to feel like we were "living" again! Thank you God for where we are today and for what you will do for dad and mom in the future as they continue to heal.

Free At Last - Dad is Home!

Dad left Heartland this morning and headed for church. This time he is "free at last," he said. (Ironically today's message title at church was "I am free".) After church, we brought dad home for good! What a feeling that is to have he and mom here in their home again. As you can see from the picture, he is already comfy and right at home - sound asleep in this picture. He enjoyed a ham sandwich (compliments of his brother Calvin who sent a ham and homemade pie over). Right now though, he and mom are sounds asleep, nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap! He said he can't believe how good everything looks here and how happy he is to be here. We've got his meds all setup and that's a much easier task than when he was home before. Just morning pills & evening pills. His Home Health nurse is coming tomorrow afternoon. . . they just called to tell us. . . and Thursday he will see his doctor at their office. Friday we will take him to the Wellness Center for an Outpatient Physical Therapy evaluation and get a schedule for that. He will also have Occupational Therapy here at home to assist him with therapy that involve his activities of daily living - like grooming, hygiene, eating, etc. Once our uncle Tommy finishes their new handicap accessible bathroom, I know that will really be a huge help in his bathing & grooming. For now, we'll have the assistance of a home health aide thru out the week to assist with those tasks. Mom sees her surgeon on Wednesday and hopefully will be released to do more things for herself and dad. . . she looks marvelous now. She is almost herself again! What a great great day it is for the Kisner family - there truly is no place like home! We will continue to keep you all posted through out dads journey - because we still believe he will walk again one day, but until then we are praising and thanking God for both mom & dad and the health that does remain within them!