Today, my dad had his 4th round of plasmapheresis. He has not noticed any significant improvement but has also not noticed any decline. He feels as though he has been on a plateau since they began the plasmapheresis treatment last Friday. His days are filled with physical and occupational therapy, cruising the hospital floor in a motorized wheelchair, and trying to catch sports on TV.
He does 6 sessions of 45 minutes with PT and OT. Most of the exercises are done in the bed while others are done in a chair. If he is feeling well enough, they have him try to stand and even walk a bit. He cannot do anything unassisted yet. The walking is done along a set of adjustable parallel bars with a PT person walking behind him with a wheelchair in case he loses his footing or gets too tired.
My dad has his very own hospital-issued motorized wheelchair. He operates it with a joystick, it can decline/adjust electronically and can do a 360-degree turn in its own axis. It tops out at 15 mph and he's only run the chair into the walls a couple of times - hee hee. And he calls me a "lady female" driver?? He cruises all around the rehab wing and the hospital. He spends about an hour to an hour and a half a day cruising around to see the sights and avoid boredom.
The doctors advise him to stop paying so much attention to his level of numbness. My dad says sometimes the numbness increases and sometimes it goes away. The doctors say the numbness factor is not an earmark of any progress. They tell him to look at his progress in PT to give an indication to how his body is fighting off the GBS disease. My dad has noticed (and the PT staff has as well) notable improvements in his strength and stamina. He also has not had any shortness of breath in the past week. He had been having trouble breathing after very small amounts of activity. Last Wednesday, after the pool therapy, he felt as though he was having an asthma attack. He has not been back in the pool since, but he cannot go into the water until they remove the catheters needed for the plasmapheresis. He may get to go back for pool therapy on Monday.
He was really looking forward to spending time in the pool because he thought that the weightlessness would help him walk in the water. But he said he has zero ankle strength and at any point could find himself walking on the side of his foot and ankle. Remember, he is still almost completely numb in the hands and feet. He is moderately numb from the waist down and from the shoulders down to the wrists.
I asked him today how he was feeling and he said, "I'm in pretty okay good spirits."
I also asked him if he had anything he'd like me to add to today's posting and he said the following:
"I'm looking forward to watching the Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma game on Saturday. I think Texas Tech is going to win by probably 12 or so points. Every once in a while, I get a craving for odd things, like one Arby's potato cake or homemade pico de gallo. Austin came by last night with some Italian pizza from CiCi's and it was delicious, but I could eat only one piece before I got full. I saw previews for the movie Australia and it looks pretty good. I'm glad I don't get to surf the net so much so that I don't have to see how bad the stocks are doing. In the short term, I'm looking forward most to being able to get to the bathroom on my own or even sit up in the bed on my own. I may be able to get a day pass from the hospital to go off campus for Thanksgiving, but we'll see how I'm doing next week. I appreciate everyone who has been following Jenn's blog and I'll let you know when I'm feeling up to phone calls."
He sounds like he's doing much better! I had asked him if he had any messages to send out over the blog, and of course he said no. So I asked him some questions, and look at all the stuff he had to say! He just doesn't like to call attention to himself so much.
As always, thank you all so much for keeping The Old Man in your thoughts and prayers.
~The Dymond Family
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