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Dad has been released from the hospital and seems to be doing relatively well, all things considered. The doctors have said that Dad has a massive pulmonary embolism in his right lung, in the mid to lower region of lung. He’s on blood thinners- Coumadin- and has to receive a shot of lovenox twice a day. We are able to have visiting nurses come to the house and draw blood which will be sent to the doctors for a reading every few days. Right now it’s a balancing act to get the blood to a certain level in order to avoid bleeding out in his brain (aka sudden death). Anyway, we’re thrilled to have Dad home but we will be carefully monitoring his health. He’s been ordered to bed rest and we have to carefully watch and maintain his diet and vitamin K intake. His activity has to be limited to some degree in order to prevent injury and thus bleeding. We’re not even allowed to use a razor to shave Dad because his blood won’t clot very well if he was to be cut.

In the hospital, Dad’s neurologist removed three medications from Dad’s daily regiment and so far it seems to have made a world of difference. It’s almost like he’s back to his old self. He’s engaged and alert; asking questions; wants to go shopping and to the movies; he’s laughing; etc. It’s just so good to see him “good” again. I know this could just be a flash in the pan and it could all go downhill in a blink of an eye but for now we’re enjoying having dear old dad “back” with us. We are all so thrilled- he’s alive and he’s back.

Dad will have to follow up with his primary care doctor this week and he’ll see his neurologist next week. The neurologist also increased Dad’s Sinemet (25/100mg) to four times/day and increased his Aricept to 10mg/day. When Dad goes to the neurologist next week he’ll start on Namenda, or at least that’s the plan.

Another good thing to also come out of this ordeal is that Dad is being set up with a speech pathologist. The visiting nurses association has set up a specialist to come to the house and work with Dad on his speech and swallowing issues. I think Dad has just forgotten how to swallow and doesn’t know how to use his tongue to help eat. He also has speech issues in terms of he’s able to think thoughts but just can’t fully articulate them. He gets hung up on certain words and starts stuttering. Hopefully the speech pathologist can work with Dad and help him take his time and work through his issues.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and messages. They mean a lot to our family- more than you know.