Wednesday

It is a flamboyant day! After the ice disaster and cold rains and winds we finally have had a beautiful spring day. The azaleas and dogwood are flashing their blooms in the sunlight in a splendiforous array of colors! It would be a great day for a hike, so Dad and Dameon (PT) went for a walk around the house! I am elated. I was thinking before I dropped by that by hook or crook I was going to get him outside sometime this weekend.

I have been praying for a significant breakthrough in Dad's therapy, confident that at some point if would happen, but reticent in the knowledge that it would be a long time for any appreciable advancement would be recorded. While I was visiting, Dad got up to go to the bathroom, I was slack jawed. I can no longer call it a transfer from the chair to the walker, he got up and walked, not shuffled, walked to the bathroom. He still has some balance issues and will always need a walker or cane, but I can not believe how much stronger and confident he is since Easter. His decline was exponential and I hope that we have come to that point in recovery. If he can continue progress as he has in the last week, I don't think it will be long before we will be able to see the summit of this mountain he has had to climb. I told him how impressed I was and how proud I was of him, and Mom said holding in a tear, that she said that she thought he had turned a corner and for the first time she had hope. Wow...if that doesn't churn your gut, nothing will.

Mom said that she thinks the change in the inhaler had made a huge difference in his breathing. She said that they have even missed a treatment here and there with the albuterol and have not seen any adverse effects. I checked his pulse and listened to his heart with a stethoscope to see if I could tell if he might be in sinus rhythm, but in my civilian opinion, he is still in a-fib. We hope that when we see the doctor again that he may get the steroid reduced again. If we can get him off some of this medication, his progress may speed up even more.

Dad is so faithful in doing extra work both in PT and OT. He is taking over some of the daily chores such as putting on his socks and shoes. His right hand is still weak and not as coordinated as it should be, but he is constantly working on the exercise regimen laid out by the OT. The more he can do for himself the less Mom has to do.

Dad is starting to read more and make a lot of phone calls which is another indicator that he is returning to more normalcy.

I am grateful to God for His faithfulness to Mom and Dad and all of us. Mom and Dad still have so much to offer this kingdom on earth and I feel privileged to be an observer of God's creative genius at work!

God is good!