Easter Sunday

The whole Miller family descended on Dad today from 12 til 2:00 p.m. He was sitting in his chair working on his computer. He asked me to help him open the phone list page that Steven e-mailed to him earlier. We opened it and he was satisfied; however, we didn't have a way to print it. Later, I found out that perhaps (via the BLOG) that Bobbie was printing it? He had not seen Bobbie yet today.

When I noticed it was 12:30 p.m., I asked him if he had had lunch? He had not, but said he was due for a feeding. So, we whipped out the goods and he held the syringe while I poured and poured his happy meal. It's very easy to do with a partner. He is going to have to be super organized to set up all the supplies before he starts doing this by himself full-time. A while later, a nurse who is overseeing Dad's tube/feeding came in to give dad his "lunch" and was excited that he had already had it.

In addition to the tube feeding, Dad is encouraged to try and eat from the menu as often as he can tolerate. He has a "soft" foods menu available. He informed me that he had potato soup and that was okay. He tried meatloaf and asparagus last night and couldn't eat any of it. I couldn't believe he even tried something so difficult right off the bat. That is why I seriously am concerned about the choices that Dad makes on his own. I got out the menu and showed him the mashed potatoes, sweet mashed potatoes, pears, eggs and soups that were more of a "soft" option and easier on his throat.

Meredith and Grant took him for a short walk down the halls and he's moving fine. It always perplexes me that he never wants to walk for very long or far? He informed me that "someone", perhaps a nurse,told him he was perfectly fine to by-pass the skilled nursing facility and go home, ie: he can walk, go to the bathroom, bathe himself, etc. He also told me yesterday that he was not doing any physical therapy since he was fine in that department too according to the PT person?? He asked me what I thought about a nursing facility and I was ALL PRO nursing facility.

Dr. Kirby was on call this weekend and unfortunately, I missed seeing him before we left. I am going to be in touch with Dr. Kirby tomorrow. Dr. Kirby also wants to visit with Dr. Greenburg regarding Dad's radiation and his two remaining radiation treatments. Dr. Kirby is going to be looking into a skilled nursing center and letting me know what our options are. Most likely we are not looking at moving Dad until AFTER his radiation treatments.

Below is a list of steps I received after speaking with Dr. Kirby on Friday.

1. Complete 2 radiation treatments
2. Admittance to a nursing/skilled facility to build strength thru physical therapy
3. Home for continued healing of the throat/swallowing/eating tolerance
4. Re-Evaluate cancer stage

Stuart arrived as we were leaving!

Love,
Tracy