The decline of my father in law

[infinite monkey]

I feel for your family, glatt. That's not easy to deal with. I hope your wife is doing OK.

[glatt]

Thanks. It was a low point when we went off on vacation and left her here alone to deal with his situation for a week. For all of us, but mostly her. But it's much much better now, and honestly the last two months have been pretty good. He hates that rehab place but I think it's wonderful. It's like a boot camp.

I don't know the details on what sort of physical therapy the nursing home is going to provide, but I do know there are therapists who are going to be visiting him, if they haven't already. I'm hopeful he will improve enough to go back to his apartment, but I'm not holding my breath.

[sexobon]

Physical Therapy/Therapist (PT) develops the body. Occupational Therapy/Therapist develops the ability to negotiate Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) including any required adaptive aids that would enable him to return to independent living. Hopefully, those visiting him will be doing initial workups to determine if he's a candidate for these programs and if so, what goals would be realistic for him. Participation with the OT and assistants (OTAs) may provide a welcome diversion from the other nursing home residents even if he's not otherwise motivated to work towards returning to independent living. He would have to progress however; or, they'd drop him from the program. PT and OT work together (multidisciplinary approach) so that as he becomes physically capable of performing specific ADLs, he's retaught how to do those even if it means doing them differently from the way he's used to. I hope he qualifies for both and that they're both offered in-house. The latter can make or break a person's willingness to participate. The trend in nursing homes today is to provide the space necessary to conduct PT/OT while the PT/OT staff and equipment is annually contracted through an agency. Good luck.

[classicman]

If he gets aggressive OT with the direction of being more independent and living outside the facility they can do amazing things. If they go with the direction of needing "less help" while living there - that's another story and the therapy is completely different. I hope things work out for the best.

[glatt]

His twin sister died last week, here in the same town where he lives, but he wasn't strong enough to attend the burial or funeral. He got a lot of visitors though, since so many family members were in town. I guess after losing his twin, and seeing so many people again, he didn't see much point in fighting to stay alive longer. The next day he didn't want to get out of bed. yesterday, the next day, he had trouble breathing but refused to go to the hospital. Today he's unresponsive. The hospice nurse says in her experience he has anywhere from a few hours to a week left. So my wife is with him now and I finally wrapped a few things up at work so I can grab the kids and get over there too. They haven't seen him in a long time because he's been in quarantine for infections he had. So it looks like this is it.

[Undertoad]

Sorry to hear this.

Please let your wife know she and he are in our thoughts.

[Gravdigr]

Well, damn, Glatt.

Give the Mrs an extra hug from us.

[glatt]

Thanks guys. Waiting at my son's school now for jazz band practice to end. We were wondering if we should scrub our planned thanksgiving up in Binghamton because of the storm, but it looks like this made our decision for us.

[footfootfoot]

Sorry Gatt, I know how hard this can be.

[monster]

[Aliantha]

So sorry Glatt.

[DanaC]

Ahhh damn, glatt, that's sad.

[limey]

Hugs, Glatt.


Sent by thought transference

[Clodfobble]

Sorry for your family, glatt. Given the way things are, I hope it goes quickly from here on out.

[glatt]

Quick indeed. We left for some dinner and he died while we stepped out. I think he was waiting for us to leave the room. I'm glad we all got to see him just before he died.