3.3

Dad has started walking with a cane at therapy! 

He does ok, still unstable. 

But...progress!! 

And...for the first time since September, he is behind the wheel! 

He has driven a couple of times and is doing great! 

 Every day is a step in the right direction!

1.11.21

Dad is doing well! 

He continues with outpatient therapy three times per week. 

This week he went to Nate's for the night to watch the National Championship game. 

Keep those well wishes coming!

 

12.14

As we hit the one year anniversary of my dad's first accident, we visited the Orthopedic Surgeon for a follow up. 

And...he's been released!! 

He is free from the doctor but continues on with PT, three times per week. 

Continue to send those prayers. 

 

11.3

 On 11.3, my dad was released from the rehab. 

He went straight to his house this time. 

Send love and prayers for no more falls!

10.21

 Due to COVID, my dad was in quarantine. 

As soon as he was able to visit, we scheduled a window visit with him! 

It isn't the same, but better than nothing. 

10.1

 We decided to get my dad out of the house for a little bit. 

John and I went over to pick him up and wouldn't you know that as we were walking out to the car, 

he lost his balance and fell. Fracturing his pelvis in two places. The good news is, it isn't shattered so no surgery. Bad news, he has to go to a long term rehab to get better. 

9.11

My dad had his two month post op appointment. 

Everything is healing nicely and he received new braces. 

He was struggling with the other braces because they kept catching when he walked which was causing a trip hazard. We just want to eliminate any of those. 

Here is the updated x-ray and his new braces!

 

9.3

 

After about a month at the Houghtaling Family Care Center, my dad went home. 

We are hoping 3rd time is a charm and that he stays safe from here on out. We are confident that he will simply take it easy this time. He seemed to rush it to get back on the golf course and it turned out to be detrimental for his recovery and steadiness. 

 

Stay some prayers! 

8.28

Today my dad started the Prolia injections. 

This will remove the calcium for his blood and put it into his bones. Hopefully making them stronger. 

He will get these injections every 6 months. It was a pretty painless process so pray it stays that way.  

8.11

On August 11th, we had to follow up appointment for his latest surgery. 

He is doing well and healing the way he should be. 

He is residing at our house temporarily again until he is strong enough to go home. 

This is an X-ray of his right leg. 

This pretty much sums up the last 7 months. 

You can see the "cage" on his knee, the rod inserted after the hip fracture, and the two pins from the tibia fractures. 

X-ray of both legs. 

Right leg after staples were removed. 

Left leg after staples were removed. 

7.24

On 7.24, he was transferred to the rehab facility called Orchard Villa. 

Never send anyone there. 

Anyhow, because of COVID, there are no visitors. 

So we found his window and visited! 

7.17

Two steps forward and five steps back. 

My dad was home for a few weeks and doing ok, just starting to drive on his own again. 

He was walking out of the house and his walker was stuck on a pile of leaves. 

He pushed his walker and kept going. Falling on both knees. 

This was a new fracture we hadn't heard of. 

In both legs. Again. 

His left leg was much worse than his right this time around. 

Which is super unfortunate as this was always the strong leg. 

He had to have numerous pins put in his left leg and 2 pins in his right. 

They completely open the left leg but just did a couple of punctures on the right. 

 This is before the surgery. Poor guy. 

7.6.

Today at PT, my dad walked with a cane!! 

All the way to the car! 

Woohoo!!

6.23

Today was the six month follow up for my dad's knee surgery.
He has healed well but is still struggling with range in the right knee. He is about 70% and the doc would like to see him at least 90%. Perfect range is 115% but the doc doesn't think that he will ever get there, sadly.
We are also testing him for Osteoporosis. He is having a test this week. The doc doesn't think he can strengthen the bones but probably preserve them.
Stay tuned for next steps!

5.22 - 6.11

After weeks of physical therapy, my dad was well enough to go home. We still have therapy, he will be in that for quite awhile. But with some extras in place, he is able to function at home. 

5.21

On May 21, my dad graduated from Acute Rehab!! He was released and came to home to recover for a few more weeks. 

He did really well and is continuing physical therapy three times per week.

4.24 - 5.21

On 4.26.20, my dad was accepted into the Acute Rehab at St. Charles Mercy Hospital. 

He spent the next few weeks in rehab working to heal and gain his strength. 

This was very hard on our family because of COVID-19, only one person was allowed to visit him at a time. It was a constant touching base on schedules and sometimes we met 6 ft. apart in the elevator. 

Unfortunately during this time, my dad was only allowed 25% weight bearing on his right leg. This was a huge setback for his right knee because the intense physical therapy came to a screeching halt. 

4.23

Unfortunately on 4.23.20, we had a HUGE set back. 

My dad got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, lost his balance, and fell. 

He is still unsteady on his knees and getting up in the middle of the night was a horrible combination. 

He broke his hip in 4 placed. 

He was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Hospital. 

But due to COVID-19, no one was able to go with him and had to wait for updates from the nurses. 

He went into surgery that morning at 11am with Dr. Momoh. 

We were lucky they were clean breaks and easily repaired. 

The Dr. also inserted a rod into his leg to reinforce. 

While we are devastated for the set back, we are committed to getting healthy! 

4.1

Dad was doing so good with physical therapy and walking that we thought it was time to drive the next step. 

Driving. 

Before we jumped right in, I went over and we did a trial run around his neighborhood. 

He did wonderful and was so excited to climb another step in FREEDOM!!! 

2.21

On February 21, 2020, my Dad moved back home. 

This is the first time he was going to be spending the night in his own bed since November 30, 2019.

Almost 3 months. 

We put concrete blocks on his part of the couch to help elevate him and get up with ease. 

He does pretty well!