Sunday, December 26, 2010

I have so much to catch up on! The fall that Dad had definitely hurt him. On Wednesday morning, he couldn't get up out of bed without the help of me and Van. He said, "Ooooh" and "My back hurts." He pointed to his lower back. On Wednesday morning, he had an appointment with Dr. G, at Rutherford Orthopedics. Dr. G takes care of Dad's feet and toenails. I told him about the fall and he said if he didn't seem better in a day or two, one of the Ortho's could see him. He soaked in the jacuzzi tub at Life Care on Tuesday and again on Thursday. He still had lots of pain on Thursday, getting up and down, but it seemed a little better. The family all went to Peter's house on Thursday night. Dad enjoyed being with everyone. Of course, he wanted to eat and drink everything and anything in front of him! As we all got ready to go, we put Dad's coat on him and we were gathering our things, when the next thing we knew Dad was on the floor. He had fallen again! The boys helped him get up and he walked out to the car. Zeb and Simon took their papaw home and Van and I dropped by a party. Zeb said they asked Dad how bad his back hurt on a scale of 1 - 10. Dad said, "Eight." They asked if he needed to see a doctor and Dad said, "No, it'll be better in the morning." Since then, we've helped him get up and down. He complains of pain as he moves from seated to standing position, but is okay once he stands up. At night, I've been putting a pillow under his knees. The past couple of nights, he seemed to be short of breath when he was laying down. His mouth has been really dry and his lips chapped. I've gotten up to put ChapStick on his lips and give him water. Changing him is harder because I need help getting him to stand. Today he seemed better. He is still sore but doesn't complain as much. He sat at he table for several hours today looking at his books and working with his math cards. He really loved yesterday. David's family, Peter's family, Betsy's family, Van's mom and aunt, and Tim and Tammy came over for Christmas breakfast. What a beautiful day, with the snow falling! I couldn't believe our white Christmas! Dad loved being around everyone. Rodrigo played 21 with him. He opened some gifts and had a great day. We took some video I hope to upload soon. It concerns me that Dad has fallen twice. I'm going to see how he is tomorrow and call Dr. Jane about him. He's had a good day today and only shows some pain when he has to stand up. I wonder if he didn't crack his tailbone. Other than that, we've had a really wonderful Christmas....... Susie