Friday, August 20, 2010

Dad was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday for having bacteria in his blood. This is very serious for a stroke victim, but they hope to clear it out with antiobotics. He hates being in the hospital.

Susie

This is so wonderful to hear, Dad is a hero!! This just made my week. oxoxoxoxo

Rob

Friday, July 23, 2010

Dad is now walking on his own. In fact, we were there yesterday to help Mom with yardwork and he got up twice to walk around to see what everyone was doing. He walks with his little one handed walker and that is it. He is supposed to have someone walk to the side of him just to be safe; I did that the 1st time. The 2nd time, he was in watching TV and we were in the family room resting and in comes Dad. Mom got after him because he didn't wait for anyone, but we were all so happy to see this. His speech is getting so much better. They walked him up and down 21 stairs yesterday without belts and help with his right leg. Mom said he walked downstairs to the car and into rehab all his own.

This is very good news! He loves it when family comes to visit. He wants to show off his walking! He is very proud of it and needs the praise.

Tahna

May 20th 2010.

Yesterday my Mother called me to see if I was coming to help Pop with his exercises. She left a message on my cell phone. When I called back to my surprise my Dad answered. It was nice to hear his voice and he asked my how I was and if I was out of town. He knows I travel for a living so I know he knew who it was. I told him I was and that I was sorry that I couldn't come and help him out tomorrow. He told me it was alright and that he loved me. It wasn't a long conversation probably because of me.

I think I am still in the mind set that he has such a hard time speaking that he doesn't want to. I am starting to get the feeling I might be wrong on that one.

It was nice to talk to him and then reflect on how well he has done since his stroke. It has now been about six and a half months.

I do miss the way he was but I feel blessed he is still here to hug and kiss my kids when we come over every week.

Joe

Mom and Dad with Rob, Marvin and Bear

Tony and Dad

Scott's family

Rob and Brenda

Rob, Mom, Joe

Susie's family

Susie and Tahna enjoying Shave Ice

Ok, we are a little crazy...what are we looking at? Dad looks so happy :)

Family get-together 2010
Family BBQ outside mom and dad's house
We are missing Scott, Jordan's family and Ja' Brael's family

This last weekend, we widened the bedroom and office doors and this weekend will put in a door from the bedroom to the bathroom. As we were working, dad was sobbing. He really wanted to be there helping us. He's such a wonderful, kind, gentle man. We are so lucky to have him. We love you Dad!

Susie

I have been keeping a journal for Dad since his stroke. I will read to him almost every time I see him, but he doesn't remember me ready the previous time. Every time I read about that 1st day and what happened, he seems surprised; each time I read it.

I will write down words and numbers and have him repeat them. He can say the numbers in order, 1-10, but when I mix them up, he can't say their name.

He recognizes family names.

He can read single words, but if I try to put those same words into a sentence and have him read the sentence, he stops after 4 or 5 words and gets mixed up.

Tahna

The last two weeks have been great with Dad. It seamed to me we had to really good conversations. He asked about the new baby and the name we are choosing. As well he asked about my new job potential. He did make it very clear that he was worried about me and my family and said very clearly several times that he hopes we make the right choice. He is moving around better and I personally feel he is making some great strides.

Joe

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I went to visit yesterday and he was having a sad day. He gave me a long hug and was crying a little. He needs visits and cheer me ups.. I am going over tonight to cut his hair.

Tahna

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tony and I were there on Sunday with the kids. It is sure hard for him to talk and he gets so frustrated. We were talking about some funny things with Pop and Mom. Everyone was laughing. I thought your mom was going to giggle right off the chair. We had some cinnamon rolls and asked if they wanted some and your mom said "No"! But your dad said, Yes, so we gave him one because it is about him too!

Brenda

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad celebrated his 68th birthday this weekend. We're so glad he was with us! We went to dinner at Sizzler, then at home for cake celebrations. We love you, Pop!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

I borrowed a jazzy chair from a friend for dad. He wouldn't use it right away, but kept looking at the knobs and buttons, trying to figure out how it worked. I think it will be awesome for him to use. It was good to visit with him. He was in a good mood. He laughed out loud, something I haven't seen for months. For the first time in a long time, I really saw dad. It was awesome!

Susie

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I was with Dad today, I haven't been for two weeks but it seemed pretty good. Dad said a few things that were perfect, and then later tried to say something and it was jiberish and he just laughed. He also said when we were doing his stretching that he had wished this had never happened, and I said me too but maybe it happened for a reason. Maybe someone will learn from what happened to you. Trying to be positive with him.

The out patient people called, Mom is taking Dad next Thursday at 10:00, and then I am going over at 1:00. They said they will be doing everything but stretching.

Mom said the new mattress did not work, Dad woke up at 2:00am and got in his chair cuz it hurt his hip too much. So we put the old one back on to see if it still hurts him.

Well I guess that is a lot of information even though I was only there an hour and a half.

Tony

Wednesday March 17, 2010

I spent the day with dad today. We tried to work on colors, but he did not get the concept. We wonder if he can see in color?

He did sign his name to some papers. He did it with his left hand, and it was only his first name, but it was in cursive. It was so good to see!

He went through the pictures on his phone and deleted some that he didn't want on there. He really wanted to go outside, but mom was concerned about getting him outside without some stronger help.

Susie

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I went and helped Dad on Saturday and Monday this past week. He seems to be getting stronger and stronger. When I was stretching him out, he was telling me "More" when I was not doing as much as he would like. I loved this, because it showed me he still wants to improve and get better. He looked really tired but when I asked him if he was he told me no. He asked me about my trip to North Carolina and just listened when I told him. We got on the conversation of Tiger Woods and what he did to his wife. He had no idea and really acted shocked. He was cracking me up. He would just say. "That dummy, That dummy". I really enjoy spending time with Mom and Dad. It is unfortunate that something like this happens to cause us to spend more time. We all have our own families to spend time with so it makes it difficult but I hope everyone savors this time with them.

Joe

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Tonight, the DI had a dinner and awards for their drivers. Me and John went with his good friend, Jim Carlisle and his wife. It was held at the Church Office Building. John was awarded for 6 years of safe driving. He was given a certificate, a picture and a pin. His boss, Steve, then honored John at the end and told him what a good worker he was and how much everyone is going to miss him and everyone clapped. It was a wonderful night for both me and John!

Utahna

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Dad and Mom came in to my Wingers today. It was nice to see them out and about. He ordered sticky fingers. I cut them up for him. He enjoyed all the tv's. Mom is doing a good job getting him in and out of the car. It is a lot of work. I am impressed, she is wonder woman!!
I spent time with him on Monday. I gave him his first hair cut since the stroke. He tried to tell me something and I couldn't understand. We laughed for half an hour. I love that he can do that. Then I helped him on face book for a while. Mom ran errands. When it comes to his exercises he really pushes himself. I am proud of him.

Tahna

Wednesday February 3, 2010

I was with dad today. I brought Lily along and she had a great time working with grandpa, helping him with his letters and such. He needs to practice colors and shapes. Scott and Tiff came at 10:30 to help him walk and exercise. He was tired after that. We had lunch, and he watched a little TV, falling asleep. Tahna & Ja' Brael came over and we did puzzles and visited with grandpa.

Susie

Wednesday February 17, 2010

Well I got to Mom and Dads at 9 this morning and we got him to his 10:30 Dr. Appt ok. We got home and Mom made us lunch and then I went to Walmart and did some shopping for them . The hardest part of helping out is getting him up and down the stairs (of course :) and the HARDEST part of that is getting him up onto the landing :) He definitely gets frustrated at not being able to speak his mind but sure has the swear words down! Hehe Mom was about ready to smack him . He apologized to her for his "blue" vocabulary. Mom Really needs All of Our help with Dad , and will for quite some time. Susie had a lot of good ideas for stuff to keep Dads mind busy , so every other time we visit we should bring a little something to brighten his day and help him stimulate his brain. He'll Always be the Best Grandpa on earth and loves when the Grandkids visit . Hopefully the hand rails will be installed out front either today or tomorrow. Good luck Friday Joe , its a lot of work but A lot of fun Too :) Love you all and Happy Humpday !!!!!!!! XOXO

Scott

I was at Moms house last night and had a good talk with her. I told her that her life now includes HELP. She understands and now is willing to accept help. She talked with the High Priest leader and he is going to pass along a sign up sheet. Every family member sisters, bro, extra from now on, she is going to say yes I need help. And she is going to ask for help. I will help her coordinate each week what she needs. This is what she does need help with weekly. Dads exercising (30 min a day) and helping him to bed (5 min). Which takes 5 minutes some one in the ward can help with that. And she needs breaks through out the week. Dad told me last night. Mom needs time away. So of anything just to come and sit with pop so she can leave and have a breather. So if we can at least each help one day a week, I think that is fair and not asking too much. Short notice things, she understands we might not be able to help with all the time.

WE ARE CONTINUING THE BLOG!

Sorry for the confusion, Mom wanted me to continue the blog, so I will try and do that once a week.

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day with Dad. I can see now why Mom is soooo overwhelmed! She has to constantly be with him for now. Mom took off for some errands so I stayed with dad for about an hour. What to do?

Last night I was working on a puzzle with Ara Lee and dad came up and "helped" us. He would pick up a piece, look at it and put it down. They were small puzzle pieces, a little confusing, so he never found any pieces, but he seemed interested, so today I took out the kids puzzles; the 24 pc puzzle and the 12 pc frame-tray puzzles that kids start out with. He loved those, but the ones mom has are...old and worn and she only has 3 or 4. He liked those (cardboard frame-tray) because he could see the shapes on them. I would let him do the puzzle by himself and he enjoyed it as I encouraged him. He also liked the bigger pieces puzzle, easy ones that he could see easily and had bright designs on them, so if you have similar ones hangin' around home, maybe you could bring them as you hang with dad.

I also got on the computer with him and he wanted to get on facebook, and see sights about guns, and other things he was interested in. He has to click with his left hand and he doesn't have a lot of control, so I took over and he would point at things with his right hand that he wanted me to click on.

I also took the Phase-10 cards (or uno cards would be fine) and I would take out the numbers 1-12 and mix them up and he would put them back in order. He did awesome. When he would get 1 number out of order, I would say, "there is 1 number that's wrong" and he would find it and put it in the right order. He wanted to do this over, and over, and over.

So...he also liked to look at my itouch and all the buttons and pics, so he loves things that he can easily put together or figure out - blocks, numbers, letters, puzzles, games, on a very easy level, but something that will keep his mind motivated and stimulated. If you have any of these things that your kids don't play with anymore, I would say bring them over. Right now, he's not interested in TV at all. He "reads" the paper every morning, so he likes to look at things, he also looks out the window at the birds a lot. He likes things that keeps his mind going.

He wanted to know why the pink chair Scott gave them wasn't working. We looked at it and he wanted me to "change the batteries" but we figured out together it didn't take batteries, so he had me turn the chair over and he would look and look and wonder why it didn't work. We figured out together it was missing a piece that needed to plug into the wall. We "worked" on it for 20 minutes and then when he was satisfied there was nothing he could do to fix it, I put the chair away and we did something else.

He wants to "put things together" and figure things out and fix things, so I hope that gives you some ideas to help your time with him. I slept over Sunday night and spent most of Monday with him and it's been exhausting, eye-opening, overwhelming, and humbling! All those years dad and mom took care of us, now it's our time to take care of them.

We also need to figure out how to make this house more wheelchair friendly. It takes mom 5 minutes just to get him to the bathroom because she has to open the closet door (across from the bathroom), wheel him into the closet, do a 13-point turn to get him where he can fit through the bathroom door. We gave her some ideas last night, but if anyone can help, or has ideas, please! Her back can't take it anymore, but she is worried about costs.

You can definately see his personality still, still a sense of humor, but much more patient now.

Susie

Last Post - Dad going home!

This will be the last post for Dad's blog. I am happy to report that Dad will be discharged from the hospital on Feb. 10th to come home. He will then get in-home therapies for a while, then he will go to outpatient therapies somewhere (not sure yet). We had a home evaluation last Wednesday by the Occupational Therapist at the hospital (Josh). He brought Dad home & we practiced what he would need to do etc. in each room (mostly the bedroom & bathroom.) He said we needed a few things like grab bars here & there, & a couple of railings on the porch outside etc. He is able to walk very slowly with help up the stairs, but they don't want him walking around the house yet.
He will be mostly in the wheelchair during the day. He can eat solids, now, but they have to be chopped up small. He can only drink thickened liquids and with a straw or spoon. He can talk, but has a hard time completing sentences, and therefore gets discouraged. This should all improve with time. He is unable to use his right arm, and it may not improve. He does remember who everyone is, but may not remember your name or how to say it. We're hopeful that everything will improve with time. We still know that it is a miracle that he is still here.

If you want to see dad, please call mom first, or email at johnutahna16@msn.com. I'm sure mom would love to hear from you, but may not want lots of visitors at first. Thanks for everyone's help and support these past 3 months. We are so grateful to our Father in Heaven for letting us dad a little longer!

The Versluis Family

Sunday, January 17, 2010

What an awesome day! Last week I told Dad Tyson was being ordained a Deacon today and Dad felt bad he couldn't be there, but Mom surprised us all and brought him up. The Doctor said it was ok. He was able to participate in the circle and come to our house for January birthdays after that. It tired him out and we kept asking if he wanted to go home, but he said No. What an awesome surprise and a special day!

Susie

Friday January 15, 2010

Today we had a meeting with the doctor and all of his nurses and therapists. A lot of information was given to us - all positive. Here is what we discussed:

*He is improving dramatically
*He's eating small things like pudding and applesauce
*He should be ready to go home in 2-4 weeks
*He is walking with a walker, but it's not your normal walker, it's a "cane on steroids" is what someone said :) He's learning how to walk again.
*His right leg is improving, but his right arm is not
*He is encouraged to leave the hospital on small trips
*When he goes home, he will still have physical therapy 3 times a week
*He walks 90' a day now
*When this first happened, 2 months ago, the doctor's told him he wouldn't walk, he would be paralyzed and would be in a wheel chair the rest of his life. They no longer believe that :)
*His brain will re-teach him how to speak, eat, walk, etc, but it could (and mostly likely will)
take years
*He most likely will not be able to use his right arm, but he's compensating ok with his left arm
*Could he have another stroke? There is a small chance and he's not showing any signs of one
*When he came into PT on a trial run, the Dr. expected him not to stay past a week because he didn't think Dad could do it. He is pleasantly surprised of the dramatic improvement. Dad's been here for 3 weeks now.

VISITORS ALLOWED!

Visitors are now allowed and encouraged to visit dad. Please limit your visits to Mon-Sat from 6-7 p.m. and anytime in the afternoon on Sundays. Please keep your visits short, just 5 minutes or so. He usually gets ready for bed after 7:00 p.m. He is at a point that he likes visitors. He is getting bored. Be encouraging, especially when he talks and you can't understand him. Please write on the white board when you come to visit.

Sunday January 10 2010

Tonight he was watching TV when we visited. He was trying to figure out how to turn it off. It took a little bit but he did it. The other night when I came to visit as I left he asked if I could get the barrel. I said you want me to get the barrel? (Cause it didn't make sense). He said no. He kept looking up. So I was looking up. He said something about the Dr. I said do you want me to get the Dr? He said no. He kept looking up. He tried a few more tries finally I looked up when he was and there was a light above the bed (the only one that was on at that point) I then asked, Do you want me to turn off the light. He smiled and said- yes, yes. So with some effort and patience we usually can figure out what he is trying to get out.

Anyway today he tried looking for something. He asked where his pickle was then corrected himself. Where is my pillow? Well he had 2 underneath his arm and one he was laying on. I said you have some right here. He said no, and then tried pointing around the room and moving him self to the side to look over the edge. I said Dad what are you looking for? He thought for a minute then very loud said. I WANT MY PILLOW FROM HOME! So I called Mom and let her know.. I mean who doesn't want their own pillow?

He is doing so good to try and work through his words. Sometimes he succeeds sometimes he doesn't. We talked about things then he looked sad. I said do you remember the morning of the stroke? He said no. I said would you like me to read it to you? He said yes. ( I have kept a daily journal for him since day 1 of his stroke, so he can read it later when he is better). I read the first day, and he really felt bad when I read to him how we each reacted when we got the phone call from Scott or whom ever.. I then told him about the first few weeks and when we had to take the ventilator out, and how this is all in Heavenly Fathers hands and to try and remember that when he is feeling down. He asked me the other day. Why did this happen to me? I said that is a question that I can't answer but that he is still serving a purpose here, and that we are grateful he is still here. And that we are so very proud of him.

Tahna

Saturday January 9, 2010

Today was totally awesome with dad! I enjoyed my time so much! When he saw me, he gave me such a big, tight hug and a kiss. We talked for a few minutes and then he wanted me to take him on a walk around the halls. We started to go and he said, "don't forget your purse, you don't want someone to take it." He told me which way to go and when we passed the nurses station on the other side of the hall, he said, "stop!" and he tried to get one of the nurses' attention. She looked up and he smiled and waved, "hi". Then he had me take him to the big window overlooking the valley and we sat there for a few minutes. He pointed and said, "that's the Women's Center." Sure enough - it was! We went back to his room.

I was sitting on the bed and the cleaning lady came in. He motioned for me to move off the bed because she had to make the bed. She got paged away to another room so she said, "I'll finish this in a minute." She had put clean sheets and blankets on it, but hadn't "tucked" in the sides. He didn't want me to sit on the bed because she "hadn't finished yet." When she was gathering up the sheets and blankets, he started pointing and talking (couldn't understand him). We looked and sure enough, she was gathering up his John Wayne blanket with the hospital stuff. She pulled it out and he smiled.

We then talked about my family and he wanted so bad to form his words, but they kept coming out as babble, so he swore :) It made me chuckle. He's really frustrated and he'll just shake his head like, "never mind, I can't do it" but we encourage him to keep trying!

I asked him if Mike had been in to see him. He said, "not for 3 days!" I thought, "oh he's just throwing out a number" but when Mike got there, I asked him and he really hadn't been in for 3 days! Uncle Mike brought in some ABC flash cards so we went through those and there were just a couple he couldn't remember, but the 2nd time we went through them, he did really well! Uncle Mike then came in then and had another set of flash cards. This time with ABC's and pictures. Dad would do pretty good at reading the words (of the picture). Most of the time he would just get the first letter sound right, but Mike would encourage him and try to get him to tell him what the picture was. One time, for the word "kite" Mike said, "this is what the kids would fly on a string at the beach" and dad said, "bloomers". It was pretty funny :)

Mom said they're going to try and have him walk around the halls tomorrow on his own. His progress is slow, but steady. I wish I were closer. I loved spending time with him today.

Susie

Friday, January 8, 2010

I'm sorry posts for Dad are so few and far between. I wish I could do one everyday, but the progress is just slow, but steady. Mom brought his dog, Bear in today and dad liked that. He has bursitis in his elbow, but it's not too critical...not enough that they are able to drain it.

In occupational therapy, they are stimulating his right side; afterwards, he is able to move his hands and leg, just a little; but if it was paralyzed, he wouldn't be able to move it at all.

Saturday Jan 2, 2010

Dad is doing so well in PT, that they are keeping him at IMC for 4 - 6 weeks. This is exactly what we were hoping for. What blessings the Lord is giving us!

Yesterday he told mom, "I love you" without her saying it first. That was a big deal to Mom.