12/30 Update

I visited Pop tonight to help him through dinner and to keep him company in the afternoon. He ate his ham himself, but his appetite definitely wasn't up to what it was after his first stroke. He didn't want to finish his ham, but I told him he could have his ice cream if he finished his ham first. His eyes lit up and asked, "there's ice cream?" Needless to say, he finished his ham.

Then I brought out the "shapes" game to see if pop could get spacial relationships, but he was almost insulted. He said "yeah ... you put the triangle in the triangle hole, you put the square in the square hole, etc ..." But to humor me he did it and with flying colors, so we moved on.

I asked him which card game we should play, and he said "any one you like. Just pick one that I can beat you at." :) He was alright, but he was confused. He held the cards backwards, so I could see every one. He also couldn't tell if he still had a certain color in his hand or not, but that could have been because of the lighting in the room. Overall, though, we had a good visit.

I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Jason

Today's update

Pop has a phone at the Overlook hospital now and I've been calling him to interact with him to see how he's doing and to give him some company and activity. He seems a bit confused (holding the phone upside-down, for example), but he really is himself. He knows everyone's name still, and he knows the answers to basic trivia (current president, current month, etc. ); it just takes more time for him to get the answer.

They have to monitor him more closely now because he's had two different types of strokes. One is from his blood being too thin; the second was from his blood being too thick, developing a clot. They are actively monitoring his brain and heart at Overlook, which they were not doing at Kessler, since their main focus is rehabilitation, not 24/7 monitoring. While it is a setback, it could have been a lot worse, so we're thankful for that.

I'm going to visit him tomorrow to see how he's doing, so I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Jason

Video of Pop and Ben at Christmas

Here is a video of Ben with Pop from Christmas. No new updates yet today, though:

Update - Pop doing better at Overlook

Pop is back at the ER at Overlook Hospital. He doesn't have a bed yet, but they are actively monitoring his heart and brain functions to make sure he doesn't have another stroke.

Also, Mom mentioned that he was doing much better than yesterday. He was more lucid, but he was tired since he didn't sleep well last night. This is encouraging, because we feared that he wasn't himself because of the second stroke which was an Ischemic Stroke.

We'll know more tomorrow when they run more tests what the impact to his health will be. One day at a time!

Love,
Jason

Update

Just got word from Mom that they got the results of Pop's cat scan and he had another stroke. We'll keep you informed with more details.

Holiday Update

Sorry I've been unable to update Pop-watch the last few days. I've been away from an internet connection.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with Pop and both days he was MUCH more alert than the previous one. They hooked him up to a saline IV to give him fluids and that helped his dehydration that was contributing to his drowsiness. It turns out he is on lasiks which are good to prevent excess water retention and high blood pressure, but you need to be sure to drink fluids.


We all ate an early Christmas dinner at Kessler, and there were local volunteers helping to hand out food. There was even a pianist, who helped brighten the mood by playing some casual holiday dinner music.

Afterwards, we opened presents in a quiet corner of the lobby. Pop enjoyed his new hat, painting of Ben, and shirt ("World's Best Pop"), along with all his other presents.

He was in great spirits and he seemed like his old self. He was joking, making sarcastic comments, and smiled so wide when he first saw Ben. It was really encouraging.



12/27 updates -----------------

Yesterday, Pop was very disoriented and it was a huge step backwards from the previous two days. The nurses were concerned enough to order him get a cat-scan at Overlook hospital today to rule out the possibility that he has had another minor stroke. We'll keep you updated.

Love,
Jason

Pop-watch 12/23/2007

Hi Everyone,

Patrick and Aunt Debbie visited Pop this morning and said that he ate his lunch all by himself without any help, and his sugar levels are very good (around 100). They wheeled him around in his wheel-chair to get him a change of scenery and to wake him up a bit.

When I got there with Nan, we went to a church service in the lobby of Kessler, and about 15 people showed up. Pop slept during most of the service, but he liked to sing the songs, which were all Christmas-based.

He seemed more tired than usual. Nan and I tried playing blackjack and poker, and he kept falling asleep and making poor moves ... like saying, "I'll stay" in Black Jack, when he only had 7 total. His room was very warm today and he didn't have any rehab classes today, so that combination might have made him more sluggish. Plus, the nurse explained that he may be more tired for a while after the stroke since his mind needs time to rest in order to heal.

By the time I left, Pop was feeding himself dinner even better than ever, so that was encouraging.

We're going to visit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the family, so we'll have more updates then.

I'll keep you posted!
Jason

12/22 Update

Hi Everyone,

No major updates today, but he did get out of bed more as he visited with Aunt Debbie, Nan, Mom and Dick. There may have been others, but I didn't get the complete report.

Mom, Dick, and Nan all played cards with Pop. This time, they broke out the old "Uno" deck. Pop didn't win, but he gave Mom a lot of "Draw 2" and "Draw 4 wild" cards.

We're making plans to celebrate Christmas with him at Kessler, so he'll get a chance to see Ben and Hilary and the rest of the family, which he always enjoys. We'll miss seeing Dianne, John-Paul and all the cousins this Christmas, but we understand that sometimes everything doesn't work out the way you plan.

If any more news develops, I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Jason

Visited Pop in Kessler today

Hi Everyone,

I went to pick up Nan and brought her to Kessler to visit with Pop this evening at Kessler in West Orange, NJ. It turns out, he's staying in the same room that Phil Rizzuto stayed in!

He's getting great care there, and they already have him trying to walk around (assisted at this point with the help of the nursing staff). He seems to be MUCH more responsive than when I saw him last.

He was able to feed himself dinner! He only spilled a little bit of his coffee, but considering he had a stroke, he did great! He ate chicken with potatoes and asparagus, with an orange, and wanton soup.

The biggest amazement was when I half-jokingly asked if Pop wanted to play cards and he said, "yes!" We played blackjack and poker, and he was able to play his own hand without any help! He was adding up his black-jack hands, making sure he didn't go over 21 and he was able to vary his strategy based on what card the dealer had showing! He was also able to remember what poker hands beat what other poker hands, and was holding, organizing, and passing cards back and forth with both hands! If this continues, we should be back to playing Uno in no time. :)

We're still trying to get his medication list correct with the staff, though, which can be a little frustrating. For example, Pop was on a sugar pill before he went into the hospital, but today, when his sugar was high (235), they shot him with 2 units of insulin. I asked if they had him on a sugar pill and they said no. We got that straightened out, so tomorrow he should be back on his sugar pill instead of getting the insulin shots, but I wondered what other meds were out of wack, so I asked the nurse to print out everything that they were giving Pop. I left the list with Nan so Mom can look over the list tomorrow.

Overall, a very good day! I hope this kind of progress continues. As always, I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Jason

Pop-watch - moved to Kessler

Hi Everyone,

Good news. Pop was discharged from Overlook in stable condition and is starting his rehabilitation at Kessler in West Orange. I'm going to visit tomorrow to see how he's doing first hand.

Here is a communique from mom regarding today's progress...

"They are moving him to Kessler as I write this - Aunt Deb & Dennis are there but have to leave at 2pm. I am getting Nan to get his clothes together ...
Love, Mom XO
PS Deb said he is more coherant today!"

Pop-watch - minor update

Hi Everyone,

My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dennis took Nan to visit Pop this morning at 11:00. So far, he appears to be doing better. He's still a little out of it, but I hear they have him sitting in a chair this morning, so that's an improvement. The nursing staff is already talking about next options.

With any luck, we'll be able to get him into Kessler in West Orange.

We'll keep you posted.

Love,
Jason

Pop-watch - this morning’s update

Hi Everyone,

My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dennis took Nan to visit Pop this morning at 11:00. So far, he appears to be doing better. He's still a little out of it, but I hear they have him sitting in a chair this morning, so that's an improvement. The nursing staff is already talking about next options.

With any luck, we'll be able to get him into Kessler in West Orange.

We'll keep you posted.

Love,
Jason

Pop-watch - Blog for Pop in the hospital

Hi Everyone,

I just came back from visiting my grandfather (aka "Pop-pop") from the Summit Overlook Hospital. For those of you who do not know, he just suffered a minor hemorrhagic stroke, and there is a lot of information floating around from my Mom calling everyone individually. I started a new set of blogs here called "Pop-watch" to give updates to the online community on his condition.

Last Saturday, Pop was complaining that he couldn't get out of his chair. When Nan went to help him up, he couldn't stand on his own, so Nan called 911. The arriving Police officer recommended that he go to Summit Overlook Hospital's emergency room.

He went, and they are currently taking good care of him. He's off of his Coumadin because they wanted to stop the bleeding in his brain. He was in the ICU being monitored 24/7 to make sure his condition stabilized. He's also on Lasiks to lower his high-blood pressure and to reduce the swelling in his ankles. To help aid clotting, he received 4 units of plasma spread over two days.

Yesterday, Pop had an MRI and good news! The bleeding has stopped. There also was very little swelling of the brain. He is still a little out of it, though, because the blood that is still on his brain needs to be absorbed. So until that happens (which could take weeks or even months), he'll be a little wacky. For example, when I went to visit yesterday, he thought the Nurse was my cousin, Megan, and he said things like, "I love you, sweetheart" and "Give me a kiss." The nurse found this hysterical and wished that she could call him grandpa.

Today, he was a little more together, but very tired because he had a rough night last night, so they gave him a strong sedative that could take up to 48 hours to leave his blood stream. He knows all the family's names and his gross motor skills are very good. His speech is good, for the most part, but it is a little slurred due to him being tired. His right side is still weaker than his left.

He loves the food there, though! We had to help him eat his dinner tonight, but for the first time in a while, he gets to eat leafy greens and even some sugar (since they are giving him insulin to help control his diabetes).

We're optimistic, since he seems to be in good spirits, joking with the doctors and nurses, etc ...

If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll be sure to give you the latest updates I have. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Love,