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