I thought I would give an update on my brother. I will be deleting the content of this post later, so please don’t quote me in your repost see, if everyone would be so kind.

He came home from the hospital yesterday, after 82 days.

It is both good and bad that he’s home. You can all imagine why it’s good. But, it’s also bad because we’re worried about the amount and quality of PT and OT he’ll be able to get, and because he has unhealed pressure wounds from being bedridden… also bad bc my sister in law has to work (she’s taking this week and half of next week off but can’t take more than that) and so it’s hard to make sure he will have the care and monitoring he needs… and the cost of home health aides is prohibitive to say the least.

Oh, well I skipped the details about why that matters. Here’s how he is: he has severally limited mobility. He can’t stand on his own, or stand up on his own. He can’t go to the bathroom on his own. He can’t use his left arm at all, although he can sort of move his left foot, which is good. But he still hasn’t regained his strength very much, so he can’t even stand up just supporting himself on his right foot because he’s still so weak.

He doesn’t have any speech issues, which is really good. But it seems he does have some cognitive problems as a result of the stroke and/or the after-effects of having been sedated for so long. For example, his affect is off sometimes, and for awhile it seemed he was having some problems with understanding time relationships. But these things seem to be improving and of course now that he’s home, he’ll have more (different) kinds of stimulation than when he was in the hospital. So that’s good.

In terms of the outlook, it’s unclear but there are lots of reasons to be hopeful. He is able to sit up in his wheelchair for hours at a time, whereas before he couldn’t be upright and he couldn’t hold up his head. He can wheel himself around using his right foot. During OT there are signs that he can start to wiggle the fingers on his left hand.

I think those are the main things. It’s still very, very challenging, as you can imagine. And heartbreaking, because he is, in terms of occupation, avocation, identity etc., a musician. And he wants to be able to play and teach, and of course, that’s been his source of income for …probably 30 years.

Anyway, there are many more details, but I’ll leave it here for now.

Glad to hear that he is well enough to return home.

Best of luck with the ongoing care.

A tough way to go for sure.

Hoping for a speedy and complete recovery.

Thank you for the update.

Lou continues to be in prayers in my community. I hope he can get the sort of care he needs.

Big Al

Thank you for the update. Sending best wishes for his continued improvement.

Keeping your brother in my prayers for healing and wholeness.

I’m glad he’s taken this small step forward, even if it makes care a little harder. Onward and upward!

Thanks everyone.

He’s having good days and bad days, as you might expect. He’s also getting almost no PT and OT. if he were in the hospital, he’d be getting it daily.

Of course, the first few days were totally chaotic. First of all just getting him home was such a production, and various things needed to be tweaked to make the space work for him. Then, on his second day home, there was a huge storm and they were without power for just over 24 hours. This was a nightmare for many reasons, but two of the big ones were one, that they live out in the country, and they don’t have water without electricity, and two, his bed (from the hospital) doesn’t work without electricity. When the bed doesn’t go up, it’s much harder to move him etc.

Oh, and the storm damaged some of their fences. So on the third day of him being home, neighbors and friends came to fix things (so thankful for them!!)

Anyway, things didn’t really calm down until Saturday, and of course no home health visits on Saturday and Sunday, and then tomorrow is a holiday. So I don’t think we will really know what the schedule is going to look like until after the 4th passes.

We’ll see how it goes, hopefully the home health visits will get on a schedule and then he will be able to do more of those PT activities on his own and with family members even when the health workers aren’t there.

But, on the bright side (so very, very bright) being home makes such a huge difference in so many ways.

My sister-in-law and niece were trained in how to use the lift to get him in and out of the bed and into his wheel chair.

My niece, who’s almost 13 and also almost as tall as me, is the pro, she can get him transferred so quickly and smoothly, it’s amazing. It’s still a two person job, but the second person doesn’t need the special training (so for ex. we have been helping when we’re there as well).

So he can get transferred into his chair, and then wheel himself around the front room (where his bed is) and into the kitchen. He needs help with doors, but he can go outside and sit on his deck (which is surrounded by trees and lots of chirping birds).

Oh and they have two dogs, so he can be with the dogs as well.

All of this means that he has more stimulation, more interaction, and more control over where he is, than he had in the hospital.

And even though he’s not getting the skilled PT right now, he’s getting stronger just from moving around, like using his right arm and right leg to move the wheel chair, getting things, eating, all of that. Considering that not that long ago, he couldn’t feed himself, and could barely stay in the wheelchair for an hour, this is a huge improvement.

We have been here for just over a week now, but we’re leaving today

But I’m glad we were able to spend so much time with him, and to help out with my sister in law and mother.

Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes, keep them coming, he still has a long way to go!

SK, he is in my prayers, and I’m not a big time pray-er, so that’s saying a lot! I have 3 people who are on my intercessory prayer list; it’s a small group, and Lou is a big part of it.

I’m glad he’s home with family and dogs. And that he’s getting stronger. That’s a big positive.

Sending my best vibes.

Glad to hear he's home and continues to show improvement.

Thank you everyone!!

Wow, I’m glad he’s home but daily life seems difficult. I really hope being able to “move” about and be back with his family helps him recover.

Thank you for the update, SK.

I'm glad he's home.

He, you, your mother, and your sister-in-law continue to be in my prayers.

Gosh, I'm really sorry this is happening, SK.

Thanks everyone!