Sending prayers to you and FIL Annie. Keep that positive attitude. Take care, NancyLouise

I'm hoping for the best for Elery's dad, Annie.

Cathy, I'm thinking about you and your family. I hope the news is better than Elery's.

Annie and Elery, I'm keeping James and all of you in my thoughts today.

Sally

Annie, I think it's about time for your FIL's surgery. Please know my prayers are with him and your entire family.

/tricia

It's been a long day. Surgery went well, the doctors are cautiously optimistic that they got all the tumor and that it had not spread. Pathology report on the lymph nodes is pending,maybe tomorrow.

He'll spend about a week in the hospital, another couple of weeks in an assisted care facility, then if he's walking and getting around, go back home.

Elery and I will either go back home tomorrow or stay another day, depending on how tomorrow morning goes.

I had to smile when I saw "Mr. Barnes" and "James". His nickname has always been "Dude". Elery was always "Little Dude". (grin) The kids all call FIL "Pa Dude". So, it appears that "Pa Dude" is hanging in there.

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts, prayers and good wishes. I'm on Elery's netbook and hate the darned thing, it's taken me about 15 minutes to type this so excuse any typos.

Now we focus on recovery, which at his age can be lengthy, but it's still recovery so that's good.

Now, Cathy, any updates on your phone call?

Annie

I'm happy to read this.

Off to bed with sick me.

E

Great news!

I'm so glad to hear it went well!

Cathy, I hope for good news from you, too.

Eileen, I hope you get to feeling better.

Sally

Continuing positive thoughts and good wishes for the Big Dude coming from L.A.!

Oh, so happy to read your post. Hope this morning brought good news. Thanks for the update. Will continue keeping "Big Dude" in my prayers.

Cathy, I've also got your family in my prayers.

Eileen, hope you're feeling better today.

/tricia

I am so happy to hear your good news and look forward to future progress reports. It sounds like he has the strength and will to recuperate well.

Eileen, I also hope that you are feeling better today. I'm still not back into regular sleep patterns myself.

Lars

How's Pa Dude today? I hope he's feeling feisty enough to complain about the hospital food.

I think I am better. This a yucky chest cold/flu something. I spent 5 hours in the car with my sick friend on the way to see Daniel for a few days. :( So I am resting and drinking weak green tea and taking echinacea and goldenseal capsules.

Lars, does melatonin help you with sleep?

Watching for an update...

Eileen

Annie, I'm glad to read that the surgery went well and I'll continue to keep you all in my thoughts.

Hope we'll hear an update from Cathy too and I hope things are resolving.

Eileen, it sounds as though you are doing what you can to recover and I hope you feel well soon.

Lars, I hope you will be able to look back and see some positive changes from week to week even though they may not be visible day to day, and I hope you'll soon be sleeping well.

Hugs and good thoughts going out to all of you,

Lee

Pa Dude is feeling well enough today to flirt with the nurses, so that's very good. they are watching him carefully because they are concerned about his kidneys and his blood pressure has dropped a bit. He's looking much better than he did a month ago, but Elery and I decided to stay an extra day, just to be sure he was continuing to improve.

Pathology report won't be back until at least Monday and then we"ll find out whether lymph nodes are involved.

Annie

Prayers for good clean nodes....glad the Dude feels well enough to flirt!!

Annie, prayers are continuing. Glad to hear the good news.

As for the others with health issues, prayers for you also. I,somehow, alaways forget to check into the conversations side of the CF.

Tami

Just saw this Annie. My thoughts and prayers are with Pa Dude too. Sounds like he's a fighter...glad to hear things are well. Always nervous with surgery at that age. Here's to a fast recovery and many more birthday parties to come.

Duane

I'm glad Pa Dude is feeling better and glad that you decided to stay a little longer. I'm sure it will be really meaningful to him, not just that you came, but that you stayed.

Lee

Yea, flirting is good!

I'm back at elery's. Pa Dude is amazingly well, not complaining too much about pain. They did have to make an incision and take a length of the lower colon, then piece it back together. They gave him two units of blood today, but he was extremely anemic when he went to the doc the firsst time, before diagnosis. the doc said the tumor had been "weeping" blood for some time, so he was dehydrated and anemic. He looks better than he has in months and he's absolutely full of it today.

when we left to come home he kissed me and told me "thanks for coming, and thanks for praying for me, and thanks for being so darned good looking". LOL I told him I wasn't nearly as good looking as him and not to break the nurses' hearts before I got back to warn them.

So, we've all relaxed a bit and now the only worries are those that surround continued healing for an 88 year old man with a bad heart.

I tol dhim that everyone was praying for him, all over the United States. He was amazed about the forum, it never occurred to him that such fellowship existed.

He is a good Christian man who believes in the power of prayer, now he knows about the power of the forum!

Thanks to everyone, for the support. Now, I'm just waiting for that clen pathology report.

Annie

I'm glad I read this, Annie, before heading off to bed. I'll be sure to give thanks. You and Elery must be tired. Hope you get a good night's sleep.

/tricia

Pa Dude sounds fabulous. :) Thanks for this update. Hugs!

E

Hoping for continued good news, Annie!

Sue

I'm so glad to hear that your FIL is bouncing back amazingly fast. Best wishes to him for a speedy and complete recovery!

Sue

Aww, Pa Dude sounds like a sweetheart. I'm glad he's well enough to flirt.

Sally

I'm glad to hear the latest update and please tell Pa Dude that you all continue to be in my thoughts and prayers and that the power of of the CF is indeed far reaching and amazing.

Hugs to all you,

Lee

Sounds like Pa Dude is doing quite well, all things considered. He sounds like a real "character" to me! Someone I know I would like to meet. I have a soft spot for grand old gentlemen with character.

Tell him we will all keep praying for him and for him to tow the line and do as the doctors say!

Teresa

Yes, Pa Dude is indeed a sweetheart AND a grand old gentleman. Also a character, LOL.

He's still feeling pretty well. He didn't have much of an appetite before surgery, and now he's on a liquid diet to give everything time to heal. So, of course, now he's hungry. He called his wife and told her that the doctor's orders were that she was to take him to McDonald's for a sausage biscuit every single day for breakfast. (grin)

Annie

I'm glad for you that the news is good.

Waiting to hear the all clean on the path report.

He sounds just like my younger sister's husband! They'd get along marvelously. I have to make sausage, gravy, biscuits every year for Christmas--which is HER birthday, but he gets the attention. It's ok, we love him enough he can have it. She gets her attention to. He also calls and puts in "orders" for food he wants when he knows I am coming their way. Gotta love 'em!

It so very uplifting to hear your good news! It's no wonder that he recovered as well as he did, considering how much positive energy he has surrounding him!

Lars

This is such good news, Annie - I'm so glad to hear it. Fingers crossed for the pathology report too.

Kathleen

Great to hear it, now get that man some sausage biscuits!

And Cathy, how is that member of your family doing?

Annie-- so happy to hear that he's improving steadily and flirting to boot!

I'd love to, Cathy, but he's still on that liquid/bland/soft diet while he heals. The first solid food he got was this morning, it was Cream of Wheat. He was not impressed. (grin)

So how IS your fmaily member doing? I'll be thinking of you....

Annie

Aw c'mon, you know you'd love some mushy cream o' wheat! I wish the path report would hurry up and come back clean.

I actually like cream of wheat. With lots of butter and brown sugar. :)

Sending good wishes to Pa Dude. I hope they feed him real food soon.

E

Still waiting to hear the good news about the path report....so he can continue healing with out thought of further worry.
Maybe soon he can have Malt-O-Meal!

Still no news on the pathology report. We don't know if the doc told Pa Dude and he's not saying, or if it's not back.

Elery's sister is going to call the doctor tomorrow, she has permission from Pa Dude to get his medical information, they won't release it otherwise due to HIIPA requirements.

Annie

Glad to hear things went well for your FIL. Hope the pathology report comes back with good news. Sorry, I am so late replying, caught up in my own problems so not paying much attention to the board.
Clare

Pathology report is finally back, it appears that he's got an all clear. He was moved to a rehab center yesterday, and when Elery talked to him on the phone he seemed confused. Elery's sister was there and said he was completely incoherent. the staff thought it was because his oxygen levels were low and everyone was worrked.

This morning, though, he was up for breakfast, had his therapy at 9. he was drinking coffee and reading the sports section of Sunday's paper when Elery's sister left, and had already been up and down the hall to visit with thenurses, then into the bathroom on his own. A much better day today. Elery and I will go back to see him this weekend, there's a lot of work before he can go back home, including seeing if we can get Frances to get rid of enough furniture so he can negotiate around the house. She had a large house with big furniture. She sold the big house and bought a little house but kept the big furniture. They also have no shower, only a bathtub downstairs, so the family is talking about remodeling the bathroom, we'll see if that is necessary as Frances is talking about selling the house and moving somewhere else that's set up better.

Senior housing might not be a bad option, but I'm not mentioning it, Pa Dude would slap me!

Annie

That's got to be a really tough situation for Pa Dude and the family. I pray it works out for all.

We moved into a new-to-us house that made it possible to give my mom ample personal space. She asked me several times "Raymond suggested that I move in with you?". Yup, he's that kind of guy; it was important to her to know that she was wanted.

Glad that all he has to do is get better.
One of those walk in showers/baths would be a really good thing. Expensive, but compared to 2 months in a care facility...not much at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Not an endorsement..just info!

Does Pa Dude use a walker or a cane? My father was using both, and with a walker, furniture would sometimes get in the way, but SIL got rid of some furniture and rearranged other furniture to make larger traffic paths. My parents also replaced their bathtub with a shower that looks like one of the walk-in bathtubs, but they had to sit on a chair. Neither one could bathe themselves, and so that was up to the visiting angels.

Remodeling might be easier than finding a house already set up for what they want, but I'm not familiar with what is available in their area. Remodeling could also decrease the value of the house, since most buyers would probably not want a handicapped friendly bathroom, but then there would be a certain percentage that would.

I wish them good luck in the real estate department, and if they have a good agent, that will help.

Lars

At this point Pa Dude uses a walker, we're hoping he can graduate to a cane. The real problem is that his knees are shot and the only fix is replacement which they won't do at his age.

So, a wheelchair is probably in the future, which means doorsways and entries will be a problem. Frances is 84 with a bad heart, she's diabetic and has some breathing issues too, so she can't physically take care of him. She's a tiny little lady and he's over 6 feet tall, although thin.

If they'd get rid of some furniture, like the unused dining room set and the piano, there would be room to get around, but I still don't know about the entryway, where there are two sets of cement steps just to get inside the house.

We're going to have to look at the house carefully when we go down this weekend.

Annie

My friend's father who is 94 had a knee replaced last winter. He uses a walker, but he's without knee pain...however he has other balance problems....and still drives!!!! Ack!!
Sounds like you will be building ramps soon.

Annie, I'm so glad your FIL's doing better enough to be talking about bringing him home. That alone is a large Blessing at his age.

We've learned a lot about handicapped issues in the past 3 years because of me. Our bathroom was the real challenge. We didn't want to put in what looked like a hospital bath for the reasons Lars noted. So, I spent a couple hundred hours searching online for alternatives. We'd been advised from multiple sources not to go the fiberglass handicapped tub/shower over an existing bath route so that was ruled out early in the process.

I was able to find handicapped rails, grabbars, etc. in normal finishes, in our case, polished nickel. For the shower, here's what we ended up with...

It's called an "easy access" rather than full handicapped. We also had double doors made that opened outwards with safety grabbars inside/out. The glass itself is also thicker than normal for more stability. We also installed a thermostatically controlled shower so I can't scald myself (I have advanced neuropathy so can't feel hot/cold).

Everything in the room has been considered for ease of use. The vanity is higher than normal to limit bending. There are no hidden cabinets or closets that are hard to get into or to reach upper shelves, etc. Towels are in baskets under the vanity. Bathing products, extra TP, etc. reside on open easy accessible shelves. The toilet is also higher. Even one medicine cabinet is placed for ease of access to somebody with limited mobility. The stool swivels and I can reach almost everything without having to move. There are glides under the legs so I can move the stool with one finger. There are six hooks (some both inside and outside the shower) to hang clothes and/or towels easily.

These pixs were taken before everything was fully put together but it gives a good idea of the finished room. It was a long haul but it's finally finished and is working perfectly. I can tend to all personal hygiene safely and without help. There's room to turn a walker around, if necessary, without the stool.

Anyway, there are lots of options if you look around.

/tricia

About knees. Mine have given up slowly over the last few years. I purchased two steel hinged knee braces. Pretty they are not. But they have given me back the ability to get around with minimal pain. I won't be taking any long hikes but I can certainly navigate a grocery store and things around the house. They also make me a bit more steady. Someday I will need surgery, I imagine.

Something to consider. I chose these because I needed two and the price was right though I paid more at the local Target store. There are a lot of options. The "sport type" seems to be more comfortable as back of the knee is free from bulk.

Eileen

Here is a link that might be useful: Hinged knee brace.

Glad to hear he's doing better! I will hope for no more confusion and lots of healing. BF's grandfather wasn't looking good, needed surgery, was disoriented in rehab, and then got much better and was able to go home.