Stroke Update (day 18); Moving Day Tomorrow

Location: Red River South Marina & RV Park (el 200 ft); Bossier City, Louisiana

Today is day 18 since Brandon's second stroke. He is currently on day 10 of his stay in Pathway Rehabilitation Hospital and will be discharged tomorrow afternoon. The hospital and staff have been excellent with the exception of one person who unnecessarily caused stress for Brandon simply because she is a mean person with a bad attitude. She was only on duty for 3 days, but except for her, the staff is great. My x-wife and I have set up a routine of me being with him around breakfast and supper (for my yankee friends that means dinner or evening meal) and she being with him for lunch.  

He has received Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy daily. They have conducted a swallow test because of concerns that some things he was drinking and eating may have been going down the wrong tube and ending up in this lungs. This is called "aspiration" and isn't a good thing because it can result in pneumonia. The test showed very little, if any, was going towards his lungs, which was good news. His lungs continue to sound clear when the doctor checks them with his stethoscope. His swallowing as been improving daily with electrical stimulus being applied to the sides of his throat as he is eating and drinking. 

His speech is coming along as well. I can tell the difference by being able to understand almost every word he says compared to the way it was last week. His eye also continues to improve and he is not wearing the eye patch any longer. 

He is fully capable of showering by himself while sitting in a chair as well as taking care of his other personal hygiene tasks. He is walking with a cane more and more each day. His arm and hand seems to be the last to come around. This is the same as it was last time. 

All in all, he has made great progress in a great place. He will be discharged tomorrow at the completion of his daily therapy. He will continue his therapy on an out-patient basis at the same place he went to last year. Last year it was 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. I assume it will be a similar schedule this time. 

I will be moving campgrounds tomorrow while he is being discharged. His mother will be taking him home. I scouted out a better campground than the one I stayed at a couple weeks ago. This one should be much better with evening shade being provided by some tall pine trees and starting around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Shade will definitely be needed with summer coming on quickly. I will report more on the campground next posting. 

The following are some pictures taken from around the area.

Brandon enjoying some fresh air in a nice "park-like" area in the middle of the hospital. The shrub/tree in the middle was blooming and put off a really great fragrance. I'm not sure what it was, but it smelled a little like honey suckle or jasmine.

My granddaughter/ Brandon's niece dropped by for a visit. She was checking out his meal.

She asked him to share and since she has him wrapped around her finger, he did. 

Asking "more, please". :)

After scouting the new campground, I decided to grab something to eat at my favorite Hamburger place in northwest Louisiana. The first one I ever ate was while sitting on the bottom of the Red River inside a cofferdam while working on building the Red River Bridge. It was great then as well as today. If you ever want to find places like this, ask a "highway department" person, they will know. 

Since the burger place doesn't have many sit-down places I decided to take my diet meal, small plain burger, small cheeseburger, ok, ok, "double cheeseburger all the way" and hit the road. I headed to the lock and dam on the Red RIver about 10 miles north of the town of Coushatta. The day was still a little cool with a nice breeze blowing down the river. It was a great place to enjoy my burger and relax. It wasn't a bench, but close enough for me on this day. 

The dam had all gates open trying to control the local flooding caused by lots of rain over the last few weeks. 

This is some of the backwater away from the dam. It is obvious why it is called the Red River. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.