Wednesday, March 2

This morning when Ryan and I got to the hospital Frank was awake. He gave us a pleasant surprise and started talking a little bit! His speech is a little slurred and it takes him quite some time to figure out what he wants to say, but we were very happy that he's able to say more. One of the first sentences he said was, "I want to go home". He's still confused about where he is, so we have to keep reminding him and what has happened. Therefore, it definitely seems like his short term memory is affected.  One of the more complex sentences he said was, "they keep talking but aren't saying anything". He was telling us that he didn't understand why he was here or what the nurses were saying. Once again, we just have to keep telling him where he is and what happened.

He is now saying his own name, which he didn't know before. And, for all of you who know Frank really well, guess what one of the first things he asked for? A soda!

A speech therapist came in the morning to test to see if the stroke affected his ability to swallow drinks and food. He did really well and she said that he can eat soft foods and thickened beverages. Hopefully tomorrow he can start drinking straight water. He ate lunch and dinner today. He was able to hold utensils, with his right hand I might add, and feed himself. However, I noticed while he was feeding himself, that his sight has been affected because he was having difficulty judging how far the plate and cup was from him and would miss the plate when trying to scoop the food.

He's using his right arm more and the right side of his mouth is not drooping as much when he smiles. He can also stick out his tongue, which before he would not do.

Today he went for an MRI test but we won't know the results till tomorrow when the Neurologist looks them over.

I am still anxious about his kidneys, and as I type this, they are doing the ultrasound on them to assess the damage. I assume that the doctor will explain the results of the ultrasound tomorrow morning.

His blood pressure is still somewhat high and keeps bouncing around. Until they can get a tight control on it, they cannot move him out of the Critical Care Unit. Tomorrow, they said they will start some bedside therapy focusing on the strength in his arms.

Let's pray that his blood pressure gets under control so they can move him out of the CCU and start a little more aggressive therapy and that his kidney tests come back good.