Stressful Week!

As the title implies, we had a pretty stressful week!  None of it was related to the baby but I did have some baby adventures mixed in there.  Some of you are patiently awaiting news related to this weekend so let's dive right into the back story.

My Grandpa has had knee pain for quite a while now and we started to notice he was quitting some of his favorite activities.  The first to go was hunting.  Walking in the timber and through the fields got to be too much for him so he quit going.  Then he stopped walking around town quite as much, or at least not as far.  Lately Dad has noticed it's a lot harder for him to get in and out of the boat when they go fishing.  I think there have been other indications that something's not right too.  Dad mentioned all of this to Doug who is my Dad's cousin and also my Grandpa's doctor.  Doug took a look at Grandpa's knees and after a few tests, they found that he didn't have any cartilege in there and that he was walking on bone to bone contact.  No wonder those knees were hurting!

 After some talking, Grandpa decided to have both of his knees replaced.  One of his friends had had one and he got along great.  He had his first knee replaced about two weeks ago and 5 days later, they replaced the second one.  Now, you have to understand that in the first place, Grandpa is 78 years old and to me, this seems like a lot of surgery.  But the doctors say that's the procedure so we trusted them.  All went well with both knees, he was getting along great, and they sent him home to start therapy.  He did fall once but he landed on his butt and was fine afterwards.  However, during PT this week, he couldn't stand on his right leg at all and it was very painful.  Not a good sign.  They discovered that during PT, his quadriceps muscle (the one that makes up the front part of your upper leg/thigh) was torn.  The only way to repair it?  You guessed it.  Surgery #3.




He had the third surgery on Thursday and got along fine.  On Friday, things did not go so well.  Grandma arrived at the hospital Friday morning to discover that he'd had a small stroke.  His left arm was very weak, his left lip was pulling down at the cheek, he was slurring his speech slightly, and he was a little confused.  Thankfully, he was in the hospital and with a nurse when this happened.  They recognized it immediately, gave him the drugs to stave off a larger stroke, and it appears they stopped it in record time.  I got a call Friday night about all of this and immediately decided I needed to go home.  Robin wasn't home all weekend because he was in Maryville with friends.  I think that made the situation a lot more stressful for me but I did my best to stay calm for the baby's sake.  Hopefully I did a good job.

The first time I saw Grandpa in the hospital on Saturday, he was really happy to see me which made me feel really good about making that trip.  I noticed a slight tug at his left cheek but it was barely visible and he was just barely slurring some of his words.  We stuck around for about 3 or 4 hours.  In that time, he had two or three other visitors.  Two were friends from home and fishing trips and one was his sister, my Aunt Iney.  She's a spitfire and if you need entertaining, she's the person you want around!  At least he's not sitting around bored all the time!  We visited again on Sunday for a few hours and I got to spend more time with him.  By then the slurring was gone, he was fully coherent, and no other signs were present that he'd had a stroke at all.  It really is a miracle he was in that hospital!

This morning he was supposed to be moved to skilled care for PT but unfortunately they found an infection in his knee.  Until that is taken care of he can't be moved.  I know he's disappointed.  Grandma told my Mom he was really happy to be moving to another area of the hospital.  But, it sounds like they caught things early once again and I just hope that all turns out well and he can be moved soon.  He's doing okay and is out of the 48 hour window when they say a stroke can get worse.  He seems in pretty good spirits and as though he likes his nurses.  Grandma only leaves his side in the evenings to go home to sleep and take care of a few errands.  It's really amazing to see them together.  It is really apparent they couldn't get along very well without eachother.  They make a good team!

Tomorrow or the next day I'll post about the baby stuff I did over the weekend as well.  Not a huge amount to report as I was mostly focused on Grandpa but my 14 week picture will be there along with a few other notes.  Hug your families tonight!  I certainly wish I was closer so I could hug mine more often!