JIM'S MASSIVE RECOVERY - PART 2

What I haven't shared just yet is that as Jim's leg wound was almost healed, 

a couple of days before Thanksgiving,

he started losing his balance and  wasn't able to walk in a straight line.

He was getting more and more agitated and also not able to sleep.

Plus his anxiety that he's always had at nighttime was getting worst.

Also he was losing his words with blurred speech.

So after a fall off his bed and also from standing on his feet,

as well as a fall into our patio slider door,

all within 24 hours,

I took him to our local E.R.

Big mistake!

They released him that afternoon to his daughter 

because I was at another hospital with my children.

 That was the day my Ex had his heart arrest.

Unbelievably,

 the local E.R. didn't find anything wrong with him

 other then his back arthritis bothering him.

Did they even examine him or run any tests???

Anyways,

Jim's daughter saw he wasn't doing well that night at their house 

so they rushed him to their local hospital where an MRI of his brain was done,

and it turned out he had two serious brain bleeds.

They think one was a slow building one from his Jeep accident 

when he hit his head,

and the other a fast one from his fall into the slider door or the floor.

Who knew??

Not that first hospital.

No wonder it has such a bad reputation.  

 

So Jim was hospitalized for another 2 weeks.

Meanwhile I was driving back and forth everyday to 2 different hospitals,

which were miles apart,

trying to keep an eye on both my charges.

Ha!

Both men ended up being hospitalized for 2 weeks.

 Two brain operations were done on Jim

to pull out the excess fluids surrounding and moving his brain around.

It was so scary,

maybe even more so then his original Jeep accident.

I was really scared I was going to lose him.

Drilling into his skull,

crazy!!

His neurosurgeon also told me that he would never be quite the same afterwards.

What does that mean I asked?

He said you will know it when you see it.

WTF!!!!

Here is Jim at the end of that 2 weeks.

You can sort of see where they shaved both sides of his forehead to drill.

At this point from the time of the Jeep accident to this pix 

he had lost over 30 pounds of weight,

mostly muscle mass.  

You can especially see it in his face here.

From that hospital there, 

he was transferred to a skilled nursing faculty to learn how to walk again

and get physical therapy twice a day.

In 5 days time he was more then ready to come home

although I felt he should have stayed a bit longer. 

But he was itching to come home.

It was all about the nasty food there,

he was starving!

LOL

So are you wondering if I'm noticing any differences now?

Yes, a bit.

When he first got home he was meeker,

a bit disoriented,

 a tiny tad weepy and very unsure of himself,

but super cooperative which I loved.

Ha!

He's had to depend on me for everything which has been hard for him.

And a bit hard for me too.

But that's ok as I'm a real nurturer and love mothering him.

It's been a little over two and a half months since he came home now.

Things are changing that's for sure.

He is very slowly getting better.

He hasn't been able to drive until just recently on small errands for practice.

But no freeways yet,

 and always with me as his co-pilot.

His reflex skills are not quite where they need to be.

Some days are not good and he's really tired and I don't let him drive at all.

But of course he thinks he's just fine.

That has been a bit of a battle at times.

Basically he's just not as sharp as he used to be

and he's still having trouble with his speech and words.

Maybe that's what the doctor was talking about.

His neurosurgeon says things will continue to get better

 up to about a year and a half.  

And after that is where he will stay.

I have high hopes for him.

His grandsons are counting on him and so am I.