We are now settling into a routine.
7AM Dad is finished with his twelve hour nutrion feeding. He is diconnected from the feeding tube and pump. Dad then has a cup of decaf coffee. 8AM Dad has breakfast. Cream of Wheat or Rice, Grape juice and either a pudding or yorgart. 830 AM Dad gets his shower and changes into a clean set of PJ'S. I change his dressings. One on his neck, one on his belly and the opening around his J-Tube. I then give him his morning medications. All are mixed with water and injected through his J-Tube. 10AM Dad gets another snack. Pudding, Nutrition shack or ice cream. Dad then takes his first set of walks in the house. He does 3minutes walking from our front door to the far back wall of our house. He does this walking three times a day. We are increasing his time by one minute each day. After the walk dad then 2 puffs of of his inhaler. Some medication to help his lungs. And he does his breathing exercises. He does 10 exercises every hour until 7PM. Noon Dad gets his lunch. Cream soup, pudding, cranberry juice. I then give him his mid day meds. More walking and more breathing exercises. Dad then settles down for some TV and a nap. 3PM Milk Shake time. Carnations Instant Breakfast with milk and ice cream. 4PM More walking and breathing exercises. 530PM Dinner. Cream soup. His choices, Cream of mushroom, potato, chicken broth, beef broth and cream of butternut squash. I am searching for more. Jello or pudding and a cup of decaf coffee. 630PM I try hard to get Dad to have one more item, pudding, ice cream or nutrition shake. 7PM I change Dad's dressings a second time and hook him up to the nutrition feeding tube. Dad gets 5 cans of nutrition feedings in a 12 hour time period. Which mean he is hooked up to the feeding pump at night. I try to get dad to stay up until 9 or 10. His bed is in our computer room which is right off our living room. We place a kamode near his bed so he can get up and go to the RR and not have to un plug the feeding pump. I weigh dad each morning and take his temperature twice between 3 and 5 PM. I also keep a record of everything he eats and bowel movements. When me meet with his Drs. I will give them a copy.
Each day Dad seems to get a little stronger. His sense of humor is returning along with his wit. His only complaint is that it is hard to sleep sound hooked up to the feeding tube. Well that is a rough description of my Dads day. We continue to take it one day at a time. We see the Drs. Wed. and Friday.
Steve