Visitors, Orchestra...Weight-Bearing!

I'm trying to add a "scheduling" function to the blog so that you can see who's visiting when and sort of arrange your own visits directly on this blog. It doesn't appear to be working, so I'll keep tinkering with it.

A few quick updates --

Last Wednesday (Nov. 9), I went with my dad to his radiation appointment. He was pretty awake on the drive back, and he was in a good mood, too. His bus driver is a wonderful woman who's not only friendly but entertaining, as well. When I told my dad that I liked her, he said, "Me too. . . she's in-your-face!" I thought that was funny.

On Friday, Nov. 11, some family from Toronto arrived to visit my dad for the weekend. We also had a surprise visit by my dad's friend, Sam. My dad was asleep when we all arrived, so we let him sleep for another half hour while we all got more acquainted with each other in the lounge area. Then I actually went back to my dad's room to wake him up. He enjoyed the visit and was laughing at our jokes. This was also "Pocky Day" since the date was 11.11.11, and the number 1 looks sort of like Pocky (an Asian snack). I brought some for my dad to try, and he held it like a cigarette. Ha!

Pocky Day

It was a pretty neat day. Sam said he had thought about wearing some Michigan gear to make my dad happy, but since he was an alum of Ohio State, I guess he just couldn't bring himself to do it. I guess my dad and Sam have a history of razzing each other for their school pride. Sam said that he used to spend all weekend coming up with zingers for my dad, and my dad said, "That's about what you'd expect from someone who went to OSU." I do have to say that with my dad's fatigue and stuff, his condition is particularly well suited to one-liners. This is a blessing since one-liners are a specialty of his.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, my cousins and aunt visited my dad in the morning. My cousin Cindy brought photos to show my dad from her visit to us at Christmas 20 years ago. My brother, sister and I appeared to be giving a concert with an electric keyboard and mics and stuff -- clearly new Christmas gifts. There was a photo of my dad, beardless and quite a bit heavier, tinkering away on the piano. Those photos were a HOOT!

Later in the evening, we all went to an orchestra concert. It was a great concert, but at times my dad's Parkinson's tremor got sort of loud. Part of me was really embarrassed/nervous that he was distracting others in the audience, but I tried to quiet that voice by reminding myself that it's awesome that my dad can get out to hear some live music. I'll have to remember to be less upset when other people distract me during concerts in the future.nAt the end, during the standing ovation, my dad said that he wanted to stand, too! When we all got out to the parking lot after the concert and it was time for me to transfer him from the wheelchair to the car, though, he actually DID stand. I mean, not totally on his own, but I felt like I hardly had to lift him! He used his arms to assist me in getting him to his feet, and then he really was able to bear much of the weight on his own. He even shuffled his right foot to get closer to the car, but I've noticed that he really doesn't seem to have the ability to control his left leg/foot at all. When he tries to take a step with his left foot, his left leg kind of buckles. I hope to get him back on physical therapy soon. I can't remember if I've already mentioned that the physical therapists stopped doing therapy a couple of weeks ago because they said he wasn't making progress anymore, but now with the steroids, it'd be great for him to start up again.

Welp, tomorrow we begin Week 3 of treatment!