(#5244) Older brother John is getting better at home

      My older brother John had a stroke a few months back and he went into the hospital for about 2 weeks before spending about 6 weeks in the rehab center. He lost a lot of the usage of his left arm and also had a stent put into his neck to help with blood flow. He came home for about 2 days before slipping off a chair in the kitchen and fracturing a vertebra in his neck. He also bruised his back and chest a bit. So after staying in the hospital for about 5 days, they figured out a pain med protocol that allowed him to come home. He is now set up in my living room with a hospital bed and a care worker who keeps him clean, fed and medicated according to the doctor's instructions.
     The first day 24 hour period John was back home was a trial since he is bed ridden and was often complaining of pain. He was not an ideal patient as he was always trying to get up and move around with help from whomever would be there. We did put a stop to that because most important was for him to remain in bed and rest so as to heal from his neck fracture and his chest bruising. On the second 24 hour period he did much better about staying in bed although he is still trying to sit up as a way to alleviate the uncomfortableness of laying down constantly. We have all agreed that he does need that little bit of movement to keep himself somewhat comfortable.
     Now John is in his 3rd 24 hour period and actually slept through the night without calling for one of us to come and give him some pain meds. He is much better cognitively than earlier so he is regaining some of his ability to communicate with long and short term memory. All in all each day John is slowly getting back to where he was before the initial stroke and the later fall from the chair. I know John is not liking how this is all playing out but he has resigned himself to not fighting it. Which is good because he will get better quicker if he does what is designed for his recovery. He likes being home and all of us are now settled into him being here as we have positively adjusted to being of help to him.