In a follow up to this post, James writes:
I am pleased to report that my father continues to improve in his alertness and articulation. I am attaching a photo I took of him over the weekend that well reflects his determined spirit. He still shows signs of confusion. He remains weak. He is also far from the point of being able to make the daily decisions that are necessary to live on one's own. I am very happy, however, that he is now able to hold small conversations, and to express his state of mind. This means that he can consider what he wants to do after he completes ‘sub acute’ rehabilitation (which still won’t be for several weeks).
I thought I would attach in this update a report from my mother, who was able to sit in on a therapist meeting yesterday morning at the rehabilitation center. Here is her report:
I went up today for the 9 AM team meeting. Carl seemed pretty alert – he was in the dining room having breakfast and saw me from afar and waved. He wheeled himself back to the room after breakfast. I mentioned how much I enjoyed seeing Christine [Panero] on Sunday, that it had been so long since I had seen her. And he said “over 20 years”, The speech therapist said his talking is so much better although he still gets confused sometimes with answering questions.
The team said they were delighted with his progress but thought there was still much more to be made – that he was nowhere near plateauing out. But we all did talk about where to go next. Everyone—including Carl—agreed that going back to Block Island to live was out of the question – he would need to drive etc. etc., and he will need assistance. So we all agreed we would shoot for Assisted Living—and their goal is to help him (and us) get him prepared for that. He said he “has a lot to think about”. He did not seem interested in a place in NYC. He seems to treasure his visits from his BI friends. He had gotten a card from a whole bunch of them and a gardenia plant. He was obviously touched. I said I did not know them and he said “that is because you do not hang around the Beachhead”. Tell everyone how much Carl enjoys visitors, that he is very touched by everyone’s concern, and that he also loves cards, that he can read them.