Ok, my dad is kicking some serious butt in this recovery process. Ever since Zoey's birthday party I've noticed he's much more back to HIMSELF, I love it!!! He's brighter and sharper, smiling, sense of humor is back, he's awake a lot more. His mental status is greatly improved, he's still a bit slower than normal and quick to get mentally tired-out and overstimulated, but he's much closer now to his pre-illness baseline. It's fabulous.
Of course the overall barrier though continues to be the intense neck pain. It's difficult to treat too since it's not muscular and it's not skeletal. It's nerve-related pain due to the irritated lining of his brain. Think shingles pain. Only think of a shingles-like pain that shoots straight into your brainstem. It's constant and intense and affects everything. The pain affects his ability to concentrate, to read, to do simple tasks like shower or get dressed, to sleep. It's temporary, but it takes a long time to go away due to the slow healing process of the brain. But once he gets that pain under control, he's going to have a huge surge in returning to his normal functioning.
He had a neurology follow-up appointment yesterday and they were positively THRILLED with his progress. Everyone says that he's recovering and improving so much faster than anyone expected. I thought it would take him a good three months to get where he is today. My dad always has been an overachiever. We also got a prescription for a new medication, Neurontin, to try to cope with his neck pain. I'm really hoping it will make a difference. The only drawback is that it can tend to make people a little drowsy, we've finally gotten him to wake up so I'm hoping that's not too much of an issue with him. But even if it is, it's worth it to get him through some of this pain for the present time.
He had a really good PT session today. He actually said during the session that he was glad to be there and had been looking forward to it for the past day! He was smiling and joking with the therapist and did much better with his balance and endurance. Big improvement from just a week ago.
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