Tired today...

Dad was tired today, and much, well, calmer. I would not say depressed, or sad, just somehow more mellow. To be honest, he has been going full-tilt everyday on his positive thinking and enthusiasm, and I can only imagine it would make him tired.

It is Sunday, and he did not have physical therapy today, so, I am also thinking that the PT in the morning gets him up and motivated. It begins his day and gives him stamina and a reason to go on fighting. So, I am glad he had a day of resting, and here's to hoping tomorrow brings more of Mr. Determination!

He has not really had much of a problem with short term memory, but it seems to be getting better everyday. We are also working with his left side. I may have mentioned it in an earlier post, but he has what is a neglect or an inattentiveness, on his left side. This is very common with brain injuries or traumas, like a tumor. We are waiting to take him to an eye Dr. to see what (if any) changes to his eyesight have occurred, but I am thinking a lot of his problem is this neglect. It is essentially that he forgets to pay attention or acknowledge what happens on his left side. So, I can tell him that there is a glass of water on the tray to his left, and he does not see it unless I make him really try to look left. As an example, I was trying to have him read a printed joke yesterday, and he would look at the paper, and only read from the middle of the sentence to the right edge, and when he went to go on to the next line, he would start in the middle of the paragraph.

When our friend Vanessa came by yesterday, she was able to give me some pointers on how to help him to work on this. She is an occupational therapist that mostly works with brain injuries, but her suggestions and advice have been a welcome benefit. I plan on working with him more by helping him to write more, playing cards (when I told him we would start out with "Go Fish," he got a little irritated), and making him work hard to pay attention more to the left. I also want to help him with his eye/hand coordination, especially on that left side. We will know more once he has gone to the eye Dr., but for now, these things can't hurt.

Like I said, he wasn't really depressed today, but he was a little down. He really hasn't mentioned the "why me" factor all that much in the whole course of this. The biggest concern with his "why me" is what this has done to the family and friends. He looked at me today and said "boy, this has really put a lot on my family, and I just wonder why a brain tumor..." I looked right at him and said "you know what? Sh*t happens." He and my Mom were taken aback for a second, and they both looked right at me and said..."you're right...It does." Guess I ended that line of questioning...At least for tonight.:)

Love to all!