It has been a while since I went to the hospital to visit Uncle Rodney, but I called last night and got an update. He seems to be doing really well for having a stroke back in April. He was released from the hospital yesterday and is starting to walk a little, but is still unable to move his left arm on his own.
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Back when I visited he told me some of the details as to what happened that some of you might be wondering about. He was at home one day and going to get something out of the closet when everything went dark and he fell. Fortunately he didn't break any bones or suffer additional injury from the fall. He had someone over at the time and they called for help immediately. The local hospital was unable to treat him due to the nature of his condition, and were planning on Life Flighting him to the U. There was bad weather and they ended up having to drive him by ambulance. He was telling me it was a good thing there was bad weather because he didn't want to pay for a helicopter bill. I'm just glad he's okay!
Upon testing they found out he had a blood vessel break in his brain that caused the stroke, but it stopped bleeding on its own and they didn't need to operate. The stroke caused limited movement in the left half of his body, but he was still able to move his left leg and has complete control and strength in the right half of his body. He is able to stand on his own if he places his weight on his right leg and holds onto something for stability.
He said that after he fell he was able to talk, but others were having difficulty understanding. The stroke had slurred his speech a little at first. I think it might have something to do with the paralysis on the left side of his body, including his mouth (you can see how he has a lop-sided smile in the pictures). With the assistance of speech therapy he is more understandable now and you can understand everything he says. I was really surprised when I first called the hospital to hear Rodney answer the phone. He's trained himself to slow down his speech and pronounce more clearly as practiced in therapy. He loves to have visitors and welcomes phone calls (at home now).
He has been doing exercises to increase his ability to speak and swallow. Here is a list of the exercises he is working on at his own pace. The peanut butter one is just the name of an exercise he does to move his tongue around in his mouth AS THOUGH he had peanut butter on the roof of his mouth.
I was fortunate enough to visit during the playoff game between the Jazz and the Lakers. As you might already know Rodney is an avid Jazz fan and still has his personality and sense of humor. He kept making comments about the game while we watched.
During our visit one of the nurses came in to give him his medicine and he asked them if they were taking theirs. With shock they asked him what he was talking about almost offended that he assumed they needed some. Then he cracked a smile and said,"your pain pills because I'm a pain in your neck." He is having a little bit of a hard time letting others help out and I'm sure he would have gone home the first day if they let him. Typical Jackson independence.
Another thing he said that caught the nurses off guard was telling them he couldn't use the giant gas station cup with straw they had him drinking out of. They asked why and he told them it was because it was from the U of U and had their logo and colors on it. He asked for BYU cup instead, but off course they turned down his request.
I've been fortunate enough to spend a little time in the summer fishing with Rodney and mentioned that I would have to take him out on the lake next time even if he wasn't able to fish yet. He said if he was out on the lake he would have to fish, it would be a waste if he didn't. He seems to be making steady progress and I still hope to go fishing with him this summer pending on his condition.
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