[nagdu] Listening in the Wings

[Sherri]

Tony, So sorry for what you and your husband are going through. I hope he 
progresses more quickly soon and improves. Sounds like they are really 
working to make it possible for you two to communicate, which is wonderful.
Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Jones" <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 7:23 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Listening in the Wings


> Tony,
> Thanks for letting us know your news.
> Praying for your husband, and for you!
> Susan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Toni Whaley
> Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 2:39 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: [nagdu] Listening in the Wings
>
> Hello!
>
> Although I've been reading all the messages and have found many of the
> threads very interesting, I haven't had the time or energy to respond. Two
> months ago my husband had 12 hours of heart surgery to repair a whole
> between the ventricles in his heart. Fortunately, the surgery was
> successful. Unfortunately, many complications have slowed down his 
> progress.
> These include: fluid on the lungs, extreme physical weakness, inability to
> swallow food. He is unable to speak above a whisper, an this speech is for
> the most part unintelligible.Sometimes he's able to communicate through
> child-like writing which doesn't helpp me unless someone is there to read
> it. Until last week he was still in the cardiac-pulminary ICU. He was, and
> still is, too weak to participate in strenuous physical therapy of the 
> type
> given in most nursing facilities. Yet he had made enough progress so that
> the insurance companies wouldn't pay for him to remain in the ICU. So he 
> was
> transferred from a hospital about a mile from my home accessible by taking
> one bus to a rehab hospital 21 miles from my home accessible by taking 
> three
> buses. Fortunately, I can get to this hospital by using paratransit.
>
> At this writing my husband's condition has changed very little. His
> inability to do much for himself makes him extremely anxious. This causes
> his speech to be fast and choppy, increasing its intelligibility. The 
> speech
> therapist and I have created a speech board in braille and print which
> contains his most frequently requests. This is helping some.
>
> Hazel has done well spending long days in the hospital, and we're 
> educating
> a lot of people at both hospitals. She has also provided several occasions
> of amusement to me. One day I was walking with one of the surgeons back to 
> a
> conference room. As we passed a man walking in the opposite direction, 
> Hazel
> quicklly took a sniff of his crotch. Of course, I corrected her for this.
> But the surgeon showed some understanding of dogs by saying, "I guess you
> can't take the dog out of the guide dog." All of the nurses in the ICU
> enjoyed Hazel. Indeed, they were extremely disappointed on those few days 
> I
> didn't bring her to the hospital. The staff at the new facility are now
> getting to know us as well.
>
> Toni
>
>
>
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