Sunday, March 01, 2009

Grandpa and the Grandkids

As previously mentioned on this blog, Dad has been moved to a rehab center. Rehab centers do not waste time, nor their efforts. They set to work immediately on helping Dad recover and rehabilitate. He was moved on Thursday and then had three hours of rehab on Friday. Each weekday he has six half hour sessions scheduled. Saturdays are three half hour sessions and Sunday is a day of rest...amen. His rehab is a mix of physical, occupational and speech therapies.


On Saturday I joined Dad, with my wife Melissa, for two of his rehab sessions. The first was physical therapy. They had Dad stand and stretch his legs. Then they had him walk the halls with the use of a walker. Dad completely used his own power and balance to navigate the halls. We walked the 'horseshoe' from the therapy room back to his room. Dad did great. After that, it was off to a speech therapy meeting. They are still doing evaluations on Dad to see what he needs to work on.


Today, Sunday, a large crowd of Canneys came to visit Dad. We gathered in the dining room of his floor to celebrate the birthdays of Hunter(3), Jamie(29) and my Melissa (20-10). It was a great time of presents, cake, kids playing, laughing and visiting.


A special treat for me was to watch my daughter, Addison, interact with Dad. After we got to the hospital we went to his floor and walked down his hall toward his room. We entered the hall from the far end, Dad was entering the hall from the other end, leaving his room. We were a good 20 to 30 yards apart. Immediately Addison recognized her Grandpa and began to excitedly wave, bounce and laugh! She was happy to see Grandpa, to say the least!


With all the work Dad is doing, he gets very tired. After our little birthday celebration, which included Dad eating some cake, he headed to his room for a nap. I walked with Addison down to his room. Addison was adorable as she put a finger to her mouth to say 'ssshhhh' and 'nite nite' to Grandpa. She then kissed him goodnight and said 'I vavue.' =) Dad grinned a soft, warm smile and he told her that he loved her too. Addison is hesitant around men, even men she sees all the time. Today, I do not have a doubt she would have crawled in bed with Dad if we had let her. She was so happy to see him. Later, when we went to leave, there were more kisses, love yous, hugs and blown kisses. Dad enjoyed seeing Addison, along with his two grandsons Hunter and Ayden. There was no doubt they enjoyed seeing him also.


I will post some pictures from the party later on.

Cheers.

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