Pattern of one good day, then one down day, continues

Dad had a good day yesterday overall. They kept him very busy with rehab the entire day, and really only about a 10 minute nap over lunch so he was extra tired when it was time to call it a day. Yesterday they did decrease his steroids from 24mg down to 16mg, so there may be some impacts from that over the next several days (but hopefully not).

There are conflicting reports this morning on just how well Dad slept. The nurses reported he slept pretty much the entire night, but Dad said that he didn't really sleep well at all. Lots of things bothering him - staples, headaches, and the thought of the necrosis continuing to progress. The thought of necrosis pretty much is hard to grasp when you're at 100%, let alone when you're not quite on top of your game. Dad's mind tends to run a bit to the extremes around what is going on right now, and having him listen to the doctors and the medical staff doesn't quite cut it. We continue to tell him that he had the surgery to allow for more swelling from necrosis, and that it saved his life. He kind of gets that - but then immediately falls back to the thought that he might need the "flapper" (as he calls it) - taking out a bone flap from his skull to allow for more swelling. That is NOT an option now, as the steroids worked and got him over that initial hump. At this point, no more surgery is in the works.

Hopefully a full day of rehab (and I mean FULL) will keep him occupied and focused on getting stronger and continue to repair those synapses and neurons damaged with the surgery and the swelling. He's doing really, really well. Being homesick and having too much time to think about "what if's" are his biggest issues right now. We'll take those - as he will hopefully be home in less than two weeks.

I'm off to Portland in a few hours -- anxious to get home myself.