One week update

Dad has been in Dallas for a week. My updates have come from his speech therapist, LS, who has helped Dad to call/Facetime me, but also to talk with me, to learn about Dad and to let me know what she's seeing. In short, there is not much change in his condition. He did eat his breakfast entirely on his own this morning, without any prompting. LS speculates that he may have spasms in his vocal cords, slamming them shut when he tries to speak. This would account for his croaky voice, as well as the extreme effort it seems to require at times for him to start speaking.

I don't know about physical and occupational therapy. I should learn more during a call this Thursday.

All of the staff are wearing face masks all the time, so patients can only see their eyes. This is an extra challenge, with mouths entirely hidden and facial expressions limited to eyes and eyebrows. LS was asking me about Dad's interests, so that she would have more things to talk about with him. I really appreciate her reaching out.

Speaking of reaching out, while there are no visitors, and phone calls/Facetime are touch and go, Dad can definitely receive mail. It's probably best if you send things to me, and I'll bring them over; I don't know when his location in the facility might change, or how good their mail forwarding is. If you'd prefer to do it electronically, you can email me, and I'll print out and take things to him. For content or questions, I'm at rtdunbar-at-gmail-dot-com. Thanks in advance.