As usual, as soon as we start to make plans for a move for Vernon, some unforeseen challenge comes along to upset them.  Yesterday morning I was told by our case manager that he would be moved to the Santa Ana Carehouse that very afternoon, only to have her call back later to inform me they had declined him after all. Apparently he wasn’t quite ready for that level of care. But in the same conversation, I was told he had already been accepted into Newport Subacute (don’t worry if you can’t keep up: all these names of care-levels confuse me too.) Now its just a matter of getting a nearby dialysis center lined up and he should be moving there by early next week (at the latest.) Or so they say now.

But while that is still up in the air in the future, I can share some of the fun we had with Vernon today.

I got to be there while Pilar, the Speech Therapist, gave him a variety of food to try. Now, the old Vernon loved a variety of flavors, but she is having a difficult time getting him to try new things now. His tastebuds haven’t come back to life yet, I guess.  Here is an example of his trying lemon yogurt.  Hilarious.

She next tried Apple Juice, which is all he able to drink now, as it has some sort of thickener which makes it easier to swallow.

Then she gave him peanut butter, which was also pretty entertaining to watch.  It was a good exercise as he had to really work his tongue in order to unstick it from the roof of his mouth.  Eventually, when he was able, he said: “This doesn’t taste like peanut butter.”

When Pilar asked what it tasted like, he said “Something from the bottom of a truck!”

He remembered Chris being there yesterday and the rounds on the wheelchair they had taken. He said he’d had a great time chatting with him, and how “he hadn’t really got to know him before, but was enjoying getting to know him now.”  This is the first I’ve been able to see his short term memory coming back in such a clear way. Usually he gets his days and memories very mixed up, and rarely remembers what happened the day before.

Chris sent me this video of him yesterday doing memory work with Pilar.  He was able to work on even more complex reading-comprehension questions today. Great! Vernon should hurry up and get better…he can help Maki out with his Common Core Math problems so I won’t have to!

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