Saturday, February 26, 2011

Cough

Got a phone call this evening from Anna at Emerald Isle. She expressed some concern that Dad has been having an unusual cough this week. They also noticed a couple of times when he was getting up and/or getting changed, that he even sounded short of breath. Haydee told me when she saw Dad on Thursday, his voice was hoarse and she thought perhaps he might be getting sick. She also mentioned that Dad seems to cough after drinking, and I got the same report from other caregivers there, though this seems to be an ongoing issue.

My immediate concern was perhaps he had aspirated, and might have a pneumonia. I went over there (just returned), and he sounded good and looked good. I didn't see any of the symptoms that were mentioned, though they told me it was only occasional. We did get him up to walk to see if it might spur the cough, but it didn't. I didn't notice any wheezing or distress with Dad at all. I asked him to breathe deep, putting my hand on his back, but he didn't really take much of a deep breath. When I asked him a few times how he was feeling, each time was "I'm feeling pretty good!" or "feel fine".

We agreed to continue watching him over the weekend, and then call the doctor on Monday for an appointment as needed.

On another note, Jennie was here this week and did the bulk of the work to complete Dad's taxes. We got them filed today...he will get $1900 from the Feds, and owes $672 to California.