Family

Monday Morning

Dad is MUCH more himself this morning. They supported his heart rate with dopamine last night, but stopped it early this morning, and he is successfully pumping his heart at a decent rate on his own now. The antibiotics appear to be doing their thing, as his white count is down, as well.

They did a chest CT this morning, and and echo of his kidneys. There’s a heart echo that is to happen in a little while. They want to watch him for the afternoon, and depending on how that goes, he might be released tonight.

By vbock|2022-09-26T11:09:50-05:00September 26th, 2022|Categories: Jack Curran|0 Comments

Sunday Afternoon

They have been worried during the day about dad’s “bradycardic” (who knows if the spelling is correct on that one) low heart rate, which seemed to get worse after his medications were administered. Dr. Conolly asked to review the med lists I brought and noted right away that metoprolol, which appeared incorrectly on the med list maintained by NU Cardiology, is not on the list reviewed by dad’s NorthShore primary care doc August 5th. They feel certain that the metoprolol which was administered with the rest of the meds they gave him this morning at 10 a.m. is behind the slowed heart rate. With that discovery, Connolly called in the cardiologist on call here at the hospital, who again asked about the history of dad’s symptoms. The story we are telling is that Dad was lethargic and sickish all day Saturday, so while today’s worsened lethargy is likely aggravated by the med error, it is not the root cause.

The rest of today is about administering glucagon, which is to counteract the metoprolol. It will take a while because of course he was given sustained-release version of metoprolol which will be acting on his system for 24 hours.

There will be an incident report about this. Dr. Connolly is being very transparent and professional, which we appreciate. He ordered that dad be moved from his current general care room to a “step-down” unit (which is a step down from ICU, and a step up from where he was, where the nurses only have 1 or 2 patients instead of the 4 or 5 they watch in a normal room) They want to monitor him carefully as they undo this error.

Katie came by today with Zach, and had a chance to talk to Dr. Connolly. She’s very impressed with him, too.

The new room has a WINDOW, and is about twice as big as the former broom closet, where dad was definitely feeling claustrophobic.

While they were ordering up the glucagon, Dr. Connolly asked Sheila and me to please try to keep dad awake, since his heart rate falls when he falls asleep. We laughed at this order to be ultra-annoying to our father and observed that we had decades of experience in this realm. But as you can imagine, it has been no fun at all to bug him in this way. Now that the glucagon is starting to do it’s work, we are allowed to let him sleep.

Mom got her booster, and has not called us. We have not called her because if she’s sleeping, we don’t want to interrupt that. She has our numbers and can call us when/if she wants a ride back for a while this evening.

So today we fix the first problem, tomorrow there will be additional testing to try to get to the bottom of what started all this fun.

Kate and Zach were kind enough to get sandwiches for sheila and me. For now, email is probably the best way to communicate as we’d rather not have the texts pinging while he’s finally asleep.

Dad’s thinking has sort of been in and out, but he totally aced the mental status exam, as he does every time his faculties are put to the test. One of the tests was a drawing which shows kids on a stool stealing cookies from a cookie jar, while their mom who must be on valium or something is washing dishes in an overflowing sink. Dad’s read: “The kids are stealing cookies. Their mother is trying to forget the whole sordid affair.”

So he’s hanging in there. And so are we.

By vbock|2022-09-25T17:36:49-05:00September 25th, 2022|Categories: Jack Curran|0 Comments

Sunday Morning

Sheila joined us at 6 this morning, and we toddled over to the hospital in time to meet Dr. Sean Brett Connolly, M.D., and dreamboat out of the comic pages, explained that there are some conflicting indicators, and they are not quite sure what is happening. They have treated him with antibiotics and his white count is coming down. His chest x-ray might have shown early pneumonia, so they are taking another chest x-ray today. His heart is more congested than usual, but not as high as it has been for him. Dr Connolly wants to powwow with dad’s cardiologist, Dr. Shortall, tomorrow, and run some tests that are not available today. They are neither adding nor subtracting fluid

Mom is insistent that she wants to get her booster shot and pick up some stuff for Dad at Walgreens. Sheila will take my car to take mom back home for a while. I’m hanging here for now.

Dad is in good form, making sense again (yay!) He clearly charmed the heck out of the doc, from the way I heard the doc talking to nurses about Dad as I passed them.

By vbock|2022-09-25T17:34:19-05:00September 25th, 2022|Categories: Jack Curran|0 Comments

Jack is Hospitalized

Dad felt some strange pains in his neck and shoulders on Friday, September 23. Sheila is in town for her HS reunion, and so accompanied mom and dad to the Emergency Department at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital. They h did a major workup – scans of his chest, heart and head, and didn’t find anything, releasing him with a diagnosis of “stiff neck”

I drove up when I heard they were going to the hospital and got there just in time to bring everybody home. Sheila zoomed off to her reunion, and mom and dad and I had a nice dinner and turned in early.

Saturday morning, Dad was having too much trouble moving around for getting him showered to work. He went back to bed, but then never really felt up to getting up again. He was having trouble moving, and wasn’t always making the best sense. We let him snooze for a long time, but I finally asked if he’d do a video call with Jim. Jim did not like the way he looked and recommended that we return to the hospital.

We did. It took from 6 p till 10 p to get the decision that dad would be admitted. Covid protocols mean that all visitors must leave the premises at 8 p, so we kissed dad goodnight and went home for a late supper and a snooze.

By vbock|2022-10-02T09:54:41-05:00September 25th, 2022|Categories: Jack Curran|0 Comments

Apartment Living

We are gradually getting Harry and Carole settled in their new place. I took this pic a couple of weeks ago…

Note Harry’s Executive work station with cardboard box credenza!

The process has been set back a bit by a plumbing disaster this week – the guy who came to fix the shower that only rained hot water broke the valve, and flooded the bathroom and both bedrooms. So now they are getting lovely new wood floors, along with cold water in the shower, hopefully.

We had them over to our place to watch the Sox game this afternoon – pretty great to have a 10 minute ride down Michigan Avenue instead of the hour schlep from the suburbs! Katie and Jimmy came by, and we had Steve, Rachel, and little Nolan on Facetime, so it was a lot of family fun!

Carole’s speech is coming along more slowly than she’d like, but noticeably to the rest of us. It tends to be at it’s best after morning coffee and as she tires into the evening, it gets harder for her to find the words in conversation. We find we are spending a LOT less time playing guessing games about what she’s trying to say, because much more of the time she’s able to express it. Jim Jr. points out that she has achieved what no other family member has done: getting this bunch of chatterboxes to stop to LISTEN to what another family member has to say! She’s still shy of phone conversations, just because it’s so frustrating when she can’t find the words she’s looking for, and it’s not possible to fill the gap with facial expressions and hand gestures.

So that’s the news from here. It was great just to do something as normal as hang out and watch a game! Hope all of you are enjoying a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend!

By vbock|2021-05-30T19:55:56-05:00May 30th, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments

New Home, At Last!

Carole and Harry got to sleep in their own bed last night! Harry says they are going a little nuts trying to find things, but that it’s good to be in their own space.

Carole Ann reported this afternoon:

“Guess who just sat down at the piano and played! Not one-note little ditties. She played an improvisational duet of heart and soul where she played with both hands and improvised all sorts of fun stuff. She can play!!!

So things are good. If you’d like to correspond with them this summer, their address will be

Harry and Carole Bock
850 N. Lake Shore Drive, Apartment 1102
Chicago, IL 60611

By vbock|2021-05-11T20:57:09-05:00May 11th, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments

Working at Rehab

Carole started at the Ability Lab on Monday. They are working her hard, 3 hours a day, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

It’s very cool – already we are seeing changes. She can string several sentences together when she’s well-rested.

Jim and I will be at a distance for the next little bit – but we will pass on news that comes to us!

We’re headed to Seattle to meet this little guy. Please meet Carole and Harry’s great grandson, Nolan Bock! Born Thursday May 4, 8 lbs, 3 oz, 20 inches. Mom Rachel and baby are doing well. Dad Steve is pretty tired, but also proud, happy and thrilled!

By vbock|2023-03-19T19:26:41-05:00May 6th, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments

Settling in

Carole and Harry have now been at the condo for 2 weeks and seem to be settling in, but are definitely looking forward to having their own place sometime after May 10!

Carole Ann took Carole to get her hair done yesterday and she looks terrific. Val took Harry to get a cut, so now they are just wildy glamorous together.

Carole has been to her new primary care doc, who we like a lot. After her appointment Carole was able to say “I am hungry and thirsty!” so they stopped for lunch at Beatrix, a delightful restaurant in the Northwestern Medical complex. Then they took a short walk over to the apartment building Carole Ann lives in (she’s on the 10th floor, they will be on the 11th)

The words are coming. We expect that they will start to come faster as she gets some professional help. Meanwhile, Harry works with her on the homework sent with her discharge papers from Lee Hospital each and every day, so we can see how things that were beyond her just a few days ago are now within her powers.

Thanks everyone, for all the prayers. They are working!

By vbock|2021-05-02T08:06:57-05:00May 2nd, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments

Saturday Fun

We have a negative Covid test for Carole, and a visit from Jimmy. Katie had this fun idea for something to keep Carole out of trouble, so now we will have to think about rolling up the piano in time for dinner.

By vbock|2021-04-24T17:26:08-05:00April 24th, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments

Working the checklist

We are making good progress through the checklist. Carole got a PCR Covid test today, per the request of the AbilityLab. We’ve also got her and Harry signed up to meet new primary care docs down here.

They are really looking forward to the temperatures rising, though. We Chicagoans are basking in 60 degree heat, and they still want their jackets. 🙂

By vbock|2023-03-19T19:27:55-05:00April 23rd, 2021|Categories: Carole Bock|0 Comments