Swallow

As defined by Merriam-Webster:

transitive verb
1 to take through the mouth and esophagus into the stomach
2 to envelop or take in as if by swallowing: absorb - "swallow the financial loss" "watch night swallow the valley"
3 to accept without question, protest, or resentment "swallow an insult" "a hard story to swallow"
4 take back retract "had to swallow my words"
5 to keep from expressing or showing: repress - swallowed my anger
6 to utter (as words) indistinctly

intransitive verb
1 to receive something into the body through the mouth and esophagus
2 to perform the action characteristic of swallowing something especially under emotional stress

Dad has done a lot of swallowing lately. I don't know that any of it has been easy. But the swallowing I'm excited about is related to food. He actually had his first "meal" today. I don't remember exactly what the staff told me, except that it was all sliced, diced, minced or otherwise mashed into the consistency of baby food. I know that the biggest worry related to him swallowing has been aspiration and/or choking. Puree the food so that choking is less likely. And thicken liquids to reduce the aspiration risk. I didn't try it personally, but I'm told he drank something the consistency of honey. Hopefully it all tasted good, Mom did comment that it smelled delicious.

The girls and I spent some time with him last night. He was asleep when we entered, but it didn't take long for our ensemble to rouse him from his slumber. Not intentionally, I think we might just be inherently noisy.

He responded well to our visit, but was obviously tired. We updated him on the last few days of our lives, including a rather unfortunate 'D' in 6th grade Spanish. We talked on about the progress on our new house, paying particular attention to the coloring of the kitchen tile and granite. I don't know if he feigned interest for our benefit, but he did seem to enjoy the talk. His voice is still quiet, and I understand only a few words. But it's still good to hear his voice, and see him work through this stage of rehabilitation.

He was alert and responsive enough to answer a few questions for me. While I understand that he can't move his right side, I didn't understand if that included sensation. I've been worried that he could be in pain, and unable to remedy the situation. In response to my question about feeling in his right arm, he simply shook his head 'no'.

I've been worried about his vision as well. Knowing that he had limited vision in his left eye due to the macular degeneration, I was worried that the stroke might have affected his right eye. Again, he responsed to my question, but this time when asked if he could see out of his right eye, he shook his head 'yes'.

We finished our visit and said our goodbyes as the staff came in to finish off his feeding for the day. This time, no swallowing. We were told previously, that the path to eating would be like everything else at this time in his recovery; one step at a time, accepting improvements as they come and providing support and encouragement as he continues down the path of recovery.