De Yip Louie

Photo Taken by Dale Horn

De Yip Louie, was an healthy and active 72-year-old man. He came over from China on a boat in 1937. It’s been told that he became a “successful full-time professional magician because he was a lousy bus boy.” In addition to a career of performing and creating (and recreating) many magic effects, and illusions, he was also a successful sportsman and inventor. Many to this day recall seeing my father on Chicago’s Bozo Circus, as the first magician on the show, a frequent performer, and one of the only Chinese magicians to
perform.

On July 29th it will be 12 years since the day my father had a massive hemorrhagic stroke. It was a Wednesday morning.  We had just came home from dropping my mom off from work when he first felt the effects of what was to be an oncoming stroke. It started in the foot and like most people, he didn’t know it was a stroke until he collapsed outside while working on a project. I heard him call my name, and I ran out there. I saw him on the grass and he said, “Frances, I am having a stroke, call 9-1-1.”  I rushed into the house, grabbed the phone, and dialed as I ran back outside. Before I hung up, I already heard the sirens. I immediately called my mom, and her boss drove her to meet us at the hospital.

My father was rushed to Northern Illinois Medical Center and the stroke triage was in place when he arrived. It was not longer after we were told that he had a Right C.V.A. and that his clot busted and was quickly filling up and over to the left side of the brain. There was so much pressure building up that the neurosurgeon was afraid it would collapse his brain stem. It was about eight hours later that we were given the option for my father to have a craniotomy to relieve the pressure. He had a 5% chance of survival.

My mom and I thoroughly thought it over and decided to go forward with it. We always said it was partly us being selfish to have him around no matter what.  The surgery took two hours and was successful. We learned later that the longest part of his stroke was the recovery. It wasn’t as simple as waking up and walking out the door.  His stroke happened in the basil ganglia which is responsible for Balance and Motor Coordination, and the stroke completely paralyzed his left side.

He spent four days in ICU, three weeks in MCU, and three weeks in extended care.  During that time it was about him gaining enough strength to be considered for inpatient rehab. My mom fought hard for him to get the best care possible and to make sure he got into rehab.

When he arrived he had a fantastic physical therapist. We feel that the physical therapist’s plan
to help my father regain as much of his physical strength as possible is the reason why he was able to come home.

We learned that he completely lost his balance.  We also learned that if you cannot sit, you cannot stand, and therefore, you cannot walk. His physical therapist really worked hard with him to gain all of that back. In addition, his motor coordination was affected, which means he could not do two things at once.  For example, he couldn’t walk and talk at the same time; this was something he was able to overcome in time.

Luckily he had no effects of any kind of aphasia. His processing was slow, but that was due to the stroke and anti-seizure medication he was on. We were afraid that he could lose his ability to speak English due to how massive the stroke was. Luckily that did not happen. The speech therapists were amazed that he spoke in complete sentences and that he did not lose the ability to read, write, or speak. His memory was not affected. His swallowing was slightly affected, though not enough to have to use thickener. Everything was in spoonfuls. His left lung and diaphragm were affected, but re-learned to breathe properly.

He spent four months in rehab before coming home. When he was discharged it was suggested that he should possibly go to a nursing home, but we made plans to care for him at home. We talked it over and decided that while she worked and I would stay home to take care of him, and then we would split the duties while we were both home. It worked out best. He immediately started Home Health Care for four weeks before getting evaluated for outpatient therapy. He started intensive occupational, physical and speech therapy that fall and had seven good months of five days a week, eight hours a day.

My mom and I took our roles as caregivers seriously. We found where our strengths lay in caring for him after all his therapy was finished. She worked a lot with him on his speech and occupational therapy, and I worked more on his physical therapy while helping out with his occupational therapy. It was easier to split it up. Plus, she was more patient with certain areas and in areas where he wouldn’t listen to me. It was much better for me to do the physical duties since I was stronger, younger, and less likely to hurt myself.

My mother also made sure he got out the house often. To this day, he likes to get out for fresh air, as long as he is dressed for the weather.

From the time he came home we learned how to adjust accordingly to his activities and medication schedule. Before the stroke he was never on any medication; when he came home he was only on two prescribed meds (Depakote to protect from seizures and Hytrin for prostate) and a vitamin pill. That was an adjustment for us.

For the first four months he slept in a non-rocking recliner in the living room because it was better for his body to get used to. My mom and I also took turns sleeping on the couch to watch over him. Then for two weeks he began to rotate between the recliner, my bed, and the bed he shared with my mom. Eventually he got comfortable and enjoyed sleeping in the master bedroom with my mom.

We also started to de-clutter the house to make it safer for him (and us) when he walked due to his left neglect.