A Paraffin Manicure

     Breakfast was sausage gravy and biscuits with four slices of bacon, cranberry juice and a small bowl of cantaloupe. And yes, greater love hath no man than to share a piece of bacon. Mmmmm while trying to reach his bacon, he leaned too far forward and did a face plant. He was trying to get the last slice of bacon. It was kinda startling. The nurses had to pull him back up, now it is funny.

     They are scheduling him to remove the blood clot filter in his leg, so no eating until after the removal. There is a sign on the door for no food in the mouth. NPO (Nil Per os)  is Latin for "nothing for mouth".

    OT is stretching his left arm and lifting his 3/4 lb weight with the right. She is talking about having someone go to our house and make recommendations for house renovations on the same day we want to come here.

    Speech has background music on and is having him talk over it. He is singing The First Noel. Breathe first before you sing. He is doing pitch weaving.

     PT did stretches on the mat, frog sit and some balance.

No lunch for him. He says he misses the H2O. 

   Aytree from SWIACH stopped in for a visit. I got a hug. We were very pleased to see her. She is the PT specialist there and was very helpful to us. What a blessing she is in our lives, very patient and kind.

     We found out there is someone in La Grande that has spinal cord injury rehabilitation experience Yeah!  They will fax her the info on the techniques they are using here so she will know what help we will need there. Yeah! I was not looking forward to three days here for six months. She is one of Central moms, two of her children go to Central school. I won't reveal her name until it is settled. 

     PT had him lifting weights. He is up to 1 pound.

    They strap his hands to the bar as his grip is not very strong.

Our friends, Jean Secl and Donna Patterson stopped in to say hello. Donna's husband Archie is getting another biopsy, four times he has beaten cancer.  And Jean was here to see her son and to help Donna drive back to La Grande.

    OT had Bruce put big pegs in small holes (is that a government thing?) and take them out. Then she dipped his left hand in warm wax, five times, wrapped it in Saran Wrap and then with a towel. She peeled the wax off and was able to manipulate his hand. She says his hand is looking more normal.

     It works really well, Beth is able to move his fingers without pain. They are  pleased his hand is looking more normal.

     Had a pleasant talk with the recreational therapist. She is planning for him to use the hospital wheelchair accessible mini van to look at Christmas lights and do a drive by tomorrow to see the step he will need to maneuver so he can eat Christmas dinner at the Robison's house. She wants to take him swimming too. 

     They came to remove the filter about 4:30. He was awake but didn't feel any pain. It is called conscious anthesized. It took about two hours. I started reading the third book in a Brian Jacques series, Voyage of Slaves. An easy escape book.

   He returned and was ready for dinner. He had turkey tetrazzini, roll, small salad, two cartons of milk and a partridge in a pear tree. No just can't remember what else he had. Sorry 

   We were both pretty tired so we watched a Charlie Brown Christmas. It is a short dvd and we both fell asleep. We woke up when they brought in his night meds so I headed for my Boise home.

         

       

Too Many Pictures...

     I took this photo on the way out of the building last night. My OCD discovered one of ththe light fixtures is different, same color, different shape. Can you find it?

     Bacon quiche with salsa, cream of wheat with blueberries, and Apple juice was his breakfast today.

     He is really tired and has already fallen asleep. The nurse Melanie had to wake him up to give him his morning medicine.

     I read through these two books while he was sleeping. Should I make this into a movie? Get it?

    

Grande Ronde Hospital doesn't do spinal cord therapy rehab, Walla Walla doesn't do outpatient rehab. We asked them to see if Blue Mountain Therapy does, we are waiting on a call back. Otherwise we might have to come back here weekly for 6 months for 3 days of out patient rehab. Heavy sigh. 

     He has a 'wound' from sitting in the wheelchair. So he is supposed to tilt more when he is sitting to avoid pressure on his bony behind. 

     Mrs. Bullock's third grade class made a book for Mr. K. It is 'Where's Mr. Kevan?' Like 'Where's Waldo'. They colored pictures of him on the playground. He is wearing a red shirt (school colors) and his brown fishing/shade hat. (he is supposed to wear a hat as he had a couple spots of melanoma removed a few years back) it is a delightful book! We also received several cards and I taped some to the doors in our room. Thank you for thinking of us. It is a pleasant and fun reminder of people that care.

     PT came in and ranged his legs. 

     They are doing a Doppler on his lower legs to check on blood clots. No change on blood clots. 

     This is the Doppler machine, he is demonstrating a five pound squeezer gadget to strengthen his hand and arm. 

     This is a therapy dog we aw on the way to PT this afternoon.

      PT was showing Bruce what it takes to do a transfer. He has to lean forward and balance on his wrists and that lifts the bottom. Learned real quick that he is not strong enough to do that. So they did more balancing with his arms behind him and he could do that. 

      Had a family team medical meeting. Decided he will have to come home in an electric wheelchair for 6 months. He is just not strong enough to do a manual wheelchair. They are talking about coming to La Grande to do an evaluation of our home to get it wheelchair accessible. When the Dr certifies it workers comp will pay for it. 

     For lunch Bruce bit into a hoagie sandwich and had some cream of celery soup. He drank it with a straw because he was tilting on his right arm  and couldn't get the spoon to his mouth.

       OT was green thera putty (like silly putty or taffy ) with a five pound resistance. They warmed up the putty in their hands then flattened it like a tortilla, then they rolled it up, which stretches the left hand. Next they rolled it into a snake to make a snowman. He had trouble pinching and pulling off a section. Finally they played Yahtzee. Ginger kicked his trash. 

     A poor sad melted snowman.

        Becky Gekeler and Sam stopped in. They are buying some suits for his mission to Colorado. Sent them on an errand to purchase some swim shoes (Aqua shoes) for Bruce. They didn't find any Aqua shoes. It is not the season.

     For dinner Bruce chomped on 2 slices of pizza extreme. It had just about everything on it and some sprite to help the medicine go down. We sat with a nice couple, their first night there. He had a stroke and was recovering. she and I did most of the talking. We could understand what he was saying, just barely. He had a Broncos shirt on. He said he would sit with us even if we are ducks... Ha ha His right side was paralyzed. He was trying to uncurl his frozen hand and Bruce is trying to curl his left hand. They own a water purification business. I didn't catch the name. He comes to La Grande all the time. He does water checks for Idaho and Oregon. I told them we have a John Wayne Christmas video coming and asked if they wanted to watch it with us. They like John Wayne. 

        I ordered some vintage Christmas movies and the first one came today. We watched 'Remember the Night' with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. What a disappointing ending. How could this be a happy Christmas movie? Bruce fell asleep twice that I noticed. It was rated 7.8. Hope the other movies are better. 

     I put the first of three bb CDs of Andrews games in for Bruce to watch and I headed for my Boise home.

     

Monday, Monday (by Sonny and Cher)

      Arrived to find Lee Clinkenbeard talking to Bruce. They both like to talk so that was fun.

      Bruce caught me up on what has been happening. 

     The OT make a mold of his left hand in melted warm wax. They dip his hand four times and it solidifies, they wrap it in Saran Wrap, then they peel the wax off. That loosens up the joints in his hand and it is easier to work with. I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow. 

       He said he is down to twice a week with speech so he is almost up to par with his voice and diaphragm workouts.

      He has a nice bag of dirty clothes for me to wash. Cinderkaren 

     Someone stopped by with icing covered pretzels and gingerbread men. Bruce must have missed them because he was at therapy. What a nice edible surprise. Who dunna it? 

      Sandra Morehead sent gingerbread men, sugar cookies, thin mints, oranges and peanut brittle. Thank you Sandra!  

      The Thimmes sent a very nice glass light up singing manger scene. Thank you.

     Liz Meyer sent some battery operated lights for his wheel chair. He laughed out loud when I showed him.

       Rogers sent a nice wooden nativity. Sorry the treats didn't make it. The elves must have eaten them or that hungry Rudolph...

        He is napping now, they sure wear him out. He will have to get up soon for dinner. It is warm in this room and making me sleepy...

     Dinner was lemon chicken breast, green beans, smashed taters, a small green salad with blue cheese dressing and milk. While they get him out of bed and into the wheelchair I head for the cafeteria, I couldn't resist the turkey pot pie. They used a triangle shaped puff pastry with a turkey gravy vegetable stew on top. I had a side of sautéed broccoli and sugar snap peas. It was delisous. For dessert he had ginger snap cookies some peanut brittle and some raspberry chocolate cookies. I had the last two Reese's peanut butter cups. All these delightful dessertswere sent to us. We are slowly making our way through them. Thank you for thinking of us and sharing your family treats. 

     He demonstrated the pulley system he uses.

     He said the OT gave him a weight in a Velcro strap.

      We played the dvd "it's a Wonderful Life". I hung some Christmas cards from the students and some cards from our church primary on the doors. It is looking festive in here. Thank you for the cards and decorations. It reminds us that other people care. 

     Here is a picture of some ceiling lights I noticed the other day. One light bulb does not match. My OCD noticed it and I thought I would share. Can you find it? 

        

        

Pencil Me In

     Talked to Bruce tonight. 

     He now has a recreational therapist. She took him to lunch in the hospital cafeteria. He had pizza with stuffed crust, salad and lemonade. 

     She had him practice driving the wheelchair into a mini van. The middle seats were removed and then he is anchored in like the buses we use in school. He said he couldn't see the ramp, she had to direct him.

      She said she would take him to the swimming pool. They have water wings for arms and legs that he will use. They want to get the weight off his body. He said he would be able to push off with his left foot as he can move it now any time he wants. He says he can move his shoulders now, they are just really weak. 

     Other activities planned are the movies and dinner. Her job is to get him acclimated to the community doing normal activities in the wheelchair. He said I could go with them when I am in town. I will pencil him in. 

     He said Verl Miller comes to see him. He wants to go visit them on the ninth floor in the central tower. That is the quilt floor.

     Met with our contractor today for a ramp, a wet bathroom (that means the shower might get everything in the room wet) and widening doorways. Also got an estimate to upgrade the carpets to flooring. Moved things out of the bathrooms and moved a bookcase to widen a doorway. We will stack the washer and dryer and Andrew will have to take the shelving down.

     We have way too much junk. Our children have been telling me to get rid of stuff, I guess now is as good a time as any. 

   Shelly Dall brought over three DVDs of Andrews bb games. Bruce will watch them and make sure Andrew's form is right and that he works hard. 

     Talked to Sheri Clemens and will go visit her house tomorrow to see the changes they made. Her husband had Lou Gehrig's disease. They had made the changes to their home before he had gotten too bad.  

     How do people do this? I made a list so will tackle it one day at a time. Andrew will help me organize the house, although he is going on a date tomorrow. Maybe he will pencil me in.

     This plumbing will have to be moved so we can widen the 29 inch door. ADA standards are minimum 32 - 36 inches for doorways. ADA means Americians with Disabilities Act. Would you believe one doorway is 31 inches? It's an older home.

     

Reflections

      He missed his shower this morning, his blood pressure was low. He is better now as soon as he got back into bed.

     For breakfast he had sausage gravy and a large biscuit with pepper, 2 link sausages, oj, milk and a small bowl of strawberries.

   I took the ace wraps off his legs and rolled them, undid his waist binder, took his breakfast tray back. The nurses have three new patients. I need to feel useful anyway. 

     OT did more strength and moving arms, right and left.

    Speech lady, Tonya turned the tv on so he would have to talk over the background noise. She is having him talk about the Ducks game last week. He can go on and on about that. She is from Ohio so she talks about her team. She doesn't like our duck water bottle. She is having him whistle really loud and it is wimpy (his own words). She had him blow a paper towel with one breath and it was mild too. She will cut down meeting with him next week to twice a week. She said he is improving.

   PT is here now, talking about us looking at wheelchair venders. Bruce told them we want a manual wheelchair. Our car will be better for a old up wheelchair.

They are stretching his legs, getting him dressed.

     Hubert and Jodie Morrison and three children came by for a brief visit. They brought us jingle bell tree to use that Iights up. 

    I left after lunch, need to be here for Andrews first bb game.

He called this evening, he talked to Andrew about the bb game. Said Verl Miller stopped by. His girlfriend is having knee surgery so they are there in St Als too.

Penny McKay stopped by with a box of things from the students. He is excited to look at those.

He was really tired. They are working both arms to get him ready for a manual wheelchair. He said they rigged a pulley system for him to practice on in the evening.

         I will take a break from blogging until I return on Monday. Our contractor is coming to look at the house tomorrow morning to see what we need to do.

      This is a picture of a helicopter. Can you see it? Well you can see the reflexion on the building.

Manna from Pres. Richards

     Haircut day, we can see his ears. Cut some of the longer hair in the back. Did a basic buzz cut. Then they gave him a shower.

    OT, Beth, worked on his left arm stretching and massaging. Then ice.    

    Speech finished with mental testing last week. They say his brain is fine, good thing he was wearing his helmet. Tonya 1 (both Speech ladies names are Tonya so they call them Tonya 1 and Tonya 2, like thing 1 and thing 2, both last names begin with H, Tonya 1 has been here longer so she is number 1) asked about his whistle, he uses that on the playground and singing as we do that in church. He cant whistle yet and not enough breathe to sing.

   He has a breather, he is on two exhale, and on four inhale. I think he needs s duck call. They move it up to tighten it and it gets harder for strength and power. He has to get to 4 and 5. He can't blow his nose yet. The air doesn't come out hard enough. 

In through the nose and out through the mouth. He is supposed to exhale with an SSSsss sound. Inhale expand tummy, exhale small tummy, use  diaphragm. Hold to three, exhale to three.

     They took the peg tube out! Yeah! No more tubes.

Pres. Richards stopped by with a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!  Oh thank you Pres Richards!! Is that manna from heaven or what?

     To the MRI for pictures of arm, it should take 2 hours. I will go to the quilt Crossing and see what they have... Needless to say I found w couple of things I couldn't live without. 

   Returned to find the MRI only took 20 min. He had about 20 min of PT, they did leg stretching. Than he ate lunch in the dining room, he had a panini sandwich, which is the type of bread with club sandwich ingredients, a bag of chips, and milk.

    Then Beth got him for PT and they did the hand bicycle machine. Then some stretch band exercises. 

   On the way back to the room we stopped in to meet R T 300. Restorative Therapy makes the machines in Maryland. She is similar to a stationary bicycle. Beth will attach his arms to the electrodes. The machine does the moving with the electrode sensation while he is sitting in his wheelchair. It is all recorded on line which muscle reacts. 

   I had one doughnut, Bruce had two,  They are so sugary, water, where is my water? You only need one a month, sugar coma. Nap time 

     Bruce had an egg salad sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes, chicken rice soup and strawberry short cake for dessert.

    We went to the end of the hall to see the Christmas lights in the parking lot. They have decorated the trees with light and they are pretty.

   Now we are trying to figure out how to do Skype...

    Ever wonder what to do in case of a fire drill in a hospital? Well tonight that question was answered. The fire alarm and lights went off. We stayed in our room like good little boys and girls. The nurse came in and explained about the practice they do, they call security to tell them the lights and sound work and close all the doors on the floor. Like a run through. She said they gather all the patients that can walk and take them down the stairs. I asked what they would do with people that don't walk and they don't take the elevator. She said they just got this new gadget like a wheel chair only treads like an army tank. They strap the patient in the chair with a head strap too and send them down the stairs. If they need more than one they have an alternative. It is a box shaped like a coffin, with no lid and strap the patient in that and slide them down the stairs. Whee. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. Any volunteers to test drive them? 

    

     

     

Cold Shoulder

      Seen in the parking lot this morning.

My host family let me borrow a small Christmas tree. It looks nice in the room at night as it has a reflection in the window. 

     MRI results on left shoulder, tear in one of his rotator cuff tendons, tear in the labrum. Orthoscopic surgery will slow down recovery, will begin anti inflammatory medicine. So the question is do we do surgery now because he is not progressing or wait until later. They will consult and let us know. Either way works for us. We are not going anywhere.

     Now for some good news: 

     He can flex some of his tummy muscles. He has feeling on both feet now. Which means not just his toes but both feet are ticklish. He can sign his name and it is readable. He is doing Sudoko puzzles. He moved his left foot in view of the therapists so it is confirmed. 

       The OT therapist worked with his right arm and strengthening muscles, she did stretching with his left hand and some movement. 

      The speech therapist is having him sing Christmas Carols. We are singing with the Mo Tab, Joy to the World was too fast. The First Noel was better. La las and do re me's.  Pitch weaving is singing 'basket ball' going higher in pitch and lower in pitch.

Row, row your boat with not too deep or loud inhales. Talking over the background music increases diaphragm strength. She said he needs to practice oral reading so he can speak for 20 min at a time. Good he can read scriptures with me now.

     PT is here and they are stretching his legs, one on each leg. 

    Lunch was cod, rice, green beans, 2 percent milk, and a 3 inch chocolate chip cookie.

    For PT Bruce worked on sitting up without assistance. He balances and then they push him with a finger and he has to resist that and stay sitting up. No it is not bullying.

   

     OT showed him what a slide board is and how is works. It is used for transfers from a wheelchair to a bed, a wheelchair to a car, it is used for sliding from seat to seat.

     I thought it would be as long as the bed. This is a nice size. Bruce said they were talking about using it tomorrow.

They talked about putting a pulley system on the bed for strength exercises. We might be moving to another room that has a lift in the ceiling if that doesn't work.

      We found they won't be doing the shoulder surgery while we are here. It takes two months to recuperate so that will be put off for awhile. They gave him anti inflammatory medicine, ice, heat and strength. The arm would regress to much if it isn't moved, so we push on.

    Lee and Lovena Clinkinbeard came by for a chat after therapy. That was a nice break.

     Followed by a car full of friends from La Grande, Sandra Morehead, Verna Feik, Beverly Kirkwood and Carma and Bob Bedard. They were on a temple trip. Bob said he had to be back in time for the scout canned food drive, travel safe. 

       Dinner was Hunter's beef stew in a bread bowl with a fruit plate.

Talked to Luke on Skype about bb games. 

     Bruce shaved and then brushed his teeth. He is listening to BYUtv Handel's Messiah, it is a documentary, but they have characters in costume that act it out. I watched part of it the other day. I found it interesting.

    Brought home Bruce's clothes to wash. My host family the Robisons let me use the washer and dryer. They invited us over for Christmas dinner. Hopefully Bruce will be able to do transfers by then.