Blog at http://drpeg2003.blogspot.com/
June 9, 2006 (3:50pm)
Gary has been able to prone for five and a half hours each of the past two nights, encouraging news for his home bedtime routine – hopefully he can get it up to eight hours prone so he won’t have to set an alarm after at most six hours to remind himself to turn off his side or back.
He had two classes today. The first, “Been there, done that,” was led by two former Shepherd patients. One ,a young man – late twenties, early thirties, I think – was a T12 whose injury had occurred two years ago. The other was an older woman, maybe sixty-ish (I’m really not any good at guessing ages) whose C 6-7-8 injury occurred eleven years ago. The guy was very vigorous – I told Gary he needed to look like him in a few weeks, referring to the guy’s bulging muscles – and very inspirational. They both were, having obviously adjusted well to their new lives. They talked about how when people first leave here, their lives will be filled with new challenges, new complications, but each accomplishment will make the next one easier. They emphasized being innovative “as the rubber hit the road,” (meaning that time when one leaves the hospital and using, I assume, the rubber of the wheel of the wheelchair in the symbology) and thinking outside the box as one finds one’s new normal. “Life is the same,” the young man said, “but the approach is different.”
There were some questions asked by the patients, some concerns briefly covered, but the main value of the time was that, as Gary put it, “it’s great to see someone who’s adjusted so well,” though we also found it interesting that when the guy was here after his injury, he had absolutely no feeling or movement in his legs, and now after two years he can lift them and feel some sensation in them, and he feels like he may still get more back. He talked about his exercising a bit, bringing up that he exercises on a special bike. At that point I asked if there would be any benefit in Gary doing so (I know I asked someone else about this, but I wasn’t clear about the answer). The guy thought it would absolutely be of benefit, not only to maintain muscle mass and all those good things that come from exercise, but to possibly form reconnections. He said he didn’t know for sure it had helped him regain his functioning, but always when he exercises he concentrates on the muscle being exercised, with the hope that the brain signals he sends by such intentions ( a nonverbal “quad muscle, move!”) will somehow form a connection with the signals being sent by his muscles that are being forced to move by the machine. (I suspect that’s the closest Gary would get to adopting a “New Age” technique ;-))
I gathered it is the case that later on in his rehab Gary will be taken to another gym here where they have such special equipment, and Gary can try it out.
After the class Gary and I stayed in the room – there was a half-hour break before his next class, so by staying there we saved the nurses the effort of hauling Gary’s bed up and down the elevator another time – and the male class leader stayed to chat for a while. We found out that he gets money from a brain and spine foundation in Georgia to buy adaptive equipment (such as the special bike mentioned above, or a special stepper); he thought there was such a foundation in Alabama and said he’d look into it for us.
I took a quick potty break, and when I came back it was almost time for the bladder class (good timing). The class leader was the guy who’d given my afternoon series of lectures, and I liked him a lot – he comes off as a very caring, sensitive individual.
He’d come to Gary’s room and introduced himself sometime when I wasn’t there, and Gary and he had gotten around to math – Gary had told him about how a topologist couldn’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut. Today when the guy saw Gary, he rushed up to him and told him how he’d just recently seen on the news some story where they mentioned something about topology and how a topologist couldn’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut! The guy was quite pleased that he’d already known that, because of his discussion with Gary :-)
Neither Gary nor I picked up any new information from the lecture, since I’d already heard it and then described it in excruciating detail to Gary ;-), but we both realized we still had the part where we have to apply that knowledge ahead of us.
Next came lunch, which Gary proclaimed half-decent (as opposed to yesterday when his reaction to every meal was, “Oh, god, is it time to eat again?”). When he finished he said, “ You know what would hit the spot?” I raised an eyebrow, knowing full well what he was intimating. “Hagen Daz chocolate chip ice cream?” I hazarded. He smiled blissfully. “And this time I have a metal spoon,” he trumpeted, waving his lunch spoon at me. Last night it had been a struggle using plastic utensils to get the well-frozen ice cream out of its container into a cup.
After I returned from the snack room with his treat, we went into hysterics as he told me about his unsuccessful attempt to steal hospital silverware. Apparently, on Wednesday, when he’d first made the request for the ice cream and knew I was bringing it that night, he’d tried to secrete the metal spoon from his dinner in the towel the nurse had put over him to use as a bib, so he could later use the spoon for his ice cream. Unfortunately, the nurse whipped the towel away immediately after Gary finished dinner because it was time to turn him to his other side. The contraband clattered to the floor. You know the phrase, “You can run, but you can’t hide”? Well, Gary couldn’t run, either.
In the afternoon they started Gary on the next phase of recovery from his flap surgery – someone came in and put his hips at a ninety degree angle, at which they stayed for two hours. Each day they’ll increase the angle by five degrees, and after he’s at one hundered and ten degrees, they’ll start the next phase where he gets to start sitting up, starting with a half hour and increasing to eight. The person who adjusted Gary’s legs also did cross-fiber massage on his scar tissue to break up the adhesions. Things seem to be healing well, though there is one place we need to keep a special eye on because it will be naturally weaker – the place where two incisions met.
In the later afternoon, cousin-in-law Helen picked me up at my apartment to show me her condo in case anything about it needed explaining to the Gruenhages when they come and stay in it. It is too bad I cannot retain visual impressions without focused concentration (I couldn’t focus on my surroundings because I was trying to focus on what Helen was saying about what was where and how things operated) – or maybe, since I know Helen has read in this blog, Helen will be thankful of the fact my visual memory stinks, because this way she won’t see my description of her condo here ;-) Let me just say it is very nice, and the Gruenhages staying there will probably feel like royalty ;-) (Let’s see, if you want to swim, you go through the center atrium and out the rear doors, pass through the English maze garden with all its statuary and somewhere out there is hidden a pool).
I tried my best to retain what she said, but I hope you guys don’t plan on doing a lot of fancy cooking so I have to remember how the convection oven works. I think I remember the directions about the microwave, as they seemed standard. The oven might be a little trickier, as there are digital controls (“It’s all self-explanatory,” Helen said airily, waving her hand at the digital controls, the same thing she had said about the digital washer and the digital dishwasher; meanwhile, my eyes are glazing over.) I probably should’ve taken notes, but couldn’t bear coming off as that much of an idiot ;-) The stove is gas and seems to work like other gas ones do (I’ve operated such a couple times), except apparently the left front burner is a little tricky so my advice to the Gruenhages is just don’t use the left front burner and we’ll all be much happier.
Helen plans to leave little notes, but if need be, I believe I can remember how to get you to where to empty your trash when you leave, and if absolutely necessary I can probably recall how to adjust the temperature of the condo (the little trick there is after you push the button on the outside of the thermostat control and get the temperature at the number you want, you have to flip down the front of the control box and push the button that says “hold,” and you have to hold it for a minute. I think it was a minute. Well, I'm sure a minute will suffice.)
Oh, well, I’m sure we’ll muddle through. I *am* confident you’ll spot the bedrooms and bathrooms. And the actual getting into the place starting at street level seems straightforward enough – yes, I practiced, to make sure there weren’t any tricks with the elevator, for instance.
In the evening Gary and I watched more Capote. I find the movie character a little ghoulish – wanting to keep the murderers alive so he can write a good story, insinuating himself into the lives of other people that he wants to use for research purposes. I get the impression he says what he says to them simply in order to use them for the benefit of his book. The movie makes me wonder if they were wise to trust him (I don’t know; I’d have to read “In Cold Blood” and maybe find out what the featured people’s reactions to it were).
I cracked up at Norma’s email remark, “Have you considered cheerier movies?” When at home we watch an hour of entertainment a night and do go through more of a mix – TV shows like 24 and CSI and Without a Trace, old Columbos (I think we’ve seen them all, but we almost always remember each scene AFTER it happens), movies we tape from the TV. We like comedy, romance, mystery, and some nonfiction, but the high proportion of the latter these days is somewhat coincidental – these happen to be recent movies with good reviews and people have happened to offer to send or loan them to us. Also, I think I mentioned Gary prefers nonfiction to fiction, and perhaps that played a role (though that applies more to reading material). Me, I tend not to like the more reality-based movies, but it depends on the subject matter. I prefer movies with happy endings, but there are the exceptions. It’s safe to say I don’t like “downers.”
All for now.
June 9, 2006 (3:50pm)
Gary has been able to prone for five and a half hours each of the past two nights, encouraging news for his home bedtime routine – hopefully he can get it up to eight hours prone so he won’t have to set an alarm after at most six hours to remind himself to turn off his side or back.
He had two classes today. The first, “Been there, done that,” was led by two former Shepherd patients. One ,a young man – late twenties, early thirties, I think – was a T12 whose injury had occurred two years ago. The other was an older woman, maybe sixty-ish (I’m really not any good at guessing ages) whose C 6-7-8 injury occurred eleven years ago. The guy was very vigorous – I told Gary he needed to look like him in a few weeks, referring to the guy’s bulging muscles – and very inspirational. They both were, having obviously adjusted well to their new lives. They talked about how when people first leave here, their lives will be filled with new challenges, new complications, but each accomplishment will make the next one easier. They emphasized being innovative “as the rubber hit the road,” (meaning that time when one leaves the hospital and using, I assume, the rubber of the wheel of the wheelchair in the symbology) and thinking outside the box as one finds one’s new normal. “Life is the same,” the young man said, “but the approach is different.”
There were some questions asked by the patients, some concerns briefly covered, but the main value of the time was that, as Gary put it, “it’s great to see someone who’s adjusted so well,” though we also found it interesting that when the guy was here after his injury, he had absolutely no feeling or movement in his legs, and now after two years he can lift them and feel some sensation in them, and he feels like he may still get more back. He talked about his exercising a bit, bringing up that he exercises on a special bike. At that point I asked if there would be any benefit in Gary doing so (I know I asked someone else about this, but I wasn’t clear about the answer). The guy thought it would absolutely be of benefit, not only to maintain muscle mass and all those good things that come from exercise, but to possibly form reconnections. He said he didn’t know for sure it had helped him regain his functioning, but always when he exercises he concentrates on the muscle being exercised, with the hope that the brain signals he sends by such intentions ( a nonverbal “quad muscle, move!”) will somehow form a connection with the signals being sent by his muscles that are being forced to move by the machine. (I suspect that’s the closest Gary would get to adopting a “New Age” technique ;-))
I gathered it is the case that later on in his rehab Gary will be taken to another gym here where they have such special equipment, and Gary can try it out.
After the class Gary and I stayed in the room – there was a half-hour break before his next class, so by staying there we saved the nurses the effort of hauling Gary’s bed up and down the elevator another time – and the male class leader stayed to chat for a while. We found out that he gets money from a brain and spine foundation in Georgia to buy adaptive equipment (such as the special bike mentioned above, or a special stepper); he thought there was such a foundation in Alabama and said he’d look into it for us.
I took a quick potty break, and when I came back it was almost time for the bladder class (good timing). The class leader was the guy who’d given my afternoon series of lectures, and I liked him a lot – he comes off as a very caring, sensitive individual.
He’d come to Gary’s room and introduced himself sometime when I wasn’t there, and Gary and he had gotten around to math – Gary had told him about how a topologist couldn’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut. Today when the guy saw Gary, he rushed up to him and told him how he’d just recently seen on the news some story where they mentioned something about topology and how a topologist couldn’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut! The guy was quite pleased that he’d already known that, because of his discussion with Gary :-)
Neither Gary nor I picked up any new information from the lecture, since I’d already heard it and then described it in excruciating detail to Gary ;-), but we both realized we still had the part where we have to apply that knowledge ahead of us.
Next came lunch, which Gary proclaimed half-decent (as opposed to yesterday when his reaction to every meal was, “Oh, god, is it time to eat again?”). When he finished he said, “ You know what would hit the spot?” I raised an eyebrow, knowing full well what he was intimating. “Hagen Daz chocolate chip ice cream?” I hazarded. He smiled blissfully. “And this time I have a metal spoon,” he trumpeted, waving his lunch spoon at me. Last night it had been a struggle using plastic utensils to get the well-frozen ice cream out of its container into a cup.
After I returned from the snack room with his treat, we went into hysterics as he told me about his unsuccessful attempt to steal hospital silverware. Apparently, on Wednesday, when he’d first made the request for the ice cream and knew I was bringing it that night, he’d tried to secrete the metal spoon from his dinner in the towel the nurse had put over him to use as a bib, so he could later use the spoon for his ice cream. Unfortunately, the nurse whipped the towel away immediately after Gary finished dinner because it was time to turn him to his other side. The contraband clattered to the floor. You know the phrase, “You can run, but you can’t hide”? Well, Gary couldn’t run, either.
In the afternoon they started Gary on the next phase of recovery from his flap surgery – someone came in and put his hips at a ninety degree angle, at which they stayed for two hours. Each day they’ll increase the angle by five degrees, and after he’s at one hundered and ten degrees, they’ll start the next phase where he gets to start sitting up, starting with a half hour and increasing to eight. The person who adjusted Gary’s legs also did cross-fiber massage on his scar tissue to break up the adhesions. Things seem to be healing well, though there is one place we need to keep a special eye on because it will be naturally weaker – the place where two incisions met.
In the later afternoon, cousin-in-law Helen picked me up at my apartment to show me her condo in case anything about it needed explaining to the Gruenhages when they come and stay in it. It is too bad I cannot retain visual impressions without focused concentration (I couldn’t focus on my surroundings because I was trying to focus on what Helen was saying about what was where and how things operated) – or maybe, since I know Helen has read in this blog, Helen will be thankful of the fact my visual memory stinks, because this way she won’t see my description of her condo here ;-) Let me just say it is very nice, and the Gruenhages staying there will probably feel like royalty ;-) (Let’s see, if you want to swim, you go through the center atrium and out the rear doors, pass through the English maze garden with all its statuary and somewhere out there is hidden a pool).
I tried my best to retain what she said, but I hope you guys don’t plan on doing a lot of fancy cooking so I have to remember how the convection oven works. I think I remember the directions about the microwave, as they seemed standard. The oven might be a little trickier, as there are digital controls (“It’s all self-explanatory,” Helen said airily, waving her hand at the digital controls, the same thing she had said about the digital washer and the digital dishwasher; meanwhile, my eyes are glazing over.) I probably should’ve taken notes, but couldn’t bear coming off as that much of an idiot ;-) The stove is gas and seems to work like other gas ones do (I’ve operated such a couple times), except apparently the left front burner is a little tricky so my advice to the Gruenhages is just don’t use the left front burner and we’ll all be much happier.
Helen plans to leave little notes, but if need be, I believe I can remember how to get you to where to empty your trash when you leave, and if absolutely necessary I can probably recall how to adjust the temperature of the condo (the little trick there is after you push the button on the outside of the thermostat control and get the temperature at the number you want, you have to flip down the front of the control box and push the button that says “hold,” and you have to hold it for a minute. I think it was a minute. Well, I'm sure a minute will suffice.)
Oh, well, I’m sure we’ll muddle through. I *am* confident you’ll spot the bedrooms and bathrooms. And the actual getting into the place starting at street level seems straightforward enough – yes, I practiced, to make sure there weren’t any tricks with the elevator, for instance.
In the evening Gary and I watched more Capote. I find the movie character a little ghoulish – wanting to keep the murderers alive so he can write a good story, insinuating himself into the lives of other people that he wants to use for research purposes. I get the impression he says what he says to them simply in order to use them for the benefit of his book. The movie makes me wonder if they were wise to trust him (I don’t know; I’d have to read “In Cold Blood” and maybe find out what the featured people’s reactions to it were).
I cracked up at Norma’s email remark, “Have you considered cheerier movies?” When at home we watch an hour of entertainment a night and do go through more of a mix – TV shows like 24 and CSI and Without a Trace, old Columbos (I think we’ve seen them all, but we almost always remember each scene AFTER it happens), movies we tape from the TV. We like comedy, romance, mystery, and some nonfiction, but the high proportion of the latter these days is somewhat coincidental – these happen to be recent movies with good reviews and people have happened to offer to send or loan them to us. Also, I think I mentioned Gary prefers nonfiction to fiction, and perhaps that played a role (though that applies more to reading material). Me, I tend not to like the more reality-based movies, but it depends on the subject matter. I prefer movies with happy endings, but there are the exceptions. It’s safe to say I don’t like “downers.”
All for now.
posted by Peg Daniels at 8:25 AM
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