July 10, 2006
Was sleeping great until I had a nightmare about 6:30am. My little sister and I were lying on the deck of a big boat or ship, as were other people I believe. We were in some exotic place, surrounded by many fancy red boats, possibly houseboats, full of rich people. One such boat zoomed along the side of us in the dark, throwing up a gigantic wave. Our ship was inundated and sank like a rock. I could feel my sister’s terror. I struggled toward the water’s surface, made it. As I tried to catch my breath in preparation to call out my sister’s name, I had the thought that I should do this part over again, that I should keep hold of my sister as we swam toward the top, because while it wasn’t yet clear I was saved – I had no idea if someone would find me there in the water or where to swim to land – she might have drowned and I might be all alone. But then it occurred to me that if I re-did this and kept a hand on her, it could happen that she might panic at some point and grab onto me, causing me to drown, or maybe I might not be able to swim upwards to the surface in time if I held onto her, and again I might drown.
I woke up.
So, what do you think? Do you save yourself and risk being alone, or do you try to help the other person and risk them drowning you? I’ll let you consider the broader implications of my dream on you own time ;-).
Mail call: thanks to Murat Tuncali. Also, thanks to mom – cute clothes for me and chocolates for Gary!
Gary was supposed to meet with the tech from 9-10, but she cancelled again. His PT said she would start meeting him at 9:30, so he had an hour-and-a-half session with her instead of an hour. To begin, she told Gary and me to transfer him onto the mat. She told me to put my hands on his hips, instead of under his butt, and only give him help if absolutely necessary.
It was absolutely necessary. His hand placement was off, and his hand slipped a little. He got no height (so I had to support his weight quite a lot), but even worse, upon landing he lost his balance and started going sideways off the mat. But between him catching himself on the chair and me grabbing him around chest (and the PT leaping forward just in case), there was no mishap. She made him do the transfer over again, and this time he did a great one.
It’s all in the technique.
The mat he was now on abutted another mat about four inches higher. She had him do hops over to the center edge of the mat he was on, his back to the higher mat, his legs in a frog position out in front of him on the lower mat. The PT introduced him to something new, “bump-ups,” which is something he’ll be practicing more when he comes back for day program in December; he got only a taste of it now because his flap isn’t sufficiently healed (and even now, he had to wear a J-pad, like the one we’d been show in gardening class, to protect his sacrum). To do the bump-ups, he was supposed to depress with his arms (pushing down with his hands) and at the same time throw his head forward to help him lift his butt up onto the mat behind him (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction ;-)). Problem was, he couldn’t get any height when pushing down on the mat. She had him try it with putting his hands on the higher mat behind him, but his lack of shoulder flexibility wouldn’t allow it. She brought over the pushup blocks, and using them he did the bump-ups like a pro. So we decided he needed to have that surgical procedure done to have his arm bones lengthened ;-).
He practiced that awhile, and then she had him do the bump-ups when slightly angled, so one hand was up on the higher mat, one on the lower. If he always did them this way, he would only need one arm lengthened ;-)
I had been wondering what the purpose of this was, but before I could ask, she explained. This is the technique he would use to get himself up stairs. I had also been wondering why she was having him do this now, when it wasn’t something he could really practice for months (I said this to Gary later, and he said he’d been wondering the same thing) – I would have thought practicing something like car transfers would be more valuable – but I didn’t ask why he was practicing this now, and she didn’t say.
Next she had him workout on a weight machine called the “Uppertone,” specifically designed for those in wheelchairs. On it he did rowing, presses, and side raises. Next we went out into a hallway, and the PT and Gary practiced wheelies. First he was to try to stay pretty much in place while in the wheelie, next he was supposed to travel down the hall in the wheelie position, next he was to do a three-sixty while in a wheelie (his were closer to one-eighties). She was always behind him to support his chair when he did this (as his tip bars had to be removed for these), so I was not sure how much help she gave him. I do know he commented to me that it would be a long time before he tried to wheelie up a curb unaided – if he should go backwards too far, he would tip back and hit his head on the street. That, we wouldn’t want (understatement of the year; it’ll be fine with me if he never attempts them.)
That was the end of that session, and we next went off to a travel class, given by a rec therapist. I was rather surprised by how the lecturer whipped through the information (now THIS would have been the time for those rec therapists to stretch out their lecture!) – I thought that there should have been handouts, as I can’t imagine many people retaining the information given, and even with me madly taking notes I couldn’t get everything down.
The lecturer covered
• Planning for the Trip (research your destination – various ways to do that were cited (check departments of tourism, internet resources, etc.));
• Know Your Rights (the Air Carriers Access Act);
• Packing for your trip (take carry-ons for medications, personal care supplies, and a list of emergency information (your physician’s contact info, names of your medications, your medical diagnosis, etc.) – there is no limit to the number of carry-ons you can take onboard for these items);
• Making Airline Reservations (among the covered information: request a bulkhead seat – more room for weight shifts, greater privacy for ICs if they have to be done on flight); get a direct flight if possible, otherwise arrange for a “meet and assist” if you feel it necessary);
• Important Information to Explain to the Travel Agent or Airline (including telling them the type of equipment you use and the type of assistance you will require for transfers into the airline seat or for your luggage, and also, making sure they have an onboard “aisle” wheelchair available, as that is the only way you are going to get to your assigned seat);
• Arriving at the Airport (get there plenty early, check baggage as normal, DO NOT CHECK YOUR WHEELCHAIR until you are ready to board (you need your own comfy chair, which you know how to handle and is to your specifications to protect your skin, and so forth – you don’t want to take the chance of being stuck in their chair if there is a delay in flight, for instance);
• Security Checkpoints (they will have you go through a manual security check, and you may want a doctor’s letter to explain that it is the rod in your spine setting off the security alarm);
• Pre-Boarding (GATE Tag your chair; tag all removable parts of your chair or take them on the plane with you (preferable, to guard against loss); pre-board; remain in your own chair until you reach the plane door at the end of the jetway);
• Transfer to an Aisle Chair (they have a special chair for you to transfer into);
• Type of Transfers to do into the aisle chair and into the airplane seat (do a depression or sliding transfer – tell airline personnel how much help you need);
• Ready to Board (transfer into the aisle chair; make sure staff straps you into it; take your own seat cushion with you, being sure to let air out of it if is an air cushion (some are gel));
• Transferring to Plane Seat (put cushion on seat; raise armrest or put blanket over it to protect your skin; put seatbelt on immediately, asking personnel to stay until you have the belt on securely if you need them to make sure you are balanced (it’s happened that they’ve transferred the person into the airplane seat and immediately turned away, and the person toppled over); make sure legs are at a ninety degree angle – don’t want your legs dangling as that puts too much pressure on your bootie – you may need to bring something to prop your legs up;
• Balancing and Position (use chest binder for support – have someone wrap it under the tray in the seat behind you so you aren’t preventing the person behind you from using their tray);
• During Flight (one half hour before arrival, have attendant call ahead to make sure your wheelchair is brought to the gate; be aware that attendants are not required to help you with personal needs);
• Getting Ready to Land;
• Departing the Plane (you will be last off);
• Inspect your Chair and other Equipment immediately (what to do if have a complaint);
• Travel Resources.
Whew!
She finished by showing us the aisle chair Delta uses. You are strapped into it, and then two trained airline personnel, one in the back, one in the front, back you down the aisle to your seat and assist you into your airline seat.
After the lecture, Gary went up to ask the lecturer a couple of questions. One was how he would transfer into the airline seat if he was still under “flap restrictions” – no way was he going to be able to depress OVER an arm rest. His own rec therapist was there and said that assuming the arm rest didn’t swing out of the way, which typically they don’t, he would have to be transferred by a two-man lift. Gary’s other question was about ICs, if it so happened he was on the plane when he was scheduled for one. They told him no way was he going to be able to get into a bathroom on the plane to do it, so the only option was to do it while in his seat. They said that a traveling companion could hold up a sheet to give him privacy (and thus drawing the attention of everyone in the plane), or if he had no such companion, the flight attendants were required to hold up a sheet (ditto, on the attention attraction). Gary kind of blanched at that. As we left the room, he said that if I was with him I could hold a newspaper up, and he supposed he could take some other family member doing the same, but he would be too embarrassed to have anyone else do that. He opined that the best solution would be to arrange his flight so that he wouldn’t be on the plane during a time he was to do an IC.
During the noon hour, Mirko Popvassilev showed up. He brought a great get-well card signed by fifty-four attendees of the 21st Summer Conference on Topology and its Applications (well, fifty-six attendees – according to the signatures on the card, Blackjack and Tigger had been there). Gary only had fifteen minutes to talk with Mirko before it was time for therapy, but Mirko said he could stay around a while longer and talk with Gary during his break from 2 to 3 (we always need to check his posted schedule – it varies from day to day).
So off Gary and I went to the afternoon session with the OT. On our way to it, the Day Program manager stopped us in the hall and said she thought she would be able to get Gary into the program a week earlier than she’d said. We were a little confused by that, as we’d thought all talk of Day Program before Dec. was off. The manager had someplace else to go, so she said she’d talk to us later in the week. As we went to the gym, Gary asked me what I thought about us staying for Day Program immediately after discharge from Shepherd. I said in my opinion the more therapy he could get before going home the better – for one thing, more chance to practice stuff, and also, this would give us the transition time of “being on our own without being on our own,” as we’d be living in an apartment on our own while he was in the program. I said if he wanted a second opinion, to ask the therapists; he said he’d thought of that too, and asked the OT when she came. Once we assured her we’d be coming back later even if we had to pay for the second session out of pocket, she also thought it would be a good idea to stay for it, for the reasons I’d given; the PT walked by, and she agreed with the OT.
Gary’s first task with the OT was laundry (I like this woman’s thinking ;-)), and as we passed our case manager’s office, I popped in to tell her what the Day Program manager had said to us. She went off to talk to the manager herself. Later, she came and told us that it still wasn’t known if Gary could get in the program right after discharge, but it was looking like he could, in which case they would discharge him from being an inpatient around the 23rd or 24th, and then he would have Day Program for one or two weeks starting about the 26th.
So now that I’ve just put up a clarification of when we’d be home, it is up in the air again. Supposedly we’ll know by the end of this week.
Anyway, back to the laundry. The shoulder flexibility exercises must be helping, because Gary was able to turn on controls just by reaching for them, rather than by trying to use a gripper on them. After he got the load started, the OT gave him the homework assignment of finishing up the laundry, and then gave him his final task of her session with him: to talk through the IC procedure with her while she stretched his legs. The oral exam wasn’t sufficient for him to “pass” the IC aspect of his training, of course; they are still scheduled to do another community IC, on Thursday.
Shortly after that session, with Mirko as witness, Gary completed his homework assignment. It turned out that by using the new, sturdy gripper I had gotten him from Ace Hardware, along with using a long-handled mirror for checking where the laundry was located in the machine, he was able to remove his wet clothes from the washer with little problem. So, looks like I get out of doing any part of his laundry after all ;-) (A nurse walking by asked him how he was at unloading a dishwasher – she had one he could practice on . . .)
Back in his room, while he was talking to Mirko, some men came to replace his special air-flow mattress with a regular hospital mattress – a sign of progress! Gary had a little extra time to talk with Mirko than he thought he would, because the psychologist, scheduled to come to his room, never showed – maybe she knew he didn’t have any issues ;-). But soon after that Mirko had to leave for the bus station, and Gary had to go to transplanting class – time to get his tomato plant! The plant had been started from seed in late April, but having been under artificial light ever since then, it was only about six inches high – and rather pale! Gary questioned why they should repot it into another small pot and keep it indoors rather than taking it out to the garden. The garden therapist enthusiastically agreed to transplant it to a big pot outdoors with him another time. So instead of the tomato plant, she gave him a eight-inch peace lily to transplant. He already pretty much knew how to transplant, so he did it with minimal direction from her; she spent her time with the other two people, one who also had a pretty good idea of what to do, the other a beginner. Anyway, Gary did a nice job, even adding some floral moss and polished pebbles to the pot at the therapist’s suggestion. I left before he was through so I could collect my stuff from his room before taking off to the chiropractor. But before I could leave his room, he came in – carrying the plant. She had given it to him, and he hadn’t felt like he could refuse, even though we have enough to take back in the car and we really don’t need anything more to take care of. We’re thinking of giving it away, but we can’t do so until after tomorrow – that is when the gardening therapist is coming to his room for another session!
Later in the evening Gary told me he’d made his first transfer to the new bed, and the nurse hadn’t helped him at all, just watched to make sure there was no mishap. He said it hadn’t been a great transfer – he’d ended up closer to the edge of the bed than he’d liked – but he did make it. Accomplishment! He then asked me if I remembered the ramp leading down to the art/horticulture room where he’d done the transplanting. I sure did – it had surprised me they had such a long rather steep ramp in the building, a mini-version of the dreaded “Blue Carpet” (Gary joked that to do art here, you either have to be in a power chair or be very strong). Gary told me that when leaving the art room, he’d stuck his plant between his legs and started up the ramp. The therapist ran over to him and said, “Here, let me help you.” Gary said, “No, let me try it.” He then made it up the ramp himself. No way would he have been able to do that a couple weeks ago!
In the evening, before I was going to stretch him, I asked if it’d be okay if I looked at his flap to see how things were healing – I hadn’t seen it in the past four days because they’d changed the nurse’s order to having the wound dressed only once a day, and the most convenient time for changing it was in the morning after his bath, which I am not usually there for (and I think he was trying to save me some work by not having me do it in the evening when I came). I didn’t like what I saw. First, whoever had dressed it had put tape on part of the area that was supposed to have medicine and gauze on it, meaning the tape was directly on an area that was still in need of healing. Secondly, there was a large, raw, red area below his flap that hadn’t been there the last time I looked. We called the nurse, telling her that I at least wanted to put on new gauze and pointing out the new reddened area. She said to go ahead and change the dressing completely and to put some antifungal cream (which she gave me) on the new red area, saying it looked like the area had been kept moist and the skin was breaking down in reaction to that. So I dressed the wound, telling Gary I thought I should just go ahead and be the one to change his dressing from now on. He said good, because he no longer trusted anyone but me and maybe the skin PT to do it right, and that one of the problems was that the nurses changed from day to day, so they didn’t know what the area had been looking like. (And another problem, IMNSHO, is that some of them are slapdash when they change the dressing, probably because they are in a hurry to get to the next patient who is beckoning them).
Joe had called just when I discovered this little problem with Gary’s skin sore, so we delayed talking to him until I was through changing the dressing. Then Gary called him to receive today’s update, while I stretched Gary’s legs (oh, and sorry for the confusion, Joe, I misheard a previous phone conversation – it is Sylvia letting the workers in, not Sue. And thank you, Sylvia!) Gary finished his conversation at about the same time I finished stretching him, so we then got him in position, and I crawled in with him for a five-minute hoodle. A few minutes later, the nurse walked in with Gary’s blood thinner medicine, which he takes in a shot in his belly because he can’t feel there. Gary joked that the nurse could give it to me.
I was outta there. ;-)
Was sleeping great until I had a nightmare about 6:30am. My little sister and I were lying on the deck of a big boat or ship, as were other people I believe. We were in some exotic place, surrounded by many fancy red boats, possibly houseboats, full of rich people. One such boat zoomed along the side of us in the dark, throwing up a gigantic wave. Our ship was inundated and sank like a rock. I could feel my sister’s terror. I struggled toward the water’s surface, made it. As I tried to catch my breath in preparation to call out my sister’s name, I had the thought that I should do this part over again, that I should keep hold of my sister as we swam toward the top, because while it wasn’t yet clear I was saved – I had no idea if someone would find me there in the water or where to swim to land – she might have drowned and I might be all alone. But then it occurred to me that if I re-did this and kept a hand on her, it could happen that she might panic at some point and grab onto me, causing me to drown, or maybe I might not be able to swim upwards to the surface in time if I held onto her, and again I might drown.
I woke up.
So, what do you think? Do you save yourself and risk being alone, or do you try to help the other person and risk them drowning you? I’ll let you consider the broader implications of my dream on you own time ;-).
Mail call: thanks to Murat Tuncali. Also, thanks to mom – cute clothes for me and chocolates for Gary!
Gary was supposed to meet with the tech from 9-10, but she cancelled again. His PT said she would start meeting him at 9:30, so he had an hour-and-a-half session with her instead of an hour. To begin, she told Gary and me to transfer him onto the mat. She told me to put my hands on his hips, instead of under his butt, and only give him help if absolutely necessary.
It was absolutely necessary. His hand placement was off, and his hand slipped a little. He got no height (so I had to support his weight quite a lot), but even worse, upon landing he lost his balance and started going sideways off the mat. But between him catching himself on the chair and me grabbing him around chest (and the PT leaping forward just in case), there was no mishap. She made him do the transfer over again, and this time he did a great one.
It’s all in the technique.
The mat he was now on abutted another mat about four inches higher. She had him do hops over to the center edge of the mat he was on, his back to the higher mat, his legs in a frog position out in front of him on the lower mat. The PT introduced him to something new, “bump-ups,” which is something he’ll be practicing more when he comes back for day program in December; he got only a taste of it now because his flap isn’t sufficiently healed (and even now, he had to wear a J-pad, like the one we’d been show in gardening class, to protect his sacrum). To do the bump-ups, he was supposed to depress with his arms (pushing down with his hands) and at the same time throw his head forward to help him lift his butt up onto the mat behind him (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction ;-)). Problem was, he couldn’t get any height when pushing down on the mat. She had him try it with putting his hands on the higher mat behind him, but his lack of shoulder flexibility wouldn’t allow it. She brought over the pushup blocks, and using them he did the bump-ups like a pro. So we decided he needed to have that surgical procedure done to have his arm bones lengthened ;-).
He practiced that awhile, and then she had him do the bump-ups when slightly angled, so one hand was up on the higher mat, one on the lower. If he always did them this way, he would only need one arm lengthened ;-)
I had been wondering what the purpose of this was, but before I could ask, she explained. This is the technique he would use to get himself up stairs. I had also been wondering why she was having him do this now, when it wasn’t something he could really practice for months (I said this to Gary later, and he said he’d been wondering the same thing) – I would have thought practicing something like car transfers would be more valuable – but I didn’t ask why he was practicing this now, and she didn’t say.
Next she had him workout on a weight machine called the “Uppertone,” specifically designed for those in wheelchairs. On it he did rowing, presses, and side raises. Next we went out into a hallway, and the PT and Gary practiced wheelies. First he was to try to stay pretty much in place while in the wheelie, next he was supposed to travel down the hall in the wheelie position, next he was to do a three-sixty while in a wheelie (his were closer to one-eighties). She was always behind him to support his chair when he did this (as his tip bars had to be removed for these), so I was not sure how much help she gave him. I do know he commented to me that it would be a long time before he tried to wheelie up a curb unaided – if he should go backwards too far, he would tip back and hit his head on the street. That, we wouldn’t want (understatement of the year; it’ll be fine with me if he never attempts them.)
That was the end of that session, and we next went off to a travel class, given by a rec therapist. I was rather surprised by how the lecturer whipped through the information (now THIS would have been the time for those rec therapists to stretch out their lecture!) – I thought that there should have been handouts, as I can’t imagine many people retaining the information given, and even with me madly taking notes I couldn’t get everything down.
The lecturer covered
• Planning for the Trip (research your destination – various ways to do that were cited (check departments of tourism, internet resources, etc.));
• Know Your Rights (the Air Carriers Access Act);
• Packing for your trip (take carry-ons for medications, personal care supplies, and a list of emergency information (your physician’s contact info, names of your medications, your medical diagnosis, etc.) – there is no limit to the number of carry-ons you can take onboard for these items);
• Making Airline Reservations (among the covered information: request a bulkhead seat – more room for weight shifts, greater privacy for ICs if they have to be done on flight); get a direct flight if possible, otherwise arrange for a “meet and assist” if you feel it necessary);
• Important Information to Explain to the Travel Agent or Airline (including telling them the type of equipment you use and the type of assistance you will require for transfers into the airline seat or for your luggage, and also, making sure they have an onboard “aisle” wheelchair available, as that is the only way you are going to get to your assigned seat);
• Arriving at the Airport (get there plenty early, check baggage as normal, DO NOT CHECK YOUR WHEELCHAIR until you are ready to board (you need your own comfy chair, which you know how to handle and is to your specifications to protect your skin, and so forth – you don’t want to take the chance of being stuck in their chair if there is a delay in flight, for instance);
• Security Checkpoints (they will have you go through a manual security check, and you may want a doctor’s letter to explain that it is the rod in your spine setting off the security alarm);
• Pre-Boarding (GATE Tag your chair; tag all removable parts of your chair or take them on the plane with you (preferable, to guard against loss); pre-board; remain in your own chair until you reach the plane door at the end of the jetway);
• Transfer to an Aisle Chair (they have a special chair for you to transfer into);
• Type of Transfers to do into the aisle chair and into the airplane seat (do a depression or sliding transfer – tell airline personnel how much help you need);
• Ready to Board (transfer into the aisle chair; make sure staff straps you into it; take your own seat cushion with you, being sure to let air out of it if is an air cushion (some are gel));
• Transferring to Plane Seat (put cushion on seat; raise armrest or put blanket over it to protect your skin; put seatbelt on immediately, asking personnel to stay until you have the belt on securely if you need them to make sure you are balanced (it’s happened that they’ve transferred the person into the airplane seat and immediately turned away, and the person toppled over); make sure legs are at a ninety degree angle – don’t want your legs dangling as that puts too much pressure on your bootie – you may need to bring something to prop your legs up;
• Balancing and Position (use chest binder for support – have someone wrap it under the tray in the seat behind you so you aren’t preventing the person behind you from using their tray);
• During Flight (one half hour before arrival, have attendant call ahead to make sure your wheelchair is brought to the gate; be aware that attendants are not required to help you with personal needs);
• Getting Ready to Land;
• Departing the Plane (you will be last off);
• Inspect your Chair and other Equipment immediately (what to do if have a complaint);
• Travel Resources.
Whew!
She finished by showing us the aisle chair Delta uses. You are strapped into it, and then two trained airline personnel, one in the back, one in the front, back you down the aisle to your seat and assist you into your airline seat.
After the lecture, Gary went up to ask the lecturer a couple of questions. One was how he would transfer into the airline seat if he was still under “flap restrictions” – no way was he going to be able to depress OVER an arm rest. His own rec therapist was there and said that assuming the arm rest didn’t swing out of the way, which typically they don’t, he would have to be transferred by a two-man lift. Gary’s other question was about ICs, if it so happened he was on the plane when he was scheduled for one. They told him no way was he going to be able to get into a bathroom on the plane to do it, so the only option was to do it while in his seat. They said that a traveling companion could hold up a sheet to give him privacy (and thus drawing the attention of everyone in the plane), or if he had no such companion, the flight attendants were required to hold up a sheet (ditto, on the attention attraction). Gary kind of blanched at that. As we left the room, he said that if I was with him I could hold a newspaper up, and he supposed he could take some other family member doing the same, but he would be too embarrassed to have anyone else do that. He opined that the best solution would be to arrange his flight so that he wouldn’t be on the plane during a time he was to do an IC.
During the noon hour, Mirko Popvassilev showed up. He brought a great get-well card signed by fifty-four attendees of the 21st Summer Conference on Topology and its Applications (well, fifty-six attendees – according to the signatures on the card, Blackjack and Tigger had been there). Gary only had fifteen minutes to talk with Mirko before it was time for therapy, but Mirko said he could stay around a while longer and talk with Gary during his break from 2 to 3 (we always need to check his posted schedule – it varies from day to day).
So off Gary and I went to the afternoon session with the OT. On our way to it, the Day Program manager stopped us in the hall and said she thought she would be able to get Gary into the program a week earlier than she’d said. We were a little confused by that, as we’d thought all talk of Day Program before Dec. was off. The manager had someplace else to go, so she said she’d talk to us later in the week. As we went to the gym, Gary asked me what I thought about us staying for Day Program immediately after discharge from Shepherd. I said in my opinion the more therapy he could get before going home the better – for one thing, more chance to practice stuff, and also, this would give us the transition time of “being on our own without being on our own,” as we’d be living in an apartment on our own while he was in the program. I said if he wanted a second opinion, to ask the therapists; he said he’d thought of that too, and asked the OT when she came. Once we assured her we’d be coming back later even if we had to pay for the second session out of pocket, she also thought it would be a good idea to stay for it, for the reasons I’d given; the PT walked by, and she agreed with the OT.
Gary’s first task with the OT was laundry (I like this woman’s thinking ;-)), and as we passed our case manager’s office, I popped in to tell her what the Day Program manager had said to us. She went off to talk to the manager herself. Later, she came and told us that it still wasn’t known if Gary could get in the program right after discharge, but it was looking like he could, in which case they would discharge him from being an inpatient around the 23rd or 24th, and then he would have Day Program for one or two weeks starting about the 26th.
So now that I’ve just put up a clarification of when we’d be home, it is up in the air again. Supposedly we’ll know by the end of this week.
Anyway, back to the laundry. The shoulder flexibility exercises must be helping, because Gary was able to turn on controls just by reaching for them, rather than by trying to use a gripper on them. After he got the load started, the OT gave him the homework assignment of finishing up the laundry, and then gave him his final task of her session with him: to talk through the IC procedure with her while she stretched his legs. The oral exam wasn’t sufficient for him to “pass” the IC aspect of his training, of course; they are still scheduled to do another community IC, on Thursday.
Shortly after that session, with Mirko as witness, Gary completed his homework assignment. It turned out that by using the new, sturdy gripper I had gotten him from Ace Hardware, along with using a long-handled mirror for checking where the laundry was located in the machine, he was able to remove his wet clothes from the washer with little problem. So, looks like I get out of doing any part of his laundry after all ;-) (A nurse walking by asked him how he was at unloading a dishwasher – she had one he could practice on . . .)
Back in his room, while he was talking to Mirko, some men came to replace his special air-flow mattress with a regular hospital mattress – a sign of progress! Gary had a little extra time to talk with Mirko than he thought he would, because the psychologist, scheduled to come to his room, never showed – maybe she knew he didn’t have any issues ;-). But soon after that Mirko had to leave for the bus station, and Gary had to go to transplanting class – time to get his tomato plant! The plant had been started from seed in late April, but having been under artificial light ever since then, it was only about six inches high – and rather pale! Gary questioned why they should repot it into another small pot and keep it indoors rather than taking it out to the garden. The garden therapist enthusiastically agreed to transplant it to a big pot outdoors with him another time. So instead of the tomato plant, she gave him a eight-inch peace lily to transplant. He already pretty much knew how to transplant, so he did it with minimal direction from her; she spent her time with the other two people, one who also had a pretty good idea of what to do, the other a beginner. Anyway, Gary did a nice job, even adding some floral moss and polished pebbles to the pot at the therapist’s suggestion. I left before he was through so I could collect my stuff from his room before taking off to the chiropractor. But before I could leave his room, he came in – carrying the plant. She had given it to him, and he hadn’t felt like he could refuse, even though we have enough to take back in the car and we really don’t need anything more to take care of. We’re thinking of giving it away, but we can’t do so until after tomorrow – that is when the gardening therapist is coming to his room for another session!
Later in the evening Gary told me he’d made his first transfer to the new bed, and the nurse hadn’t helped him at all, just watched to make sure there was no mishap. He said it hadn’t been a great transfer – he’d ended up closer to the edge of the bed than he’d liked – but he did make it. Accomplishment! He then asked me if I remembered the ramp leading down to the art/horticulture room where he’d done the transplanting. I sure did – it had surprised me they had such a long rather steep ramp in the building, a mini-version of the dreaded “Blue Carpet” (Gary joked that to do art here, you either have to be in a power chair or be very strong). Gary told me that when leaving the art room, he’d stuck his plant between his legs and started up the ramp. The therapist ran over to him and said, “Here, let me help you.” Gary said, “No, let me try it.” He then made it up the ramp himself. No way would he have been able to do that a couple weeks ago!
In the evening, before I was going to stretch him, I asked if it’d be okay if I looked at his flap to see how things were healing – I hadn’t seen it in the past four days because they’d changed the nurse’s order to having the wound dressed only once a day, and the most convenient time for changing it was in the morning after his bath, which I am not usually there for (and I think he was trying to save me some work by not having me do it in the evening when I came). I didn’t like what I saw. First, whoever had dressed it had put tape on part of the area that was supposed to have medicine and gauze on it, meaning the tape was directly on an area that was still in need of healing. Secondly, there was a large, raw, red area below his flap that hadn’t been there the last time I looked. We called the nurse, telling her that I at least wanted to put on new gauze and pointing out the new reddened area. She said to go ahead and change the dressing completely and to put some antifungal cream (which she gave me) on the new red area, saying it looked like the area had been kept moist and the skin was breaking down in reaction to that. So I dressed the wound, telling Gary I thought I should just go ahead and be the one to change his dressing from now on. He said good, because he no longer trusted anyone but me and maybe the skin PT to do it right, and that one of the problems was that the nurses changed from day to day, so they didn’t know what the area had been looking like. (And another problem, IMNSHO, is that some of them are slapdash when they change the dressing, probably because they are in a hurry to get to the next patient who is beckoning them).
Joe had called just when I discovered this little problem with Gary’s skin sore, so we delayed talking to him until I was through changing the dressing. Then Gary called him to receive today’s update, while I stretched Gary’s legs (oh, and sorry for the confusion, Joe, I misheard a previous phone conversation – it is Sylvia letting the workers in, not Sue. And thank you, Sylvia!) Gary finished his conversation at about the same time I finished stretching him, so we then got him in position, and I crawled in with him for a five-minute hoodle. A few minutes later, the nurse walked in with Gary’s blood thinner medicine, which he takes in a shot in his belly because he can’t feel there. Gary joked that the nurse could give it to me.
I was outta there. ;-)
posted by Peg Daniels at 10:34 AM
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