Oct 31, 2006

Two Sundays ago, our housecleaner called us just before she was due to arrive, saying she had some church thing she’d forgotten about. Last Sunday morning, there was a message on our machine from her saying she would not be coming, and that if we wanted more information, to give her a call. We didn’t think that was a good sign. Gary called her today. She told him she couldn’t work for us anymore, because the situation was not what she was used to. She meant – get this – that she couldn’t work around the fact that we still have boxes on the floor – she couldn’t take the “clutter.” (There are two rooms that she is supposed to clean that still have boxes – the master bedroom, which Gary is still trying to organize, and my study – I’m still organizing my books on the shelves; yes, I’m slow. We had told her not to bother picking up the boxes or anything, just clean around them; evidently this went against her sensibilities.) I would find this hysterically funny if not for the fact that we have to find yet another person to houseclean. We called the next person on our list . . .

Oct 30, 2006

Today I took Gary back to the podiatrist. We asked what would happen if Gary was only treated with antibiotics and didn’t have the procedure done, and the doctor thought it was likely the infection would come back, because the nail would still be pressing in there. So Gary decided to have the procedure done. The doctor had said he planned to “numb” the toe, and we made sure that he knew he should use the same amount as if Gary had feeling there (to avoid setting off dysreflexia – we’re hoping Gary never experiences that). Because it was Gary’s toe and not mine
;-), I watched the procedure. I think looking at that great big needle containing the anesthetic going into my own toe might have made me faint! Interestingly, Gary’s foot knew something was going on, because it did some twitching. Gary didn’t feel a thing though. Then I watched the doctor cut a vertical strip of toenail off down the side of the toe – he said he was taking out a bigger strip than he normally would, because of the swelling of the feet that Gary has. I winced in watching him cut the nail down all the way – Gary said he watched part of the procedure, but not all of it. After this was done, the doctor applied phenol at the base of where the nail had been, the idea being that this would prevent the nail from regrowing there.

The procedure took about ten minutes. The paperwork took about double that. And the wait to get into the treatment room took double that. My pet peeve about doctors is their scheduling.

To finish, the doctor wrapped Gary’s toe up good, then put him in a “goofy shoe.” Since Gary has been wearing his own version of a goofy shoe, he didn’t mind too much. He is still taking the antibiotic, and tomorrow I will take the bandage off. After that we go back to soaking his foot twice a day, and Gary will continue to wear the goofy shoe the doctor gave him, along with his regular t.e.d. hose and sock. We go back for a follow-up on Thursday.

We discovered the doctor has a little wooden portable ramp that enabled me to get Gary in the door much easier (i.e., without giving myself a hernia!). Gary would still not be able to do it alone. He’d need someone to hold the door on the way in. On the way out, there is hardly any distance from the end of the ramp to the curb of the sidewalk, so if he did it himself, there would be a danger of him going off the ramp and continuing on flying off the sidewalk. Needless to say, I held onto the handles of his chair.

Speaking of the foot twitches, one thing that started happening after we got home from Shepherd that never happened there are all these leg spasms Gary now has. Fortunately they don’t interfere with his activity (if there ever comes a time they do, the standard procedure is to put him on medication to stop them). They mostly come after he transfers into bed at night, and after I stretch one leg and am about to start the other. We joke that his legs are trying to run away. None of the movement is voluntary.

We finished the Brooke Ellison story tonight. Both of us cried through the ending – of course, we are saps ;-) Gary is even worse than me when it comes to crying during movies – and TV shows, for that matter. I have always found that endearing.

Oct 29, 2006

Today after we finished shopping at Kroger and we’d gotten Gary into the car, we saw Phil Zenor heading into the store. I hailed him, and he came over. I was breaking down Gary’s chair, and Phil asked if I wanted help or if I “had it down.” I told him I had it down, and Gary piped in that I do it all the time. I then proceeded to lose my balance backwards (not sure how), went stumbling several feet, and landed on my butt. Unfortunately, a woman with a grocery cart was passing by just at this moment, and I bashed the back of my head on the side of her cart. Ouch.

Gary was quite amused (after making sure I wasn’t seriously hurt, although I did get a headache and now have a sore head), and he laughed about my claiming to “have it down” and his saying “I do it all the time,” and then my falling on my butt – that was not what we meant!

We watched more Brooke Ellison in the evening. I believe the movie is based on a book, and I may have to get the book. We are wondering how realistic the movie is. This girl is always up. And at this point in the movie she’s at Harvard (it is true she graduated from Harvard – her mom right along side her all the way as her care giver) and this handsome, witty, lovable guy has apparently fallen in love with her. We are wondering if he knows about bowel programs.

October 28, 2006

We tried a few things differently with the shower routine. First, since he’s been practicing transfers where I’m supervising, only sticking an arm out when it looks like he might have lost his balance a little or is a little close to the edge, we decided that trying to do that kind of transfer to his chair from the bed while naked would be a lot easier than for him to do the transfer using the transfer board. So, we tried that, me holding his hips because this was his first such “naked transfer.” But I didn’t give him any help on it – no lift or twist – so if he’s comfortable with it next week, I will just supervise him on that kind of transfer.

Also, we decided to turn the shower bench ninety degrees so that Gary’s back is to the controls instead of him sitting sideways to them. This allowed him to get his wheelchair in a similar position to the bench as he has the wheelchair to the bed when he makes those transfers. It then looked like a depression transfer – without using the transfer board – to the shower bench would be pretty easy, although since this was his first time doing it and particularly since he was naked, I aided him by hanging onto his hips. On the way back, I aided him by putting my hands on his sitting bones, because the transfer was an uphill one. He hasn’t been practicing any uphill transfers since Shepherd, so he’ll/we’ll either have to add that to “things to do” or he’ll just get used to them slower by practicing them once a week in the shower. He couldn’t do these depression transfers with the bench facing the way it had been, so I am glad we had the idea to change the position of the bench – these depression transfers are a heck of a lot easier than the transfer board transfers.

We watched more of Brooke Ellison. I find it less traumatic now. I am still extremely glad Gary isn’t quadriplegic. I certainly know I couldn’t have handled his care alone. When we started the movie tonight, Gary said he wondered if they’d show I.C.s and the bowel program. I said I bet they wouldn’t. I was right, and Gary said later he bet they weren’t going to, either. And he said that he wished they would. They give some idea of the time it takes for the girl’s “maintenance,” like her mom having to get up at 4:15 am to get the girl to school on time, and they did show things like the mom bathing her and brushing her teeth, but Gary thought they should show ICs and bowel programs – he wanted it “more realistic.” I told him he’d have to wait until I wrote “his” movie. We’re trying to figure out a good ending. Traveling to his first math conference as a paraplegic?

October 27, 2006

Gary went back up in weights on those couple he had to drop down on because of his new chair, so he accommodated to the balance differences fast! His therapist adjusted the angle of the footplate on his chair, which I had thought should be done but was willing to let her do it ;-), and she also raised the plate a little. But unfortunately now Gary can’t roll up under the kitchen sink because the raising of the plate made his knees too high to get under it, so I’m going to have to fool with the plate again. Rats.

We had rain throughout the day, and I feared Gary was going to get his feet soaked because he hadn’t yet gotten galoshes like I suggested, but the bus driver pushed him from rehab into the bus and again from the bus into the math building, so Gary’s feet didn’t get wet (the rest of him and much of the chair was covered by a poncho).

We watched another twenty minutes of Brooke Ellison. If I hadn’t known it was based on a true story and that Christopher Reeve had directed it, I would have thought they had their facts wrong. The girl was definitely not at Shepherd! I can’t imagine the staff at Shepherd talking to the girl and her parents the way these staff were doing, or trying to regularly serve up a sedative to the girl because “it made things easier.” (Not to mention that I doubted they’d leave the medication with the mother.) The part where the neighborhood showed up to help Mr. Ellison remodel his home had me bawling, thinking of the volunteers who worked so hard to make our own house accessible to Gary.

On a completely different note, Gary’s increase in the amount of fiber he eats has really been helping regulate his bowels – it took awhile for his body to get used to it.

For the scary website, don't include the final period I put in yesterday's entry below. Sorry.

October 26, 2006

The dentist’s office was accessible, but a tight squeeze for the wheelchair. I had to climb onto the rear of the dentist’s chair to help Gary with his transfers. They were pretty easy transfers, however, since the dentist’s chair adjusted in height. The hard part was getting his wheelchair cushion under him in the dentist’s chair – Gary depressed on the arms of the dentist’s chair while me and the dental technician pushed and pulled the cushion under him.

Gary had no cavities.

Later in the day, I noticed that the footplate on Gary’s new chair was too low – his feet barely touched it. To adjust the plate I had to get on the floor and use an Allen wrench (who is Allen?) on screws on the back of these little holders that were on the bars holding the footplate – naturally they would put the screws in back where I couldn’t see them. I kept trying to loosen the screws a little at a time, but I couldn’t budge the plate, so I finally unscrewed them all the way and some unknown pieces went flying across the floor as the holders slid down the bar. I had no idea where those pieces were supposed to go. I still had to put a lot of effort into tugging the footplate into position, and then I had the problem of figuring out where to put the mystery pieces. Finally, after a lot of swearing, I figured out a likely place for them. I then hoped that was where they went as I tightened the screws back in, and it seems to have been so. At least, Gary’s footplate hasn’t dropped off, indicating I was wrong. At least, it hasn’t dropped off *yet*.

Gary and I watched our first bit of t.v.(while Gary was soaking his foot) – twenty minutes of The Brooke Ellison Story, directed by Christopher Reeve, about a girl who becomes a quadriplegic after an accident – Gary chose the movie. I understand the story is supposed to be inspirational, but I tell you, I could hardly stand to watch the first twenty minutes which covers her accident and the first six weeks she was in the hospital (she was in a coma for a while). Brought back sharp memories of Gary in ICU.

It has been brought to my attention that Joe, not Dolores, was the one who suggested the locking cat door. Blackjack said he is too old to be climbing trees to get away from stray dogs.

If you *really* and *truly* like to be scared, below is a Halloween link, sent to Gary by his brother Bob. I don’t want my mom or Gary’s mom or anyone that doesn’t have a strong heart to follow the link, however. I mean it, so don’t get mad at me if you go to that website and don’t like the consequences. Here is the email being sent around that pertains to the link:

Subject: Two Almost Identical Photos
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:06:41 -0600

Check this out. See if you can get it. If you can, you're a genius like
me. There are two pictures almost identical to each other; you have to
find three differences.
If you can find three differences, then you are part of an elite group
of individuals.

This has been tested on 1000 people, and only 10% could find the three
differences.
All three differences exist. Try it!! (Hint: Look at the town ) Two
almost identical pictures
http://members.home.nl/saen/Special/Zoeken.swf

October 25, 2006

Today’s big adventure was to the podiatrist, whose manner we really liked – very personable. He started by asking Gary some general questions, and one was, “How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking.” That struck me funny, so I said, “What if he does mind you asking?” The doctor smiled and said he’d ask anyway. He gave Gary some antibiotics to take for the toe infection and recommended that he have a procedure done where the doctor removes a vertical strip of nail on the edge of the toe to prevent future infections. The doctor said he did three or four of those a week, and maybe three or four came back in a year with infections in the same area. He said he commonly did it with people who have paralysis. I asked a couple things: whether Gary had gotten this infection because I hadn’t cut his nails properly, and what made the doctor think the infection would recur, given that Gary didn’t have a history of them. The doctor said that if he knew the answer as to why Gary had gotten the infection, he would say it had nothing to do with how I’d cut the toenails – they looked fine to him, and the infection was in the middle of the nail, not at the top edge. He thought the reason Gary got the infection was a result of the fact that his feet swell as a consequence of the SCI. The toes also swell, and this makes the nails press into the sides of the toes, a condition ripe for an infection. Because Gary’s feet will continue to swell, he is at greater risk for infection. The doctor seemed to indicate that there was a greater risk of the infection occurring at a place where Gary had already had one, which is why the doctor recommended removal of part of the nail of that toe. But he was not going to take a pre-emptive strike by removing the edges of nails of the other toes.

So, Gary got a prescription for an antibiotic and some betadine for soaking his feet (twice a day for twenty minutes using two capfuls of betadine). He is to take the antibiotic twice a day, and supposedly should see marked improvement in three days. We also set up an appointment for him to have part of the nail removed on Monday.

But we got to talking about it at home. I’m still a little leery of the “cut it off” approach, thinking maybe Gary should wait and see if this actually is a recurring problem. I suggested he call Shepherd and ask their opinion, and he said he is going to do that. He also said if his toe looks much better by Monday, he’ll ask the doctor again about it again.

One weird thing – Gary has had a problem with fungus on three of his toenails for the past fifteen years, and now, suddenly, it looks like the fungus problem is clearing up – the new nails growing at the bottom of the toes look fine right now. We’re not sure how that could be a result of his SCI, but we can’t think of another explanation (though we doubt that, in any case, getting an SCI would ever be a recommended treatment for the problem ;-)).

Let’s see, what else. Gary had to go back down in weights on a couple of exercises he’d recently gone up in weights on – the lower back on his new chair led to some problems in being able to balance while using those greater weights. He’ll no doubt go back up in weight when he gets use to the chair. He also finds balancing in a wheelie to be different in this chair – so far it takes more concentration and effort.

One strange thing about the new chair is the tip bars don’t adjust very high – Gary even drags the bars when he is doing a little wheelie to get into the house, and he certainly didn’t do that in his old chair. The supplier said that the only way to get this tip bars up higher would be to saw about an inch off them, and then drill a new hole in them so they will click in place. I hope this doesn’t become a problem, as right now we are not inclined to do any sawing – but if he is out somewhere where there is a small curb, he might have to have someone bump him up or down it, as neither of us is comfortable at this point with him flipping his tip bars out of the way and taking the curb without them.

Oh, and speaking of curbs, the podiatrist’s office had accessibility issues. Gary couldn’t have gotten in the door himself – there was a curb at the threshold of the door (which seems an odd construction), and Gary would have had to do a wheelie while holding the door open.

Another ADA-related note. Gary said he read that some blind people are suing Target because their website is not accessible to blind people (I don’t understand the facts behind this – Gary knew a little about it, saying there is some software that makes webpages accessible to blind people, something like it translates the links into words). Target is claiming the ADA only applies to physical space, not cyberspace.

Tomorrow Gary goes to the dentist, our next adventure.

October 23, 2006

Gary continues to go up in poundage on the weights.

I found the head, tail, and some entrails of another chipmunk, plus another dead whole one. Fortunately both of those were outside.

October 24, 2006

Gary’s new chair was delivered. It has side guards and a more contoured back, both of which should keep him straighter in the chair – unfortunately he thinks the side guards are too high, as they dig into him when he bends to the side to pick up something from the floor. He left a message with the supplier to see if anything can be done about that. The front of the chair is more compact, so he can pull up closer to things. The back has more padding, which I’m hoping will be a boon for his flap, and it doesn’t go up as high on his back, which should give him more freedom of movement. He discovered he can do a three hundred and sixty degree turn (that’s all the way around, mom (wink)) in the kitchen while in it, rather than having to back in to get to the fridge and back out and turn around to get to the sink.

The supplier who brought the chair said they still talk about him at Shepherd, though not by name – specifically, they talk about the guy who smacked the back of his head on the floor because the therapist didn’t put his tip bars in right.

October 22, 2006

Gary read the blog and corrected me, saying that last Monday it had been the bus driver who noticed his tip bar had fallen off and who then proceeded to put it back in, incorrectly as it turned out. Now I feel SO much better that Gary let a bus driver put his tip bars in for him ;-) (Needless to say, in the future he will do that himself!)

Today at the fish counter at Kroger, Gary asked for some Mahi-mahi. The fish man picked up a fillet, laid it in one of those little plastic trays, and asked if that amount of fish would be enough, tilting the tray toward us as he spoke. The fish slid out of the tray and off the counter, the fish man winced, Gary groaned – and I caught the slippery flying fish. :-) Gary and the fish man looked at me in astonishment, and the fish man asked me if I practiced martial arts, given my reflexes. I laughed and said no, and then as we left the counter I joked to Gary that my reflexes were probably so highly honed from having to be prepared to catch him in case he lost his balance during transfers and such. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if there was some truth in that.

As we drove to the ice cream shop, Gary laughed and asked me if I remembered the very first “trip” I had taken him on, to the movies. I said I sure did, that at the time he had reminded me of one of those bobble-head dolls, what with all the “wobbling about” he was doing in the car. Since he doesn’t do that kind of thing much any more, I asked him if it had really been my driving, as he seemed to indicate at the time. He admitted it had mostly been his problems with balance, which he is much improved with now. But he also thought I drive smoother now. Mostly ;-)

Speaking of improvements, this morning Gary did his best transfer ever from bed to wheelchair. He was very, very pleased with it. Now, he’s hoping that it is repeatable. He also said he felt really, really good today, and since the accident he has only made that comment a couple times before. He says most days he still feels “not quite right” in the afternoon (muzzy, I think) and tired out in the evening. But he said he felt good all day today, and he felt that way last Wednesday. Hopefully these times will become ever more frequent.

Dolores suggested we get a cat door that locks, so our cats can’t get in without us letting them in – this way they couldn’t bring critters without our approval (which we would not give:-)). But we think our cats are too old to learn to be outside cats (they’re fourteen). I have visions of them always hollering to be let out when they’re in, and then coming around to my study window and hollering at me to let them back in. Not to mention that if a big dog comes in the yard (and there are those who let their dogs run around unleashed), they’d come tearing to the cat door and brain themselves on the locked door. And since, in general, they can’t tell when the door is locked or not, this seems a little cruel to have a peephole to the nice warm house with food on the other side, but they can’t get in ;-)

We got the bill for Gary’s helicopter transport to UAB Hospital. $18,000. According to the bill, insurance is only paying half of that!

October 20, 2006

Well, shoot. We discovered Gary has an ingrown toenail. At least, I guess that’s what it is. It’s further down the side of the nail than I thought those things were. We (and I say ‘we’ because I am the one who has to get the wash basin ready) are soaking it in antibacterial soap several times a day (Gary got on the internet to see what we should do about it). If it doesn’t clear up in a couple days, he is going to the doctor or emergency room – I ain’t going to fool with this.

October 21, 2006

I decided a new mattress wasn’t going to magically appear on my bed, so this past week I once again called around to mattress places. Found two in the area where they let you have a trial period. Today Gary and I were going to go to these places. One was close to a Wal-Mart, and Gary said he also wanted to stop in there to look at shoes. On our way, we discussed mattresses. I don’t really know what type I want, not even what level of firmness, and I feared it was going to have the same result of the last time we did this – me laying around on different mattresses, but not really knowing which felt right. Consumer reports claimed their research showed if you laid on a mattress for five minutes on each side and on your back, your feeling for how much you liked the mattress was strongly indicative of how you would feel about it months later. I am skeptical, however. Anyway, Gary suggested I just get one of the Marriott Residence Inn mattresses (they sell these commercially), since I had thought them pretty comfortable during my stays at such inns both in Birmingham and Atlanta while Gary was in the hospital. Not that I slept well during those times (ironic grin).

So, I decided to do that. Gary said it was okay if after I got it, if I found I didn’t like it then I could sell it and go back to these mattress places.

Gary said my shopping trip was thus a success, since I decided what I wanted. :-)

At Wal-Mart we looked for shoes for him. Turned out he just wanted something he could cut the toe out of, in order to let his toe heal. We got him a cheapo pair of velcro tennies. He complained after he got home that he looked like a dork with his black sock sticking out of the toes of the shoe. I told him that with the toes of the shoe cut out, he couldn’t avoid looking like a dork. He said, “Good point.” I told him that if he wore white socks, it wouldn’t look so noticeable, and he decided that was a good idea.

Someone emailed Gary and asked him if his attitude about what is important in life had changed any since his accident. He told me it has, slightly. I asked him how. He said his relationship with me was more important now. And not just because I had to help him with his bowel program. ;-) He also said relationships in general were much more important.

October 16, 2006

The termite inspector guy came today. He said it is carpenter ants that are burrowing into our wood columns on the back patio. I guess the wood has been softened by water damage, and that attracted them.

Gary found out the results of the study of the traffic intersection where his accident took place. It claimed that the traffic count is not high enough to warrant a traffic light there. I guess we’ll have to wait until the population of the area increases or someone with influence is in a bad accident there.

October 17, 2006

Gary said he read one of my recent blog entries and noticed I said our joint “leisure time” consists of grocery shopping. He said I should add in our periods where I help him stretch and give him a bath, since we also listen to music and talk during those times. That certainly *is* more relaxing than going up and down grocery aisles ;-). He said there is another half hour after dinner and before our evening routine that we could use to watch TV. We thought about watching last year’s “24" (we’ll have to start over), but since that would take us 48 days of watching it straight through, maybe we’ll start with movies. :-)

I had to go to the dentist for two fillings. It was a much easier experience than last time, for some reason – the area numbed up better (I have to use carbocaine, a less effective numbing agent but one that doesn’t affect me as badly as some of the newer ones). I didn’t even feel like biting his hand off this time. Unfortunately, however, they took a full set of x-rays and discovered two more cavities! Grrrr. I guess I am going to blame all the stress of the past few months for causing my teeth to rot.

As of today, I have just been supervising Gary with his transfers (crouching at ready in front of him) instead of having my hands on his hips. He is still getting too close to the edge of the bed for us to feel comfortable with my leaving the room while he does it, but this is progress. I think it’s partly psychological that he doesn’t get as far back on the bed when I don’t have my hands on him, because I haven’t been giving him any lift at all.

October 18, 2006

Blackjack brought in a critter today (chipmunk), which surprised the heck out of Gary and me. He’s never brought in anything before, and we didn’t think he was fast enough to catch anything. Luckily, it went out the kitchen door, which Gary had opened, while I was off after a towel (I was going to ask Gary if I should use a bowel – oops, I mean, ‘bowl,’ Jamie – but by the time I got back, the beastie was out of the house). Blackjack then ran after it , but he stopped when I yelled at him in a voice of reprimand and let me pick him up and take him back into the house – Tigger would have had no truck with that. It probably helps that Blackjack is not much of a meat eater – he’s never interested when Gary has chicken or fish, whereas Tigger is right in Gary’s face. I’m wondering if Joe had a similar experience.

Next, Tigger had a dead beastie on the patio, but we shut the doors and I got it in a grocery bag (and into the trash) before Tigger could bring it into the house. But then he did later bring one into the house (dead, fortunately). And I found another dead one right outside the side door. Hmm.

Today I was sick from yesterday’s anesthesia – felt like poison was circulating in my body, making my body hurt and making me feel sick to my stomach. I don’t know if it was such a good idea to make my appt. to have the other two teeth filled tomorrow. But if I didn’t do it then, it would be over a month before I could get in. *Sigh*

Gary went to his first graduate council meeting. The LETA bus let him out right in front of the building, so that was good! And he said his push back to the math building was no problem – said it was downhill all the way, and he made it in twenty minutes. He said a fast walk would take someone fifteen minutes. He then said he could have made it in fifteen, but he’d been being careful because it was new territory. He then imitated going back in fifteen, saying, “‘Whee! Look, no hands.’ Crash.”

Which reminds me. I was a little perturbed with him Monday when he called from school saying he needed me to help him in the door when he got home later in the day. He hadn’t doublechecked his tip bars after the therapist put them back on after therapy, and first they had fallen off when he went to get in the LETA bus, and then when the therapist put them on, she put them in too far. You might remember that that is exactly what the therapist at Shepherd had done, and when Gary went into a wheelie with them like that, he overbalanced and landed on the back of his head. Gary insisted that I didn’t need to come to the university to put them in right, that there were no places between school and home where he was going to need to do a wheelie (whereas at home, he needs to do a little one to get into the house). I worried some about that until he got home. I had told him to get someone to accompany him to the bus when he left school, but since he said “I’ll think about it,” I’m sure he didn’t.

October 19, 2006

Back to the dentist for the other two fillings. I always wonder why at the end they ask you if your bite feels all right, when by then you can’t feel much of anything (maybe I should have said, “Let me bite you and I’ll see”).

Next it was off for a massage. Not that I purposely timed it that way, but it was a good way to start getting those anesthesia toxins dumped into the lymph system. On the other hand, that can sometimes make me feel pretty sick, but as of Friday morning, I don’t notice any increase in the ill effects of the anesthesia. Fingers crossed.

Later in the afternoon on Thursday I took Gary to his appointment at an office of the Department of Vocational Rehab in the next town over. The woman Gary saw is going to hook him up with a person from the Lakeshore Rehabilitation Facility in Birmingham. Evidently this person specializes in the “adaptive drivers evaluation” for those with SCIs and head injuries. Based on the evaluation, the guy will recommend a vehicle for Gary, along with what modifications should be made to the vehicle for his particular case. Based on our income, we will most likely have to pay for the modifications to the vehicle ourselves, but it is possible it could be presented as a “RAVE” case (“Retaining A Valued Employee”) through the university, and if so the Dept. of Vocational Rehab would pay for the modifications. It wasn’t clear what the likelihood of that is – I guess we’ll wait and see until after the evaluation.

By the way, if you are telling someone an anecdote, after fifteen minutes, it is too late to say, “To make a long story short.” We could have been done with that appointment a lot sooner ;-). The woman was very helpful, however.

October 16, 2006

The termite inspector guy came today. He said it is carpenter ants that are burrowing into our wood columns on the back patio. I guess the wood has been softened by water damage, and that attracted them.

Gary found out the results of the study of the traffic intersection where his accident took place. It claimed that the traffic count is not high enough to warrant a traffic light there. I guess we’ll have to wait until the population of the area increases or someone with influence is in a bad accident there.

October 17, 2006

Gary said he read one of my recent blog entries and noticed I said our joint “leisure time” consists of grocery shopping. He said I should add in our periods where I help him stretch and give him a bath, since we also listen to music and talk during those times. That certainly *is* more relaxing than going up and down grocery aisles ;-). He said there is another half hour after dinner and before our evening routine that we could use to watch TV. We thought about watching last year’s “24" (we’ll have to start over), but since that would take us 48 days of watching it straight through, maybe we’ll start with movies. :-)

I had to go to the dentist for two fillings. It was a much easier experience than last time, for some reason – the area numbed up better (I have to use carbocaine, a less effective numbing agent but one that doesn’t affect me as badly as some of the newer ones). I didn’t even feel like biting his hand off this time. Unfortunately, however, they took a full set of x-rays and discovered two more cavities! Grrrr. I guess I am going to blame all the stress of the past few months for causing my teeth to rot.

As of today, I have just been supervising Gary with his transfers (crouching at ready in front of him) instead of having my hands on his hips. He is still getting too close to the edge of the bed for us to feel comfortable with my leaving the room while he does it, but this is progress. I think it’s partly psychological that he doesn’t get as far back on the bed when I don’t have my hands on him, because I haven’t been giving him any lift at all.

October 18, 2006

Blackjack brought in a critter today (chipmunk), which surprised the heck out of Gary and me. He’s never brought in anything before, and we didn’t think he was fast enough to catch anything. Luckily, it went out the kitchen door, which Gary had opened, while I was off after a towel (I was going to ask Gary if I should use a bowel – oops, I mean, ‘bowl,’ Jamie – but by the time I got back, the beastie was out of the house). Blackjack then ran after it , but he stopped when I yelled at him in a voice of reprimand and let me pick him up and take him back into the house – Tigger would have had no truck with that. It probably helps that Blackjack is not much of a meat eater – he’s never interested when Gary has chicken or fish, whereas Tigger is right in Gary’s face. I’m wondering if Joe had a similar experience.

Next, Tigger had a dead beastie on the patio, but we shut the doors and I got it in a grocery bag (and into the trash) before Tigger could bring it into the house. But then he did later bring one into the house (dead, fortunately). And I found another dead one right outside the side door. Hmm.

Today I was sick from yesterday’s anesthesia – felt like poison was circulating in my body, making my body hurt and making me feel sick to my stomach. I don’t know if it was such a good idea to make my appt. to have the other two teeth filled tomorrow. But if I didn’t do it then, it would be over a month before I could get in. *Sigh*

Gary went to his first graduate council meeting. The LETA bus let him out right in front of the building, so that was good! And he said his push back to the math building was no problem – said it was downhill all the way, and he made it in twenty minutes. He said a fast walk would take someone fifteen minutes. He then said he could have made it in fifteen, but he’d been being careful because it was new territory. He then imitated going back in fifteen, saying, “‘Whee! Look, no hands.’ Crash.”

Which reminds me. I was a little perturbed with him Monday when he called from school saying he needed me to help him in the door when he got home later in the day. He hadn’t doublechecked his tip bars after the therapist put them back on after therapy, and first they had fallen off when he went to get in the LETA bus, and then when the therapist put them on, she put them in too far. You might remember that that is exactly what the therapist at Shepherd had done, and when Gary went into a wheelie with them like that, he overbalanced and landed on the back of his head. Gary insisted that I didn’t need to come to the university to put them in right, that there were no places between school and home where he was going to need to do a wheelie (whereas at home, he needs to do a little one to get into the house). I worried some about that until he got home. I had told him to get someone to accompany him to the bus when he left school, but since he said “I’ll think about it,” I’m sure he didn’t.

October 19, 2006

Back to the dentist for the other two fillings. I always wonder why at the end they ask you if your bite feels all right, when by then you can’t feel much of anything (maybe I should have said, “Let me bite you and I’ll see”).

Next it was off for a massage. Not that I purposely timed it that way, but it was a good way to start getting those anesthesia toxins dumped into the lymph system. On the other hand, that can sometimes make me feel pretty sick, but as of Friday morning, I don’t notice any increase in the ill effects of the anesthesia. Fingers crossed.

Later in the afternoon on Thursday I took Gary to his appointment at an office of the Department of Vocational Rehab in the next town over. The woman Gary saw is going to hook him up with a person from the Lakeshore Rehabilitation Facility in Birmingham. Evidently this person specializes in the “adaptive drivers evaluation” for those with SCIs and head injuries. Based on the evaluation, the guy will recommend a vehicle for Gary, along with what modifications should be made to the vehicle for his particular case. Based on our income, we will most likely have to pay for the modifications to the vehicle ourselves, but it is possible it could be presented as a “RAVE” case (“Retaining A Valued Employee”) through the university, and if so the Dept. of Vocational Rehab would pay for the modifications. It wasn’t clear what the likelihood of that is – I guess we’ll wait and see until after the evaluation.

By the way, if you are telling someone an anecdote, after fifteen minutes, it is too late to say, “To make a long story short.” We could have been done with that appointment a lot sooner ;-). The woman was very helpful, however.

October 16, 2006

The termite inspector guy came today. He said it is carpenter ants that are burrowing into our wood columns on the back patio. I guess the wood has been softened by water damage, and that attracted them.

Gary found out the results of the study of the traffic intersection where his accident took place. It claimed that the traffic count is not high enough to warrant a traffic light there. I guess we’ll have to wait until the population of the area increases or someone with influence is in a bad accident there.

October 17, 2006

Gary said he read one of my recent blog entries and noticed I said our joint “leisure time” consists of grocery shopping. He said I should add in our periods where I help him stretch and give him a bath, since we also listen to music and talk during those times. That certainly *is* more relaxing than going up and down grocery aisles ;-). He said there is another half hour after dinner and before our evening routine that we could use to watch TV. We thought about watching last year’s “24" (we’ll have to start over), but since that would take us 48 days of watching it straight through, maybe we’ll start with movies. :-)

I had to go to the dentist for two fillings. It was a much easier experience than last time, for some reason – the area numbed up better (I have to use carbocaine, a less effective numbing agent but one that doesn’t affect me as badly as some of the newer ones). I didn’t even feel like biting his hand off this time. Unfortunately, however, they took a full set of x-rays and discovered two more cavities! Grrrr. I guess I am going to blame all the stress of the past few months for causing my teeth to rot.

As of today, I have just been supervising Gary with his transfers (crouching at ready in front of him) instead of having my hands on his hips. He is still getting too close to the edge of the bed for us to feel comfortable with my leaving the room while he does it, but this is progress. I think it’s partly psychological that he doesn’t get as far back on the bed when I don’t have my hands on him, because I haven’t been giving him any lift at all.

October 18, 2006

Blackjack brought in a critter today (chipmunk), which surprised the heck out of Gary and me. He’s never brought in anything before, and we didn’t think he was fast enough to catch anything. Luckily, it went out the kitchen door, which Gary had opened, while I was off after a towel (I was going to ask Gary if I should use a bowel – oops, I mean, ‘bowl,’ Jamie – but by the time I got back, the beastie was out of the house). Blackjack then ran after it , but he stopped when I yelled at him in a voice of reprimand and let me pick him up and take him back into the house – Tigger would have had no truck with that. It probably helps that Blackjack is not much of a meat eater – he’s never interested when Gary has chicken or fish, whereas Tigger is right in Gary’s face. I’m wondering if Joe had a similar experience.

Next, Tigger had a dead beastie on the patio, but we shut the doors and I got it in a grocery bag (and into the trash) before Tigger could bring it into the house. But then he did later bring one into the house (dead, fortunately). And I found another dead one right outside the side door. Hmm.

Today I was sick from yesterday’s anesthesia – felt like poison was circulating in my body, making my body hurt and making me feel sick to my stomach. I don’t know if it was such a good idea to make my appt. to have the other two teeth filled tomorrow. But if I didn’t do it then, it would be over a month before I could get in. *Sigh*

Gary went to his first graduate council meeting. The LETA bus let him out right in front of the building, so that was good! And he said his push back to the math building was no problem – said it was downhill all the way, and he made it in twenty minutes. He said a fast walk would take someone fifteen minutes. He then said he could have made it in fifteen, but he’d been being careful because it was new territory. He then imitated going back in fifteen, saying, “‘Whee! Look, no hands.’ Crash.”

Which reminds me. I was a little perturbed with him Monday when he called from school saying he needed me to help him in the door when he got home later in the day. He hadn’t doublechecked his tip bars after the therapist put them back on after therapy, and first they had fallen off when he went to get in the LETA bus, and then when the therapist put them on, she put them in too far. You might remember that that is exactly what the therapist at Shepherd had done, and when Gary went into a wheelie with them like that, he overbalanced and landed on the back of his head. Gary insisted that I didn’t need to come to the university to put them in right, that there were no places between school and home where he was going to need to do a wheelie (whereas at home, he needs to do a little one to get into the house). I worried some about that until he got home. I had told him to get someone to accompany him to the bus when he left school, but since he said “I’ll think about it,” I’m sure he didn’t.

October 19, 2006

Back to the dentist for the other two fillings. I always wonder why at the end they ask you if your bite feels all right, when by then you can’t feel much of anything (maybe I should have said, “Let me bite you and I’ll see”).

Next it was off for a massage. Not that I purposely timed it that way, but it was a good way to start getting those anesthesia toxins dumped into the lymph system. On the other hand, that can sometimes make me feel pretty sick, but as of Friday morning, I don’t notice any increase in the ill effects of the anesthesia. Fingers crossed.

Later in the afternoon on Thursday I took Gary to his appointment at an office of the Department of Vocational Rehab in the next town over. The woman Gary saw is going to hook him up with a person from the Lakeshore Rehabilitation Facility in Birmingham. Evidently this person specializes in the “adaptive drivers evaluation” for those with SCIs and head injuries. Based on the evaluation, the guy will recommend a vehicle for Gary, along with what modifications should be made to the vehicle for his particular case. Based on our income, we will most likely have to pay for the modifications to the vehicle ourselves, but it is possible it could be presented as a “RAVE” case (“Retaining A Valued Employee”) through the university, and if so the Dept. of Vocational Rehab would pay for the modifications. It wasn’t clear what the likelihood of that is – I guess we’ll wait and see until after the evaluation.

By the way, if you are telling someone an anecdote, after fifteen minutes, it is too late to say, “To make a long story short.” We could have been done with that appointment a lot sooner ;-). The woman was very helpful, however.

Gary came across this nice story of a paraplegic golfer. It doesn't appear to have inspired him to follow suit, however. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2006/10/18/a1c_trick_shot_1018.html

October 15, 2006

Today’s lesson: pull away slowly from the ice cream place’s drive-up window after handing your paraplegic husband an ice cream cone that the people in the store may not have packed the ice cream down into. “Fortunately” the ice cream landed in his lap and not on the car floor.

October 13, 2006

A few emails are prompting most of tonight’s entry.

Jane Brown passed on an interesting article about a fledgling study on functional electrical stimulation (FES) training in those with SCIs. Two days a week the participants train on the bikes with the electrodes and functional electrical stimulation and then one day a week they have them try to achieve some voluntary muscle contractions without any artificial assistance or stimulation. See http://www.utexas.edu/features/2006/spinal/index.html

Someone thought Gary’s wheelie practice seemed rather risky – I guess I should have made it clear that when he is doing the wheelies, a therapist is behind him holding onto the gait belt that is wrapped around the axle of his wheelchair, and she would pull him upright with it should he overbalance. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let him be doing wheelies without this supervision, and he says he learned his lesson at Shepherd not to do them on his own at this point ;-)

Someone else said it is hard to tell how things are going over here now that I’ve tapered off on the blog. Not sure exactly what to say. “Maintenance” still takes us a (“ridiculously”) long time (especially Gary, of course), but progress is being made slowly but surely. Most of “my time” I’ve been spending on revising my story (or at least, staring at the pages while ripping my hair out). Sometimes I like my writing, sometimes I don’t. I am “worried” about the characters, that people aren’t going to like reading about them. I think I may have to write under a pseudonym. Or at least put a disclaimer to my family: “I am not any of these characters and neither are you so don’t worry about it.” Sometimes I think I should go back to fanfic ;-) I wish I could write the story faster.

These past few weeks I haven’t been spending time organizing the house, because, frankly, that isn’t fun and I was in need of some serious fun (which, despite my moaning, writing is). I had planned to get back to some organizing last week, but then I got ill and I didn’t feel like doing much of anything, I was so tired. I am still not quite recovered. Our major goal in the organizing respect is to clear the gardening stuff from the “dining” room and put it in the garage. That would give more room in there for Gary to have things he would like to get to handy. My other “major” goal is to get my books organized, and I still haven’t gotten around to that.

The housekeeper seems to be working out fairly well.

Neither of us have gotten on the futon and watched TV. Gary watches the news or sports when he does his elastic band exercises on non-therapy days. I haven’t turned the TV on at all. As I said, “my time” is mainly spent on my writing, “our time” on maintenance stuff, “his (non-maintenance) time” on therapy or work-related stuff or whatever else he is doing that he isn’t telling me about ;-). When the time needed for his maintenance activities goes down, then I presume we can get a little “joint leisure” in there (which right now only seems to consist of grocery shopping, if you call that a leisure activity ;-)), but I don’t expect that to be for awhile – not until his flap restrictions are lifted or modified, and the soonest that would happen is the last week of November when he sees the “flap doc.”

So, let me know if there is anything you are curious about that you’d like to read about in the blog :-)

October 11, 2006

I am finally feeling somewhat better today. At least, I was until my massage therapist got ahold of me this afternoon ;-). I’ll give it another day or two before I resume any exercising, though – not quite up to par.

And speaking of exercising, Gary has increased his weights on a number of exercises: the wrist curls, cable cross-overs, punches. He can also do two sets of thirty on lat pulldowns and row, instead of just one set as before. He did his entire wheelie session with the therapist while watching the news on TV. She then asked him to tell her what he’d heard on the news. He said he couldn’t remember much :-). His excuse was that it was a long story, not just headlines. She told him next time she was going to give him a quiz.

He also proudly noted tonight that he got his entire dinner himself (mixed salad, and spaghetti with sauce and grated cheese). He said the whole wheat capellini, which he tried for the first time tonight, is pretty good. I never thought I’d see the day when he ate whole wheat spaghetti. He also says the cereal with twigs is pretty good – though not as good as the more name-brand high fiber cereals. I suspect he finds this to be the case because the twigs cereal contains only about two-thirds the sugars as those other kinds ;-).

October 9, 2006
A “connection” problem with the condom catheter caused Gary to have to have the LETA bus take him home instead of to the university after rehab. I suppose after we got his clothes changed I could’ve taken him to the university, but he didn’t ask, saying there wasn’t anything vital he had planned to do there, and I’m still not feeling good, so I didn’t volunteer to take him – actually, perhaps a measure of how not-with-it I was, it didn’t even occur to me to offer until too late in the afternoon.

He had another bit of a disappointment at rehab. He was doing a wheelie, and it suddenly became very easy. He thought he’d achieved the state of zen. He told the therapist it was so easy he felt like he could take a nap in that position. Evidently that made her suspicious. She looked down and realized she hadn’t locked his tip bar in the upward position, and it had slipped down and he was balancing on it. We had to give rueful laughs at that.

We discovered something is eating into the wood at the bottom of the columns on the back patio and leaving little piles of “sawdust.” The termite inspection guy is supposed to come soon, so we’ll ask him if he knows what it is.

Gary’s new pants-getting-on record is 6 ½ minutes.

October 6, 2006

Still feel like crap.

Gary’s family has still been trying to get reimbursed for the cancellation that Gary and his mom had to do regarding their room on the Alaska cruise ship (actually, I believe it is Bob still trying to get reimbursed since he ended up paying for the room he was sharing with Gary and his mom). The insurance company evidently wouldn’t take the documents of the cruise ship that showed the room was paid for and thanking Gary for the payment as evidence that he actually paid for the room. (Norma wondered in an email to Gary what planet the insurance company was from. Gary told her that like most insurance companies they are from the planet Justtrytogetmoneyoutofushaha.) The insurance company wanted the credit card statement from last April that showed Gary had paid for the room. Fortunately (in a rare display of organization ;-)) while I was paying all the bills when Gary was hospitalized I had printed off and stuffed things like this in a manilla envelope, and Gary found it.

He told me he is still increasing the weights in rehab. Today he went up to more weight in the wrist curls. He said he tried for half of the wheelie time to do it while watching the little TV there instead of his feet. He said doing it with his head up is much harder.

He went to the barbecue place for lunch again, but he said this time they had the door to their outer room closed, instead of open as it has been before. He said he was having difficulty getting in – if he went up on the sidewalk to the entrance, he was too close to the door to get it open, but if he didn’t go up on the sidewalk then he had to reach across and hold the door open with one hand while at the same time trying to get up the two-inch curb to the sidewalk. He couldn’t do it. The bus driver got out and helped him. I suggested he program the restaurant’s phone number into his cell phone and if their door was shut to phone them to tell them to open the door for him!

October 7, 2006

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.

I guess this is turning into a cold. Still hurt all over.

Ow.

Told Gary I was worried about giving “whatever” to him. He said it was inevitable he was going to get a cold or something sometime. I’d rather not be the cause.

October 4, 2006

Gary set a new record: 8 minutes in a wheelie. About half of that time he was zen-like, he claims.

October 5, 2006

Uh-oh. I feel like crap today. Hot and achy all over, headachy, tired. It seemed to start last night. It was a chore to give Gary his bath and go through the routine. All I wanted to do is go to bed. I did lay around most of the day today (well, except for a nap I was spending the time critiquing my fellow writers’ stories in preparation for tomorrow’s meeting). I hope I’m not going to get sick. I started worrying about who was going to give Gary his bath, get his clothes over to him when he’s in bed, and get him out of and back into bed. When Gary realized I wasn’t feeling well, he started worrying that if I went into the hospital he’d be up shit creek. I told him hopefully I wasn’t going to be THAT sick.

He was happy today that he had an idea for some math research problem and got involved in it. He said it didn’t pan out, but it felt good to be doing research anyway.

He did a little reading about the Christopher Reeve Foundation. He said that there is a charity dinner in New York coming up for research in spinal cord injuries. $1000 per plate. He said what would really hold him back from going, however, is that it is black-tie. He said he thought he should complain about them having this requirement, thereby not making it easy for quads and paras to attend. I told him he could wear black sleep pants and a white T-shirt with a tie printed on it.

October 3, 2006

Gary attempted -- and conquered -- the route he would have to take in order to get into the math building should the elevator not be working (he would have to go in the front, instead of the back). He said he must have looked like he was really struggling up a long incline, because there were two separate incidents of people asking him if he wanted help, including a man who jumped out of his truck and trotted over. Gary told them both thanks anyway, he was just getting exercise.

We continue to find our amusement anyway we can, including figuring out just what it is that Gary has caught between his feet or dropped into his lap. Tonight after helping him transfer into bed, I picked up a mystery item from his lap and said it must have been part of his (Mexican) dinner. He said that at least it wasn’t the whole enchilada.

Two little notes:

*Caller I.D. can be so much fun. I knew it was Gary calling me, so I answered the phone by saying, “I suppose you want something of me,” which made him laugh.

*I don’t think goosing a person is an intended use for a reacher.

October 2, 2006

Gary set a new wheelie record: in the position for 5 ½ minutes. He says he still only has flashes of a Zen-like state, however. ;-)

Ronnie Levy informs us that the cereal with twigs is great. Gary says he’ll have to try it, then. You better not be joking, Ronnie!

October 1, 2006

Our Sunday routine now seems to be: do the shower in the morning, go to the grocery store after lunch while the housecleaner is there. Gary has been having to pay more attention to getting fiber into him. Last week at Kroger I came across a Masada Bakery bread, “rich in natural fiber” – five grams per slice. Gary made a face when I showed it to him, saying anything that good for you couldn’t taste any good. But, he decided to try it, and was surprised to find it tasted all right (“not as good as Paneera bread, though” – the stuff without any nutrition to it ;-)). So we got more this week.

He still, however, refuses to try the natural cereal I found that proclaims on its cover that it contains twigs. He says if he wants twigs for fiber, he’ll go into the woods in our backyard.