This is my second post of the day, so if you missed the one pertaining to Dec. 21, scroll down.
December 22, 2006
As figures, I woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. I got up when I heard Gary stirring – he had set his alarm for a half hour earlier than usual (5:30) to give me more time to throw stuff in the car before Day Program. So, while he was doing his thing and in between doing what I needed to do for him I packed up the stuff as it became “available” to be packed, and loaded the car, and did more cleaning, and laundered the sheets and towels like they said I was supposed to do before vacating the apartment. There was just enough time to get it all in before we needed to leave for Day Program, and I was glad I didn’t have to miss any of his last day. While we were still in the apartment and Gary was helping me fold the towels, he said, “I am impressed with the job you’re doing this morning.” I said, “Oh, you mean the way I pulled the sheet out from under you while you were in the middle of your bowel program so I could wash it?” (which did happen). He laughed and said, “Yeah, and the way you demanded the peel from the banana I was eating for breakfast so you could throw all the trash in the dumpster.” (which also happened).
His first hour at Day Program he was in the standing frame, and as balance exercises the PT played catch with him, first with a tennis ball, then with what I guess was a soccer ball – at least, it was about that size though it was on the heavy side and didn’t bounce very well. She threw the tennis ball to both his left and right sides and he was supposed to use each of his hands to catch it. While they were throwing, she asked him if he was sore from all he’d done yesterday. He said he had been sore yesterday afternoon and evening, but wasn’t now. They changed to the larger ball, and he was supposed to use two hands to catch it (he first asked her if there was any danger of him falling out of the standing frame if he leaned too far to one side to get the ball, and she assured him there wasn’t). All of a sudden while they were throwing the ball back and forth, Gary whips it in my direction (I was off to the side of them). He hadn’t looked at me beforehand, and not only wasn’t I prepared for the throw, but I was just finishing putting my notebook back in my pocket, having just written that they were now using the larger ball. Fortunately I got my hands up in time to catch the ball. Gary laughed and said it was an amazing catch. I am not sure why he thought I should think him funny, seeing that if I hadn’t gotten my hands up I would have gotten hit in the face. Must be some obscure Gruenhage humor ;-).
So then the three of us played catch for a while, at good speed and in no particular order – kept us all on our toes. Then the PT got some ping-pong paddles and we tried to play ping-pong with the tennis ball. The PT soon left me and Gary to do this ourselves. This is not my game anyway, but it was definitely not my game under these circumstances – there was only a limited amount of area that I could hit it to for Gary to be able to hit it back, and my aim wasn’t that great. I got more exercise than he did, what with me running around the gym to retrieve the ball. We did a lot of laughing, though.
The next hour we went on a push, but it wasn’t a very lively one. There was only one other person on it, and she was fairly newly injured and didn’t have anywhere near the skills, strength, or endurance Gary had. We went out to the door to the parking garage, near the elevators, and the therapist had Gary open the door. Of course, he’s had practice opening doors for the past four months, so he did it easily. Then it was the young woman’s turn. Not only was this the first time she had tried to open a door, but on account of her injury – C6-7, incomplete – she didn’t have full functionality of her hands. Gary, myself, and the therapist stood watching her attempts, and at this time another woman entered the area to use the elevators. She punched the button for the elevator and it came almost immediately, but it was then that she became aware of the woman in the wheelchair trying to get back in through the door from the parking area. “Does she need help?” she cried. “Is she stuck?” She moved toward the wheelchair person, but I assured her that this was a practice session. The woman then said, “Oh,” and left, taking the elevator. I then said to the closed elevator door, “Yes, she was stuck. The three of us are just cruel people, standing around watching her struggle to get in the door.” We all started laughing, and then we shared what had happened with the young woman who had finally made it in through the door. Next came more door practice, and the woman was amazed how easily Gary could do it. I assured her that Gary had been practicing it for four months and that she would be able to do it in time. We then headed toward the tunnel that led to Piedmont Hospital so that Gary and the other person could attempt the dreaded Blue Carpet – you might remember that is a carpeted long and steep incline. But on the way, the therapist disappeared (Gary and I were way ahead of the others). The other person in the wheelchair pulled up, and she said she had no idea what happened to the therapist, that she didn’t realize the woman wasn’t with her. I thought maybe she’d gone to the bathroom. After several minutes, Gary said he was going to check his email in the library, which was close by. I waited with the young woman, who I guess to be in her late teens, early twenties. She asked how Gary got injured, and I told her about his accident. She said she had been in a car accident too, that she’d been a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver, and that he’d slammed into a parked car at 105 mph. Nothing happened to him – she said he was still out playing baseball and driving drunk. I couldn’t help having the thought that while it is inexcusable to drive drunk, it also isn’t wise to get in the car with a drunk driver.
The therapist showed up with some strange excuse about having to buy the pecans that were being sold in the passageway because they were going to run out, and that there had been a long line. They have been selling those pecans ever since we arrived, so I didn’t “get” her excuse. Anyway, Gary came wheeling out of the library at this time, and we headed toward the Blue Carpet. He made it “the easy way,” which has a smaller and shorter incline at the end, with little difficulty, and then after a rest it was time to tackle the hard direction. His record last August was to get up this incline with three rests. He made it in one shot! It still wasn’t easy for him, but he did it. The young woman needed lots and lots of rest breaks to get up it, gasping away, the therapist hanging onto her chair so she wouldn’t go backwards. Reminded me of the first time Gary was in the chair and he needed rest breaks to even go for a relatively short distance on a level floor.
We then headed back toward the parking garage, and Gary and I thought the therapist was going to have them go up the parking ramps, like they did the one other time Gary was on a push like this. But we didn’t go there, instead turning into the Marcus building and taking the elevator back to the third floor. I thought maybe it was because the parking ramps would have been too much for the young woman, though the therapist said it was because it was wet out.
Last on Gary's schedule was a group exercise session, the group being the same four of us (me, Gary, the young woman, and the therapist). After that was Gary’s graduation ceremony. His therapists and me and others in the gym cheered as Gary received his certificates. His special award this time was for being “Most Improved since last Day Program.” I had thought they might make it a funny award, one referring to his split lip. They then gave him a nice send-off – they sang the Shepherd Graduation Song, and he went wheeling out of the gym, giving them a regal wave as he left.
So, the Day Program this time around was a very satisfactory experience – Gary was very, very pleased, thought it was very worthwhile, said he’d learned to do some things he’d never thought he’d be able to do even with me giving some help. As for me, he astonished me in a number of ways. I knew he was stronger (though it never occurred to me he would be able to use four-and-a-half times as much weight on the rickshaw than he did last August) and had better balance, but this was concrete evidence of how he’s not only improved on so many tasks, but can do things like floor-to-wheelchair transfers that were simply impossible for us to do last summer. I think he astounded his Day Program team, too, seeing that the first day we were there they told him he’d need a month to accomplish his goals, and then he goes and essentially gets through those goals, and more, in two weeks.
But we were not quite through with Shepherd. We went to the room with the “bummed-out patient.” The man didn’t seem out-and-out depressed, but he did question his ability to learn to “move all this deadweight around.” He said he’d watched Gary in the gym and had been amazed at what Gary could do, and that he himself couldn’t even imagine being able to get himself into a car. Gary said that still wasn’t the easiest thing in the world for him to do, and that when he first came here, he certainly couldn’t do the things he can do now, but that the therapists here were very good and in time the man would learn how to do them too. The man still seemed a little skeptical, saying he weighed a lot more than Gary does, but Gary insisted that in time he would develop the strength and techniques.
Anyway, the guy said he appreciated Gary coming around to talk to him, that it was good to talk to someone in much the same boat (they also shared experiences of how much they had hated being intubated – the man was still being weaned off his trache tube). The man said that Gary seemed to have adjusted well, and Gary said he had. The man said he hoped that he would adjust that well, and then we said our goodbyes.
So now we were through with Shepherd. Traffic was thick all the way from Atlanta to home, I guess it being the weekend before Christmas. We stopped at the Target a few exits before our own, in order to look for a few things that Gary wanted to get based on the ideas that had come up at Shepherd. So, as Christmas presents I got him a knapsack and an exercise mat for when we practice floor transfers. I thought we’d find some crocs there, but we didn’t, so I will get them elsewhere. I will also buy him some Jobst socks, which are supposed to be not only better but more stylish than the t.e.d. hose, according to the “Been there done that” guy. I’m also getting him wheelchair gloves, and will take him to the movie of his choice. Oh, and I also already bought him a cashmere V-neck sweater and a knit polo shirt.
We were both pretty exhausted by this time, and I still had the car unloading to do. Ycchh. I had to put the bed warmer back on my own bed, and while I was doing that, Gary rolled by. “There’s Peg, making a bed, as usual,” he joked. I swear I’ve made more beds in the past two weeks than I have in my life. Gary was too tired to make anything for himself for dinner, so he decided to have the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had made for his lunch (I had stopped at Fresh Market and gotten him an Italian panini sandwich for his lunch) and also have some Amy’s organic soup. I made my zukes and rice. There were still two hours to go before bedtime, and I spent the time pretty much just wishing the time would pass more quickly, too tired to do anything. I couldn’t go to bed early, because Gary had to keep to his routine and there were things I had to help him with.
I was very happy to hit the pillow that night.
December 22, 2006
As figures, I woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. I got up when I heard Gary stirring – he had set his alarm for a half hour earlier than usual (5:30) to give me more time to throw stuff in the car before Day Program. So, while he was doing his thing and in between doing what I needed to do for him I packed up the stuff as it became “available” to be packed, and loaded the car, and did more cleaning, and laundered the sheets and towels like they said I was supposed to do before vacating the apartment. There was just enough time to get it all in before we needed to leave for Day Program, and I was glad I didn’t have to miss any of his last day. While we were still in the apartment and Gary was helping me fold the towels, he said, “I am impressed with the job you’re doing this morning.” I said, “Oh, you mean the way I pulled the sheet out from under you while you were in the middle of your bowel program so I could wash it?” (which did happen). He laughed and said, “Yeah, and the way you demanded the peel from the banana I was eating for breakfast so you could throw all the trash in the dumpster.” (which also happened).
His first hour at Day Program he was in the standing frame, and as balance exercises the PT played catch with him, first with a tennis ball, then with what I guess was a soccer ball – at least, it was about that size though it was on the heavy side and didn’t bounce very well. She threw the tennis ball to both his left and right sides and he was supposed to use each of his hands to catch it. While they were throwing, she asked him if he was sore from all he’d done yesterday. He said he had been sore yesterday afternoon and evening, but wasn’t now. They changed to the larger ball, and he was supposed to use two hands to catch it (he first asked her if there was any danger of him falling out of the standing frame if he leaned too far to one side to get the ball, and she assured him there wasn’t). All of a sudden while they were throwing the ball back and forth, Gary whips it in my direction (I was off to the side of them). He hadn’t looked at me beforehand, and not only wasn’t I prepared for the throw, but I was just finishing putting my notebook back in my pocket, having just written that they were now using the larger ball. Fortunately I got my hands up in time to catch the ball. Gary laughed and said it was an amazing catch. I am not sure why he thought I should think him funny, seeing that if I hadn’t gotten my hands up I would have gotten hit in the face. Must be some obscure Gruenhage humor ;-).
So then the three of us played catch for a while, at good speed and in no particular order – kept us all on our toes. Then the PT got some ping-pong paddles and we tried to play ping-pong with the tennis ball. The PT soon left me and Gary to do this ourselves. This is not my game anyway, but it was definitely not my game under these circumstances – there was only a limited amount of area that I could hit it to for Gary to be able to hit it back, and my aim wasn’t that great. I got more exercise than he did, what with me running around the gym to retrieve the ball. We did a lot of laughing, though.
The next hour we went on a push, but it wasn’t a very lively one. There was only one other person on it, and she was fairly newly injured and didn’t have anywhere near the skills, strength, or endurance Gary had. We went out to the door to the parking garage, near the elevators, and the therapist had Gary open the door. Of course, he’s had practice opening doors for the past four months, so he did it easily. Then it was the young woman’s turn. Not only was this the first time she had tried to open a door, but on account of her injury – C6-7, incomplete – she didn’t have full functionality of her hands. Gary, myself, and the therapist stood watching her attempts, and at this time another woman entered the area to use the elevators. She punched the button for the elevator and it came almost immediately, but it was then that she became aware of the woman in the wheelchair trying to get back in through the door from the parking area. “Does she need help?” she cried. “Is she stuck?” She moved toward the wheelchair person, but I assured her that this was a practice session. The woman then said, “Oh,” and left, taking the elevator. I then said to the closed elevator door, “Yes, she was stuck. The three of us are just cruel people, standing around watching her struggle to get in the door.” We all started laughing, and then we shared what had happened with the young woman who had finally made it in through the door. Next came more door practice, and the woman was amazed how easily Gary could do it. I assured her that Gary had been practicing it for four months and that she would be able to do it in time. We then headed toward the tunnel that led to Piedmont Hospital so that Gary and the other person could attempt the dreaded Blue Carpet – you might remember that is a carpeted long and steep incline. But on the way, the therapist disappeared (Gary and I were way ahead of the others). The other person in the wheelchair pulled up, and she said she had no idea what happened to the therapist, that she didn’t realize the woman wasn’t with her. I thought maybe she’d gone to the bathroom. After several minutes, Gary said he was going to check his email in the library, which was close by. I waited with the young woman, who I guess to be in her late teens, early twenties. She asked how Gary got injured, and I told her about his accident. She said she had been in a car accident too, that she’d been a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver, and that he’d slammed into a parked car at 105 mph. Nothing happened to him – she said he was still out playing baseball and driving drunk. I couldn’t help having the thought that while it is inexcusable to drive drunk, it also isn’t wise to get in the car with a drunk driver.
The therapist showed up with some strange excuse about having to buy the pecans that were being sold in the passageway because they were going to run out, and that there had been a long line. They have been selling those pecans ever since we arrived, so I didn’t “get” her excuse. Anyway, Gary came wheeling out of the library at this time, and we headed toward the Blue Carpet. He made it “the easy way,” which has a smaller and shorter incline at the end, with little difficulty, and then after a rest it was time to tackle the hard direction. His record last August was to get up this incline with three rests. He made it in one shot! It still wasn’t easy for him, but he did it. The young woman needed lots and lots of rest breaks to get up it, gasping away, the therapist hanging onto her chair so she wouldn’t go backwards. Reminded me of the first time Gary was in the chair and he needed rest breaks to even go for a relatively short distance on a level floor.
We then headed back toward the parking garage, and Gary and I thought the therapist was going to have them go up the parking ramps, like they did the one other time Gary was on a push like this. But we didn’t go there, instead turning into the Marcus building and taking the elevator back to the third floor. I thought maybe it was because the parking ramps would have been too much for the young woman, though the therapist said it was because it was wet out.
Last on Gary's schedule was a group exercise session, the group being the same four of us (me, Gary, the young woman, and the therapist). After that was Gary’s graduation ceremony. His therapists and me and others in the gym cheered as Gary received his certificates. His special award this time was for being “Most Improved since last Day Program.” I had thought they might make it a funny award, one referring to his split lip. They then gave him a nice send-off – they sang the Shepherd Graduation Song, and he went wheeling out of the gym, giving them a regal wave as he left.
So, the Day Program this time around was a very satisfactory experience – Gary was very, very pleased, thought it was very worthwhile, said he’d learned to do some things he’d never thought he’d be able to do even with me giving some help. As for me, he astonished me in a number of ways. I knew he was stronger (though it never occurred to me he would be able to use four-and-a-half times as much weight on the rickshaw than he did last August) and had better balance, but this was concrete evidence of how he’s not only improved on so many tasks, but can do things like floor-to-wheelchair transfers that were simply impossible for us to do last summer. I think he astounded his Day Program team, too, seeing that the first day we were there they told him he’d need a month to accomplish his goals, and then he goes and essentially gets through those goals, and more, in two weeks.
But we were not quite through with Shepherd. We went to the room with the “bummed-out patient.” The man didn’t seem out-and-out depressed, but he did question his ability to learn to “move all this deadweight around.” He said he’d watched Gary in the gym and had been amazed at what Gary could do, and that he himself couldn’t even imagine being able to get himself into a car. Gary said that still wasn’t the easiest thing in the world for him to do, and that when he first came here, he certainly couldn’t do the things he can do now, but that the therapists here were very good and in time the man would learn how to do them too. The man still seemed a little skeptical, saying he weighed a lot more than Gary does, but Gary insisted that in time he would develop the strength and techniques.
Anyway, the guy said he appreciated Gary coming around to talk to him, that it was good to talk to someone in much the same boat (they also shared experiences of how much they had hated being intubated – the man was still being weaned off his trache tube). The man said that Gary seemed to have adjusted well, and Gary said he had. The man said he hoped that he would adjust that well, and then we said our goodbyes.
So now we were through with Shepherd. Traffic was thick all the way from Atlanta to home, I guess it being the weekend before Christmas. We stopped at the Target a few exits before our own, in order to look for a few things that Gary wanted to get based on the ideas that had come up at Shepherd. So, as Christmas presents I got him a knapsack and an exercise mat for when we practice floor transfers. I thought we’d find some crocs there, but we didn’t, so I will get them elsewhere. I will also buy him some Jobst socks, which are supposed to be not only better but more stylish than the t.e.d. hose, according to the “Been there done that” guy. I’m also getting him wheelchair gloves, and will take him to the movie of his choice. Oh, and I also already bought him a cashmere V-neck sweater and a knit polo shirt.
We were both pretty exhausted by this time, and I still had the car unloading to do. Ycchh. I had to put the bed warmer back on my own bed, and while I was doing that, Gary rolled by. “There’s Peg, making a bed, as usual,” he joked. I swear I’ve made more beds in the past two weeks than I have in my life. Gary was too tired to make anything for himself for dinner, so he decided to have the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had made for his lunch (I had stopped at Fresh Market and gotten him an Italian panini sandwich for his lunch) and also have some Amy’s organic soup. I made my zukes and rice. There were still two hours to go before bedtime, and I spent the time pretty much just wishing the time would pass more quickly, too tired to do anything. I couldn’t go to bed early, because Gary had to keep to his routine and there were things I had to help him with.
I was very happy to hit the pillow that night.
posted by Peg Daniels at 7:30 PM
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