Magic Bullett, Weight Shifts, IC.

These are 3 of Will's daily highlights - NOT! Because Will is paralyzed from the waist down he does not have control of his bladder or bowel. Nor does he have the ability to shift his weight around with his legs or butt. Every quadriplegic and paraplegic has to get on a "bowel/bladder program." This just means the person needs medication and manual help emptying their bowels & bladders. Will's bowel program is a suppository called "Magic Bullett." (insert laugh/giggle here... ) He gets this once a day (in the evening) to help him poop. Every 4 hours he has to "IC" This stands for "intermittent cath." Before coming to Shepherd he had a Foley catheter in his bladder, but they are not good to leave in because of high urinary tract infection risk. So he has a nurse "IC" him every 4 hours. They go up into his bladder with a small catheter so he can pee. He will soon learn to do this to himself. The other extremely important part of Will's day is weight shifts. While he is in his wheelchair he has to do these every 30 minutes. This is to prevent skin breakdown on his butt. He has to wear a timer which beeps every 30 minutes to remind him to do a weight shift. He has to stop, put the brakes on his chair, and use his arms to raise himself up off the seat for a full minute. The timer beeps again after 1 minute passes. He has already shown that he is getting stronger with these. They are not easy since has a broken scapula and broken ribs on both sides. He is out of his "turtle shell" brace and into a much fancier, more comfortable brace called a "Jewett brace." He will still have to wear his cervical collar for a few more weeks. We are looking forward to having a "medical conference" this week with his doctor. His doctor is Brock Bowman and he will go over every single injury and discuss his medical status. We will probably have a few answers to some questions at that time.

Today was Will's best day so far. He got to sleep in late since there is no therapy on Sunday. He & I went outside to the garden for some fresh air. He said it was good to get outside and of course he spent some time on his Blackberry. His appetite is also getting better. Tomorrow he only has about an hour of therapy since it is a holiday, but then on Tuesday the full 3 hour schedule starts. He is going to be whipped by the end of next week! He can't wait until the staples in his back come out (from where they did surgery) so that he can take a shower! He also cannot wait to go to the eye doctor on Thursday to get a new prescription filled so that he can see. Right now he is wearing his old glasses and he can;t really read or see the TV. So that has been frustrating!