Friday June 19th, 2009: Few tough days, feeling better

It's been a rough few days down here. I flew back from NC on Wednesday morning and met a group from Shepherd at the airport. As many of you know, Shepherd has a phenomenal therapeutic recreation department, and part of their program is getting patients back into the community. Shepherd partners with Delta airlines and they have a monthly airport outing. Will was unable to attend because he was still fighting his UTI, but I was able to be there to get educated. It was a wonderful experience, and I was so thankful for the opportunity. As you may imagine, airline travel from the perspective of a disabled person can be quite stressful and intimidating. This experience answered a lot of our questions and oriented us to what airline travel will be like.

I returned to Will's side on Wednesday afternoon, and it was quite obvious he was still fighting the infection. To make a LONG story short, he missed a few days of therapy, and spent many hours dealing with bowel issues on top of the infection. He mentally & emotionally had to work through some tough times, and this was the first time I have ever heard him cry. We have had a few good, honest talks with his primary nurse and the charge nurse in regards to revamping his bowel program, and more importantly, in regards to some staff personality & care issues. Even though Shepherd is the #1 place to be, it is not a utopia. I was very glad to hear yesterday that the preliminary results of his blood cultures are negative. He still has had low grade temps and he still has his Foley catheter in, but today has so far been a good day. He is really looking forward to seeing a few of his buddies who are flying tomorrow for the weekend.

I had to move out of the apartments this morning and I will be staying with a family friend who lives about 45 minutes away. We learned this morning that Will got accepted into the day program. He will be discharged from inpatient on July 1st and we will move back into the apartments that day. The day program will start July 2nd. We do not know how long he will be in day program. We do not know yet if his insurance will cover the day program in full. If they do not cover it, the cost is $100 per day. Let's hope they cover it! Once he gets there, they will sit down with him and determine his goals and then we will know how long he will be there.

The fundraiser is coming up on June 26th. Here is the link to another article about Will: http://www.capecodtoday.com

I am happy to report that I booked flights for Will, Ty, and I to fly up to Boston in September. Both Will & I have different friends getting married on 9/12/09. So we will be on the Cape from 9/10 to 9/13. Looking forward to it! Today, I am hoping to get checked off to take Will out in the car!