Sunday May 31st 2009: 3 weeks post-accident
As I was getting ready to sit down and update the blog, I realized I didn't post anything yesterday. I also was thinking to myself, "Hmm, this was a really low key weekend and there is not a whole lot to write about." But it just dawned on me; exactly 3 weeks ago at this exact time (7:30 pm) I was a sobbing, anxious, hysterical mess and felt as though the weight of the world had just come crashing down upon me. And now here I sit on the couch, relaxed, and feeling ready to take on tomorrow. I am sure every Sunday may be like this, but for this I am grateful. It helps to put life into perspective and remind you how you can feel so low one day, where you are thinking, "How am I going to get through this?" and then with just some patience, support, and the passing of time, you realize how far you have come.
The big event of the weekend was that Will got new glasses today! So now he can see much better and start to read some of the educational stuff he has to learn. ( I know he is REALLY excited about that- yeah right ;) As some of you know, Will usually wears contacts, but he had some eye injuries from the accident (bleed & increased pressure on the right, and a scratched cornea & infection on the left) Since he hasn't been able to wear contacts he has been wearing his old glasses which have an outdated prescription. He's had a new prescription since the end of January, but never got it filled (typical man). Last night the frames of his old glasses broke, so I spent the afternoon at Lens Crafters and was able to get his new prescription into new frames. (Thank you Lens Crafters!) Will has been COMPLAINING non-stop about not being able to see....wonder what he will find to complain about next? Oh wait I know...speech therapy (his nemesis).
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday May 29th 2009: Will "stood"
Today, Will got to "stand" during PT. I was sad to have missed it and therefore have no picture! They strapped him to a table (think Frankenstein) and then tilted the table up. He said it felt kind of good, but also kind of weird & scary. He did get slightly dizzy and drop his blood pressure. Ok pop quiz- remember I mentioned earlier about orthostatic hypotension? Have you ever gone from lying down and then standing up quickly and get a head rush or feel faint? That's what it is. It is caused by gravity-induced blood pooling in the lower extremities. The effect is you do not get sufficient blood flow back up to your brain, so you get dizzy. For you and I this is a rare occurrence, but for someone with a spinal cord injury (SCI) this is very common during the acute period since the nervous system is altered and cannot regulate the blood vessels in the body to "squeeze." This is why you may notice in some of the pictures that Will is wearing ace wraps or white compression stockings on his legs. These sexy things help prevent the blood pooling in his lower body. He also wears a binder around his belly & chest to continue to help with the squeezing of blood up to his head. He actually likes the chest binder because it is helping to splint his broken ribs. We also went to the cafeteria today for lunch. Will gets a "meal ticket" which is good for one entree, two sides, and a drink. Well this being his first time there, he did not know this and proceeded to fill up his tray with A LOT of food. It was really funny- he even had 2 desserts and a side of wings. The cashier said to him, "This must be your first time." (And she let the extra food slide :) The boy can eat! Tomorrow is a very light day and then Sunday is a day off. I am going to run in a local 10k tomorrow and then will ride on Sunday morning with a few girls on the Silver Comet trail which is an old railroad bed that is now paved. It is 60 miles out and goes all the way to Alabama! Next week will be very busy and possibly intense. Tuesday Will goes to see a neuro-opthamologist, Wednesday our folks are flying in, and then Thursday is the big medical conference where his entire team will go over all his injuries and give us more answers.
Today, Will got to "stand" during PT. I was sad to have missed it and therefore have no picture! They strapped him to a table (think Frankenstein) and then tilted the table up. He said it felt kind of good, but also kind of weird & scary. He did get slightly dizzy and drop his blood pressure. Ok pop quiz- remember I mentioned earlier about orthostatic hypotension? Have you ever gone from lying down and then standing up quickly and get a head rush or feel faint? That's what it is. It is caused by gravity-induced blood pooling in the lower extremities. The effect is you do not get sufficient blood flow back up to your brain, so you get dizzy. For you and I this is a rare occurrence, but for someone with a spinal cord injury (SCI) this is very common during the acute period since the nervous system is altered and cannot regulate the blood vessels in the body to "squeeze." This is why you may notice in some of the pictures that Will is wearing ace wraps or white compression stockings on his legs. These sexy things help prevent the blood pooling in his lower body. He also wears a binder around his belly & chest to continue to help with the squeezing of blood up to his head. He actually likes the chest binder because it is helping to splint his broken ribs. We also went to the cafeteria today for lunch. Will gets a "meal ticket" which is good for one entree, two sides, and a drink. Well this being his first time there, he did not know this and proceeded to fill up his tray with A LOT of food. It was really funny- he even had 2 desserts and a side of wings. The cashier said to him, "This must be your first time." (And she let the extra food slide :) The boy can eat! Tomorrow is a very light day and then Sunday is a day off. I am going to run in a local 10k tomorrow and then will ride on Sunday morning with a few girls on the Silver Comet trail which is an old railroad bed that is now paved. It is 60 miles out and goes all the way to Alabama! Next week will be very busy and possibly intense. Tuesday Will goes to see a neuro-opthamologist, Wednesday our folks are flying in, and then Thursday is the big medical conference where his entire team will go over all his injuries and give us more answers.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday May 28th 2009: Cookout & Cornhole
OT for Will today consisted of participating in a cookout. Not too sure he was thrilled about it. He had to "work" in the kitchen, cutting up watermelon and hamburger buns and then do some clean up. He and a few other patients played some volleyball and a round of cornhole - not by his choice though ;) He is still having to restrict his fluids and still has the Foley catheter which has put a damper on things. His primary nurse, Marcia, gave him a firm talking to this afternoon. Will is going to have to learn to take on some more responsibility for himself which can be hard for him, especially given the situation. Everyday is a new journey...tomorrow is a VERY full day for Will. OT, PT, TR (therapeutic recreation), lunch in the cafeteria....
OT for Will today consisted of participating in a cookout. Not too sure he was thrilled about it. He had to "work" in the kitchen, cutting up watermelon and hamburger buns and then do some clean up. He and a few other patients played some volleyball and a round of cornhole - not by his choice though ;) He is still having to restrict his fluids and still has the Foley catheter which has put a damper on things. His primary nurse, Marcia, gave him a firm talking to this afternoon. Will is going to have to learn to take on some more responsibility for himself which can be hard for him, especially given the situation. Everyday is a new journey...tomorrow is a VERY full day for Will. OT, PT, TR (therapeutic recreation), lunch in the cafeteria....
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday May 27th 2009: First Shower!
Life keeps rolling on down here in GA. Will had his first shower today- he said it felt AMAZING! (Imagine how you would feel if you hadn't showered in 17 days!) We both went on to have productive mornings. Will had OT & PT. He practiced some more transfers with the slide board, practiced getting himself dressed, and also started to work on bathroom transfers. I went to the gym and got a run in and then went to a yoga class. The yoga class was great- it was for patients and families- there was even a therapy dog there! After lunch Will hit the gym to do some upper body strengthening and I sat in the garden for a little bit. Will then joined me for about an hour. When we sit in the garden we chat, but as you can see from the picture below (and as some of know quite well...Will loves his "Crackberry" :) Where would we be without cell phones, blackberries, pagers, emails??? Oh that's right, 1980 :) Anyways, we also got a visit from one of the research coordinators and Will has agreed to take part in 2 different studies here. One study will look at Shepherd's best practices (along with 4 other hospitals in the US) and the other study will look at Shepherd's current assessment tool versus another tool that 2 different hospitals (Univ. of CA and a hospital in Israel) are recommending. This evening I got out for a bike ride with 3 other women (one is a PT at Shepherd). Shepherd is very close to the swanky part of Atlanta called "Buckhead" We passed some very beautiful Southern homes.
Will's friends are in the process of putting together a fundraising event in Chatham. I don't want to spoil the name of the event so I will wait until all the details are finalized :) The funds raised will help cover the costs of things that are not covered by insurance (certain equipment, travel costs, etc) I will post more details when I get the final word on everything. I am still trying to fight a battle with the insurance company. To make a long story short- we had to pay out of pocket to fly Will down here. As you can guess it was not cheap- to be exact it was $10,900. His insurance company approved his admission to Shepherd and will cover him while he is here, but they would not cover the transport here because "it was not an emergency." They only cover emergency transportation. Well how the hell was he supposed to get here? It's maddening and very frustrating. Anybody know someone who works for an insurance company? If you do, please let me know! Tomorrow is a phone appointment with social security...just another thing I don't understand! All the paperwork can really be overwhelming! I was glad today was pretty much a "paperwork free" day :)
Life keeps rolling on down here in GA. Will had his first shower today- he said it felt AMAZING! (Imagine how you would feel if you hadn't showered in 17 days!) We both went on to have productive mornings. Will had OT & PT. He practiced some more transfers with the slide board, practiced getting himself dressed, and also started to work on bathroom transfers. I went to the gym and got a run in and then went to a yoga class. The yoga class was great- it was for patients and families- there was even a therapy dog there! After lunch Will hit the gym to do some upper body strengthening and I sat in the garden for a little bit. Will then joined me for about an hour. When we sit in the garden we chat, but as you can see from the picture below (and as some of know quite well...Will loves his "Crackberry" :) Where would we be without cell phones, blackberries, pagers, emails??? Oh that's right, 1980 :) Anyways, we also got a visit from one of the research coordinators and Will has agreed to take part in 2 different studies here. One study will look at Shepherd's best practices (along with 4 other hospitals in the US) and the other study will look at Shepherd's current assessment tool versus another tool that 2 different hospitals (Univ. of CA and a hospital in Israel) are recommending. This evening I got out for a bike ride with 3 other women (one is a PT at Shepherd). Shepherd is very close to the swanky part of Atlanta called "Buckhead" We passed some very beautiful Southern homes.
Will's friends are in the process of putting together a fundraising event in Chatham. I don't want to spoil the name of the event so I will wait until all the details are finalized :) The funds raised will help cover the costs of things that are not covered by insurance (certain equipment, travel costs, etc) I will post more details when I get the final word on everything. I am still trying to fight a battle with the insurance company. To make a long story short- we had to pay out of pocket to fly Will down here. As you can guess it was not cheap- to be exact it was $10,900. His insurance company approved his admission to Shepherd and will cover him while he is here, but they would not cover the transport here because "it was not an emergency." They only cover emergency transportation. Well how the hell was he supposed to get here? It's maddening and very frustrating. Anybody know someone who works for an insurance company? If you do, please let me know! Tomorrow is a phone appointment with social security...just another thing I don't understand! All the paperwork can really be overwhelming! I was glad today was pretty much a "paperwork free" day :)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday May 26th 2009: ?? Diabetes Insipidus ??
No, this is not what you are thinking...Will does NOT have diabetes...what he may have is something called diabetes insipidus or "DI." Today was a challenging day, not a bad day by any means, but there were a few bumps in the road. He had speech therapy this morning which will definitely be his least favorite therapy because it's all memory and brain work outs to help with his brain injury. For instance, a few exercises he did today was to name as many states, foods, and animals all within one minute for each category. He also had to provide "yes or no" answers to questions like, "Does a tree have more leaves than a bush?" "Is your chin above your neck?" He also had to provide detailed answers to questions like, "What would you do if you were out to dinner and you had left your wallet at home?" "What would you do if your car ran out of gas?"
Anyways...back to the "DI" thing. He has been having high amounts of urine every time he gets catheterized. He is putting out way more than he is taking in. When you have a brain injury sometimes you develop "DI." Part of your brain (the pituitary gland) produces a hormone known as anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). With DI, ADH does not get produced and your body starts to put out large amounts of unconcentrated urine. This can be dangerous. Will also has low sodium levels yesterday and today which can also be dangerous. The nurses and docs are on top of everything though. He is on a 24 hour fluid restriction (he can only have 1.5 liters to drink for the next 24 hours). He is also taking salt tablets and having his labs and urine monitored frequently. He also had to have a Foley catheter re-inserted. We will know more in the morning if he truly has "DI."
Other than these events, he also had PT this afternoon. Or I should say I had PT. He didn't have to work out too much today, but Blair did start doing some education with him and myself. She talked to him about 2 common and possibly life threatening conditions that can occur with spinal cord injuries. The first being autonomic dysreflexia and the second being orthostatic hypotension. (Given that it's almost my bedtime I am not going to go into detail here and I will do a separate post in the near future about these conditions.) After Blair did some education, she took us outside and taught me how to get his chair up over curbs and also how to get him up and down stairs. Doing the stairs is a 2 man job and is something you cannot do by yourself. I will soon get checked off to get a "push pass" which means Will is allowed "off-campus" as far as he can push himself as long as I go with him. The next step is for him to get a "day pass" so we can go out in my car for an outing. Next week he will start working on how to transfer himself in and out of my car. His transfer are slowly coming along. He is slightly impaired due to all his rib fractures. It's just very painful for him to do any movement (and as you can imagine, moving is the name of the game down here!) We did have one very scary moment this morning. He was sitting up on the edge of the bed during his OT session and he lost his balance and just fell completely backward on the bed. His head came VERY close to hitting the bed rail and I thought we were about to face a 2nd brain injury! Both he and I had to collect ourselves before the session continued. SCARY!
No, this is not what you are thinking...Will does NOT have diabetes...what he may have is something called diabetes insipidus or "DI." Today was a challenging day, not a bad day by any means, but there were a few bumps in the road. He had speech therapy this morning which will definitely be his least favorite therapy because it's all memory and brain work outs to help with his brain injury. For instance, a few exercises he did today was to name as many states, foods, and animals all within one minute for each category. He also had to provide "yes or no" answers to questions like, "Does a tree have more leaves than a bush?" "Is your chin above your neck?" He also had to provide detailed answers to questions like, "What would you do if you were out to dinner and you had left your wallet at home?" "What would you do if your car ran out of gas?"
Anyways...back to the "DI" thing. He has been having high amounts of urine every time he gets catheterized. He is putting out way more than he is taking in. When you have a brain injury sometimes you develop "DI." Part of your brain (the pituitary gland) produces a hormone known as anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). With DI, ADH does not get produced and your body starts to put out large amounts of unconcentrated urine. This can be dangerous. Will also has low sodium levels yesterday and today which can also be dangerous. The nurses and docs are on top of everything though. He is on a 24 hour fluid restriction (he can only have 1.5 liters to drink for the next 24 hours). He is also taking salt tablets and having his labs and urine monitored frequently. He also had to have a Foley catheter re-inserted. We will know more in the morning if he truly has "DI."
Other than these events, he also had PT this afternoon. Or I should say I had PT. He didn't have to work out too much today, but Blair did start doing some education with him and myself. She talked to him about 2 common and possibly life threatening conditions that can occur with spinal cord injuries. The first being autonomic dysreflexia and the second being orthostatic hypotension. (Given that it's almost my bedtime I am not going to go into detail here and I will do a separate post in the near future about these conditions.) After Blair did some education, she took us outside and taught me how to get his chair up over curbs and also how to get him up and down stairs. Doing the stairs is a 2 man job and is something you cannot do by yourself. I will soon get checked off to get a "push pass" which means Will is allowed "off-campus" as far as he can push himself as long as I go with him. The next step is for him to get a "day pass" so we can go out in my car for an outing. Next week he will start working on how to transfer himself in and out of my car. His transfer are slowly coming along. He is slightly impaired due to all his rib fractures. It's just very painful for him to do any movement (and as you can imagine, moving is the name of the game down here!) We did have one very scary moment this morning. He was sitting up on the edge of the bed during his OT session and he lost his balance and just fell completely backward on the bed. His head came VERY close to hitting the bed rail and I thought we were about to face a 2nd brain injury! Both he and I had to collect ourselves before the session continued. SCARY!
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