I woke up got dressed, ate breakfast and hopped out of bed to head to hand group with Kalli. Kalli had a pile of thank you cards that she wanted to work on from her birthday while I joined the hand group. I began working on my putty, pulling each and every bean out of it that I could find. The putty is really starting to do the trick for I am noticing more and more things that I can do with my hands. This is encouraging me to think that I will get full use of my hands at some point or another. I definitely still have a very weak grip and a long way to go on this road towards fully functioning hands but I can see progress and that is just a wonderful feeling. Adrian, one of the assistants - who I have definitely not talked about enough throughout this blog, she is such a wild character and really creates a great energy throughout the entire 7th floor. She is the only therapist assistant on this floor and has worked here for 29 years. She has the funniest laugh that is more like an explosion than a giggle and you can hear it coming a mile away. Adrian brought over a bag full of cloth and string for me to work my hands by sewing. Mainly, just to be funny, I grabbed some beautiful pink silk material to match my pink thread and began to sew a small hand purse. I really don't think the hand group expected me to go as far as I did and actually produce an entire beautiful little purse that Prada will soon be after me for the design. I cut a red rubber band to use it as a very stylish handle, which really completed the small hand bag. As silly and metro as it may have been creating the bag, it really was a good exercise for my fingers.
After hand group I had an hour break so I ran to my room to fill the cute little bag with M&M's so that I could give it to Carey, my PT as a thank you gift. She of course loved it to death and asked me where I got it for the craftsmanship was exquisite.
Next I had exercise group led by Katie, a floater, fill-in OT that has been filling in for Diane while she has been on vacation. During exercise group we worked our arms with many different movements and then gathered around in a tight circle to play catch with a beach ball again. This activity is really fun and involved everybody quite well, working your shoulders and arms all together.
After exercise group we went into the canary room to throw down some lunch where I came close to losing my life. In the canary room they have these very heavy tables that are oval shaped. We all sat down to have some lunch and sitting with us at the table was a gentleman we have come to know as Crazy Larry. Larry must have at some point bumped his head a little along with his spinal cord injury. He pretends as if he is a child calling all of his nurses "mama" and in general always just a bit strange. So, on this special Thursday, one of the PT's came up with this crazy idea that Larry was ready for a power chair; even though by no means should he ever be trusted in a powerful vehicle like that. So, every time they park Larry in some place or another, they go and turn the power off so that he doesn't try to take off by himself. But, at lunch, whomever parked him didn't throw the off switch that's down below that he cannot get at. So, we were just sitting there eating lunch while Larry is getting more and more impatient and upset that no one had come to feed him yet. It also didn't help that he has this enormous obsession with snacks and Joey's mom brought a couple dozen cupcakes for everyone to share on Joey's last day. These cupcakes are sitting at a table next to us and Larry is just dying to have another one, for my mom had already fed him one because she felt bad that no one was coming to feed him. So, in Larry's rebellion and frustration of not being fed he began just pushing any buttons he could to try to make his chair work. Well, sure enough he figured out how to put himself into a pressure break which is where the chair tips backwards and lays him on his back. Now, Larry is sitting on one end of the table and I am on the other. He's underneath the table just like I am. So, as he leans back into this pressure break he begins picking up the entire table pulling it probably about two to three feet into the air. Meanwhile, smashing my legs and dumping my entire food tray into my lap trapping me under the table. As he goes up I am yelling "Larry, stop! Stop Larry! Stop! Larry stop!" but of course, being Crazy Larry he just continues to yell "no! no! no!" Kalli quickly jumps up and helps pull me from the table to my rescue, like superwoman. Luckily, the table, which is literally at least 200 pounds, didn't bruise me at all and I was fine. But, it definitely frustrated me a little bit that they put Crazy Larry in a power chair and didn't have someone to feed him. All in all I was just fine and looking back at it it is kind of funny and really crazy.
So, next I had a one o'clock OT with Katie. We created a pair of leg loops which are straps that you velcro to your ankles and thighs so that you have loops of webbing to grab and help move your legs around during different types of transfers. I don't think I will need the leg loops very long but there are definitely certain things they will come in handy to help me do. So, after the leg loops we ran upstairs to the fifteenth floor where they have a humongous sewing room where a couple people sit and create different tools and devices to help out patients. By the time we came down from the 15th floor, it was time to meet up with Carey for an hour long PT session.
For our session of PT, we decided to do several different kinds of transfers practicing all over the 7th floor. First, I did a floor transfer and then Carey taught Kalli how to help me back into my chair if I was ever to tip over or fall out. It is a fairly interesting process and it takes pretty much two people to tip me back up. Next, we went into the canary room and I practiced transferring on to the yellow couch they have in there. Lastly, we jumped back into the gym and I got on the mat to do some side crunches and stretch myself out.
After PT we went back to my room to make some calls to HR Direct for we had a couple different questions for insurance and disability. We then ate dinner and after that jumped into bed for that night I was going to try doing my bowel program directly over the toilet for the first time. The process was extremely successful and a great step towards an independent nightly routine which I will need in order to really feel independent.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday July 15th
I woke up this morning feeling much better than the last two days! Although it is strange, even when I feel good, getting up in the morning is truly such a task. So, I ate some breakfast which actually ended up mostly on my shirt for I dumped my cereal bowl onto my chest and ended up having to change my shirt quick before hand group. I got to hand group and again Sarah and Matt were both there. I worked on putty for it really seems to be the best therapy for my hands that I have found so far. After hand group I had an hour break so I went over to Joey's room and talked with him for a little while for he never gets out of bed until 11 o'clock or later and he is leaving tomorrow so I just wanted to say hi.
At 11:00 I had an hour long PT session with Carey. So, I quickly wheeled from Joey's to the gym where Carey had big plans for me. She really wanted to work on working on getting up and down to the ground from a chair or mat just incase I was ever to fall. Getting down off the mat was fairly easy and well controlled. Getting back up is really pretty tough. I have seen people that have five, ten years under their belt make it look so easy. But, for me right now, it is still an incredibly difficult task. There are several different techniques that Carey showed me and we worked on which one was best for me. I was almost able to get back up by myself but Carey did have to help me a little bit.
After PT I ate lunch, then headed out to the center room, near the reception desk to do a OT exercise group led by Margaret, one of the other OT's. Margaret has a very nonchalant, fairly easy style of arm exercise. So, we did that for about 25 minutes and then really changed it up and tightened the circle of wheelchairs by each of us moving forward a bit so that we could throw a blue ball around the circle; practicing hand coordination by throwing and catching. After we threw the blue ball around for a while we tightened the group up even closer and got a beach ball out where we had a really fun time tossing it around the circle, counting how many times we could hit it and keep it moving without it hitting the ground. With all the different levels of function and ability it was absolutely hilarious to watch us all struggle and try our hardest to keep that ball moving. One of the new patients, named Matt, has a halo neck brace apparatus in which is literally screwed into his skull, holding his head incredibly still. This makes is so that he can't look off to the sides at all so it was really funny watching him taking basically blind swings at the ball as it came flying at him. We all have a great attitude and it was really fun. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.
Once exercise hour was over I headed back to my room to take care of some paperwork and make some calls that were needed. Unfortunately after about an hour and a half of paperwork my eyes started shutting and we decided it was time for a little nap. My nap turned into staying in bed for basically the rest of the night. Kalli went and got me dinner and we ate and started some blogs. I had a great first attempt at doing my bowel program independently. For, I put to use the tools that Katie found for me the day before. I have to give props to whoever invented the arm extension that I used for my bowel program. It was designed perfectly and I got it on the first try! That is about as much as you all need to know for I could get pretty graphic when it comes to this subject.
After my nightly routine, Kalli and I finished up some much needed blogging. The last couple of days were just too difficult and by the end of the day I was so tired it was right to bed. It feels good to be caught up with the blog for I hate to keep all of my fans on the edge of their seat waiting for an update. I look forward to all of your responses and I just wanted to make sure you all know I read each and every one. I am also incredibly excited for my trip home on Monday to see so many of you for there is close to 100 signed up for the golf outing on Monday. Just a reminder - Tee Off is at 10, but check-in is at 9 so we can get everything moving on time with such a large group. It would probably even be helpful if some people showed up earlier than that. We have tons of wonderful silent auction prizes and all the people involved with planning the outing have a ton of fun things in store for us! One of my good friends, Alex Wilhelms, is going to be picking up Kalli, my mom and myself. She is coming down to Chicago Sunday night so we can hit the road nice and early Monday morning. My doctor says I have to be back all in one day so shortly after the outing I will be heading back to RIC, but don't worry soon there after, on the 23rd I will be heading home to live with my good buddy Mark in Menasha.
Today was a really good day and I can tell already tomorrow is going to be even better. My spirits are up and I feel like I have everything back in order physically throughout my body. I will try to keep blogging each day so you don't all have ten pages at once to catch up on with my crazy new lifestyle. See you soon and I love you all.
At 11:00 I had an hour long PT session with Carey. So, I quickly wheeled from Joey's to the gym where Carey had big plans for me. She really wanted to work on working on getting up and down to the ground from a chair or mat just incase I was ever to fall. Getting down off the mat was fairly easy and well controlled. Getting back up is really pretty tough. I have seen people that have five, ten years under their belt make it look so easy. But, for me right now, it is still an incredibly difficult task. There are several different techniques that Carey showed me and we worked on which one was best for me. I was almost able to get back up by myself but Carey did have to help me a little bit.
After PT I ate lunch, then headed out to the center room, near the reception desk to do a OT exercise group led by Margaret, one of the other OT's. Margaret has a very nonchalant, fairly easy style of arm exercise. So, we did that for about 25 minutes and then really changed it up and tightened the circle of wheelchairs by each of us moving forward a bit so that we could throw a blue ball around the circle; practicing hand coordination by throwing and catching. After we threw the blue ball around for a while we tightened the group up even closer and got a beach ball out where we had a really fun time tossing it around the circle, counting how many times we could hit it and keep it moving without it hitting the ground. With all the different levels of function and ability it was absolutely hilarious to watch us all struggle and try our hardest to keep that ball moving. One of the new patients, named Matt, has a halo neck brace apparatus in which is literally screwed into his skull, holding his head incredibly still. This makes is so that he can't look off to the sides at all so it was really funny watching him taking basically blind swings at the ball as it came flying at him. We all have a great attitude and it was really fun. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.
Once exercise hour was over I headed back to my room to take care of some paperwork and make some calls that were needed. Unfortunately after about an hour and a half of paperwork my eyes started shutting and we decided it was time for a little nap. My nap turned into staying in bed for basically the rest of the night. Kalli went and got me dinner and we ate and started some blogs. I had a great first attempt at doing my bowel program independently. For, I put to use the tools that Katie found for me the day before. I have to give props to whoever invented the arm extension that I used for my bowel program. It was designed perfectly and I got it on the first try! That is about as much as you all need to know for I could get pretty graphic when it comes to this subject.
After my nightly routine, Kalli and I finished up some much needed blogging. The last couple of days were just too difficult and by the end of the day I was so tired it was right to bed. It feels good to be caught up with the blog for I hate to keep all of my fans on the edge of their seat waiting for an update. I look forward to all of your responses and I just wanted to make sure you all know I read each and every one. I am also incredibly excited for my trip home on Monday to see so many of you for there is close to 100 signed up for the golf outing on Monday. Just a reminder - Tee Off is at 10, but check-in is at 9 so we can get everything moving on time with such a large group. It would probably even be helpful if some people showed up earlier than that. We have tons of wonderful silent auction prizes and all the people involved with planning the outing have a ton of fun things in store for us! One of my good friends, Alex Wilhelms, is going to be picking up Kalli, my mom and myself. She is coming down to Chicago Sunday night so we can hit the road nice and early Monday morning. My doctor says I have to be back all in one day so shortly after the outing I will be heading back to RIC, but don't worry soon there after, on the 23rd I will be heading home to live with my good buddy Mark in Menasha.
Today was a really good day and I can tell already tomorrow is going to be even better. My spirits are up and I feel like I have everything back in order physically throughout my body. I will try to keep blogging each day so you don't all have ten pages at once to catch up on with my crazy new lifestyle. See you soon and I love you all.
Tuesday July 14th
I woke up in the morning unfortunately feeling more awful than I had in a long time. This weekend I sat in on a bowel program hot topics lecture where they talked about how nice it is to eventually teach your body to do your bowel program every other day. Since I only have about a week left here at RIC I wanted to try to get my bowel program going every other day here before I went home. So, last night I skipped the program hoping to easily start an every other day situation. Unfortunately I woke up with this bad stomach ache and just an overall crummy crummy feeling. After discussing with Kalli we both felt that it was probably a BM sitting inside me that just wasn't going to work. So, I called in a PCT and requested to start a bowel program right away that morning. I had things to do and was desperate to start feeling better. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later I had a nice BM and some relief followed. With all of this going on I definitely missed hand group and rushed to get out of bed so as not to miss my 11:00 PT with Carey.
Carey and I worked on the next important task on my getting home checklist. This was transferring onto a shower bench. There is a bathroom that is filled with different style shower chairs so people can figure out which is best for them and practice on them. We have a certain style picked out that seemed to work well. We began practicing the transfer and you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to lift my legs over and into the tub. This is mainly due to spasms that I am now experiencing and have increased over the last week. Carey and I decided that I definitely need what they call leg loops. They are simple straps that you put around your legs that you can grab with your hands to better lift your legs. Later this week I will be working with my OT to create these. After we got me in and out of the tub, which is such an important skill to master because it can be incredibly dangerous to be slipping and falling in a porcelain tub.
After PT I went into bed for my next therapy was another massage from the volunteer massage school. Kalli and I each received a massage from the students around 2:30 for a good half hour. I fell asleep almost immediately for I am still getting used to the baclofin, which is the muscle relaxer I take to help with my spasms.
After the massage I headed straight upstairs to the 15th floor, which is wheelchair seating and positioning. Up there they have brand new wheelchairs everywhere and a neat area that is set up just for going through the measuring or your body and chair in order to order a chair in which you will go home with and live with for possibly the next four years. A representative from RIC and a wheelchair distributor that has access to all of the best wheelchair lines in the country met with me for two hours of talking over each and every detail of my new chair. The distributor brought in several different wheelchair brands and designs for me to look and and test drive. The best part of the whole fitting was test driving a pair of power assist wheels. Because of my level of injury and the stress that pushing a wheelchair will put on my shoulders it makes me eligible for insurance to cover power assist wheels. Believe it or not, but this amazing technology of amazing speed and gentle slow touch costs $8,000. Let me say that again, $8,000. Unbelievable, that is like a nice used car. It just blows my mind. So, I transferred onto a table and then into the chair with the power assist wheels on it that they had there for me to demo and test drove it up and down the halls. It was the most exciting and unbelievable thing I had experienced since my accident. It created this incredible joy and new excitement to explore life. I can't explain the enlightenment and freedom that I felt with the speed and power that it put at my finger tips without placing me into a humongous bulky heavy power chair. With these wheels I will be able to go on grass, run through gravel, and climb ramps with ease. I don't know if any of you have ever hopped in a wheelchair and actually tried to push yourself up a wheelchair ramp but it is far, far from an easy task. These wheels even have technology built into them so that while you are going up a ramp you could let go and it will hold your position opposed to flying backwards which is what would happen without them. I was literally so excited that for a moment I was happy that my legs didn't work and I got to now drive a go cart around for the rest of my life. Which is what I loved doing every moment that I could as a kid, in my dingo by manco 5 force go cart. We finished up the fitting and I was really excited about the wheelchair and wheels and all the accessories I had picked for my new chair. Unfortunately it takes two to three months to get the chair and I will be in a loner for quite some time.
After the fitting we went down to go get food for I had a voucher for The Red Tomato. We ate dinner and it was pretty much time to start my nightly routine. Again, my day started rough as can be and I was able to fight through it and end with a glorious go cart ride on my new wheels.
Carey and I worked on the next important task on my getting home checklist. This was transferring onto a shower bench. There is a bathroom that is filled with different style shower chairs so people can figure out which is best for them and practice on them. We have a certain style picked out that seemed to work well. We began practicing the transfer and you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to lift my legs over and into the tub. This is mainly due to spasms that I am now experiencing and have increased over the last week. Carey and I decided that I definitely need what they call leg loops. They are simple straps that you put around your legs that you can grab with your hands to better lift your legs. Later this week I will be working with my OT to create these. After we got me in and out of the tub, which is such an important skill to master because it can be incredibly dangerous to be slipping and falling in a porcelain tub.
After PT I went into bed for my next therapy was another massage from the volunteer massage school. Kalli and I each received a massage from the students around 2:30 for a good half hour. I fell asleep almost immediately for I am still getting used to the baclofin, which is the muscle relaxer I take to help with my spasms.
After the massage I headed straight upstairs to the 15th floor, which is wheelchair seating and positioning. Up there they have brand new wheelchairs everywhere and a neat area that is set up just for going through the measuring or your body and chair in order to order a chair in which you will go home with and live with for possibly the next four years. A representative from RIC and a wheelchair distributor that has access to all of the best wheelchair lines in the country met with me for two hours of talking over each and every detail of my new chair. The distributor brought in several different wheelchair brands and designs for me to look and and test drive. The best part of the whole fitting was test driving a pair of power assist wheels. Because of my level of injury and the stress that pushing a wheelchair will put on my shoulders it makes me eligible for insurance to cover power assist wheels. Believe it or not, but this amazing technology of amazing speed and gentle slow touch costs $8,000. Let me say that again, $8,000. Unbelievable, that is like a nice used car. It just blows my mind. So, I transferred onto a table and then into the chair with the power assist wheels on it that they had there for me to demo and test drove it up and down the halls. It was the most exciting and unbelievable thing I had experienced since my accident. It created this incredible joy and new excitement to explore life. I can't explain the enlightenment and freedom that I felt with the speed and power that it put at my finger tips without placing me into a humongous bulky heavy power chair. With these wheels I will be able to go on grass, run through gravel, and climb ramps with ease. I don't know if any of you have ever hopped in a wheelchair and actually tried to push yourself up a wheelchair ramp but it is far, far from an easy task. These wheels even have technology built into them so that while you are going up a ramp you could let go and it will hold your position opposed to flying backwards which is what would happen without them. I was literally so excited that for a moment I was happy that my legs didn't work and I got to now drive a go cart around for the rest of my life. Which is what I loved doing every moment that I could as a kid, in my dingo by manco 5 force go cart. We finished up the fitting and I was really excited about the wheelchair and wheels and all the accessories I had picked for my new chair. Unfortunately it takes two to three months to get the chair and I will be in a loner for quite some time.
After the fitting we went down to go get food for I had a voucher for The Red Tomato. We ate dinner and it was pretty much time to start my nightly routine. Again, my day started rough as can be and I was able to fight through it and end with a glorious go cart ride on my new wheels.
Monday July 13th
I woke up in the morning after a rough night and struggled a bit with blood pressure, slight stomach ache and just overall ache body. I was able to eat a little bit of breakfast, get out of bed into my chair and get to hand group about ten minutes late. During hand group I worked with some putty, pulling beans and little pegs out of it. This is a great workout for my hands. Two new people were in the hand group; a girl named Sarah and a guy named Matt. Both are right around my age. We all chatted and continued to work on our separate hand group activities.
After hand group I got together with Katie, a fairly new OT. She is filling in for Diane while Diane is on vacation in Wyoming with her sisters. Katie and I hooked up the e-stim machine to work no getting hand extensors which are the muscles that stretch your hand our flat, pulling the fingers back. Usually, we work on pulling the fingers into a fist; totally different muscles. The hand extensors are a much weaker muscle and it is difficult to find them. It feels a bit different. We targeted different areas and were able to get some good reaction. After working on each hand, one at a time, back and forth, we left about 20 minutes of our hour long session to go over in the gym and strengthen my wrist muscles. Once we got in the gym we strapped on some weights and I did several sets of strengthening exercises. After that Katie searched in large cabinets in the gym filled with different types of tools and devices to help with all kinds of functions different people struggle with. Katie found two different tools that would help me start doing my bowel program on my own. We threw them in my backpack for later practice and use.
I headed out to the middle area by the reception desk for some hard-core exercise group with Kate as our leader. After going to town, sweating my butt off and again using 4lb weights in the second half I really got a great workout. This was good because I wasn't really feeling very good the first half of the day and a good exercise like that always helps me get back on my feet. Kind of a funny phrase to say now - get back on my feet - since there isn't much walking going on as of late.
After exercise group my mom, Kalli and I ate lunch in the canary room and then went to take a leak. After I was done cathing Kalli came in to my bedroom and Maurice and his wife Abby and I all gave Kalli her birthday presents. Maurice and Abby got Kalli some world famous Chicago cheese and caramel popcorn which is unbelievably good along with another bag of chocolate covered mixed with caramel popcorn. I also presented the second half of her present which was some nice pieces from Victoria Secret which she had been needing since most of her clothes are still stuck in California.
We sampled some of the wonderful popcorn and chatted for a while. Then, I headed back out to the center area where I looked for Dr. Wanda Grant Knight for a while. We had a 2:00 appointment, but with no luck finding her, I decided to go hit the weights. After pumping some iron for a while, I met up with Carey for our 3:00 PT session. One of the important things that I need to work on is making sure I can do a good car transfer. So, her and I headed up to the 12th floor to practice. I lined myself up to the 92 dodge spirit with a beautiful silver paint job which has been used and abused by all the apparently drunken wheelchair drivers lining up to practice. I had the best in and then out transfer that I have ever had, doing everything completely on my own. Doing it on my own is truthfully not even necessary, for if I am transferring into someone's car they are definitely going to be there to lift a leg or pull a butt cheek if needed.
After the very successful transfer I felt good and as if I had really accomplished that portion of my checklist for going home. After PT I headed back to bed to lay down and take a quick nap before we went out to dinner for Kalli's birthday. Once I refreshed myself a bit Kalli, my mom and I headed to a nice tapas restaurant nearby called Emilio's. The restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating both wheelchair accessible. We decided to sit inside because the tables were larger and easier for me to tuck underneath and get close to the table. Strangely as it seems, getting underneath restaurant tables is one of the more difficult things for a lot of restaurants have a table leg set up that just doesn't work well for a wheelchair. We picked a handful of different tapas plates and each got a different flavor of sangria to sip on. Enjoying some nice bread and wonderful butter, the plates began to come and we slowly enjoyed sharing each of the very interesting combos we had chosen. We cleaned just about every plate and then shared a piece of flan for dessert. The dinner was very enjoyable. We paid our bill and headed home.
My mom headed back to the apartment and Kalli and I went to RIC to start my nightly routine. Another unfortunately fairly difficult day from the start but again, I learned that the only way to pull yourself out is by forcing yourself out of bed and getting your blood flowing with either some exercise or activity of some sort.
After hand group I got together with Katie, a fairly new OT. She is filling in for Diane while Diane is on vacation in Wyoming with her sisters. Katie and I hooked up the e-stim machine to work no getting hand extensors which are the muscles that stretch your hand our flat, pulling the fingers back. Usually, we work on pulling the fingers into a fist; totally different muscles. The hand extensors are a much weaker muscle and it is difficult to find them. It feels a bit different. We targeted different areas and were able to get some good reaction. After working on each hand, one at a time, back and forth, we left about 20 minutes of our hour long session to go over in the gym and strengthen my wrist muscles. Once we got in the gym we strapped on some weights and I did several sets of strengthening exercises. After that Katie searched in large cabinets in the gym filled with different types of tools and devices to help with all kinds of functions different people struggle with. Katie found two different tools that would help me start doing my bowel program on my own. We threw them in my backpack for later practice and use.
I headed out to the middle area by the reception desk for some hard-core exercise group with Kate as our leader. After going to town, sweating my butt off and again using 4lb weights in the second half I really got a great workout. This was good because I wasn't really feeling very good the first half of the day and a good exercise like that always helps me get back on my feet. Kind of a funny phrase to say now - get back on my feet - since there isn't much walking going on as of late.
After exercise group my mom, Kalli and I ate lunch in the canary room and then went to take a leak. After I was done cathing Kalli came in to my bedroom and Maurice and his wife Abby and I all gave Kalli her birthday presents. Maurice and Abby got Kalli some world famous Chicago cheese and caramel popcorn which is unbelievably good along with another bag of chocolate covered mixed with caramel popcorn. I also presented the second half of her present which was some nice pieces from Victoria Secret which she had been needing since most of her clothes are still stuck in California.
We sampled some of the wonderful popcorn and chatted for a while. Then, I headed back out to the center area where I looked for Dr. Wanda Grant Knight for a while. We had a 2:00 appointment, but with no luck finding her, I decided to go hit the weights. After pumping some iron for a while, I met up with Carey for our 3:00 PT session. One of the important things that I need to work on is making sure I can do a good car transfer. So, her and I headed up to the 12th floor to practice. I lined myself up to the 92 dodge spirit with a beautiful silver paint job which has been used and abused by all the apparently drunken wheelchair drivers lining up to practice. I had the best in and then out transfer that I have ever had, doing everything completely on my own. Doing it on my own is truthfully not even necessary, for if I am transferring into someone's car they are definitely going to be there to lift a leg or pull a butt cheek if needed.
After the very successful transfer I felt good and as if I had really accomplished that portion of my checklist for going home. After PT I headed back to bed to lay down and take a quick nap before we went out to dinner for Kalli's birthday. Once I refreshed myself a bit Kalli, my mom and I headed to a nice tapas restaurant nearby called Emilio's. The restaurant had indoor and outdoor seating both wheelchair accessible. We decided to sit inside because the tables were larger and easier for me to tuck underneath and get close to the table. Strangely as it seems, getting underneath restaurant tables is one of the more difficult things for a lot of restaurants have a table leg set up that just doesn't work well for a wheelchair. We picked a handful of different tapas plates and each got a different flavor of sangria to sip on. Enjoying some nice bread and wonderful butter, the plates began to come and we slowly enjoyed sharing each of the very interesting combos we had chosen. We cleaned just about every plate and then shared a piece of flan for dessert. The dinner was very enjoyable. We paid our bill and headed home.
My mom headed back to the apartment and Kalli and I went to RIC to start my nightly routine. Another unfortunately fairly difficult day from the start but again, I learned that the only way to pull yourself out is by forcing yourself out of bed and getting your blood flowing with either some exercise or activity of some sort.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday/Saturday/Sunday July 10th-12th
It's been another great weekend with of course lots of visitors, good food and fun. Friday started off with some breakfast while hurrying to get to hand group. At hand group there were four of us gathered around the table in the canary room fighting for the championship title of the classic American game, UNO. The game went round and round, people throwing draw 4's, skips, left and right and somehow or another, Beverly pulls out this crazy win. No one saw it coming. Most Fridays the therapist try to make it fun and simple, giving us a little break. Truthfully I would rather they didn't and we just work on stuff that is as hard as possible, but nothing wrong with having a little fun too.
After hands group Kalli and I stayed in the canary room but moved to a different table to work on some E-stim together. After having a couple therapists look at my Uncle Paul's electro-therapy machine, we got the okay to go ahead and use it on our own. Kalli and I have a system down that seems to work really well. We mark my arms with a sharpie when we find a good spot for the electrodes to be placed. That way we save a lot of time looking for the right spot. Basically, we go through about 4 5-second cycles of electro-massage, then a 20-second break and then repeat this process for about ten minutes per hand. After I am done with the E-stim my hands feel really good, loose and functional.
After working on both of my hands, I headed to my next therapy, OT Exercise Group. One of the therapists, named Piper, was leading the group. It's interesting how every therapist has a very different approach to the OT Exercise. Some go faster with more reps and others slower with less reps but more control. Both are very effective and wear you out in different ways.
After sweating like a pig and working my muscles I was ready for some lunch. We ate lunch in the canary room and had three hours before my next therapy. So we took advantage of this nice long break to get some paperwork done. We posted up in the canary room with Kalli's laptop and my personal information binder we had put together here at RIC so we could start applying online for Social Security Disability. The application is much like a financial aid, hardcore, long as heck, asking more questions than you could ever believe type form. It was really a pretty interesting form to fill out because it made you explore and think about all the different ways this injury is affecting me for those are the type of questions they are asking. They want to know how my situation truly affects my ability to provide for myself financially. And, the way in which it will affect my performance.
As we were filling out the form, my mother's sister, my aunt Marge, arrived and joined us as the group worked on the form. Marge lives in Florida and her daughter Francee and her are visiting for two weeks. We got as much of the form done as we could without the assistance of my case manager Rose. (Portions of the form wanted to know who worked on me, what specifically they did...) Over this process there has been so many names and assessments, it would be difficult for us to get all of that correct.
Three o'clock presented itself quicker than I thought it would and it was time to join my last therapy of the day - psychology group with Dr. Wilson. There are large curtains that can be pulled across portions of the canary room to divide it up and create some privacy so that a section can be used for group or class while people can continue to enjoy the room. I rolled into this sectioned off portion of the room and realized I was extremely out numbered - in the room were about 8 power chairs. Three of the power chairs were on ventilators and eventually in rolled my roommate Maurice and one other gentleman as well. This made for a very diverse group to talk about different issues that were going on for each and every one of us. Dr. Wilson led a very interesting conversation encouraging people to reach out and explain their successes, failures, fears, and temptations that they have encountered over just the last week. We talked about all different types of issues from fear of leaving RIC and going out to eat to realizing that not only are some of us injured and it's difficult but we need to think about our spouses and significant others that are going through a difficult and much different life change as well. The conversation shifted continuously from heavy to light making for enlightening realizations learning from each others experiences. After we had all gone around and shared successes and difficulties we have experienced in the last week, Dr. Wilson led a meditation relaxation to finish up the hour.
Before we go any further, I have been meaning to tell everyone another funny story about the fart machine. After two or three days of having my way with the entire 7th floor farting on them and playing them like puppets the staff finally became aware of the trick I was playing. My roommate was at the park with a recreation therapy group and overheard a group of therapists and volunteers talking about what they should do to get me somehelp for several people had complained and mentioned about how gassy I had been for the last two to three days. They were talking about getting a specialist involved, possibly putting me on some medication, but weren't sure how to approach it. My roommate, dying inside, finally felt as if he needed to inform them about what was going on. He didn't want it to go any further or get out of hand. So, he explained to them the situation. Immediately, all of them felt tricked as can be and wanted revenge. So, apparently, for the next several hours they all plotted as to how to get me back. The final result was the following. I am sitting in my bed and just had taken a nap, relaxing a little when in comes one of the doctors who actually happens to be in a wheelchair herself. She is a really nice lady and asked if I had a moment to talk. She said "Andrew, I know this is a little bit of an embarrassing subject but several people have noticed that you have had very heavy flatulence over the last several days. We are quite concerned about your situation and we have made a decision to give you a colonoscopy. We are going to bring you downstairs in just a couple moments on a bed so they can perform the procedure." I immediately looked up at her thinking, oh my gosh this is going a little too far. Now they are trying to stick things up my rear end for no reason! I said to her "okay, okay, about this gas it has all been a joke. I have this little machine and I have just been messing with everyone. Here I have it, I will show it to you." As soon as I fessed up in ran my therapist, my roommate, all laughing so hard saying "We got you! We got you! You son of a gun! We got you!" The whole situation was quite hilarious. They really did get me, for after the doctor had said it I was a little embarrassed thinking I had let it go that far. But, actually, this was the best way for the whole situation to end because had they not found out everyone would have continued to just think I was that stinky kid that could not hold his gas for the life of him. I mean, literally, no one was aware that it was a scam and I must have tricked thirty, forty people. So, for the rest of that day everyone on the floor began learning and there were jokes to be told every where I went.
Now that I got that great little story out we can continue on with the rest of Friday. I just felt that everyone needed to know how my little fart machine ended. So, after therapy group I went into the gym to pump some iron so I could get as buff as Arnold. After working like the Schwarzenegger it was time for dinner. My mom, Kalli, Aunt Marge, and I looked up a Thai restaurant nearby, made sure it was wheelchair accessible and headed there for dinner. The food was great. After we were done, we all went our own ways and I began my nightly routine.
Saturday morning I was running a little late, mainly because right before I was about to get out of bed I had the sudden urge to call my old roommate Joey to see how he was doing. I talked to him for a little while, jumped out of bed and got to hand group about ten minutes late. During the group I played with play-do, pulling little game pegs, kind of like the people pegs that you place in your car in the board game LIFE. After finding each of the people pegs, I then had a pile of beans in front of me and worked on picking them up and holding them in my hand as I picked up more and more, trying to keep the beans in my hand at the same time. I got to ten beans in my hand, then there was just no way I could pick up another one without having one fall out. You will all have to try it sometime it is pretty tricky. We had some good conversation around the table for it wasn't just patients. One of the other guys here, Anthony, had four of his buddies from out of town joining him for the day.
After hand group I headed to the gym to work out and once again pump some iron! After doing several exercises I left about ten minutes to cool down and catch my breath before OT Exercise Group. Exercise group was led by Kate on this fine Saturday. She is by far the most intense leader. Her style is fast and furious, balls to the walls, don't stop until you drop! I am now using four pound weights which has been an exciting improvement. Moving from twos to threes and now fours which is twice as much as what I started with. Today's exercise was no exception for Kate worked us to the point of dripping sweat and pure exhaustion.
Once she was done having her way with us, in came my entire posse. People must think I pay strangers to come and visit with me just so I look cool. For in walked Marge, Francee, Camilla, Margaret, Rose, and my Mom and Dad. They joined Kalli and I and we headed downstairs to the cafeteria to get some food for lunch. After eating we decided to break into groups and all enjoy the day running around downtown Chicago. The girls broke into two groups and my dad and I took off on our own for there were several things that I wanted to go and get, especially a birthday present for my little sweetheart Kalli Ann. So, once the girls all took off my Dad and I sat and looked up as many jewelry stores as we could up and down Michigan Ave. so that we weren't just running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. Him and I had a great time rolling up and down Michigan Ave. purchasing all the different things on my list. We probably went to eight or nine different jewelry shops, searching for that perfect promise ring that I wanted to get for Kalli. Her and I have been dating for four years and I love her so much but the hospital is no place to get engaged and there is just a lot going on in our lives right now but I wanted her to know how much I love her and appreciate everything she has been doing for me in these last four years.
After a long search my dad and I found ourselves at Tiffany & Co. one of the nicest jewelry shops on Michigan Ave. There, I found myself in love with a ring that shouted out promise ring and matched the beautiful pendant necklace that I had given Kalli about three years ago. I purchased it and headed to the Water Tower Plaza to pick up some of our last items on the list. On the way home, I was so excited to give the ring to Kalli and could barely wait or stop talking about it. The plan was to all meet back at the apartment around six o'clock for dinner. We pulled out several days of leftovers and covered the counter with a schmorgus board of options. Almost like a China Buffet right there in our apartment. After we ate, mainly due to my own excitement, I asked Kalli if she wanted to get her main birthday present now while everyone was still here to celebrate and that way my dad could also give my mom a neat ring that he found and purchased while we were out and about. For, she too, has given up so much in this last two months and my dad and I wanted to thank her with something. Knowing Kalli so well, I knew there was no way she would turn up the chance to open a present early. So, out of my backpack I pulled the beautiful little blue Tiffany bag which she never saw coming. My sister Margaret was just joking, saying "Kalli I think I saw them at Tiffany" as if there was no way she would really get something from there! She opened it up in front of all of us and you could tell that she really loved it. She gave me a big kiss and whispered in my ear "I love you so much".
We all talked as my sister Margaret trimmed people's hair and I lounged in a couch for I had transferred out of my chair for a change of pace. After a while, it was close to my curfew and it was time to go. I headed back to RIC to start my nightly routine.
Sunday morning came and it as time to just be lazy. I laid in bed until 10 or later and was basically forced out because everyone began arriving, piling up in my room, staring at me like "hey get out of bed, we are here to play". So we headed to the canary room and snacked on some fruit and other food that my mom brought while we just sat and chatted. I then got a haircut and we all decided to head outside and throw around the bean bag. The whole gang needed to be leaving around 1:30 which came quickly and they all said their goodbyes.
Kalli and I then headed to Tiffany & Co to go and get a different size for her hands were tinier than I thought. After that, we came home, took a nap, went to Chipotle for dinner and came home to blog.
Sundays are always kind of a just a nice cool down, lazy day getting you ready to bust your buns during the coming week! We came back to my room so that we could blog about the weekend and start my nightly routine. Over this last week we have made the decision to implement a strategy that we have been thinking about for a while. Basically, my insurance covers 60 days of in-patient rehab, so I am going to save two weeks of that coverage so that I can come back in a couple months without a neck brace and hopefully more leg movement than I have now and all around more healing simply due to time. With that being said, my discharge date it now July 23rd and I will be kicking it in high gear in order to take advantage of the little time that I have left. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the visitors and support that I have received over the last five weeks here but am going to encourage people for my remainder of my stay to possibly only come on the weekends. This way, I can take every moment in between therapy to work on the the handful of issues in which I need to improve in order to be independent when I leave this facility. By no means, do I want anyone to take that the wrong way, I just simply want to focus all my time and energy towards these tasks that I have to learn in order to go live with my buddy Mark. Which, by the way, is where I will be living - in Menasha Wisconsin, with my good friend Mark Lee.
Once again, it was a wonderful weekend and I look forward to celebrating Kalli's birthday tomorrow because she is going to be a whopping 24 years old!
After hands group Kalli and I stayed in the canary room but moved to a different table to work on some E-stim together. After having a couple therapists look at my Uncle Paul's electro-therapy machine, we got the okay to go ahead and use it on our own. Kalli and I have a system down that seems to work really well. We mark my arms with a sharpie when we find a good spot for the electrodes to be placed. That way we save a lot of time looking for the right spot. Basically, we go through about 4 5-second cycles of electro-massage, then a 20-second break and then repeat this process for about ten minutes per hand. After I am done with the E-stim my hands feel really good, loose and functional.
After working on both of my hands, I headed to my next therapy, OT Exercise Group. One of the therapists, named Piper, was leading the group. It's interesting how every therapist has a very different approach to the OT Exercise. Some go faster with more reps and others slower with less reps but more control. Both are very effective and wear you out in different ways.
After sweating like a pig and working my muscles I was ready for some lunch. We ate lunch in the canary room and had three hours before my next therapy. So we took advantage of this nice long break to get some paperwork done. We posted up in the canary room with Kalli's laptop and my personal information binder we had put together here at RIC so we could start applying online for Social Security Disability. The application is much like a financial aid, hardcore, long as heck, asking more questions than you could ever believe type form. It was really a pretty interesting form to fill out because it made you explore and think about all the different ways this injury is affecting me for those are the type of questions they are asking. They want to know how my situation truly affects my ability to provide for myself financially. And, the way in which it will affect my performance.
As we were filling out the form, my mother's sister, my aunt Marge, arrived and joined us as the group worked on the form. Marge lives in Florida and her daughter Francee and her are visiting for two weeks. We got as much of the form done as we could without the assistance of my case manager Rose. (Portions of the form wanted to know who worked on me, what specifically they did...) Over this process there has been so many names and assessments, it would be difficult for us to get all of that correct.
Three o'clock presented itself quicker than I thought it would and it was time to join my last therapy of the day - psychology group with Dr. Wilson. There are large curtains that can be pulled across portions of the canary room to divide it up and create some privacy so that a section can be used for group or class while people can continue to enjoy the room. I rolled into this sectioned off portion of the room and realized I was extremely out numbered - in the room were about 8 power chairs. Three of the power chairs were on ventilators and eventually in rolled my roommate Maurice and one other gentleman as well. This made for a very diverse group to talk about different issues that were going on for each and every one of us. Dr. Wilson led a very interesting conversation encouraging people to reach out and explain their successes, failures, fears, and temptations that they have encountered over just the last week. We talked about all different types of issues from fear of leaving RIC and going out to eat to realizing that not only are some of us injured and it's difficult but we need to think about our spouses and significant others that are going through a difficult and much different life change as well. The conversation shifted continuously from heavy to light making for enlightening realizations learning from each others experiences. After we had all gone around and shared successes and difficulties we have experienced in the last week, Dr. Wilson led a meditation relaxation to finish up the hour.
Before we go any further, I have been meaning to tell everyone another funny story about the fart machine. After two or three days of having my way with the entire 7th floor farting on them and playing them like puppets the staff finally became aware of the trick I was playing. My roommate was at the park with a recreation therapy group and overheard a group of therapists and volunteers talking about what they should do to get me somehelp for several people had complained and mentioned about how gassy I had been for the last two to three days. They were talking about getting a specialist involved, possibly putting me on some medication, but weren't sure how to approach it. My roommate, dying inside, finally felt as if he needed to inform them about what was going on. He didn't want it to go any further or get out of hand. So, he explained to them the situation. Immediately, all of them felt tricked as can be and wanted revenge. So, apparently, for the next several hours they all plotted as to how to get me back. The final result was the following. I am sitting in my bed and just had taken a nap, relaxing a little when in comes one of the doctors who actually happens to be in a wheelchair herself. She is a really nice lady and asked if I had a moment to talk. She said "Andrew, I know this is a little bit of an embarrassing subject but several people have noticed that you have had very heavy flatulence over the last several days. We are quite concerned about your situation and we have made a decision to give you a colonoscopy. We are going to bring you downstairs in just a couple moments on a bed so they can perform the procedure." I immediately looked up at her thinking, oh my gosh this is going a little too far. Now they are trying to stick things up my rear end for no reason! I said to her "okay, okay, about this gas it has all been a joke. I have this little machine and I have just been messing with everyone. Here I have it, I will show it to you." As soon as I fessed up in ran my therapist, my roommate, all laughing so hard saying "We got you! We got you! You son of a gun! We got you!" The whole situation was quite hilarious. They really did get me, for after the doctor had said it I was a little embarrassed thinking I had let it go that far. But, actually, this was the best way for the whole situation to end because had they not found out everyone would have continued to just think I was that stinky kid that could not hold his gas for the life of him. I mean, literally, no one was aware that it was a scam and I must have tricked thirty, forty people. So, for the rest of that day everyone on the floor began learning and there were jokes to be told every where I went.
Now that I got that great little story out we can continue on with the rest of Friday. I just felt that everyone needed to know how my little fart machine ended. So, after therapy group I went into the gym to pump some iron so I could get as buff as Arnold. After working like the Schwarzenegger it was time for dinner. My mom, Kalli, Aunt Marge, and I looked up a Thai restaurant nearby, made sure it was wheelchair accessible and headed there for dinner. The food was great. After we were done, we all went our own ways and I began my nightly routine.
Saturday morning I was running a little late, mainly because right before I was about to get out of bed I had the sudden urge to call my old roommate Joey to see how he was doing. I talked to him for a little while, jumped out of bed and got to hand group about ten minutes late. During the group I played with play-do, pulling little game pegs, kind of like the people pegs that you place in your car in the board game LIFE. After finding each of the people pegs, I then had a pile of beans in front of me and worked on picking them up and holding them in my hand as I picked up more and more, trying to keep the beans in my hand at the same time. I got to ten beans in my hand, then there was just no way I could pick up another one without having one fall out. You will all have to try it sometime it is pretty tricky. We had some good conversation around the table for it wasn't just patients. One of the other guys here, Anthony, had four of his buddies from out of town joining him for the day.
After hand group I headed to the gym to work out and once again pump some iron! After doing several exercises I left about ten minutes to cool down and catch my breath before OT Exercise Group. Exercise group was led by Kate on this fine Saturday. She is by far the most intense leader. Her style is fast and furious, balls to the walls, don't stop until you drop! I am now using four pound weights which has been an exciting improvement. Moving from twos to threes and now fours which is twice as much as what I started with. Today's exercise was no exception for Kate worked us to the point of dripping sweat and pure exhaustion.
Once she was done having her way with us, in came my entire posse. People must think I pay strangers to come and visit with me just so I look cool. For in walked Marge, Francee, Camilla, Margaret, Rose, and my Mom and Dad. They joined Kalli and I and we headed downstairs to the cafeteria to get some food for lunch. After eating we decided to break into groups and all enjoy the day running around downtown Chicago. The girls broke into two groups and my dad and I took off on our own for there were several things that I wanted to go and get, especially a birthday present for my little sweetheart Kalli Ann. So, once the girls all took off my Dad and I sat and looked up as many jewelry stores as we could up and down Michigan Ave. so that we weren't just running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. Him and I had a great time rolling up and down Michigan Ave. purchasing all the different things on my list. We probably went to eight or nine different jewelry shops, searching for that perfect promise ring that I wanted to get for Kalli. Her and I have been dating for four years and I love her so much but the hospital is no place to get engaged and there is just a lot going on in our lives right now but I wanted her to know how much I love her and appreciate everything she has been doing for me in these last four years.
After a long search my dad and I found ourselves at Tiffany & Co. one of the nicest jewelry shops on Michigan Ave. There, I found myself in love with a ring that shouted out promise ring and matched the beautiful pendant necklace that I had given Kalli about three years ago. I purchased it and headed to the Water Tower Plaza to pick up some of our last items on the list. On the way home, I was so excited to give the ring to Kalli and could barely wait or stop talking about it. The plan was to all meet back at the apartment around six o'clock for dinner. We pulled out several days of leftovers and covered the counter with a schmorgus board of options. Almost like a China Buffet right there in our apartment. After we ate, mainly due to my own excitement, I asked Kalli if she wanted to get her main birthday present now while everyone was still here to celebrate and that way my dad could also give my mom a neat ring that he found and purchased while we were out and about. For, she too, has given up so much in this last two months and my dad and I wanted to thank her with something. Knowing Kalli so well, I knew there was no way she would turn up the chance to open a present early. So, out of my backpack I pulled the beautiful little blue Tiffany bag which she never saw coming. My sister Margaret was just joking, saying "Kalli I think I saw them at Tiffany" as if there was no way she would really get something from there! She opened it up in front of all of us and you could tell that she really loved it. She gave me a big kiss and whispered in my ear "I love you so much".
We all talked as my sister Margaret trimmed people's hair and I lounged in a couch for I had transferred out of my chair for a change of pace. After a while, it was close to my curfew and it was time to go. I headed back to RIC to start my nightly routine.
Sunday morning came and it as time to just be lazy. I laid in bed until 10 or later and was basically forced out because everyone began arriving, piling up in my room, staring at me like "hey get out of bed, we are here to play". So we headed to the canary room and snacked on some fruit and other food that my mom brought while we just sat and chatted. I then got a haircut and we all decided to head outside and throw around the bean bag. The whole gang needed to be leaving around 1:30 which came quickly and they all said their goodbyes.
Kalli and I then headed to Tiffany & Co to go and get a different size for her hands were tinier than I thought. After that, we came home, took a nap, went to Chipotle for dinner and came home to blog.
Sundays are always kind of a just a nice cool down, lazy day getting you ready to bust your buns during the coming week! We came back to my room so that we could blog about the weekend and start my nightly routine. Over this last week we have made the decision to implement a strategy that we have been thinking about for a while. Basically, my insurance covers 60 days of in-patient rehab, so I am going to save two weeks of that coverage so that I can come back in a couple months without a neck brace and hopefully more leg movement than I have now and all around more healing simply due to time. With that being said, my discharge date it now July 23rd and I will be kicking it in high gear in order to take advantage of the little time that I have left. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the visitors and support that I have received over the last five weeks here but am going to encourage people for my remainder of my stay to possibly only come on the weekends. This way, I can take every moment in between therapy to work on the the handful of issues in which I need to improve in order to be independent when I leave this facility. By no means, do I want anyone to take that the wrong way, I just simply want to focus all my time and energy towards these tasks that I have to learn in order to go live with my buddy Mark. Which, by the way, is where I will be living - in Menasha Wisconsin, with my good friend Mark Lee.
Once again, it was a wonderful weekend and I look forward to celebrating Kalli's birthday tomorrow because she is going to be a whopping 24 years old!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thursday July 9th
This morning started out like every morning does. Some good breakfast in bed just before heading to hand group. This morning's schedule threw me for a little loop in a positive way. Before I could get out of bed my PT Carey came in and said "let me see your schedule, lets get rid of this, this, and this and you are going in the pool!" I was really disappointed yesterday when I found out that there were no therapists scheduled to help in the pool and my session got canceled. So, this was great news and a wonderful way to start off the day!
During hand group I got the wheelchair boys to fix the back of my chair for there were some screws loose and missing. So while I sat at the table playing with staples and paperclips for therapy I was being worked on like the number 4 car in a Nascar race. As soon as hand group was done I did a good long pressure break and then my mom and I decided to just head up to the pool early.
We got to the pool room and in the back they had an area with a miniature elevated exercise mat similar to the ones in the gym but about half the size. I transferred onto the mat and they brought a pool chair over to the mat for me to then transfer into. This chair hooks right into a small lift at the edge of the pool that swings from the edge and then lowers you down into the water. Once you are in the water the chair stays put and off you go! There were two other people in the pool with me that were also working on different forms of therapy. The instructor was a very knowledgeable and kind lady that you could tell had a lot of experience with all different kinds of injuries. The first thing she did was flip me over to my back to see if I could float. The many years at Sunset Beach, as a lifeguard and swimming instructor, really paid off for this moment. I immediately pushed my belly up into the air and pulled my chin to the sky floating like a champ. I used my arms to do some beautiful sculling action on each side which kept me afloat and allowed me to maneuver around as well. Once she saw my floating skills she said "boy you're going to make this really easy for me aren't you? I'm not going to have to do anything at all." After floating for a little while she put me in one of the corners of the pool and gave me several different exercises to focus on strengthening my abdomen and torso. We also worked on standing and moving all the different muscles in my legs. It was really amazing because on land I can't get any movement and it is really hard to see if the muscles are twitching. But, in the pool she said she could feel all kinds of muscles throughout my legs working which felt so good. Swimming in the pool has got to be one of the greatest therapies I have experienced yet. After the stretching and strengthening she said "why don't we work on a little swimming." Now, without my legs I thought my gosh I am going to sink to the bottom of this glorified bathtub. The pool was plenty large for me and two other people to all be working in, probably 35 feet by 20 feet, but was truly just a huge stainless steel tank about four feet deep. She taught me the best way to roll from my stomach to my back to get air each time I was to run out while double front stroking, two arms at a time, with my face down in the water. It was the weirdest feeling but once I would get my arms going and enough momentum my legs would lift up to the surface of the water and I really was swimming. I did several laps back and forth across the pool until I was so tired that my last lap was almost completely underwater and my mom right away when I came up at the other end and grabbed the side said "I think that's enough." The instructor gave me a really cool pair of goggles to wear while swimming. She mentioned "it's been a while since we have had any swimmers. You did a really great job today." After catching my breath and just screwing around a little bit, dunking under water and pretending to snorkel, I back floated over to the chairlift and got plucked right out of the pool. We showered to get the chlorine off, dried me, and got me back in my chair. We headed back downstairs to get me in bed for I was ready for a nap. The pool worked so many muscles and was so incredibly tiring yet satisfying. It makes me want to have a very small, at the least, therapy pool somewhere in my house someday. So, if anybody has experience (Uncle Peter) in building tile pools I think we could take that on as an awesome project and turn a spare bedroom into a pool therapy room someday.
I ate lunch in my bed and relaxed until my next therapy which was a therapeutic rec massage. A local massage therapy school is associated with RIC and many of their students put in mandatory hours with the patients all throughout the building. Basically, your therapists just request that you get a massage every once in a while and they come right to your room and rub you down. Lucky enough two students came and my mom and I both got a 40 minute massage. Both girls were in their last week of the program and really seemed to know what they were doing. It felt great, especially after working so many muscles in the pool earlier.
After my massage we headed straight for the gym for my last class of the day, PT with Carey. Carey got me onto the mat right away to go over trying to take my chair apart piece by piece as if I was going to break it down to put it in a car. The cushion comes off easy and the back was just two little clamps that you flip, but the wheels were pretty hard for me to release. The wheels pop off by pushing a button into the center of the room and pulling them off. Carey let me know that there are special center release mechanisms made just for quadriplegics that have limited hand function. So, when I order my wheelchair that will be one of the bells and whistles that I have added to it from the factory. I definitely feel as if I will get full strength and a great grip back but until then these adaptations will help me cope and once I get the grip back I will still be able to do it either way so I might as well have it added to help me now.
After working with the wheelchair Carey wanted to put my legs in slings hanging from a steel wire grid that is mounted above all the workout mats. She made it so my legs were just floating as I laid on my side. We then proceeded to check each of my leg muscles to see how they were firing. Several different areas were easier to tell if there was anything yet or not. After working each leg she then started checking some of my muscles in my abdomen and love handle area (medically known as my quadratis lomborum). Carey was really excited to see that my side (love handle) muscles were obviously active and much stronger than she had anticipated. She kept making my mom and Kalli come and feel the muscles as I performed different sit ups or side crunches. The presence of these muscles now working made me quickly realize why my stability and balance has increased over the last few weeks because as soon as we were done I felt a bit wobbly with those muscles having been worked to the max. Our time was up for the session but I figured since I was already on the mat I should definitely get my legs completely stretched out using the newly learned self stretching methods. Once I finished stretching out I hopped back in my chair and went to the rickshaw to do a quick 6 sets of 15 with 60 lbs pumping up and down. Endow, I will definitely be moving up to 65 or 70 if I can manage tomorrow. Tonight 60lbs became just a hair too easy.
We then headed back over to the canary room for some dinner and fun conversation with Joey and his mom. After dinner we headed back to my room to do a little blogging and start my nightly routine. Today almost seemed like I was living in a spa, a little therapy in the pool, then a massage, followed by a good stretch session. Life isn't too bad at the RIC!
During hand group I got the wheelchair boys to fix the back of my chair for there were some screws loose and missing. So while I sat at the table playing with staples and paperclips for therapy I was being worked on like the number 4 car in a Nascar race. As soon as hand group was done I did a good long pressure break and then my mom and I decided to just head up to the pool early.
We got to the pool room and in the back they had an area with a miniature elevated exercise mat similar to the ones in the gym but about half the size. I transferred onto the mat and they brought a pool chair over to the mat for me to then transfer into. This chair hooks right into a small lift at the edge of the pool that swings from the edge and then lowers you down into the water. Once you are in the water the chair stays put and off you go! There were two other people in the pool with me that were also working on different forms of therapy. The instructor was a very knowledgeable and kind lady that you could tell had a lot of experience with all different kinds of injuries. The first thing she did was flip me over to my back to see if I could float. The many years at Sunset Beach, as a lifeguard and swimming instructor, really paid off for this moment. I immediately pushed my belly up into the air and pulled my chin to the sky floating like a champ. I used my arms to do some beautiful sculling action on each side which kept me afloat and allowed me to maneuver around as well. Once she saw my floating skills she said "boy you're going to make this really easy for me aren't you? I'm not going to have to do anything at all." After floating for a little while she put me in one of the corners of the pool and gave me several different exercises to focus on strengthening my abdomen and torso. We also worked on standing and moving all the different muscles in my legs. It was really amazing because on land I can't get any movement and it is really hard to see if the muscles are twitching. But, in the pool she said she could feel all kinds of muscles throughout my legs working which felt so good. Swimming in the pool has got to be one of the greatest therapies I have experienced yet. After the stretching and strengthening she said "why don't we work on a little swimming." Now, without my legs I thought my gosh I am going to sink to the bottom of this glorified bathtub. The pool was plenty large for me and two other people to all be working in, probably 35 feet by 20 feet, but was truly just a huge stainless steel tank about four feet deep. She taught me the best way to roll from my stomach to my back to get air each time I was to run out while double front stroking, two arms at a time, with my face down in the water. It was the weirdest feeling but once I would get my arms going and enough momentum my legs would lift up to the surface of the water and I really was swimming. I did several laps back and forth across the pool until I was so tired that my last lap was almost completely underwater and my mom right away when I came up at the other end and grabbed the side said "I think that's enough." The instructor gave me a really cool pair of goggles to wear while swimming. She mentioned "it's been a while since we have had any swimmers. You did a really great job today." After catching my breath and just screwing around a little bit, dunking under water and pretending to snorkel, I back floated over to the chairlift and got plucked right out of the pool. We showered to get the chlorine off, dried me, and got me back in my chair. We headed back downstairs to get me in bed for I was ready for a nap. The pool worked so many muscles and was so incredibly tiring yet satisfying. It makes me want to have a very small, at the least, therapy pool somewhere in my house someday. So, if anybody has experience (Uncle Peter) in building tile pools I think we could take that on as an awesome project and turn a spare bedroom into a pool therapy room someday.
I ate lunch in my bed and relaxed until my next therapy which was a therapeutic rec massage. A local massage therapy school is associated with RIC and many of their students put in mandatory hours with the patients all throughout the building. Basically, your therapists just request that you get a massage every once in a while and they come right to your room and rub you down. Lucky enough two students came and my mom and I both got a 40 minute massage. Both girls were in their last week of the program and really seemed to know what they were doing. It felt great, especially after working so many muscles in the pool earlier.
After my massage we headed straight for the gym for my last class of the day, PT with Carey. Carey got me onto the mat right away to go over trying to take my chair apart piece by piece as if I was going to break it down to put it in a car. The cushion comes off easy and the back was just two little clamps that you flip, but the wheels were pretty hard for me to release. The wheels pop off by pushing a button into the center of the room and pulling them off. Carey let me know that there are special center release mechanisms made just for quadriplegics that have limited hand function. So, when I order my wheelchair that will be one of the bells and whistles that I have added to it from the factory. I definitely feel as if I will get full strength and a great grip back but until then these adaptations will help me cope and once I get the grip back I will still be able to do it either way so I might as well have it added to help me now.
After working with the wheelchair Carey wanted to put my legs in slings hanging from a steel wire grid that is mounted above all the workout mats. She made it so my legs were just floating as I laid on my side. We then proceeded to check each of my leg muscles to see how they were firing. Several different areas were easier to tell if there was anything yet or not. After working each leg she then started checking some of my muscles in my abdomen and love handle area (medically known as my quadratis lomborum). Carey was really excited to see that my side (love handle) muscles were obviously active and much stronger than she had anticipated. She kept making my mom and Kalli come and feel the muscles as I performed different sit ups or side crunches. The presence of these muscles now working made me quickly realize why my stability and balance has increased over the last few weeks because as soon as we were done I felt a bit wobbly with those muscles having been worked to the max. Our time was up for the session but I figured since I was already on the mat I should definitely get my legs completely stretched out using the newly learned self stretching methods. Once I finished stretching out I hopped back in my chair and went to the rickshaw to do a quick 6 sets of 15 with 60 lbs pumping up and down. Endow, I will definitely be moving up to 65 or 70 if I can manage tomorrow. Tonight 60lbs became just a hair too easy.
We then headed back over to the canary room for some dinner and fun conversation with Joey and his mom. After dinner we headed back to my room to do a little blogging and start my nightly routine. Today almost seemed like I was living in a spa, a little therapy in the pool, then a massage, followed by a good stretch session. Life isn't too bad at the RIC!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday July 8th
I woke up to what was going to be the gassiest day of my life. I ate breakfast and hopped out of bed. Kalli put the toot machine in my backpack which hangs right at my butt on the back of the wheelchair creating the perfect set up to make people think the noises were really coming from my rear end. So I headed out to my first therapy with my remote control between my knees, easily accessible to trick anyone.
My first therapy was PT group. Sally had several different activities set up all over the main center area by the reception desk. One of the activities included bending over to pick up horse shoes and plastic rings. Every single time I would bend over created the perfect situation to let one rip. This poor volunteer girl that was working with me and trying her hardest not to laugh at this poor boy in a wheelchair with incredible gas he could not control each time he bent over. This went on and on every moment I could I would pull the trigger and get an incredible reaction from someone or another. In the hospital is by far the best place in the world to have such a device because everyone thinks "oh he can't control it" or "don't worry, that is fine, that is natural" and the therapists don't let it get to them as if it is out of the ordinary at all. We worked on wheelies, hopping over obstacles, keeping your momentum, and also time to ourselves to find out how much distance we were comfortably covering with our normal wheelchair pace. After making probably twenty some people on the floor think that I had the most amazing gas I headed to the canary room for my next session.
We had set up a meeting with Rose, my case manager, in order to discuss all the questions from yesterday. So Kalli, my mom, and Mr and Mrs Lee and I sat down and went over everything from top to bottom as to where we need to be, what we need to do, and how we do it in order to successfully provide for my future.
After that, I headed to the gym to work with a neat piece of equipment I had requested Carey to reserve for me. RIC has a electronic sensor mat the size of your wheelchair seat pad that you place on your wheelchair and then sit down on. This mat shows where your weight is distributed on the chair. The mat hooks up to the laptop and shows your pressure points in a color sensored map of the seat. This allows you to perform different pressure relief breaks and see which ones work the best to get your weight off your tailbone. I really wanted to work with this piece of equipment because there is no way for me to really tell how well I am relieving the pressure when I do the pressure reliefs on my own. For in the beginning, Kalli and my mom would almost always tip me back to do them for me. Now that I am stronger I am totally able to do them myself in a couple different ways.
After the mat we ate lunch in the canary room. Next, was OT exercise group. Once again, this incredible gassy-ness overcame my body. Almost every time I moved I was having terrible flatulence. The guy sitting next to me was about ready to move and several people kept laughing as I continued to play it off as if I couldn't stop and definitely couldn't control it. My roommate now because of last night was the only one aware of the machine and was sitting next to me while we were exercising. He could not stop laughing, especially knowing that it was fake and that no one else knew. It made for quite a bit of fun.
After exercise group Maurice and I had a double PT scheduled with Corey a physical therapist I had never had. Corey put us both on a mat together and we worked on different stretching which felt good for due to the bladder infection I was experiencing increased spasms in my legs, so stretching them out felt really good.
After therapy,I stayed in the gym and did several sets of exercises on a couple different weight machines. Everyday I will continue to build up my arm strength which makes everything so much easier as I begin to feel lighter and lighter.
After a good workout we went and hung out in our room for a bit and then all went to get some dinner and eat it in the canary room. Of course, a couple good toots were released there as well and still people just laughed and understood because I am just a guy in a wheelchair that can't control it.
After dinner Kalli and I headed into my room to do a little blogging and start my nightly routine, which I am sure will include some gassy bowels and a lot of laughter. I don't think I could have pulled off an entire day of fake farting anywhere else and it definitely helps that I am in a wheelchair. For some reason or another people are just a little more understanding and it is absolutely hilarious. I wouldn't doubt if I got a funny look from over 40 people today from a good toot! Throughout all that laughter and funny looks not a single person, except my roommate, the nurse and PCT from last night know that it is all just an electronic machine.
My first therapy was PT group. Sally had several different activities set up all over the main center area by the reception desk. One of the activities included bending over to pick up horse shoes and plastic rings. Every single time I would bend over created the perfect situation to let one rip. This poor volunteer girl that was working with me and trying her hardest not to laugh at this poor boy in a wheelchair with incredible gas he could not control each time he bent over. This went on and on every moment I could I would pull the trigger and get an incredible reaction from someone or another. In the hospital is by far the best place in the world to have such a device because everyone thinks "oh he can't control it" or "don't worry, that is fine, that is natural" and the therapists don't let it get to them as if it is out of the ordinary at all. We worked on wheelies, hopping over obstacles, keeping your momentum, and also time to ourselves to find out how much distance we were comfortably covering with our normal wheelchair pace. After making probably twenty some people on the floor think that I had the most amazing gas I headed to the canary room for my next session.
We had set up a meeting with Rose, my case manager, in order to discuss all the questions from yesterday. So Kalli, my mom, and Mr and Mrs Lee and I sat down and went over everything from top to bottom as to where we need to be, what we need to do, and how we do it in order to successfully provide for my future.
After that, I headed to the gym to work with a neat piece of equipment I had requested Carey to reserve for me. RIC has a electronic sensor mat the size of your wheelchair seat pad that you place on your wheelchair and then sit down on. This mat shows where your weight is distributed on the chair. The mat hooks up to the laptop and shows your pressure points in a color sensored map of the seat. This allows you to perform different pressure relief breaks and see which ones work the best to get your weight off your tailbone. I really wanted to work with this piece of equipment because there is no way for me to really tell how well I am relieving the pressure when I do the pressure reliefs on my own. For in the beginning, Kalli and my mom would almost always tip me back to do them for me. Now that I am stronger I am totally able to do them myself in a couple different ways.
After the mat we ate lunch in the canary room. Next, was OT exercise group. Once again, this incredible gassy-ness overcame my body. Almost every time I moved I was having terrible flatulence. The guy sitting next to me was about ready to move and several people kept laughing as I continued to play it off as if I couldn't stop and definitely couldn't control it. My roommate now because of last night was the only one aware of the machine and was sitting next to me while we were exercising. He could not stop laughing, especially knowing that it was fake and that no one else knew. It made for quite a bit of fun.
After exercise group Maurice and I had a double PT scheduled with Corey a physical therapist I had never had. Corey put us both on a mat together and we worked on different stretching which felt good for due to the bladder infection I was experiencing increased spasms in my legs, so stretching them out felt really good.
After therapy,I stayed in the gym and did several sets of exercises on a couple different weight machines. Everyday I will continue to build up my arm strength which makes everything so much easier as I begin to feel lighter and lighter.
After a good workout we went and hung out in our room for a bit and then all went to get some dinner and eat it in the canary room. Of course, a couple good toots were released there as well and still people just laughed and understood because I am just a guy in a wheelchair that can't control it.
After dinner Kalli and I headed into my room to do a little blogging and start my nightly routine, which I am sure will include some gassy bowels and a lot of laughter. I don't think I could have pulled off an entire day of fake farting anywhere else and it definitely helps that I am in a wheelchair. For some reason or another people are just a little more understanding and it is absolutely hilarious. I wouldn't doubt if I got a funny look from over 40 people today from a good toot! Throughout all that laughter and funny looks not a single person, except my roommate, the nurse and PCT from last night know that it is all just an electronic machine.
Tuesday July 7th
Finally I received a full schedule! For it felt like it had been about a week or so since I really had five or more things on my schedule. But, of course today started out with hand group. I ate my breakfast, jumped out of bed and headed for hand group. Thank God, the medicine they got me started on to fight my bladder infection worked like a charm and had me feeling so much better already! We got out into the main area and Mike, the activity coordinator, stopped us to tell us hand group was actually going to be upstairs again on the 9th floor. He also let me know that one of the other patients, a young punk like myself, named Matt, was having trouble getting out of bed and was supposed to be in our group but saying he wasn't going to make it. So, I rolled right over to his room to go harass him and see if I could help him fight whatever he is going through and come and join us for our activity. I got into Matt's room and began asking him what was going on. He also had a bladder infection and was feeling bloated. He mentioned that between the bladder infection and his pain he just wasn't feeling like eating or even getting out of bed. I encouraged him to try as hard as he could to fight it and explained to him I had a bladder infection as well and yesterday was a tough day for me but I just MADE myself get out of bed. I told him by noon or so he would probably be feeling fine. Next, I explained to him that Kalli had gone and gotten me some cranberry pills and those are supposed to help quite a bit as well and asked him if he would like to take some. Right away he said yeah that would be great so I buzzed over to my room, grabbed a handful, and brought them over to him. Continuing to encourage him not to let his poor condition get the best of him. I could tell he wasn't quite going to just pop out of bed and I needed to get going, but I left him with one more thing. I said Matt, don't let the multiple symptoms pile up and all get you down. I was referring to not eating. He was planning on not touching his breakfast at all and I told him if you don't eat then you are going to be hungry and not realize it and you are going to think it is urinary infection and then also you won't have any energy which makes it even harder to try to fight anything. I think coming from me, who had already gone through that, it kind of clicked for him. He said "yeah I will try to eat". So, I just encouraged him to try his best and that I was going to head up there and if he was able to get out of bed in the next half hour or hour he should come upstairs and try to join us.
Kalli and I headed upstairs and when we got up into the activity room, Haley, Mike's intern, was running the activity today. She had purchased several small plants for us to transplant into some nice pots. We used soil and decorative rocks to cover the top. I think I picked the nicest two plants in the whole bunch. It was fairly enjoyable to shovel the soil and decorate with the rocks creating two nice potted plants for my room. After getting my green thumb on we headed back downstairs for an OT session with Diane.
The two of us wanted to focus on a tub transfer so that I could move from my chair into a bathtub for a shower. Unfortunately someone was in the therapy bathroom at the beginning of our time together. So, we sat in the canary room and talked for a little while until the bathroom was available. Diane is actually going to be leaving on vacation for two weeks and I won't see her for a little while. The tub transfer went really well. I was quite easily able to slide board onto the tub chair. Then, the most difficult part was lifting my legs over the tub in order to get them both inside. It pretty much took all the energy I had and was really a great accomplishment.
After I thoroughly exhausted myself in the tub, it was time to push the limits even further with Kate, by far the toughest OT exercise group leader I have had. She pushed and pushed us as we sweated through each move and weight lifting exercise. After a great heart pounding workout it was time to get some chow. While I was in my exercise group some very good family friends of ours, David and Patti Lee, arrived for a two day visit. They decided to get a hotel two blocks away so they could stay overnight and visit with us. So, we all sat down for lunch in the canary room and caught up on how everyone was doing.
My next therapy was to go down to the life center and I asked my mom to come with me with a notebook and pen to take some notes for me. I have been meaning to go down there for a while to get some answers on questions I have pertaining to financial assistance, home re-entry, social security, disability, etc. During the meeting with some of the advisers down in the life center we basically found out our first point of contact needed to be addressed with my case manager Rose.
After the life center I needed to take a leak and I was a little bit past my scheduled time so I was actually breaking into my next scheduled appointment which was with Dr. Grant with psychological services. The meeting was only a half an hour and by the time I got out and done with my business it was almost 3 o'clock, the time in which our meeting would have concluded. So, soon there after I headed down the hall to see if I could find her and she came walking down the hall and said I am so sorry I missed you I was in another meeting and it went much longer than I thought with some pressing issues. I said no problem, no problem I actually needed to take a leak anyway and it sounds like that person needed you more than I would have. So we left it at that and quickly talked about how each of us were doing.
Starting then, I had my last therapy with Carey for a little PT. It has been a week since my last encounter with the tilt table and I certainly wasn't willing to take it on yesterday with the slight lull that I was battling with my bladder infection. But, today I was feeling very strong and said bring it on! So, Carey strapped me to the table and began tilting me up ten degrees at a time. Our session was only a half an hour long and normally we dedicate an hour to getting me up in about twenty five minutes Carey had me at 90 degrees, standing straight up. Our goal for the week was to be able to withstand 10 minutes without losing blood pressure control at 90 degrees. So, once I got all the way up, the clock started ticking. I of course was swinging my arms, doing tai-bo, and acting goofy in order to keep the blood flowing up to my head. I hit ten minutes and we were five or more minutes past our scheduled time. So, even though we didn't go until I was light headed I had hit my goal so I told Carey just let me down I don't want you to be late for your next appointment. It felt great to get one step closer to be able to use the lokomat, which sounds like an incredible machine.
The tilt table was the last activity of the day so the rest of the night was open for whatever. The Lees wanted to take us all out for dinner so we burned some time playing cards in the canary room and headed to Kamehachi, a nearby sushi restaurant that we enjoy. We had a great meal and it was fun to be able to spend time with the Lees. Kalli and I headed home and my mom and the Lees headed to the apartment.
When Kalli and I arrived back at the RIC up pulled Steve, Barb and Anna Wilhelms for a quick visit. They were passing through and took the time to come visit. It was really great to see them again. As we walked inside the RIC Steve asked where is the bathroom I really need to go and proceeded to have one of the largest flatulent I have ever heard come out of a person. Then, we got back from the bathroom he continues to impress us with his trumpet behind. Then, we went up the elevators to show him the 7th floor and all of a sudden Steve's flatulence felt like they were practically coming out of me! Slightly confused and dying in laughter for I couldn't believe Steve was just letting them rip like he was the Wilhelms finally let me in on the joke they were playing with me. Steve had slipped am electronic farting machine with a remote control trigger for making it toot. It was absolutely hilarious and I was so excited to start playing tricks on people here at the RIC. We had a great visit and they headed their way so I could start my nightly routine.
So, I got in bed and Kalli placed the toot machine underneath my bed. Now I had the trigger in bed and for the next 45 minutes I tricked my PCT, roommate, and nurse into thinking I had the worst flatulence a human being had ever experienced. My roommate after 45 minutes of letting them rip became incredibly concerned of my safety and ordered the PCT to get the nurse to help me. Soon thereafter the nurse came with medicine in order to help my gassy situation. Now, the nurse actually had to call a doctor in order to get the pills prescribed for this kind of situation. So, when he started trying to make me take them I finally confessed and showed him my toot machine. The nurse just about shoved the pills down my throat anyway and everybody couldn't believe that they had been had for forty five minutes of me pretending to be in incredible pain from some bad sushi. The whole thing was incredibly hilarious and made for an absolutely hilarious end to the evening. Steve, Barb - thank you so much for the great toy. I know I will have more fun with it tomororw!
Kalli and I headed upstairs and when we got up into the activity room, Haley, Mike's intern, was running the activity today. She had purchased several small plants for us to transplant into some nice pots. We used soil and decorative rocks to cover the top. I think I picked the nicest two plants in the whole bunch. It was fairly enjoyable to shovel the soil and decorate with the rocks creating two nice potted plants for my room. After getting my green thumb on we headed back downstairs for an OT session with Diane.
The two of us wanted to focus on a tub transfer so that I could move from my chair into a bathtub for a shower. Unfortunately someone was in the therapy bathroom at the beginning of our time together. So, we sat in the canary room and talked for a little while until the bathroom was available. Diane is actually going to be leaving on vacation for two weeks and I won't see her for a little while. The tub transfer went really well. I was quite easily able to slide board onto the tub chair. Then, the most difficult part was lifting my legs over the tub in order to get them both inside. It pretty much took all the energy I had and was really a great accomplishment.
After I thoroughly exhausted myself in the tub, it was time to push the limits even further with Kate, by far the toughest OT exercise group leader I have had. She pushed and pushed us as we sweated through each move and weight lifting exercise. After a great heart pounding workout it was time to get some chow. While I was in my exercise group some very good family friends of ours, David and Patti Lee, arrived for a two day visit. They decided to get a hotel two blocks away so they could stay overnight and visit with us. So, we all sat down for lunch in the canary room and caught up on how everyone was doing.
My next therapy was to go down to the life center and I asked my mom to come with me with a notebook and pen to take some notes for me. I have been meaning to go down there for a while to get some answers on questions I have pertaining to financial assistance, home re-entry, social security, disability, etc. During the meeting with some of the advisers down in the life center we basically found out our first point of contact needed to be addressed with my case manager Rose.
After the life center I needed to take a leak and I was a little bit past my scheduled time so I was actually breaking into my next scheduled appointment which was with Dr. Grant with psychological services. The meeting was only a half an hour and by the time I got out and done with my business it was almost 3 o'clock, the time in which our meeting would have concluded. So, soon there after I headed down the hall to see if I could find her and she came walking down the hall and said I am so sorry I missed you I was in another meeting and it went much longer than I thought with some pressing issues. I said no problem, no problem I actually needed to take a leak anyway and it sounds like that person needed you more than I would have. So we left it at that and quickly talked about how each of us were doing.
Starting then, I had my last therapy with Carey for a little PT. It has been a week since my last encounter with the tilt table and I certainly wasn't willing to take it on yesterday with the slight lull that I was battling with my bladder infection. But, today I was feeling very strong and said bring it on! So, Carey strapped me to the table and began tilting me up ten degrees at a time. Our session was only a half an hour long and normally we dedicate an hour to getting me up in about twenty five minutes Carey had me at 90 degrees, standing straight up. Our goal for the week was to be able to withstand 10 minutes without losing blood pressure control at 90 degrees. So, once I got all the way up, the clock started ticking. I of course was swinging my arms, doing tai-bo, and acting goofy in order to keep the blood flowing up to my head. I hit ten minutes and we were five or more minutes past our scheduled time. So, even though we didn't go until I was light headed I had hit my goal so I told Carey just let me down I don't want you to be late for your next appointment. It felt great to get one step closer to be able to use the lokomat, which sounds like an incredible machine.
The tilt table was the last activity of the day so the rest of the night was open for whatever. The Lees wanted to take us all out for dinner so we burned some time playing cards in the canary room and headed to Kamehachi, a nearby sushi restaurant that we enjoy. We had a great meal and it was fun to be able to spend time with the Lees. Kalli and I headed home and my mom and the Lees headed to the apartment.
When Kalli and I arrived back at the RIC up pulled Steve, Barb and Anna Wilhelms for a quick visit. They were passing through and took the time to come visit. It was really great to see them again. As we walked inside the RIC Steve asked where is the bathroom I really need to go and proceeded to have one of the largest flatulent I have ever heard come out of a person. Then, we got back from the bathroom he continues to impress us with his trumpet behind. Then, we went up the elevators to show him the 7th floor and all of a sudden Steve's flatulence felt like they were practically coming out of me! Slightly confused and dying in laughter for I couldn't believe Steve was just letting them rip like he was the Wilhelms finally let me in on the joke they were playing with me. Steve had slipped am electronic farting machine with a remote control trigger for making it toot. It was absolutely hilarious and I was so excited to start playing tricks on people here at the RIC. We had a great visit and they headed their way so I could start my nightly routine.
So, I got in bed and Kalli placed the toot machine underneath my bed. Now I had the trigger in bed and for the next 45 minutes I tricked my PCT, roommate, and nurse into thinking I had the worst flatulence a human being had ever experienced. My roommate after 45 minutes of letting them rip became incredibly concerned of my safety and ordered the PCT to get the nurse to help me. Soon thereafter the nurse came with medicine in order to help my gassy situation. Now, the nurse actually had to call a doctor in order to get the pills prescribed for this kind of situation. So, when he started trying to make me take them I finally confessed and showed him my toot machine. The nurse just about shoved the pills down my throat anyway and everybody couldn't believe that they had been had for forty five minutes of me pretending to be in incredible pain from some bad sushi. The whole thing was incredibly hilarious and made for an absolutely hilarious end to the evening. Steve, Barb - thank you so much for the great toy. I know I will have more fun with it tomororw!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday July 6th
I woke up and began sitting in bed trying to get my blood pressure under control as I slowly worked myself upright. I could tell something was a little off today and I was not feeling 100%. After I took my morning leak I noticed that I still felt as if I had to pee after I had already gone. Also, my legs have slight spasms, usually triggered by some sort of movement or touch. These spasms seemed to have increased significantly. They don't hurt at all, just a strange uncontrollable feeling. Both increased spasms and the constant urinary pressure are symptoms of having a bladder infection. So, I reported these symptoms to my nurse and asked him to please do a urine culture so that I could get the situation under control. It is very frustrating because the system that I have down for cathing myself is incredibly sterile and has very, very little chance of infecting myself. But, in the middle of the night there is one cathing in which I have to wake up from a dead sleep in order to perform it myself. So, in that weak moment, tired, usually under-dosed in pain meds, I allow the PCTs to cath for me. Most of them are tired, don't have a very sterile conscious outlook on the process and when it comes down to it, what do they care? It's not like they are going to get the bladder infection. It is very frustrating and from now on I am going to make an incredible effort to slap myself awake and start taking care of it myself. Eventually I will have to anyway and for now I can't afford to get another bladder infection and allow it to put a damper on my therapy.
So, I got out of bed eventually about ten to fifteen minutes late for hand group with a cold sweat and just a crummy feeling all around. I worked with some nuts and bolts, threading and unthreading them to start off as a warm up. Then, I was engaged in a game of connect 4 with my buddy Anthony who is also a high level C injury. He has less mobility than myself and he rocks a power chair. Taking the pieces and dropping them in to the connect 4 game board is a good workout and struggle for Anthony but for me it is very easy and not a challenge at all. So between feeling crummy and being bored with a much too easy task I let that sun of a gun beat me.
After hand group I had an hour break so I went back to my room to try to relax. My mom offered to put me into a pressure release, where I lay back onto her lap. We ended up both taking a 45 minute nap in that position. After the nap it took a second to get myself to wake up and head out into the main lobby for OT Exercise Group. As soon as I got into the group Kate, the leader, took one look at me and said "Are you feeling alright Andrew?" I told her that I had a bladder infection and wasn't feeling up to par. Somehow or another I was able to push myself and keep up during the whole exercise session.
Afterward,we went into the canary room to eat some lunch and socialize a bit. After lunch Kalli and I decided to go outside to try to get some fresh air. It was beautiful out and really the perfect temperature. But even with the beautiful weather I wasn't able to kick the way I was feeling. I've always known since the beginning that there were going to be days like this. Times in which, even the strongest person in the world, can't help but break down a little. As we were sitting outside I began thinking about how it is so strange any time in life when you break an arm, or catch a cold you know that it is just temporary, whereas this is something that is going to stay with me for life and that became difficult to think about, especially in a moment when I was already down a bit. Kalli, of course, hugged me and let me know that it was all going to be okay. She made me feel a lot better and we headed back inside.
Once we got back inside we had a bit of time before my two o'clock appointment with Carey. So, we went to my room and Kalli and I set up the E-stim I am borrowing from my Uncle Paul to do a little electro therapy on my hands. First we did the right and then the left, imitating the same timing in which the machine RIC uses controls on its own. It worked great and I got some really good movement out of my fingers.
Once we were done, we headed for the gym for my last therapy of the day. Carey also could tell that I wasn't my same cocky, jolly self. Her and I love to joke around. She said well, why don't we take it fairly easy and just do some stretches on the mat. She said you can work on the ones we learned last time where you stretch yourself. So, I transferred from my chair to the mat and followed the exercise packet Carey had given me and stretched myself out one page at a time. The stretching felt good and I was beginning to feel better than I had earlier. After stretching for the whole hour I decided that I wanted to get some weights in as well. So, I went over to the corner of the gym to my favorite machine that they call the rickshaw and worked on my triceps. I bumped the weight up 10 pounds, from 50 to 60 because it was becoming too easy, which is always a great feeling. I did six sets of fifteen and called it a day while my mom sat and watched, doing some bicep curls of her own. Most of the exercises I do really work my shoulders as well. So, I asked Carey if she would mind hooking me up with the heat pack for my shoulders, for they were pretty sore from the rickshaw. There were a couple other people in the gym and we all sat and chatted while I relaxed with heat on my shoulders for 15 minutes.
Several people are leaving this week which is making me realize that I too am going to be going home eventually. It really is not that far away, could be as soon as three weeks from now. This place teaches you a lot, but also cares for you quite a bit. It is exciting, yet interesting to think what it will be like back in my own home.
After we left the gym we headed to my room for it was time for me to take a leak again and then figure out what to go get for dinner for I had chosen a voucher for tonight's meal. My mom, Kalli and I headed downstairs to the second floor to get some food from the cafeteria. My mom and I got gyros and Kalli picked delicious looking pepperoni pizza. We brought it upstairs and ate it all while watching this crazy show on Animal Planet that was basically about when animals turn on people. It was amazing from crazy elephants to arm swallowing alligators we couldn't believe what we were seeing.
After dinner I gave my mom a hug and she headed home. Kalli and I headed to my room to do a little blogging and get ready for bed. Today was probably the most difficult day that I have had in the last three weeks or more. But, truthfully, I am still really proud of myself because even feeling crummy I didn't miss a single therapy and I did three or four extras with Kalli or on my own. Most of the people in here would have either just laid in bed all day or maybe made it to half of their classes. In fact, while I was sitting in the gym working my triceps on the rickshaw there were two other people just sitting and chatting and one person working with a therapist but the rest of the gym was empty even though any one of the 27 people on the floor could have been in there working on other things, putting in a little extra credit. But, of course, I was the only one in there working out and I have a fricken urinary tract infection. It blows my mind how some of these people feel like they are forced to be here and in a way they fight it as if it is punishment. But, what they do will not affect my therapy for I have a plan and many goals in which I will continue to strive for, even if every couple weeks I get challenged with a day like today.
So, I got out of bed eventually about ten to fifteen minutes late for hand group with a cold sweat and just a crummy feeling all around. I worked with some nuts and bolts, threading and unthreading them to start off as a warm up. Then, I was engaged in a game of connect 4 with my buddy Anthony who is also a high level C injury. He has less mobility than myself and he rocks a power chair. Taking the pieces and dropping them in to the connect 4 game board is a good workout and struggle for Anthony but for me it is very easy and not a challenge at all. So between feeling crummy and being bored with a much too easy task I let that sun of a gun beat me.
After hand group I had an hour break so I went back to my room to try to relax. My mom offered to put me into a pressure release, where I lay back onto her lap. We ended up both taking a 45 minute nap in that position. After the nap it took a second to get myself to wake up and head out into the main lobby for OT Exercise Group. As soon as I got into the group Kate, the leader, took one look at me and said "Are you feeling alright Andrew?" I told her that I had a bladder infection and wasn't feeling up to par. Somehow or another I was able to push myself and keep up during the whole exercise session.
Afterward,we went into the canary room to eat some lunch and socialize a bit. After lunch Kalli and I decided to go outside to try to get some fresh air. It was beautiful out and really the perfect temperature. But even with the beautiful weather I wasn't able to kick the way I was feeling. I've always known since the beginning that there were going to be days like this. Times in which, even the strongest person in the world, can't help but break down a little. As we were sitting outside I began thinking about how it is so strange any time in life when you break an arm, or catch a cold you know that it is just temporary, whereas this is something that is going to stay with me for life and that became difficult to think about, especially in a moment when I was already down a bit. Kalli, of course, hugged me and let me know that it was all going to be okay. She made me feel a lot better and we headed back inside.
Once we got back inside we had a bit of time before my two o'clock appointment with Carey. So, we went to my room and Kalli and I set up the E-stim I am borrowing from my Uncle Paul to do a little electro therapy on my hands. First we did the right and then the left, imitating the same timing in which the machine RIC uses controls on its own. It worked great and I got some really good movement out of my fingers.
Once we were done, we headed for the gym for my last therapy of the day. Carey also could tell that I wasn't my same cocky, jolly self. Her and I love to joke around. She said well, why don't we take it fairly easy and just do some stretches on the mat. She said you can work on the ones we learned last time where you stretch yourself. So, I transferred from my chair to the mat and followed the exercise packet Carey had given me and stretched myself out one page at a time. The stretching felt good and I was beginning to feel better than I had earlier. After stretching for the whole hour I decided that I wanted to get some weights in as well. So, I went over to the corner of the gym to my favorite machine that they call the rickshaw and worked on my triceps. I bumped the weight up 10 pounds, from 50 to 60 because it was becoming too easy, which is always a great feeling. I did six sets of fifteen and called it a day while my mom sat and watched, doing some bicep curls of her own. Most of the exercises I do really work my shoulders as well. So, I asked Carey if she would mind hooking me up with the heat pack for my shoulders, for they were pretty sore from the rickshaw. There were a couple other people in the gym and we all sat and chatted while I relaxed with heat on my shoulders for 15 minutes.
Several people are leaving this week which is making me realize that I too am going to be going home eventually. It really is not that far away, could be as soon as three weeks from now. This place teaches you a lot, but also cares for you quite a bit. It is exciting, yet interesting to think what it will be like back in my own home.
After we left the gym we headed to my room for it was time for me to take a leak again and then figure out what to go get for dinner for I had chosen a voucher for tonight's meal. My mom, Kalli and I headed downstairs to the second floor to get some food from the cafeteria. My mom and I got gyros and Kalli picked delicious looking pepperoni pizza. We brought it upstairs and ate it all while watching this crazy show on Animal Planet that was basically about when animals turn on people. It was amazing from crazy elephants to arm swallowing alligators we couldn't believe what we were seeing.
After dinner I gave my mom a hug and she headed home. Kalli and I headed to my room to do a little blogging and get ready for bed. Today was probably the most difficult day that I have had in the last three weeks or more. But, truthfully, I am still really proud of myself because even feeling crummy I didn't miss a single therapy and I did three or four extras with Kalli or on my own. Most of the people in here would have either just laid in bed all day or maybe made it to half of their classes. In fact, while I was sitting in the gym working my triceps on the rickshaw there were two other people just sitting and chatting and one person working with a therapist but the rest of the gym was empty even though any one of the 27 people on the floor could have been in there working on other things, putting in a little extra credit. But, of course, I was the only one in there working out and I have a fricken urinary tract infection. It blows my mind how some of these people feel like they are forced to be here and in a way they fight it as if it is punishment. But, what they do will not affect my therapy for I have a plan and many goals in which I will continue to strive for, even if every couple weeks I get challenged with a day like today.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Friday/Saturday/Sunday 3rd-5th
Friday morning I had the whole Sarah Hippert crew joined by Ali, Annabelle and Jack to help me with my morning routine. We got out of bed and went upstairs to the activity room for hand group. Hand group is usually held in the canary room, but every once and a while the activity planners get in on hand group and make it a little more fun. So, we went upstairs to the 9th floor and played pool for therapy. You wouldn't think that playing pool would be much work but holding the stick, leaning over for the shot, all of it really works all kinds of muscles throughout your body. To make the game fair Sarah or Ali, whomever I was playing at the time, also had to sit on a rolling computer chair. As we were playing Annabelle and Ali drew me some beautiful pictures with those awesome smelly markers we all love.
Once our hour was up we headed downstairs with stinky pictures in hand and went to my room for I had an hour break until exercise group at 11. Before group started in walked Wes Block one of my really good buddies from college. It was strange I remember meeting Wes and it was almost like love at first sight. Him and I hung out one or two times and felt like we knew each other forever. I said Wes you are just in time for exercise group! If you can make it through the whole class you would be the second person ever. Wes had just come out to CA to visit me the weekend before the wedding and was a real trooper since he was sporting a full leg cast for his broken ankle. We started pumping and pushing, rocking and rolling through exercise group. Sweat was flowing and the jokes were getting thrown around the room left and right, as usual. Turned out to be a great exercise group and somehow or another, both Kalli and Wes made it all the way through without breaks. So, that makes three people that have now made it. Sorry Guillermo your solo record didn't last too long.
After exercise group we headed into the canary room to all sit down for some lunch. Wes was also in town to watch the Brewers play the Cubs at Wriggly. So, he grabbed a little deodorant and ran to meet his family at the game.
After we all ate, my next class was PT group with Sally. Sally had several different wheelchair skills activities set up in the center area near the reception desk. We had the wheelie tree, orange cone obstacle course, wheelie ride up pad, and several boche balls and bean bags scattered throughout the floor to work your core practicing picking them up and throwing them into bean bag boards and buckets. We took turns practicing and working all of the activities, ending the session playing catch with a two and a half foot rubber ball and ten minutes of textbook wheelchair pushing doing laps around the outside of the 7th floor.
Once all of my therapies were done I began getting ready for Kalli and I had a really fun night planned ahead of us. We made reservations for a really cool hibachi restaurant about four blocks away. After the hibachi bar we went another five blocks to the lake to catch the Friday night fireworks show near Navy Pier. The hibachi restaurant turned out absolutely top notch. Fresh food, great entertainment and some nice company placed at our table with us. It turned out to be either lucky or quite a blessing for Kalli normally doesn't like the style of most hibachi restaurants but she loved everything here. I would recommend this place to anyone. After dinner our timing was absolutely impeccable for by the time we got to where we wanted to watch the fireworks from it wasn't more than 30 seconds and they started. I think they lit the fireworks about 10 minutes early because the whole way home people walking the opposite direction kept asking "are the fireworks already over?" "did we miss the show?" It turned out to be a perfect date night for Kalli and I which we have not had in a while.
Saturday morning I hopped out of bed for my nine o'clock hand group where I worked with my new putty and retrieved all 15 beans within the hour. While I pulled and prodded for bean after bean Michael and Ruth Schmelzer sat with Kalli, my mom and I for a nice visit. Schmelzers were passing through on their way to South Bend.
Again, we had a full day of fun planned for the rest of the day. We had four tickets to the Brewers Cubs game here in town. My dad arrived shortly after hands group just in time for an 11:30 cab to pick us up in front of RIC and bring us right to the stadium. This was the first handi cap accessible cab I had ever taken and it really worked out well for us. Once we got to the stadium we grabbed our tickets from will call and headed in to find their elevator which brought us right to our box seat wheelchair accessible tickets. They were directly behind home base and had a roof which was great because 80% of the game there was a gentle mist/light rain soaking the rest of the crowd. Wriggly field was really a neat baseball diamond with crazy extra seating on houses, bars, any building that was across the street from the outfield. There were huge bleachers sections built on top of the building. We took a bunch of pictures and it was really neat. A crazy coincidence occurred when I sat down. Sitting next to me was a guy who grew up in Appleton and Kimberly Wisconsin his whole life and had basically the same injury as me four years prior. He instantly shared many of his experiences involved with his accident. We exchanged information and Tim invited me to check out his home and converted vehicle next time I was in Appleton.
After the game we headed home to take a quick nap and then go out to dinner, the four of us, my mom, dad, Kalli and I to celebrate the 4th of July. Oh yeah by the way Cubbies got smoked, Brewers 11, Cubs 2. We headed over to The Cheesecake Factory about 6 blocks away. The food was absolutely delicious and I think all four of us thoroughly enjoyed our plates. We finished the night off sharing a delicious piece of raspberry cheesecake and headed home to go to bed.
After two days in a row of go go action and lots of fun and celebration of the 4th of July weekend, I was ready for a relaxing Sunday. I slept in until about 8 and didn't get out of bed until about 10:30. Once I did get out of bed the four of us went upstairs to the 12th floor where they have a mock kitchen and a big table. My dad and I went over all my insurance bills and some of the donation information in which was all being forwarded to him. After we got everything squared away and handed over to me we decided to go downstairs to eat some lunch and play some cards.
We played Euchre which surprisingly was the first time since I have been here and we ended up tying 8 to 8 because my dad had to hit the road in order to catch his train home. We said our goodbyes with hugs and prayers and then I headed to bed for another nap. After feeling guilty for just laying around all day I transferred back into my chair and we went and hung out in the canary room where we ate dinner and chatted for a bit.
Over dinner we decided it was time to play some more cards but first we needed to do something active to get rid of some of the soreness I was experiencing in my arms and body due to just laying around. So we pulled the bean bags out of my backpack and my mom, our friend Joey, Kalli and I made a diamond in the center area and we simply played catch, throwing the bean bags all over the place. After getting a little workout in it was time to get another game of Tricks in. Joey and my mom got into some serious crashing slumps but Kalli ended up pulling it all together and winning. She claims it was her first win ever and we were all really excited for her.
By the time we were done it was past 8 o'clock and it was time to head to bed and start my nightly routine. What a wonderful weekend with great food, fireworks, a dynamite baseball game and wonderful friends and family. It was really kind of nice just having my mom and dad and Kalli and I able to spend some quality time together. A much different fourth of July for all four of us than we have had in many years. After the long weekend I am excited to get a good nights rest and wake up refreshed and ready to pound out some new goals in the coming week.
Once our hour was up we headed downstairs with stinky pictures in hand and went to my room for I had an hour break until exercise group at 11. Before group started in walked Wes Block one of my really good buddies from college. It was strange I remember meeting Wes and it was almost like love at first sight. Him and I hung out one or two times and felt like we knew each other forever. I said Wes you are just in time for exercise group! If you can make it through the whole class you would be the second person ever. Wes had just come out to CA to visit me the weekend before the wedding and was a real trooper since he was sporting a full leg cast for his broken ankle. We started pumping and pushing, rocking and rolling through exercise group. Sweat was flowing and the jokes were getting thrown around the room left and right, as usual. Turned out to be a great exercise group and somehow or another, both Kalli and Wes made it all the way through without breaks. So, that makes three people that have now made it. Sorry Guillermo your solo record didn't last too long.
After exercise group we headed into the canary room to all sit down for some lunch. Wes was also in town to watch the Brewers play the Cubs at Wriggly. So, he grabbed a little deodorant and ran to meet his family at the game.
After we all ate, my next class was PT group with Sally. Sally had several different wheelchair skills activities set up in the center area near the reception desk. We had the wheelie tree, orange cone obstacle course, wheelie ride up pad, and several boche balls and bean bags scattered throughout the floor to work your core practicing picking them up and throwing them into bean bag boards and buckets. We took turns practicing and working all of the activities, ending the session playing catch with a two and a half foot rubber ball and ten minutes of textbook wheelchair pushing doing laps around the outside of the 7th floor.
Once all of my therapies were done I began getting ready for Kalli and I had a really fun night planned ahead of us. We made reservations for a really cool hibachi restaurant about four blocks away. After the hibachi bar we went another five blocks to the lake to catch the Friday night fireworks show near Navy Pier. The hibachi restaurant turned out absolutely top notch. Fresh food, great entertainment and some nice company placed at our table with us. It turned out to be either lucky or quite a blessing for Kalli normally doesn't like the style of most hibachi restaurants but she loved everything here. I would recommend this place to anyone. After dinner our timing was absolutely impeccable for by the time we got to where we wanted to watch the fireworks from it wasn't more than 30 seconds and they started. I think they lit the fireworks about 10 minutes early because the whole way home people walking the opposite direction kept asking "are the fireworks already over?" "did we miss the show?" It turned out to be a perfect date night for Kalli and I which we have not had in a while.
Saturday morning I hopped out of bed for my nine o'clock hand group where I worked with my new putty and retrieved all 15 beans within the hour. While I pulled and prodded for bean after bean Michael and Ruth Schmelzer sat with Kalli, my mom and I for a nice visit. Schmelzers were passing through on their way to South Bend.
Again, we had a full day of fun planned for the rest of the day. We had four tickets to the Brewers Cubs game here in town. My dad arrived shortly after hands group just in time for an 11:30 cab to pick us up in front of RIC and bring us right to the stadium. This was the first handi cap accessible cab I had ever taken and it really worked out well for us. Once we got to the stadium we grabbed our tickets from will call and headed in to find their elevator which brought us right to our box seat wheelchair accessible tickets. They were directly behind home base and had a roof which was great because 80% of the game there was a gentle mist/light rain soaking the rest of the crowd. Wriggly field was really a neat baseball diamond with crazy extra seating on houses, bars, any building that was across the street from the outfield. There were huge bleachers sections built on top of the building. We took a bunch of pictures and it was really neat. A crazy coincidence occurred when I sat down. Sitting next to me was a guy who grew up in Appleton and Kimberly Wisconsin his whole life and had basically the same injury as me four years prior. He instantly shared many of his experiences involved with his accident. We exchanged information and Tim invited me to check out his home and converted vehicle next time I was in Appleton.
After the game we headed home to take a quick nap and then go out to dinner, the four of us, my mom, dad, Kalli and I to celebrate the 4th of July. Oh yeah by the way Cubbies got smoked, Brewers 11, Cubs 2. We headed over to The Cheesecake Factory about 6 blocks away. The food was absolutely delicious and I think all four of us thoroughly enjoyed our plates. We finished the night off sharing a delicious piece of raspberry cheesecake and headed home to go to bed.
After two days in a row of go go action and lots of fun and celebration of the 4th of July weekend, I was ready for a relaxing Sunday. I slept in until about 8 and didn't get out of bed until about 10:30. Once I did get out of bed the four of us went upstairs to the 12th floor where they have a mock kitchen and a big table. My dad and I went over all my insurance bills and some of the donation information in which was all being forwarded to him. After we got everything squared away and handed over to me we decided to go downstairs to eat some lunch and play some cards.
We played Euchre which surprisingly was the first time since I have been here and we ended up tying 8 to 8 because my dad had to hit the road in order to catch his train home. We said our goodbyes with hugs and prayers and then I headed to bed for another nap. After feeling guilty for just laying around all day I transferred back into my chair and we went and hung out in the canary room where we ate dinner and chatted for a bit.
Over dinner we decided it was time to play some more cards but first we needed to do something active to get rid of some of the soreness I was experiencing in my arms and body due to just laying around. So we pulled the bean bags out of my backpack and my mom, our friend Joey, Kalli and I made a diamond in the center area and we simply played catch, throwing the bean bags all over the place. After getting a little workout in it was time to get another game of Tricks in. Joey and my mom got into some serious crashing slumps but Kalli ended up pulling it all together and winning. She claims it was her first win ever and we were all really excited for her.
By the time we were done it was past 8 o'clock and it was time to head to bed and start my nightly routine. What a wonderful weekend with great food, fireworks, a dynamite baseball game and wonderful friends and family. It was really kind of nice just having my mom and dad and Kalli and I able to spend some quality time together. A much different fourth of July for all four of us than we have had in many years. After the long weekend I am excited to get a good nights rest and wake up refreshed and ready to pound out some new goals in the coming week.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thursday July 2nd
I had a strange addition to my schedule today, there was an eight o'clock appointment called meal time. Apparently there is some sort of breakfast club where they try to fancy up the canary room, putting white table cloths, which are really just sheets, some flowers and play some music, getting people together to eat and chit chat. But, this event, like I said starts at eight and I am pretty sure that I already mentioned to the scheduler I'm not much for getting out of bed until 9. So, I decided to keep with my schedule and skip this little breakfast club. One, I've got more than enough people to chit chat with all of you great visitors. Two, with the transition of when they can dress you and when your food comes, being up and ready by 8 o'clock doesn't really work that well. And, three, aren't breakfast clubs for girls?
So, like usual, my morning started with a nine o'clock hand group. This ended up being really fun for they broke out the WII on what is probably a 50 inch flat screen in the canary room. Nintendo WII, crazy as it may sound, is truly an amazing rehab tool. The therapists use it a lot because the different sports games really make you move your arms, focus on pushing the buttons on the controller and it is pretty tough for anyone, no matter how young or old not to enjoy it. So, I was up against Steve, who is probably 55 or 60 years old, and we were truly some tight competition. First we played tennis, which I just barely won two out of three. Then, we played baseball and Steve whooped my butt three to nothing. That is the tough thing about baseball - one good inning and you can take the whole game. Then, we bowled and somehow I squeezed in a win but, truthfully with the functions that we each had in our hands bowling wasn't really even do-able. Lastly, we played another intense round of tennis which was by far the most fun for each of us and Steve somehow or another beat me two games in a row to sweep me best of three. But don't take a sweep the wrong way - we were going back and forth in deuce, he just somehow kept taking advantage of me some way or another. I will get him next time! Darn silly old fart!
After WII I had OT with Diane where we decided to do some E-stim because we hadn't done it in a while. Again, this is an electric shock therapy where you stimulate the nerves with electricity in order to re-introduce those nerve connections. My Uncle Paul was kind enough to give me the device that he had, which is similar to the E-stim machine RIC has. Diane and I played with it for a while as well to make sure that it was the correct machine to be using. It was very similar in many ways and after playing with it we devised ways in which it could be used the same as her machine. So, thank you Uncle Paul. I will be able to use yours and especially continue the therapy once I leave. We had a great session going back and forth stimulating both hands and as quickly as we started the time was up.
Next on the schedule was a PT session with Carey. So, I headed to the gym where I met up with her and we decided to go up to the 12th floor and practice a couple of transfers with the props up there. First, we lined up next to a double bed that they have in a mock bedroom. I was able to slide board over to it, lift my legs up on to the bed and lay back as if ready to take a nap. I then got back up which is much more difficult on a soft bed than the firm mats we practice on in the gym. I threw my legs off the bed again to slide back into the chair. It is crazy how the process of just getting in and out of bed is enough to really tucker you out. But, Carey won't let you just get away with one little exercise and nor would I want to. So, next we went outside the bedroom and in between the kitchen and the dodge spirit transfer car they have a quaint little living room set up. So I parked the chair next to a loveseat and did a board transfer onto the little couch. It really felt awesome to be sitting in a regular loveseat as if nothing had ever happened. I wanted Carey to pull my wheelchair away and put it in the other room so as if someone could come in and not even know whether I was injured besides the giant neck brace I still have to wear for what could be up to six weeks. It really did make me excited for when I get back to normal living and can just transfer in to some home furniture and recline and lounge just like I used to. I never really thought about how easy that will be now that my strength is up. You kind of think your just going to be sitting in your chair all the time because that is what I do here with how busy they keep you from activity to activity. So, once I was sitting in the loveseat I needed to get back in my chair. Couches are fairly squishy and lower than you realize so it is a pretty good uphill battle getting up into the chair. Again, I surprised myself with how well I was able to position myself correctly with textbook form and slide right up into my chair even though the chair was probably a good 6 to 8 inches above the loveseat.
We had fifteen minutes left and Carey asked me what the heck do you want to do now. So I said why don't we quickly run outside and go practice jumping curbs in the parking lot next door. She was all for it so we proceeded to head over there. Once we got over there my newly found skill of popping monster wheelies definitely got my front wheels up on the curb with no problem but boy all the weight is really on those back wheels and it is harder than heck to push the chair up onto the curb. I was so close but needed just a minimal amount of assistance from Carey to really get the chair up on top. Carey has the best positive attitude and is so fun to work with because of that amazing trait. I mean most of the therapists are pretty positive, but there are a couple I really wouldn't want to have. Carey and I laugh and joke around so much it makes our sessions really fun. She told me I feel like I am her brother the way we tease each other back and forth.
PT was actually my last session of the day for they basically wam bam thank you mammed me right in the morning. So, it had been a while since we sat back and just relaxed so we decided to take advantage of the open afternoon. Now, I can't believe that I forgot one of the biggest events of the day which was Joey's official discharge this morning around 10. He cleaned out all of his stuff and they emptied his side of the room. This felt really weird, seeing it empty. While I was in OT he made sure to come and say his final goodbyes. We hugged and promised each other that we would not lose touch and we would make an effort to visit each other or plan something in the near future to see one another. I honestly think that we will keep in touch for both of us enjoyed each other's company and learned a lot from each other. Joey if you end up reading this blog I love you man and I will talk to you soon!
After PT I went back to the room and my wonderful, number one assistant, and beautiful girlfriend had already had virtually everything moved over onto Joey's side. We figured I might as well claim the window side of the room before some chump gets moved in and takes it. You can see the John Hancock Building and several others from my bed and it is a lot better than staring at a curtain. Once we had everything in place Kalli and I crawled into my bed, sharing the tiny little single mattress, and fell asleep for a quick nap. It felt really great and was different to have the privacy and quietness of having the room all to ourself.
After my nap we began figuring out the details for attending a Brewers game here in Chicago this Saturday. The Brewers are coming to town to sweep the Cubbies four nights in a row. So, that should make for a great 4th of July activity. Joey had given me a contact number for a woman named Jan that coordinates handi-cap wheel chair accessible seating. She hooked us up with a box that apparently is in a great spot and also has a private wheelchair accessible bathroom. So my mom, dad, Kalli and I are going to take a cab down to the game on Saturday and watch it with some style up in the box! I'm thoroughly excited, but after talking to my dad I don't know exactly who is more excited him or myself.
With everything figured out and all the details set in stone, in walked a good high school buddy of mine, Pat Keegan. Pat lives in the area and works downtown and makes an effort to stop by every now and again. We sat and chatted as I prepared for my evening cath. It was a nice little visit but we actually needed to be going for my sister Sarah and her three children, Jack, Annabelle and Ali had just arrived and we had plans to go over to the apartment and all make dinner together. So, we went over to the apartment and of course my mom had a great meal already to go. Corn on the cob, a big bologna ring, which for some reason or another I feel is a Hippert tradition or childhood favorite, along with butternut squash, baked potatoes and butter, and some big plump strawberries and blueberries. After dinner the kids and I played with the plethora of gifts that they came bearing which were the board game Operation, one of those fun pin toys that you place over your hand, or face and it shows the imprint, and some pretty neat disc launching zoomer toys that you play catch with. I think I enjoyed watching the kids play with them more than anything which was really fun. Of course, the time flew by and it was time to get me back to RIC before my 8 o'clock curfew. We got hugs all around and headed home to do a little blogging and begin my nightly routine. Another great day between therapy, a wonderful nap, and good friends and family. Bring on 4th of July weekend! I can't wait to see my dad.
So, like usual, my morning started with a nine o'clock hand group. This ended up being really fun for they broke out the WII on what is probably a 50 inch flat screen in the canary room. Nintendo WII, crazy as it may sound, is truly an amazing rehab tool. The therapists use it a lot because the different sports games really make you move your arms, focus on pushing the buttons on the controller and it is pretty tough for anyone, no matter how young or old not to enjoy it. So, I was up against Steve, who is probably 55 or 60 years old, and we were truly some tight competition. First we played tennis, which I just barely won two out of three. Then, we played baseball and Steve whooped my butt three to nothing. That is the tough thing about baseball - one good inning and you can take the whole game. Then, we bowled and somehow I squeezed in a win but, truthfully with the functions that we each had in our hands bowling wasn't really even do-able. Lastly, we played another intense round of tennis which was by far the most fun for each of us and Steve somehow or another beat me two games in a row to sweep me best of three. But don't take a sweep the wrong way - we were going back and forth in deuce, he just somehow kept taking advantage of me some way or another. I will get him next time! Darn silly old fart!
After WII I had OT with Diane where we decided to do some E-stim because we hadn't done it in a while. Again, this is an electric shock therapy where you stimulate the nerves with electricity in order to re-introduce those nerve connections. My Uncle Paul was kind enough to give me the device that he had, which is similar to the E-stim machine RIC has. Diane and I played with it for a while as well to make sure that it was the correct machine to be using. It was very similar in many ways and after playing with it we devised ways in which it could be used the same as her machine. So, thank you Uncle Paul. I will be able to use yours and especially continue the therapy once I leave. We had a great session going back and forth stimulating both hands and as quickly as we started the time was up.
Next on the schedule was a PT session with Carey. So, I headed to the gym where I met up with her and we decided to go up to the 12th floor and practice a couple of transfers with the props up there. First, we lined up next to a double bed that they have in a mock bedroom. I was able to slide board over to it, lift my legs up on to the bed and lay back as if ready to take a nap. I then got back up which is much more difficult on a soft bed than the firm mats we practice on in the gym. I threw my legs off the bed again to slide back into the chair. It is crazy how the process of just getting in and out of bed is enough to really tucker you out. But, Carey won't let you just get away with one little exercise and nor would I want to. So, next we went outside the bedroom and in between the kitchen and the dodge spirit transfer car they have a quaint little living room set up. So I parked the chair next to a loveseat and did a board transfer onto the little couch. It really felt awesome to be sitting in a regular loveseat as if nothing had ever happened. I wanted Carey to pull my wheelchair away and put it in the other room so as if someone could come in and not even know whether I was injured besides the giant neck brace I still have to wear for what could be up to six weeks. It really did make me excited for when I get back to normal living and can just transfer in to some home furniture and recline and lounge just like I used to. I never really thought about how easy that will be now that my strength is up. You kind of think your just going to be sitting in your chair all the time because that is what I do here with how busy they keep you from activity to activity. So, once I was sitting in the loveseat I needed to get back in my chair. Couches are fairly squishy and lower than you realize so it is a pretty good uphill battle getting up into the chair. Again, I surprised myself with how well I was able to position myself correctly with textbook form and slide right up into my chair even though the chair was probably a good 6 to 8 inches above the loveseat.
We had fifteen minutes left and Carey asked me what the heck do you want to do now. So I said why don't we quickly run outside and go practice jumping curbs in the parking lot next door. She was all for it so we proceeded to head over there. Once we got over there my newly found skill of popping monster wheelies definitely got my front wheels up on the curb with no problem but boy all the weight is really on those back wheels and it is harder than heck to push the chair up onto the curb. I was so close but needed just a minimal amount of assistance from Carey to really get the chair up on top. Carey has the best positive attitude and is so fun to work with because of that amazing trait. I mean most of the therapists are pretty positive, but there are a couple I really wouldn't want to have. Carey and I laugh and joke around so much it makes our sessions really fun. She told me I feel like I am her brother the way we tease each other back and forth.
PT was actually my last session of the day for they basically wam bam thank you mammed me right in the morning. So, it had been a while since we sat back and just relaxed so we decided to take advantage of the open afternoon. Now, I can't believe that I forgot one of the biggest events of the day which was Joey's official discharge this morning around 10. He cleaned out all of his stuff and they emptied his side of the room. This felt really weird, seeing it empty. While I was in OT he made sure to come and say his final goodbyes. We hugged and promised each other that we would not lose touch and we would make an effort to visit each other or plan something in the near future to see one another. I honestly think that we will keep in touch for both of us enjoyed each other's company and learned a lot from each other. Joey if you end up reading this blog I love you man and I will talk to you soon!
After PT I went back to the room and my wonderful, number one assistant, and beautiful girlfriend had already had virtually everything moved over onto Joey's side. We figured I might as well claim the window side of the room before some chump gets moved in and takes it. You can see the John Hancock Building and several others from my bed and it is a lot better than staring at a curtain. Once we had everything in place Kalli and I crawled into my bed, sharing the tiny little single mattress, and fell asleep for a quick nap. It felt really great and was different to have the privacy and quietness of having the room all to ourself.
After my nap we began figuring out the details for attending a Brewers game here in Chicago this Saturday. The Brewers are coming to town to sweep the Cubbies four nights in a row. So, that should make for a great 4th of July activity. Joey had given me a contact number for a woman named Jan that coordinates handi-cap wheel chair accessible seating. She hooked us up with a box that apparently is in a great spot and also has a private wheelchair accessible bathroom. So my mom, dad, Kalli and I are going to take a cab down to the game on Saturday and watch it with some style up in the box! I'm thoroughly excited, but after talking to my dad I don't know exactly who is more excited him or myself.
With everything figured out and all the details set in stone, in walked a good high school buddy of mine, Pat Keegan. Pat lives in the area and works downtown and makes an effort to stop by every now and again. We sat and chatted as I prepared for my evening cath. It was a nice little visit but we actually needed to be going for my sister Sarah and her three children, Jack, Annabelle and Ali had just arrived and we had plans to go over to the apartment and all make dinner together. So, we went over to the apartment and of course my mom had a great meal already to go. Corn on the cob, a big bologna ring, which for some reason or another I feel is a Hippert tradition or childhood favorite, along with butternut squash, baked potatoes and butter, and some big plump strawberries and blueberries. After dinner the kids and I played with the plethora of gifts that they came bearing which were the board game Operation, one of those fun pin toys that you place over your hand, or face and it shows the imprint, and some pretty neat disc launching zoomer toys that you play catch with. I think I enjoyed watching the kids play with them more than anything which was really fun. Of course, the time flew by and it was time to get me back to RIC before my 8 o'clock curfew. We got hugs all around and headed home to do a little blogging and begin my nightly routine. Another great day between therapy, a wonderful nap, and good friends and family. Bring on 4th of July weekend! I can't wait to see my dad.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday July 1st
My peaches, pears, bacon, milk and orange juice came as usual. Truthfully, it was a little difficult to put down for I was feeling a little bit under the weather. I have been feeling great for days and days so I guess it is to be expected to finally have a less than perfect morning. Part of why the morning started out poorly was I woke up extremely soar and in some pain. I don't want to blame it on it but I think it may have been due to the fairly thorough massage I had received the day before. It doesn't mean it wasn't good but I think it might have been a little more than my muscles were used to. So anyways, acting kind of slow and sluggish I tried my hardest to get going. While I was eating, my mom showed up, for Kalli was off buying a cake for Joey's last day and looking for some new shorts that will help with my cathing for me. Mom spotted me as I got out of bed and I headed to hand group. One of the things I was experiencing was kind of a strange, cold sweat that made me feel both hot and slightly cold, very unsettling. I got to hands group and just tried to ignore it.
First, in hands group, I undid and put back together a couple pairs of socks. Then, an older gentleman named Steve, who seems to be pretty loaded and has a couple boats, and I began a really slow game of battleship. Steve has even less hand movement than I do and was taking five plus minutes to put in each peg after I would launch a missile. We played battleship for around 40 minutes and I think I launched 5 or 6 pegs. So, it was a bit of a slow game and I even fricken lost for he found one of my ships and we considered that a win. But, it seemed to be helping him and it was encouraging because I had played battleship two weeks before with a guy named Ed and it was kind of the opposite story. It was taking me three or four minutes to get each peg in and now it seemed pretty easy to pick them up and slide them in. So, I definitely could notice an improvement in my own hand movements. Repeating an activity is really the best way for me to judge and notice my own self improvement. Otherwise, it is just slowly day to day and from my own perspective it is hard to tell if I am improving at all. Whereas if I repeat an activity it is quite obvious to compare it to my first try.
After losing in battleship to the slowest missile launcher ever I had an hour break until my next PT with Carey. Carey could tell right when I got into the gym that things were going a little sour for me today. Her and I talked over my symptoms and she took my blood pressure just to make sure there was no need to get a nurse or doctor involved. We realized that I was about an hour late on my pain meds and from my experience in the past if I let that get overdue I experience a very strange tired feeling where I believe my body is fighting the pain and becoming exhausted due to it and I don't even realize it. We got me a pain med and I wanted to just keep plugging along so she got me up on the mat and wanted to practice the proper way to stretch myself out now that I was able to sit up on the mat. Several of the stretches include laying down and getting up and if you can't do that on your own, well then, you might as well have the person with you getting you up stretch you out too. So, using what looked like a karate belt we proceeded to go through several different ways to stretch out my legs on my own. There was only one that was fairly difficult, the rest I was able to pull off without any problem. My new skill of popping up from laying down was quicker and quicker each time I tried. As I started getting into the stretches and working my body, meanwhile my pain medicine kicking in, I really started to feel better. The slight nausea I was feeling had gone away and I think I was able to work right through my morning gloom.
After PT Kalli returned from the store with a surprise cake to celebrate Joey's last day here at RIC. He has learned so much and improved so many of his functions and daily activities. It is hard to see him go but it is really exciting to know how much easier his routine will be when he returns back home. So many of the things he has rediscovered and accomplished here create an enormous amount of freedom in many ways. So, I went into the room and asked Joey if he would come and eat with us in the canary room because it was his last day and I was going to miss him. He agreed and we got our trays of food and headed in there. When we got there Kalli had the box with the cake and we popped it out on him, letting him know how much we are going to all miss him. He was very appreciative and the cake was delicious. Now, I'm not usually a dessert or cake guy whatsoever, but the simple, moist, just vanilla cake and the type of frosting that was on it was really delightful. We shared it with several other of the people we have become close with throughout our floor and had a great lunch celebrating Joey's departure.
After lunch I was supposed to go to OT exercise group but needed to go and cath first. This was the first time I did it without any help from RIC staff and there were three different options of catheters to use that we needed to trial to see what would work best. So, I tried two different kinds and it took longer than I thought it would. I ended up being 40 minutes late for exercise group and was able to just squeeze in at the end to throw down a couple beats.
After exercise group I had another hour break so I took that time to read a really interesting article in the ESPN magazine Endow brought me about a 17 year old and his struggles circumnavigating the world completely on his own in a 36 foot sailboat. After I got done I headed back to the canary room for my last therapy, OT with Margaret, one of the other therapists. She asked me what I wanted to work on and I had just been thinking about it - I really wanted to focus on working my hand function and getting back as much as I can in my mitts. So, first off to get an idea of where I was at she pulled out a box full of containers and had me pop open lid after lid, cap after cap, to get a quick assessment of where my abilities were. Once she had the picture figured out, she pulled out some pretty neat putty that had about a dozen beans placed within it for me to dig out. So I proceeded for the next 40 minutes or so just slowly pulling and stretching the putty as best I could with the grip that I have to get each and every one of those beans. This activity worked great and I was really happy with the way I could feel it working my hands and making them buzz. Margaret also felt like using the putty was going to be one of the best therapies for rejuvenating my hands so while I was digging for buried beans she went and got me some putty of my own. Interestingly, the putty comes with four small squares of the same material, but much stiffer. As your hands get stronger over time, you add about a half of one of these squares each time you experience the present putty becoming too weak for your new found strength. So as you get better and stronger you can stiffen up the putty and continue to challenge yourself.
After rolling back to memory lane, playing with putty like I did when I was about 8 years old, Kalli and I started figuring out what we were going to do for dinner and the rest of the evening. I had picked a voucher for dinner so we decided that I would jump in bed and she would run down to the cafeteria and pick us out some stuff to share for dinner. After dinner, we did a little blogging and I started my nightly routine.
This day started off a little rough, but I worked through it and didn't let it keep me in bed, or away from my activities - which I have seen too many times from other patients. We all know that each and every one of us is going to have a less than perfect day every once and a while. But, when they come you can't let it take over and hold you down. Kalli and I are looking into catching a Brewer's game this weekend for they will be in town for four days beating up on the Cubbies. I was able to get a number of the person at Wriggly Field that coordinates handi-cap seating. I plan on calling her tomorrow and seeing what the deal is; pricing, transportation, etc. Also, several people have signed up for the golf outing but we still need several dozen more to really make it a booming success. I am getting so excited to be able to attend and can't wait to get out and do something fun, like cruising around on the course for a whole day. So, if you are just waiting to sign up, or may be on the fence, get your butt in gear and come join us for some fun!
First, in hands group, I undid and put back together a couple pairs of socks. Then, an older gentleman named Steve, who seems to be pretty loaded and has a couple boats, and I began a really slow game of battleship. Steve has even less hand movement than I do and was taking five plus minutes to put in each peg after I would launch a missile. We played battleship for around 40 minutes and I think I launched 5 or 6 pegs. So, it was a bit of a slow game and I even fricken lost for he found one of my ships and we considered that a win. But, it seemed to be helping him and it was encouraging because I had played battleship two weeks before with a guy named Ed and it was kind of the opposite story. It was taking me three or four minutes to get each peg in and now it seemed pretty easy to pick them up and slide them in. So, I definitely could notice an improvement in my own hand movements. Repeating an activity is really the best way for me to judge and notice my own self improvement. Otherwise, it is just slowly day to day and from my own perspective it is hard to tell if I am improving at all. Whereas if I repeat an activity it is quite obvious to compare it to my first try.
After losing in battleship to the slowest missile launcher ever I had an hour break until my next PT with Carey. Carey could tell right when I got into the gym that things were going a little sour for me today. Her and I talked over my symptoms and she took my blood pressure just to make sure there was no need to get a nurse or doctor involved. We realized that I was about an hour late on my pain meds and from my experience in the past if I let that get overdue I experience a very strange tired feeling where I believe my body is fighting the pain and becoming exhausted due to it and I don't even realize it. We got me a pain med and I wanted to just keep plugging along so she got me up on the mat and wanted to practice the proper way to stretch myself out now that I was able to sit up on the mat. Several of the stretches include laying down and getting up and if you can't do that on your own, well then, you might as well have the person with you getting you up stretch you out too. So, using what looked like a karate belt we proceeded to go through several different ways to stretch out my legs on my own. There was only one that was fairly difficult, the rest I was able to pull off without any problem. My new skill of popping up from laying down was quicker and quicker each time I tried. As I started getting into the stretches and working my body, meanwhile my pain medicine kicking in, I really started to feel better. The slight nausea I was feeling had gone away and I think I was able to work right through my morning gloom.
After PT Kalli returned from the store with a surprise cake to celebrate Joey's last day here at RIC. He has learned so much and improved so many of his functions and daily activities. It is hard to see him go but it is really exciting to know how much easier his routine will be when he returns back home. So many of the things he has rediscovered and accomplished here create an enormous amount of freedom in many ways. So, I went into the room and asked Joey if he would come and eat with us in the canary room because it was his last day and I was going to miss him. He agreed and we got our trays of food and headed in there. When we got there Kalli had the box with the cake and we popped it out on him, letting him know how much we are going to all miss him. He was very appreciative and the cake was delicious. Now, I'm not usually a dessert or cake guy whatsoever, but the simple, moist, just vanilla cake and the type of frosting that was on it was really delightful. We shared it with several other of the people we have become close with throughout our floor and had a great lunch celebrating Joey's departure.
After lunch I was supposed to go to OT exercise group but needed to go and cath first. This was the first time I did it without any help from RIC staff and there were three different options of catheters to use that we needed to trial to see what would work best. So, I tried two different kinds and it took longer than I thought it would. I ended up being 40 minutes late for exercise group and was able to just squeeze in at the end to throw down a couple beats.
After exercise group I had another hour break so I took that time to read a really interesting article in the ESPN magazine Endow brought me about a 17 year old and his struggles circumnavigating the world completely on his own in a 36 foot sailboat. After I got done I headed back to the canary room for my last therapy, OT with Margaret, one of the other therapists. She asked me what I wanted to work on and I had just been thinking about it - I really wanted to focus on working my hand function and getting back as much as I can in my mitts. So, first off to get an idea of where I was at she pulled out a box full of containers and had me pop open lid after lid, cap after cap, to get a quick assessment of where my abilities were. Once she had the picture figured out, she pulled out some pretty neat putty that had about a dozen beans placed within it for me to dig out. So I proceeded for the next 40 minutes or so just slowly pulling and stretching the putty as best I could with the grip that I have to get each and every one of those beans. This activity worked great and I was really happy with the way I could feel it working my hands and making them buzz. Margaret also felt like using the putty was going to be one of the best therapies for rejuvenating my hands so while I was digging for buried beans she went and got me some putty of my own. Interestingly, the putty comes with four small squares of the same material, but much stiffer. As your hands get stronger over time, you add about a half of one of these squares each time you experience the present putty becoming too weak for your new found strength. So as you get better and stronger you can stiffen up the putty and continue to challenge yourself.
After rolling back to memory lane, playing with putty like I did when I was about 8 years old, Kalli and I started figuring out what we were going to do for dinner and the rest of the evening. I had picked a voucher for dinner so we decided that I would jump in bed and she would run down to the cafeteria and pick us out some stuff to share for dinner. After dinner, we did a little blogging and I started my nightly routine.
This day started off a little rough, but I worked through it and didn't let it keep me in bed, or away from my activities - which I have seen too many times from other patients. We all know that each and every one of us is going to have a less than perfect day every once and a while. But, when they come you can't let it take over and hold you down. Kalli and I are looking into catching a Brewer's game this weekend for they will be in town for four days beating up on the Cubbies. I was able to get a number of the person at Wriggly Field that coordinates handi-cap seating. I plan on calling her tomorrow and seeing what the deal is; pricing, transportation, etc. Also, several people have signed up for the golf outing but we still need several dozen more to really make it a booming success. I am getting so excited to be able to attend and can't wait to get out and do something fun, like cruising around on the course for a whole day. So, if you are just waiting to sign up, or may be on the fence, get your butt in gear and come join us for some fun!
Tuesday June 30th
My last day with my good buddy Endow. Again, so amazing that he flew all the way from California to visit a gimp like me. Thank you so much Endow. My food came around 8, as it always does and Kalli and Endow showed up shortly after. We hung out as I finished my breakfast and Kalli helped me get in my chair so I could get to the wonderful hand group. Usually we always meet in the canary room and work on different activities. But, today they set up bean bags again and Endow and I got to go head to head. So, we had blue and yellow bean bags and to keep things on the up and up Endow was throwing with his left hand and the therapist wanted me to get an equal work out, so I was throwing every other, left then right. The game was neck and neck. No one controlled the lead for it was going back and forth, but like usual, right at the end I flipped the switch. The last round we went into it was 19-19. Endow missed the board on his first throw and I barried both my tosses for a 20-21 victory for Andrew Hippert! After I smoked Endow in bags, the therapist brought out boche ball. It really is a pretty interesting set. The only boche ball I have ever seen throughout my life were hard round balls that were good for throwing in grass. This set is an indoor and outdoor set where the heavy balls have a bit of a bean bag-ish outer layer to them so you can toss them on a hard flat floor without them rolling forever. So, Beverly and I played about 4 games and she got the best of me in the third game. But I have to admit,and with Endow as my witness, I probably made the sweetest shot boche has ever seen to win the fourth game! Beverly had two balls pressed up against the white ball and I sandwiched mine pushing hers out of the way, in between hers and the while ball. So, it literally went her two red ones, my blue, then the white - all touching in a row! I couldn't have thrown that shot over again for my life, but I guess I was playing for the victory to make it 3-1 instead of tied up.
After boche I had an hour break so I decided to take advantage of my free time and go and pump some iron in the gym. The gym has one of those weight machines where the cables all lead to stacks of plated weights and you can pull on the handles to strengthen different muscle groups. I did about three different set-ups before it was time for my next session. Endow and Kalli kept mentioning while they were sitting there watching me sweat my butt off that "We feel bad just sitting here watching you work. I don't know why we don't grab some weights and get going on this too." We didn't have to go anywhere for my OT with Diane. She wanted to stick in the gym to work on wrist strengthening. This activity is pretty simple. Basically, I lay my arm on the table with just my wrist hanging off the end. She then straps a three pound weight around my wrist and I began doing a series of different exercises pulling it up and down. Three pounds doesn't seem like much but it was really the perfect weight for me, for by the end of the reps she asked me to do I was struggling to finish them up. To finish off the session we worked on putting together some tools to help me with my catheter program. All the little devices or tools they create, or have in stock already, are what she called the cost of doing business. For I had asked her "so, does every one of these little devices get tacked on to my bill as we continue to fill my backpack with things to help me?" With the answer she gave me, I'm thinking bring it on! I am going to suck as many things that can help me out of this place as I can as long as they are all "on the house".
After OT, it was lunch time so we grabbed my lunch tray and we all gathered down in the second floor cafeteria for the crew visiting was a little too large to try to pack in the canary room along with the regular crowd. Meeting me down there was my Uncle Paul, his good friend Jim (an older gentleman that I love dearly and worked with all the years through college when I would go home to work for my uncle Paul), Endow, Kalli, my mom, one of her close friends Amy Pable (Amy didn't come alone - she somehow figures out a way to leave the house with four kids between the ages of 1 and 9, two girls and two boys), my sister Laura and her one year old, Grey. We all sat and struggled to put down the wonderful RIC cafeteria food. I only say that because like I have mentioned in the past - the food here is hit and miss and boy did I miss with the driest chicken sandwich anyone has ever tried to choke down.
I'm on a four hour cathing program and by the end of lunch it was time to go and pee. So we went upstairs, got the duty done, and headed to my next therapy, a PT with Carey. First, I jumped onto the mat without a slide board, which has been a difficult thing because my tricep strength isn't quite there to get enough pop for it. Then, she had me moving across the mat sliding my butt from one side to the other. Then, and this is the biggest thing of all, and is a huge accomplishment for me, was she had me laying down on my back and I used a technique where you put your hands in your pocket, push your elbows down onto the mat, then throw you arms back to catch yourself and then push yourself up so that you are sitting all the way up. Before I was able to accomplish this, there really was no other way for me to sit up from laying down. That can be a pretty frustrating thing knowing that once you are laying down on a flat surface you can't even sit up if you want to. Carey, Kalli and I were all thrilled with the new accomplishment and now I am doing it like nobody's business and it is really pretty easy.
When PT was done we headed back to my room to meet up with my Uncle Paul, Jim, and my Mom. My Uncle Paul had brought a massaging machine and his magical fingers to give me a good shoulder and back massage. He worked my muscles all up and down my back and throughout my shoulders. It really felt pretty good and was relaxing. When he was all done with me my back felt like a pillow. From there, we decided to go and play some cards. The whole group, plus Joey, headed to the canary room where we proceeded to play an entire game of Tricks. Somehow, my Uncle Paul pulls off the game of his life without crashing even once, winning it by 20 some points. I came in second and who really cares about the scores after that. Paul was so excited about his perfect game that he asked to have the score sheet ripped out of Kalli's notebook and he stuck it in his pocket to be framed.
After Tricks, we had decided to head to a nearby sushi restaurant. It is pretty interesting how many places have wheelchair access that you don't realize. The restaurant that we went to, we actually had to use a lift in the building next to it, then come in a special back door in which one of the employees went and unlocked for us to enter into the restaurant. But, one way or another, they did have wheelchair access which was great because it was a nice place and I think we all enjoyed it! Thank you Uncle Paul for treating us all - it was wonderful to see you and Jim.
Kalli pushed me home and Paul and Jim headed their own way as did my mom. By the time we got back to the RIC it was time for our nightly routine and I was thoroughly wiped out. In fact, I fell right to sleep and didn't even remember to call Kalli, which I do every night before I go to sleep. I actually woke up at 5 in the morning and realized it so I called her anyway cause it is better late than never. She seemed to appreciate it and I fell back asleep. Another great day of therapy and good friends and family. The highlight of my day was truly the new popping up technique on the mat which was huge for being able to stretch myself out.
After boche I had an hour break so I decided to take advantage of my free time and go and pump some iron in the gym. The gym has one of those weight machines where the cables all lead to stacks of plated weights and you can pull on the handles to strengthen different muscle groups. I did about three different set-ups before it was time for my next session. Endow and Kalli kept mentioning while they were sitting there watching me sweat my butt off that "We feel bad just sitting here watching you work. I don't know why we don't grab some weights and get going on this too." We didn't have to go anywhere for my OT with Diane. She wanted to stick in the gym to work on wrist strengthening. This activity is pretty simple. Basically, I lay my arm on the table with just my wrist hanging off the end. She then straps a three pound weight around my wrist and I began doing a series of different exercises pulling it up and down. Three pounds doesn't seem like much but it was really the perfect weight for me, for by the end of the reps she asked me to do I was struggling to finish them up. To finish off the session we worked on putting together some tools to help me with my catheter program. All the little devices or tools they create, or have in stock already, are what she called the cost of doing business. For I had asked her "so, does every one of these little devices get tacked on to my bill as we continue to fill my backpack with things to help me?" With the answer she gave me, I'm thinking bring it on! I am going to suck as many things that can help me out of this place as I can as long as they are all "on the house".
After OT, it was lunch time so we grabbed my lunch tray and we all gathered down in the second floor cafeteria for the crew visiting was a little too large to try to pack in the canary room along with the regular crowd. Meeting me down there was my Uncle Paul, his good friend Jim (an older gentleman that I love dearly and worked with all the years through college when I would go home to work for my uncle Paul), Endow, Kalli, my mom, one of her close friends Amy Pable (Amy didn't come alone - she somehow figures out a way to leave the house with four kids between the ages of 1 and 9, two girls and two boys), my sister Laura and her one year old, Grey. We all sat and struggled to put down the wonderful RIC cafeteria food. I only say that because like I have mentioned in the past - the food here is hit and miss and boy did I miss with the driest chicken sandwich anyone has ever tried to choke down.
I'm on a four hour cathing program and by the end of lunch it was time to go and pee. So we went upstairs, got the duty done, and headed to my next therapy, a PT with Carey. First, I jumped onto the mat without a slide board, which has been a difficult thing because my tricep strength isn't quite there to get enough pop for it. Then, she had me moving across the mat sliding my butt from one side to the other. Then, and this is the biggest thing of all, and is a huge accomplishment for me, was she had me laying down on my back and I used a technique where you put your hands in your pocket, push your elbows down onto the mat, then throw you arms back to catch yourself and then push yourself up so that you are sitting all the way up. Before I was able to accomplish this, there really was no other way for me to sit up from laying down. That can be a pretty frustrating thing knowing that once you are laying down on a flat surface you can't even sit up if you want to. Carey, Kalli and I were all thrilled with the new accomplishment and now I am doing it like nobody's business and it is really pretty easy.
When PT was done we headed back to my room to meet up with my Uncle Paul, Jim, and my Mom. My Uncle Paul had brought a massaging machine and his magical fingers to give me a good shoulder and back massage. He worked my muscles all up and down my back and throughout my shoulders. It really felt pretty good and was relaxing. When he was all done with me my back felt like a pillow. From there, we decided to go and play some cards. The whole group, plus Joey, headed to the canary room where we proceeded to play an entire game of Tricks. Somehow, my Uncle Paul pulls off the game of his life without crashing even once, winning it by 20 some points. I came in second and who really cares about the scores after that. Paul was so excited about his perfect game that he asked to have the score sheet ripped out of Kalli's notebook and he stuck it in his pocket to be framed.
After Tricks, we had decided to head to a nearby sushi restaurant. It is pretty interesting how many places have wheelchair access that you don't realize. The restaurant that we went to, we actually had to use a lift in the building next to it, then come in a special back door in which one of the employees went and unlocked for us to enter into the restaurant. But, one way or another, they did have wheelchair access which was great because it was a nice place and I think we all enjoyed it! Thank you Uncle Paul for treating us all - it was wonderful to see you and Jim.
Kalli pushed me home and Paul and Jim headed their own way as did my mom. By the time we got back to the RIC it was time for our nightly routine and I was thoroughly wiped out. In fact, I fell right to sleep and didn't even remember to call Kalli, which I do every night before I go to sleep. I actually woke up at 5 in the morning and realized it so I called her anyway cause it is better late than never. She seemed to appreciate it and I fell back asleep. Another great day of therapy and good friends and family. The highlight of my day was truly the new popping up technique on the mat which was huge for being able to stretch myself out.
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