Christmas at Parkwood

December 27, 2011

Christmas at Parkwood

Christmas is a little different here, however, it did turn out quite well. 

Last Tuesday, the 20^th, my roommate and I with Darcy of course, went to the Mall.  That was my first time out in a wheelchair.  We were taken there in the van from the hospital and I went around the mall with Darcy.  The first thing I noticed different was that we just tried to get through the door not thinking there was a handicapped door with buttons that open the door for you and hold it open.  So while Darcy and I were struggling with the door, four people came to assist.  I was amazed in the mall by the number of people who were willing to help.  It seems that somebody in a wheelchair is “a different sight” and they look at you but as soon as you catch their eyes they turn away which I found very interesting.  When I was sitting in the hallway in the mall waiting for Darcy who was in a store that I could not get in, people would ask me if I was alright and the same happened in The Bay.  One of my physios who works my arm when he found out I was going to the mall, he suggested I go into the Royal Dalton china shop just to check out my wheelchair skills……..note, I didn’t go.  I just ran into one thing when I was there and that was a display in a shoe store that was on wheels……whew…  It just made it easier for me to get into the store.  The vehicle that took us to the mall was a small bus that could hold several passengers and four wheelchairs.  It is very interesting getting all locked down, they lock your wheels from the front and the back and then put a seatbelt right around me and the chair.  I was in the spot right at the back of bus behind the wheels so it was a little bouncy but I got used to that quickly.

I was able to talk to my daughter in Australia on Skype.  She gave me a tour of the house and said that she is going to be spending Christmas camping on the beach.  I tried to contact he Christmas Eve on Skype but my Skype wasn’t working…….grrrrrrrrrrr  Is anybody has a Skype name, send it to me and maybe we can talk.

In PT, I was putting approximately 90% of my bodyweight on my right leg.  I’m moving from my chair to the bench in physio using a slide board which is they stick one end under my butt and the other end on the bench and then I lean way forward and with a physio behind me and a physio in front of me I slide across the board to the bench where I can sit by myself while the physios get set up.  On Friday, we managed to do it with just one physio as my right leg and my right arm were able to assist.    When I am sitting on the table the physio gets an exercise ball and I lean forward and she puts it in my back and straightens me up over the ball while she sits on it.  Then I bend forward and I can almost touch the ground with my right hand and then I touch other various targets which is strengthening my lower back and my core.  Again they put me in a sling, hoisted me off the bench and with physio assistant says very loudly “Get the stick, the pinyata (sp) is up.”   I stood on my right leg for about 10 minutes and there was a little weight on my left foot, enough to stretch my calf muscle.  Then I had a little rest and went up for a few more minutes and then rode the bike for a half hour.

In OT, again I worked for an hour on my right arm with weights so it is getting a lot stronger and my left hand arm for about 45 minutes.  It is starting to move.  My fingers want to curl on my left hand but if they are worked or moved for about 30 seconds they loosen up.  My left bicep is tightening up and we are working on the tricep to make it stronger to keep my arm straight.  The fingers are moving more each day but they have a long way to go.

In the morning, I have ADL (Assisted Daily Living).   A physio assistant comes in and I can now put a T-shirt on with one arm as long as it is not too tight.  I wash my face and wash anything I can reach with my right hand and then he does the rest.  This might not seem like much but I can now brush my own teeth…….yeehaw.  If I wasn’t on blood thinners, I may even try shaving, so when I am off the rat poison (Cumoden), I may try shaving again.  So there is a song that the ladies wrote and they sang it to the nurses on Christmas Eve.  The Twelve Days of Christmas which they renamed Crappy Christmas at Parkwood.  I won’t write out the whole song, but here’s the twelfth day which tells you what the whole song is about.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true nurse gave to me…

12 High fibre diets

11 Stool Softeners

10 Digital Stims!

9 X-Lax

8 Milk of Mag

7 Metamucil with Cylium

6 Colace

5 FLEET ENEMAS

4 Peg-Lytes

3 Dulcolax

2 Senekot

And a double dose of Lactulose!

Christmas Day, my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend and my sister-in-law brought in turkey dinner with all the fixings.  They had to use the microwave but it was very enjoyable.  We even had a tablecloth on one of the tables in lounge.  Of course, there is no PT or OT for four days but I really needed a rest as I have been working quite hard for the two weeks prior.  They do give me homework to do, lifting weights, etc. etc. (which I haven’t done yet, but I will before bed tonight). 

Here is how our health care system works.  My roommate had arranged to go home for four days.  He was going to leave on Friday and come back on Tuesday.  He called CCAC as he would need a couple of hours’ assistance each day that he was home.  He had it all planned and was very much looking forward to it.  On Thursday, he received a phone call that now there was not a personal service worker available for him.  He had to cancel his home visit.  Note, his family did come in on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

23 more days ‘til my new knee.I am working hard on the left leg to get it as strong and flexible.  I am extending it out to about 10 degrees and flexing it to 95 degrees.  I am going to try and have that under 10 and over 100 by the 19^th.  We shall see. 

Happy New Year to everybody.

Thanks for listening.

I Told You I Would Share Everything

December 19, 2011

I Told You I Would Share Everything

Yikes, I have driven over my pee bag or had problems with it twice this week.  Once I thought everything was connected but it wasn’t so I filled my seat cushion with pee so they had to get me out of my chair again and give me dry shorts and a new lift sheet and a new cushion.  I thought it was quite humorous but I don’t think they did.  And then on Saturday in my new chair which doesn’t tilt so there isn’t a place to hang the bag, and they finally found one they thought was safe but it seems that the front wheel wore a hole in it and I stopped at the nurses’ station and went back to visit some friends and Darcy was behind me and said there’s a big trail of pee coming from your chair.  When I got into the room and stopped it then became a pool.  So the nurses came in and emptied the rest of the bag and sent me to my room where I got a new bag.

Physio and OT are going really well as I am trying to get a lot stronger before my surgery on January 19^th.  My iron was a little low in my blood, just a touch under normal, but the doctor here thought we should bump it up as high as we could get it for the surgery.  I have to go to the hospital on December 30^th for preadmission and then again on January 12^th for preop.  I assume they will be taking lots of blood and other stuff and explaining the surgery and what it will be like after.  I have been told here that I will be somehow weight-bearing on my knee the day after surgery.  I don’t know how they will get me up, it could be on a tilt table where they strap you to the table and then tilt it upright.  It should be fun…..  I am assuming I will have a lot of pain pills.  We will see.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes but I think 65 is just a number and the only important number I really remember is my 16^th birthday when I could get my driver’s license.  But I want all you guys to keep working to keep the Old Age Security fund topped up.  Thanks a lot.

Thanks to the Rocket and Robert for bringing the cake on Thursday and sharing it with me and some of my buddies.  And thanks to George, Grandpa and John for bringing the cake on Friday morning and written on the cake was “Happy Birthday Rented Mule” because George told all the people at OT and PT to work me like a rented mule, but they also told me that I have now graduated from ‘rented mule’ to ‘jackass third class’.  Thanks to all the visitors on Sunday, it was a great day.

So back to my fitness training, I can now sit up on the edge of the bench for several minutes without my hands propping me up.  The worst problem sitting up is my lower back but I will just have to work on that.  I didn’t get up today on my foot but I probably will every day for the rest of the week.  I am on the bicycle for a half hour and I have increased the tension.  I started at one and I am now at six.  And according to the machine, when I am pedaling forward the left leg is doing 45 to 50% of the work so hopefully it is getting stronger.  So until the January 19^th surgery I will be trying to get that leg as strong as I can.

 In OT they are really working hard on my right arm and shoulder to get it stronger and my left arm gets an hour workout as well and the hand is starting to move more every day.  Tomorrow I am going to the mall with my roommate, and perhaps one other person, with Darcy to do some Christmas shopping.  It should be very interesting because that will be the first time I will be out in my wheelchair.  The biggest problem is I have to put on long pants which I have only had on once in the past four months.  The strange thing is Darcy got me a golf shirt with a collar and that is the first collar I have worn since the injury.  For everyone else after a few minutes you can’t feel the collar, but I could feel it on my neck all day.  It’s a really nice shirt but I think I will have to cut the collar off.

It’s either me learning the routine here or the nurses learning my routine but everything is going a lot smoother now and I was probably a big pain in the butt to the nurses when I first got here.  Most of it was probably due to my knee which was very painful but something seems to have happened to it in the past few weeks because I can move it around a lot easier now and they are amazed I am not yelling at them when they move my left leg.  It could a combination of things:  on the bike again helps strengthen my quads; and I have a constant motion machine that I use a minimum of an hour a day that bends my leg from about 15 degrees straight out to a flexion of 92 degrees.  The goal is to get the knee to bend a 100 degrees or more before surgery.  We shall see. 

My claustrophobia is improving every day.  I can now ride in elevators by myself and not have a panic attack.  I never ate in my room because I could feel a panic attack coming and would eat in the lounge which I called my private dining room, but now I have no problem being in my room in my wheelchair.  That in itself is an accomplishment.   I have one more hurdle to cross though and that is to use the washroom on a commode and I will be working on that for the next little while.  I’m spilling all the beans now.  I used to use the excuse that I wouldn’t ride in elevators because I wanted the exercise walking up the stairs, but it really was that I couldn’t get on the elevator.  So my recommendation to anyone who has panic or anxiety attacks is get some really good counseling which I have had here and I’m on some medication which seems to help.  It’s like an anvil has been taken off my back so it’s working for me and hopefully if anyone else out there has panic or anxiety attacks, admit to yourself what the problem is and address it. Remember, mental illness is like any other disease, if you have it admit it and you can probably get it cured.  I’ve lived with this for probably 40 years and I have made many, many excuses and got very good at avoiding places that would give me a panic attack.  So if any good comes out of this crash, getting over my panic attacks is a huge thing. 

I’m sitting in the lounge on the fourth floor looking out onto the field where there are four deer grazing, and I have seen a coyote there and a flock of turkeys.

Thanks for listening.

mid week

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I know I sent my last blog out on Saturday, but funny things happen here.  I was in my room eating my lunch, Darcy wasn’t here so a “student” nurse set me up.  I am in my wheelchair eating my lunch and she hung my pee bag on the bed.  I do wear a condom catheter (I’ll let you figure out what that is) but I had to be at OT at 1 o’clock so I finished my lunch and drove away with my bag still attached to the bed.  As soon as the tube got tight, I stopped immediately.  A nurse was going by and I said I need some help.  She asked if it was an emergency, and of course I thought it was, because I had rolled over the tubing with my wheelchair and the bag was still attached to the bed.  We managed to untangle it, the tube from the wheels, and I was on my way.  It was funny after but not at the time.

My roommate has had 5 surgeries on his neck since June and he had his last surgery in the middle of November and was back in here but unfortunately they changed his pain medication and he was unable to sleep for 4 or 5 nights.  He finally convinced the doctor that he needed his medication increased.  He knows what he is talking about when it comes to pain control as he broke his neck in 1987 and was in here for 5 months and walked out.  He is now rehabbing and hopefully with his pain under control he will be able to get some sleep and head down the road to recovery.  He is an inspiration to me because he says he just never ever gives up.

My physio is going quite well.   As I probably mentioned I am sitting on the side of a bench and I can almost touch the ground with my finger, not quite but almost.  It seems that my lower back is getting stronger and I can sit up by myself on the bench for quite a while.  Instead of using the lift to move me from the bench to my wheelchair, they use a slider board which is a piece of plywood about a half inch thick, 8 inches wide and about 2 feet long.  And this is how it works – I lift up one side and they shove the board under my butt, I lean forward, a physio in front of me and one behind.  On a count of three, I push with my right leg and my right arm and they slide me out on the board.  I have learned that I need to wear gotchies when sliding on the board because bare skin doesn’t slide very well.  Now I have a really boney butt so I certainly know when I am sitting on a board.  There are three moves, first they slide me onto the board, second they slide me half way across and third they move me into my chair.  The hard part is when they jam the board under my butt and when they take it out.  So now what I have to learn to do is to do it by myself. 

At the present time, with only one arm working well, I can lift about 20% of my weight so to transfer from a chair to whatever, I will need at least two people to assist.  I can’t use a slider board to transfer to my bed because I have an air mattress and the board would just sink down into it.

I have reduced my pain killers a great deal.  I take 9 mg of longlasting Dilaudid at 8 am and 6 mg at 8 pm and I am allowed to have 2 mg every two hours if I need it.  I haven’t taken any additional for two weeks.  What I think is happening is, I was having acupuncture on my left leg and they were putting at least five needles in it and one of the physios suggested that I get tacks put in.  I immediately thought of carpet tacks and was a little apprehensive.  When they explained to me that it is just a small circular band-aid about 3/8” across with a millimeter long needle in it that they stick into your skin, I now have three tacks – one on my foot which is called the liver spot, and two just below my kneecap which is called the eyes of the knee.  I cannot believe the pain relief that I am getting because two weeks ago they had to be very careful touching my leg and now they can pick it up and move it around with relatively little pain.  I was never a believer in acupuncture, but something has to have helped the pain in my knee.  The constant motion machine that I use 1-2 hours daily is now flexing my knee from about 15 degrees stretched out up to 90 degrees.  The surgeon who is replacing my knee says I need it as straight as I can get it and up to 100 or 110 degrees flexion.  I will be working on that.  I only have another 20 degrees to go…..yikes!  But if I move it up slowly, I think I will be able to get it there.

Perhaps in my next blog I’ll have a list of all the meds I am taking.  For somebody who has never taken any pills, I have sure made up for it.

Catch ya later, Glen

**it happens, what happens next is up to you

** It Happens

I met a very interesting young man yesterday.  5 years ago  when he was 18 years old he broke his neck while he was wrestling with a friend ( he was quarterback of his football team, track star and on the swim team). He is permanently  in a wheel chair, but it doesn’t seem to hinder him in the least.  He came back to the floor and all the nurses were hugging him.  He is just a great young man.  He has gone to college, he is taking marketing and he is going to graduate soon.  He is from Sarnia and his community raised 200 000+ to build him a house and purchase a vehicle. He now says it is time to payback. So he has started a company selling t- shirts that say ** it happens on the front and on the back it says what happens next is up to you. He has a web site www.whathappensnext.ca which will be up and running soon. You will be able to purchase the t-shirts on-line and the proceeds go to the Rick Hanson Foundation.  He is also an inspirational speaker and he met Rick Hanson in Sarnia and  rick invited him to BC to be at the finish of the many in motion relay he is currently.  His name is Dan Edwards.

Its been sort of a catch 22 week.  First I was told I was out on the 22^nd of December, and then Darcy met with the director and the decision could be make at the team meeting on Thursday.  Since I am having the surgery on my knee on January 19^th my release day will be Jan. 19.  If the surgery is canceled my release date will be Jan 12^th. All good news.  His becomes a bit of a catch 22 as after the surgery they may bring me back here for more rehab as hopefully I will be able to stand on my left leg as it is my understanding for knee replacements they have you weight baring the day after surgery.  That will be interesting.  I have been up in the sling suspended from the lift every day this week putting weight on my right leg and I was up for more than 10 minutes on Friday.  I am getting over the nausea and the dizziness while standing, I never realized how heavy I was or how tall I was even though I only weigh 164 pounds.  I am still riding the bike for half hour a day and my left leg is still doing 30% of the work. In OT, they are working my right arm a lot with a weight program. And I have increased the weight  3 times since I have started, in the beginning of November. 

The catch 22 in all of this is when they replace my knee will I be up in walking or be able to stand? Will I need a wheel chair, will I need a lift will I need a hospital bed or will I need manual wheel chair? If we leave it too long and I need all of those things they may not be available if I am released at the end of January.  The plan may be after my surgery to bring me back in for rehab on my leg. And get me standing or walking or whatever is going to happen. Now that I am going to be here over Christmas, all my friends will be leaving. Which will be a little sad because they have become very close friends.  The other unknowns are I don’t know what is going to happen when I get to university hospital for my knee surgery.  As here at parkwood, as I probably mentioned before they have bowel care, which I get a depository and then they lift me into a commode, I don’t know what will happen at  UH, If I don’t have a depository and I have to use a bed pan,…it will be an interesting 4 or 5 days.  I am looking forward to the surgery as supposedly it will remove all the pain from my knee. At least after the surgery pain is gone, and I am assuming they will give me enough medication to help.  The good news is I am decreasing the pain killers I am on here.  I get 9 mg of long lasting dilodid (hydro morph)  and I get 6 more mg at 8 at night. In between I am allowed 2mg  every 2 hours as required.  I haven’t had an additional pain killer since lst Wednesday.   I have a had a few withdrawal symptoms, and they are quite strange.  My forehead goes numb, and then eyelids, so it looks like I am really tired and my eyes start to water, and my ears go numb and the back of my head goes numb…I’m pretty sure it is with drawl symptoms  because when it first started if I took 2mg they would go away.

I was outside for the first time in my wheelchair and went to look at wheelchairs and commodes I went in a wheelchair accessible taxi, with was a dodge van that you enter from the back.  It seems the opening in the back is only 49 inches high and sitting in the wheel chair I am 53. So it was an interesting ride, having to lean forward to get in and keep bent over for the whole ride…good thing it was only 10 minutes.  On the way back they had lowered my seat in my wheelchair by about 2 half inches which wasn’t quite enough  and I forgot to duck and I wacked my head getting in to the van.

 as many or some of you may know I am very claustrophobic, and I have been working on that and I was able to get into the van without any problem. Before this incident I would never had gone in the back of a van in a wheel chair, I have had come counseling and I am on some medication which seems to have relieved my claustrophobia. Because I am now able to ride on elevators, and go into small spaces. Seems I was very good at hiding my claustrophobia, I wouldn’t go in elevators as I said I needed the exercise and I always drove my car so there was never a chance of me having to sit in the back seat.  And I would even have difficulty sitting on the inside of a both, and I would get out of that one by saying I would have to go for a pee.

Physio and OT say that I am continuing to improve. My left arm is now moving more.  It needs to go a lot further but it is improving. So with my extension to jan 19 I will continue to have therapy.  One of the tough things here is listening to patients in other rooms crying for help you just feel so badly for them. And there is nothing you can do for them.  But it is great to see people improve from not being able to stand to walking with a walker and sometimes unassisted. As you can see their  daily improvement,  which is motivation for me.

Thanks to the sarge they worked me like a rented mule.

talk about inspiration

Friday, December 2, 2011

Talk about Inspiration……

Sensei Helene’s son, Alain, was in an accident in January and has been in a wheelchair and stood up for the first time yesterday…….Wow what an inspiration for me!  Keep up the good work Alain.  If you’re standing, you’ll soon be walking.  I know it’s really tough to do but just keep working at it and you will get there.

The good news for me is that I was standing up in the sling yesterday and today.  Yesterday they got me up three times for about 2 minutes each time with my right leg doing some weight bearing and they bent my left leg so it wasn’t weight bearing an awful lot so it didn’t hurt my knee.  But I did have my right leg on the floor and I didn’t realize two things…..I didn’t realize how tall I was because I hadn’t been up there for a while, and thank god I only weigh 164 pounds because it would be a lot more difficult if I was 175.  It is an amazing sensation having weight go through your body again.  Hopefully, when they fix my left knee and I am pretty sure the surgery is a go for the new year, it will be very interesting having weight on both legs.  Today, I was up for a total of at least 15 minutes and the therapist told me just to concentrate on the Exit sign, which I did, and I had no problem feeling dizzy.  The second time I was up, I was up for more than 8 minutes and I was determined not to ask to be put down, but I let them tell me when I had had enough.  I also transferred from the bed to the wheelchair on a board noting that there were two people assisting me but I think I gave them some help with my right leg and right arm.  It’s a funny sensation as I bend forward I think I am going too far and I am going to land on my face but it is probably not that way at all and there is a therapist there holding me up.  But leaning forward it supposed to take the weight off my butt and put it on my legs but since I only have one good leg, I don’t get a lot of weight off and I doubt if I could do the transfer by myself at this point in time.

It was interesting today in physio when I transferred from my chair to the table (the table height is adjustable, and it’s padded of course) so I was sitting on the edge and the one therapist in front of me left to move my wheelchair and I assumed the other one was behind me but she came up beside me adjusting things so I was actually sitting up by myself with my feet on the floor for about three minutes…..yeehaw….  Then I was on the bike for a half hour and my left leg is still doing about 30 to 40% of the work. 

In OT today, they really worked my right arm with the weights, and I am actually lifting 3 times as much weight as I was at the beginning of November.  Initially I had a very sore left shoulder and my scapula (shoulder blade) was sticking out because the muscles weren’t strong enough to hold it in.  When I slept it was like sleeping on a plate sliding around on your back.  Since I have been doing all the lifting on my right arm and shoulder, the therapist makes me keep my shoulders back which has strengthened the muscles around my scapula so it no longer floats around.  So today, my OT therapy now is one hour on my right arm lifting weights, and about 45 minutes working on my left arm and hand which seems to be coming around.  I can move some of my fingers and I am starting to straighten my wrist.  My bicep and tricep in my left arm are getting stronger, and my whole left arm is starting to move more. 

I don’t know if it is me or the nurses, but I seem to be getting into a routine that works for both of us.  They are being very careful with my knee now and they haven’t hurt my knee for the last couple of weeks. 

It’s amazing to be here and see the progress of other patients who leave the hospital and come back for therapy.  My old roommate left and is living in an apartment on his own in London.  He does get some nursing care but basically he is doing everything himself.  He is now walking in the swimming pool by himself just being held up by a noodle……..sounds good to me.  Hopefully, he will be able to go home before Christmas.

That’s all for now, thanks for listening.

Highs and Lows. . .

This week has been a high and low week, the highs were I got over my bladder infection, and I saw the Orthopedic Surgeon, and hopefully I will have a new knee sometime in the New Year! The other highs are I got back on the bicycle, yesterday I pedaled for half an hour and did 4km and the left leg was actually doing some of the work. The other high is I have been selected to be in a photograph as the Parkwood patient rep  with all the medal barriers that took place in the Rick Hansen Relay in London. That should be a lot of people.

The lows,  seems I have another bladder infection, and Thursday evening I was peeing some blood… yuk! Which gave me a little fright! It started at 7pm but by 10:30pm it was gone. So I have now had some blood taken and urine specimans, but of course since now it is the weekend, I wont hear till Monday. If anybody out there has ever had a urinary tract infection you’ll know it makes you feel like poop!

PT is going well. OT is going well. They had me sitting up on Friday, and I was able to sit up by myself for more than a minute. I actually slid onto my wheelchair with a slider board, of course that was with two Physios’ assisting, and me adding a little wee tiny bit. It’s a tough job because I have an air seat cushion on my chair and once you sit on it you sink down about two inches. So once you get there it is hard to move. Then of course I did the half hour biking PT. Physio is working me very hard and OT – I am doing lots of weights on my right arm and it is paying off as it is also strengthening my back.  This helps out a lot, as I no longer have a winging scapula and all my back muscles even on my left side seem to be getting stronger. Before, my left scapula was so loose when I was lying in bed it felt like I was laying on a plate and sliding around on it. But now that is gone away.

Another Physio worked my left arm for about an hour, and there seems to be quite a few other things/nerves coming to life. One problem with the left arm is my fore arm is tight all the time, which tends to curl my fingers. And my bicep is tight and wants to pull my arm in. With a little massage and stretching my left arm still straightens out fully and my fingers can be straightend out as well.

So things that I have to do to get my fingers straight on my left hand are: I lay them flat on the pillow on my lap, and put a six pound weight on the back of my hand (in fact Kelly just did it now).

The motion machine for my leg is on for a minimum of an hour a day, and it does keep my leg moving and it moves it from 20 degrees extension, to 80 degrees flexion. After talking to the ortho I have to get it up to 90 or 100 flexion. So I will start moving it up little by little. I think I do flex it more the 80 degrees on the bicycle but I am not quite sure.

Another low is that my youngest daughter Kelly is leaving for Australia tonight. She says she may be back in a month, but I don’t know for sure. I will miss her. A LOT, it was good to have her here for the relay. And see her for the time she was here.

I have probably done this already but I think it needs to be said again, I would like to Thank everybody who participated in the Fundraiser and those who have donated I have heard from people that I haven’t seen for years, and It is very humbling that they remembered me  and have made donations.

Darcy is working very hard getting the house set up for me, we have the platform built in the garage, wheelchair life is installed. The bathroom in the middle of being renovated and I still need a wheel chair, a commode, an over-head lift and a hospital bed. She will be working on that in the next few weeks. As my tentative release date is still Dec 22^nd – that could change. 

The girls decorated my room and it now looks a little Christmasy. With a Christmas tree, snowflakes and Santa Clause come and see!

Thanks for listening!

ho hum, its been that kind of week

Hey gang,

This week has been a bit of a drag. My UTI, plus antibiotics, beat you up a bit, loss of appetite and being tired all the time is a bit of a drag.  I had an ultra sound on my shoulder and they think there is a torn ligament or tended in there, but they couldn’t really tell for sure since I was on a stretcher they couldn’t get me into all of the positions.  I also had an MRI on my neck, but I made a bit of a mistake, as I took 2mg of Ativan an hour before and 2 more mg 15 minutes before, they did put me in the big magnet which is a little easier than then the small one. 4 mg of Ativan do work, and I was able to stay in the tube for 30 minutes plus with no problem. Last time I took Ativan and got back in my wheel chair I ran into a few things, so this time Darcy put me in my wheelchair and didn’t allow me to move and they couldn’t wake me up even when I had visitors, sorry, kirs, and jackline. I didn’t really wake up for the rest of the night seems I only need about 2 mg of Ativan to make me comfortable 4mg, knock me out.  I also had an x-ray on my back as some of the PT back stretching seemed to move something.  I haven’t heard the results yet for the ultrasound, MRI, or the x-ray.

Darcy is working hard at getting the house ready and getting lift for the garage, renovations have started in the bathroom, and should be done soon. Darcy is here with a toilet in the back of the bug. Vern came last week, and trimmed my beard and I guess I don’t look like grizzly Adams anymore.  Thanks Vern, he’ll have to come and see me every 2 or 3 weeks and keep me trimmed up. 

The Rick Hansen Relay went through Tillsonburg yesterday and Meghan and Kelly and Darcy all walked It was great to see.  I now have their numbers a medal and a jacket, and a t shirt.  I am in Rick Hansen’s data base so hopefully all the information, I give will be useful in the future.  I am also in Christopher Reeves, Data base and a grasp study, and also, a blood indicator study.  On Monday I have to do all the grasping tests like taking nuts of screws, putting a key in a lock, moving pegs around in a board,…etc.  I will also be doing, a sensation testing where they stick me with pins everywhere to see if my sensory system is returning, I had it done when I came in and several times when I was in Toronto, so they will be able to compare the data, and see if there are any changes, hopefully there will be improvements.

I have a constant motion machine I am now using on my leg; I use it three times a day for about an hour. And it moves my leg (left) about 15 degrees of extension, up to 75 degrees of flexion.  I have control so I can change the degrees to see how much i can tolerate. If it gets moving again (my knee) and I can bend it I may be able to get back on the Moto med (bike) if physio thinks it is a good idea.  In physio I have been getting acupuncture and they stick needles in my foot and my knee, and I also have what they call tacks that are permanently stuck in my leg I have three of them one on my foot (in the liver spot) and then I have 2 in (eye of my knee). The tacks are basically little bandaides with a really short little needle on it.  They stay in until they fall out or decide to take them out. I don’t’ really know if acupuncture is working but it is worth a try.  I do think they may help because I haven’t had to take so many pain pills, I’m down to one or two a day, so it could be the acupuncture, or that they are being more careful with my knee, and I keep my brace on fixed at a 30 degree angle. Which is probably why the physio therapist gave me the constant motion machine, as they don’t want my knee to lock up, we’ll see how it works.

The air force Colonel who was here told me the real story of the poppy, as why it was chosen by John McCrea, when he wrote In Flanders Fields, It seems that the poppy can propagate either from seed or a piece wood even though the fields were all blown up with trenches and shells, poppies would grow, from the bits of root or seed that were spread throughout the fields, the poppy is symbolic re newal of life. Canada was the first country to adopt the poppy as a symbol of remeberance, followed by England and Australia followed.

 

That’s all for now.

Rick Hanson 25th anniversary relay

Meghan again,
Kelly and I have been selected to participate in the Tillsonburg leg of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay in honor of dad.  This is the application Kelly sent in in early September,

Our Dad is an inspiration to all he meets.  A man defined by his determination, a life-
long athlete, and lover of life – always pushing and breaking limits, while
constantly encouraging others along the way.

A Rugby player and coach, Triathalete, Ironman, Martials
Arts Sensei and Mentor, Marathoner , Cycling enthusiast; rides of 500+ km are
his norm. Nothing he does has ever been accomplished without going all the way
(even still at 64!).

This Ironman, this friend, this coach, mentor and well-loved
father – has just approached his biggest challenge yet.  On August 20th of this year, while
cycling as he so passionately does, he had an accident in which he suffered a
serious spinal cord injury.   This man of constant motion, is now in
hospital bed, movements below his neck limited, paralysed.

His journey to recovery has just begun, the support and love
has poured in – the impact he has had on those in his life undeniable.

Our Dad is the most determined, driven and positive person
we know, consistently promoting a healthy and active lifestyle, always giving
110% and more.

He will surmount this, he is on his road to recovery, and a
marathon of physio awaits - To show our support we, his daughters (Meghan &
Kelly) would be honoured to participate in the Relay on his behalf.  It’s our turn to give 110%.

If you are in Tillsonburg on Friday November 18th come cheer us on on near Tim Horton's on Simcoe street around 4:30.
We are both honored and excited, to participate.
http://www.rickhansenrelay.com/en/

Part Two Nov. 14th

Part 2

November 14, 2011

I now have an occupational therapy assistant who comes in in the morning at 9:15 and is teaching me how to do things by myself.  I now wash my own face, brush my own teeth and I can almost get my t-shirt on with one hand….still working on perfecting the method.

I have had a few down days as I have mentioned in the past my knee has been bothering and has continued to get worse.  I also have a UTI and I am taking antibiotics which may also contribute to my drowsiness.  After the family meeting they thought they may be able to help out with my claustrophobia.  I don’t know if it is getting worse in here but there are a lot more tighter places I need to go.  I am now on an anti-anxiety pill which may also contribute to my drug enhanced drowsiness.

I do have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon who I have seen in the past on November 24^th.  We will see what he has to say.  I now have the knee locked in a 30 degree angle for the past three days.  It seems to help the pain.  I don’t think it will do my knee any good as it may become permanently locked in that position.  So one of these days, I’ll just have to bite the bullet and let them move my knee…..yikes.

Not only did I have the three down days on the weekend, I had another half OT session today because I had to go to have an ultrasound on my shoulder.  Tomorrow I will miss again because I have to go for an MRI on my neck……….bring on the Ativan……..grrrrrrrrrrrr.

I would like to talk a little bit about the fundraiser.  As Darcy mentioned in her speech, there are toooo many people to thank so I guess the only way to do it is to say a Great Big Thank You to everyone.  I was overwhelmed and humbled by the experience but it’s good to see so many people doing a 5k walk..jog..or bike.  I would also like to thank the business sponsors for participating in the silent auction.  I don’t know how much money was raised, but I understand it was considerable.  What we have done is open an account where all that money will be deposited and once a month as a third party will receive a statement of the account activities.  The statement will be given to Sensei Clifford (the accountant).  So if anybody who donated would like to see where the money is going, Sensei John will have a statement.

I think the first thing we will be purchasing will be a chair lift to get the wheelchair into the house from the garage.  My brother-in-law, Bobby, has been generous enough to build the required platform to allow the chair to get into the house.  We still need to do renovations to the back hallway and the bathroom, install a lift, get a hospital bed and a commode; and of course I will be getting my new wheelchair this week which will not be an incliner so that will take some getting used to. 

As mentioned, I went for an ultrasound.  They were checking my shoulder as I had a lot of trouble with it after I first arrived.  However, I have been doing some weights with my shoulders and the pain, for the most part, has gone away.  The problem was that I couldn’t move my shoulder into all the correct positions for them to do a proper ultrasound.  They said I may have a tear in one of the tendons in the shoulder.  My left arm is starting to move but the bicep tightens up and wants to keep my arm in a bent position.  It takes a little loosening up to get it straight and it relaxes for a bit but then it will just tighten up again.  But it is good that it is at least moving. 

Another new development is tightening muscles around my chest and waist which feels like somebody is tightening belts around me.  The biggest problem with that is it tightens across my stomach and I don’t feel like eating anymore.  Although, tonightI did eat most of my supper.  We will see what happens with breakfast in the morning.

Very interesting around here on weekends as the care gets very sketchy as nurses call in sick and this place is left short staffed which makes it very difficult for the nurses left here working.  They still have the same workload and some nurses work extra shifts which can’t be good for them or the patients but I guess that is a fact of life in health care. 

The good news is that my right arm is getting stronger and I have now increased the weights for all the exercises I am doing. 

Again, thanks for all the support.

Part One Nov. 4th

Part 1

November 7, 2011

Good news….Bad news

As I posted on the Facebook, I was actually up vertical in a harness on Friday (the 4^th). That’s the first time I have been vertical since August 20^th.  My right leg actually took steps….I think.  I just don’t know how much assistance I was getting from the therapist.  The brace on my left leg and my left foot was actually touching the ground.  I have drop foot and my toe is down and it was quite painful stretching my calf (what’s left of it) out.  It was very, very painful at the time.  However I was elated to be vertical and moving my right leg.   I think all the muscles are there in my left but the knee doesn’t let me use them very much.  I moved about 15 feet three times with my feet touching the floor.  I don’t how much of my body weight was on them but they were touching the floor.  The bad news is that since I have no muscle in my left leg, putting weight on it, even a small amount, causes the bones in the knee to rub together.  Needless to say, it hurts.  Saturday and Sunday weren’t very enjoyable as my knee was swollen up and they increased my long lasting pain medication from 3 mg in the morning and evening to 6 mg in the morning and evening.  I can still have 2 mg every 2 hours as needed.  Saturday and Sunday I did take a lot, although I really don’t like taking it.

At PT today (the 7^th), they would have put me up in the harness again but due to the condition of my knee, I did a lot of sitting and had some acupuncture in my left leg…….grrrrrrr.  OT was two hours.  One of the assistants worked on my right arm for about an hour and a half doing weights and stretching my shoulders.  I am doing four sets of 10 of curls, abductor lifts (chicken wings), wrist curls both palm up and palm down, and then I am using some weights on the wall to do triceps, pecs like a bench press and also a fly.  Needless to say, it tired out my right shoulder which felt really good.  The assistant is just excellent and makes sure I don’t cheat and that I use the muscles I am supposed to be using during the exercises.  The occupational therapist worked on my left hand and it seems there was quite a bit more movement today.  I did some curls.  I could move my arm across my body.  So the left arm is starting to move more virtually every day.  I still have to work on getting the wrist to move but that is coming very slowly. 

This Wednesday (the 9^th), we have a family meeting where we meet with the physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, the CCAC coordinator and the doctors to discuss how I am going and what is going to happen.  My big question is, when can I get my knee replaced?  And if there actually is an orthopedic surgeon out there willing to do it.  I am on a lot of bowel medication due to the fact that I am on a narcotic pain killer which tends to constipate you and slow down your bowel movements.  I would like to reduce the amount of bowel medication I am on and I would like to find a natural product that may replace some of those pills.  I have reviewing this with the dietician and we are going to attack it scientifically and lower my stool softeners very gradually for 48 hours and see what happens.  What I don’t want to be is constipated.  So I hope this all works out but I got to get off these pills.  One of the nurses also had some suggestions on a natural product which supposedly works well.  We shall see.

It is nice to see other patients here progress.  There is a lady now who eats dinner with me in my private dining room who now walks to the dining room instead of using her wheelchair…….yeehaw.

My wheelchair now is a monster.  It’s too big for me but other than that it has lots of power.  I am halfway on drive one of four drives.  It does recline and I have needed that to give my butt a rest.  On Thursday we are meeting with a representative from a company to look at a non-reclining power chair.  The whole goal here is to get me to be able to slide out of the chair by myself rather than using a lift.  In setting up the house we are looking at the worst case scenario and that is that I will be in a wheelchair and I will need a lift to get me in and out of the bed and into the chair or onto a commode. 

To be continued……

A Message from Meghan

NOTE: This is my dads blog,  all of his messages are in his own words, today i am sending this message to you from me, his daughter:

Martial Arts Canada is hosting a fundraiser this weekend for my dad on saturday saturday @ 1pm there are may ways you can participate, even if you haven't registered:
you can donate online through pay pal right here in his blog: glensroadtorecovery.blogspot.com
come to the silent auction (there are some amazing things that have been donated for auction), bake sale, and a BBQ,

OR

send him a note or some words of encouragement to his email, or his facebook page, he reads them all. and they mean alot to him.

here is more info about Saturday:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207256689341362 

Thank you. 

dad has a blog he is working on it should be up soon, it has been a very busy week at parkwood, we had a family meeting with his team, he has a UTI (which are common in spinal cord injury patients) he is getting a new chair (better fitting), they are looking into a solution for his knee. and his fundraiser is this weekend, So he will have lots to say.
stay tuned
thanks everyone for al of you support

Meghan

first steps

Just a quick up date, typed by the man himself : "hey iwas hanging in a harness with my feet on the ground actually taking steps not a lot of weigh on my feet but moved 15 feet 3times felt strange got a bit dizzy"  full blog to come early next week. enjoy your weekend.

The System

November 2, 2011

I am learning about our Health Care system.  Don’t get me wrong, the nurses, the doctors, the PSWs are all excellent.  Mistakes happen on occasion, but I’ll deal with that in a minute, but everyone is fantastic.

An issue, for example, is on weekends.  Several patients go home and they cut staff which means that the patients who need more care are the ones that are left.  With the weekend staffing, the nurses on duty are overworked.  And the problem is also made worse by the fact that some nurses call in sick on the weekends so that makes them really short staffed.  Some nurses will work a 16 hours shift which probably isn’t too good for them.  If you know anybody who is going to be going into the Health Care system, be careful who you vote for in the next election because places like Parkwood do fantastic work in rehab and I’m only on Spinal Cord Injury.  There’s also stroke, brain injury, palliative care, amputees, and there may be others that I don’t know about.  Money has to keep flowing into places like this to maintain quality care.

I am going to get a little political now, and this is only my opinion, and it’s probably the same in every hospital, I know it was in Toronto, but there are a lot of part time nurses being hired as it does save money on benefits, etc.  However, I don’t think it’s good for the nurses as they may need to get more than one part time position in other hospitals, retirement homes, or nursing homes.  It’s not that the part time people don’t do a good job, but in the long run I think there would be better patient care with full time staff.  The health Care system doesn’t really look after the individual, it looks after the condition.  For example, if you have condition “A” you get treatment “B”, and the individual may or may not be taken into consideration.  The way I see it, and again my opinion only, is that the system pays for treatment “B” and the treatment range time is quite tight.  It appears that the individual in our Health Care system is really not taken into consideration.  The system should be less administrative and more on the individual’s needs and requirements.  End of political statement.  I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much because I’m probably costing the system a great deal…thank God I’m not an American because I would have lost my house, my car, my pension…….probably lost everything and would not be getting the excellent care that I have been receiving.

PT & OT:  Again as mentioned the weekend was boring.  However, my left knee was again the centre of attention as it got bent past 90 degrees (by accident, not intent) where it hasn’t been for several years and it is even worse now that there is no muscle holding it together.  So the knee got damaged on Saturday, again Sunday and again on Tuesday.  I spoke to the doctor about my knee, and it appears the only real solution is a total knee replacement, but in the meantime I could have another shot of cortisone (probably not due to risk of infection).    The other solutions are analgesic creams, increase my pain meds.  They did decrease my time release pain meds two weeks ago from 15 mg down to 6 mg per day.  I can still have 2 mg every 2 hours as needed and I have been trying to keep them to a minimum.  But I may have to take them more regularly. The big negative is that they tried to get me to stand in a standing table today and I couldn’t do it because I’m required to straighten my knee out…..grrrrrrrrrrr.  I now have to wait until the swelling goes down and the pain goes away in the left knee before they will try to put me in the standing table again.   FYI – a standing table is a harness that goes around your  butt and they hoist you up to a standing position, with your arms resting on a table and some weight on your feet.  I think one of the problems is that I have dropfoot on my left foot which means my toes want to point to the floor and when they straighten that out in the standing table that also tends to affect my knee.  Hopefully, my knee will recover enough so I can get into the standing table next week but that will be up to my therapists.  To tell you how bad the knee really was, I missed biking today for the first time since I’ve been here. 

On the bright side, my left hand is moving more every day.  My fingers are moving much better and I can turn my hand over a little bit.  I am doing some curls but just against gravity, and I am doing some tricep exercises and shoulder adduction (that means doing a chicken wing).  And a new trick, is that I can now lean forward in my wheelchair and rest my right elbow on my right knee, and I can stay there for 45 seconds and sit back up by myself, but the OT therapist says I should be able to lean forward and stay there for 2 minutes and I should do that regularly.  I think I have maintained some of my “six pack” as my 500 crunches are now paying off a bit.  What I have to do is get my back muscles strengthened and after the attempted standing today in PT, they had me sitting up and then laying on a wedge pillow for about 25 minutes to stretch out my back and hips, note that’s lying on my back on a table with my feet on the floor.  Note:  I just bent forward and stayed there for 45 seconds…….yeehaw….and yes I do have my seatbelt on so I won’t fall out.

The goal in OT is to get me out of this reclining wheelchair so that I can get into a straight back one which will be a lot more maneuverable that the one I am presently in.  With the straight back wheelchair, the whole idea is to get me to slide out of the chair onto a bed or another chair or a commode or in and out of a car or whatever else I need to sit my butt on.  That will require considerable amount of strengthening in my right arm and my left.  It may not happen before I’m discharged so we are setting up the house for the worst case scenario that I will be in a chair and may not be able to get from the chair to the bed or whatever else I need to get onto without a lift.

The other good thing is I am being weaned off my neck brace.  It will probably be gone by the weekend.  I just use it now for being transferred from bed to wheelchair and vice versa or when I am being rolled.  I keep it on in physio but it comes off for OT. 

I lost my roommate yesterday and I have now moved over to the window bed so I will now have a view of the City of London which I think may help my claustrophobia as well.

I really would like to thank all the visitors who came to see me, and in particular Grandpa Bob and Linda Roberts who come to look after me and give Darcy a rest…..and believe me, she needs a rest.

Today was a gorgeous day and I was able to get outside for about a half hour.  The sunshine was beautiful and Stephanie’s blanket kept me nice and warm.

The Motomed

On the Motomed

                                                   Total distance 5.15km in 22.04 minutes

October 27, 2011

Well, what a weekend!  Monica was here with Lachlan on Saturday and Sunday, and Sensei ML brought both her boys, Mav and Nash on Sunday afternoon.   It’s really great to hear kids’ giggles and laughs in this place.  I can’t believe how good Lachlan is for a 9 month old.  He didn’t cry once the whole time he was here.  I guess I have to stop thinking of Monica as my little 15 year old training buddy as she is now this incredible mother.

Thanks to everybody who came to visit last weekend and this week.  It was great to see you all.  Grandpa Bob was here on Wednesday and did his normal wonderful job of looking after me.  And Linda’s here on Thursday and she is typing this blog.

As far as therapy is going, I now do PT for an hour plus in the morning.  They get me sitting up a lot and stretching out my back and moving and stretching my legs.  In OT, they’re working my arms, my right arm in particular; and I am now curling 5 lbs.  They are working really hard on my left arm and they tell me my left hand is moving more every day.  It’s where my right arm was about 5-6 weeks ago. 

I had lots of fun with my left leg.  My foot got ran into a wall three times going for a shower, and then on Saturday we were all sitting in the lounge and an elderly gentleman, a stroke patient I believe, got out of his chair and ran right into my foot.  Not only did it hurt, but I was also concerned that he may fall but he managed to stay upright.  So needless to say, the old knee is still there.  All the weights are going up on my right arm but today it’s a bit sore.  I am also in the fitness program now and at 3 o’clock every afternoon I go to a fitness class and get to sit on the bike for 20 minutes, well the Motomed as they call it, but I get to pedal for 20 minutes.  I was so good today I got an extra 5 minutes on the Motomed. 

An interesting week started out on Monday with my flu shot in the morning.  Hard OT and hard PT and then on Tuesday morning I left for Toronto at 8 am on a stretcher in one of those medi-vans to see my surgeon.  So there was the driver, a paramedic, a nurse and Darcy and me on a stretcher.  Thank God for Ativan.  I had an appointment for an x-ray at 11 am and to see the surgeon at 12:30 pm.  When we arrived, x-ray said they had no appointment for me and that they didn’t make appointments.  Darcy visited the surgeon’s office and they said someone had called but we didn’t know what number they called and they certainly didn’t let Parkwood know.  So I eventually did get my x-ray and did see the surgeon at around 1 o’clockish and the good news is that I can take my neck brace off.  After the visit with the surgeon it was back in the van with some Ativan for the ride home.  Thankfully, we missed the Toronto rush hour and we were back here about 4:15 pm in time for dinner and a shower at night.

Medication is very interesting.  I am on a time release Hydromorphine and I had been getting 6 mg in the morning at 8 am and 9 mg at 8 pm, and I am allowed what they call a “break-through” every 2 hrs as needed which is 2 mg.  I have been trying to wean myself off the break-through and only take them as necessary like after a very hard OT workout when everything seems to be hurting.  I spoke to the doctor on Monday about my pain and they reduced my time release from 6 to 3 mg and from 9 to 3 mg.  Last night at about 2 in the morning I had this very strange feeling with my whole body tingling and I was sweating and just generally feeling miserable.  I couldn’t figure out what the problem was.  It could have been the combination of the trip to Toronto, the flu shot or a withdrawal from the Hydromorphine.  I asked for 2 more mg of break-through and my sleeping pills kicked in and I managed to sleep through until 8 in the morning.  We’ll see what happens tonight.

As mentioned previously in other blogs, I have bowel care every night which means I get to sit on a commode and I think my worst fear has happened, I think I am a bit constipated.  I met with the dietician.  It seems I need to drink 2.6 litres of fluid a day which I haven’t been doing, which I have started today.  I think the ride to Toronto I probably drank less than a litre the whole day.  So the dietician says I need to eat soluble fibre, which is oat fibre, and not wheat bran which is an insoluble fibre.  So I am going to be looking for foods with lots of soluble fibre.  It seems all the stool softeners and other meds they are giving me aren’t working.  So I am going to try and go as naturally as possible.  Oh yes, I get 30 ml of Milk of Magnesia every morning.  It seems that all the pain pills and medication and the fact that I am not moving around slows my bowels down.  I will see what happens tonight at about 8 pm.  Maybe I should just get them to squeeze my head – perhaps that would help.

I will be losing my roommate next Tuesday, so perhaps they will move me to the window side of the room and I will have a beautiful view of London.  I have learned a lot from my roommate about the issues of preparing a place to go.  Darcy has been doing a great job in getting the right people to the house and we know what we have to do to make it accessible for me when I arrive home.  We are looking at worst case scenario and that I will be in a wheelchair.  Better to be prepared than not.

Talk at ya later..

October 21, 2011

October 21, 2011

Oh yeah….blog time again.

Last one came out on Saturday, I believe.  So I had a boring Sunday as usual.  It is nice to have visitors as they certainly do break up the day.  A little bad news, my left knee got hurt again with all the rolling and turning I do as there is not enough muscle anymore to hold the knee together.  So it is all swollen up again and hurts like hell….but I guess I am used to that.  I talked to the Doc here and he suggested perhaps another cortisone shot and I agree because the knee is shot now and more cortisone really can’t do anymore damage other than taking the pain away.  So the left knee at this point in time is the show stopper.

As mentioned before, they have spoken to an orthopedic surgeon and they are looking into a knee replacement but ‘when’ is the question.  But Grandpa was here on Wednesday and we didn’t run over any more pee bags and he was quite happy about that and we had a good time, and he really is a “care giver.”

Trivia question:  “Guess what part of care giving Grandpa did do? “  (1) He put saline solution in my nose; (2) He cleaned the snot out of my nose with a Q-tip; (3) He cleaned the gunk out of my eyes with a Kleenex; (4) He put eye lube in my eyes; (5) He waited around until they put my pooping suppository in; (6) He wrapped me in my blanky; (7) He worked my fingers on both hands; (8) He massaged my feet; (9) He massaged my left knee; (10) He stayed with me from 10 am until 8:30 pm; (11) None of the above; (12) All of the above.   (Circle all the correct answers.)  Thanks Grandpa….you’re wonderful.

So 5 days of physio this week, half hour on the MotoPed, had my maximum mileage which was about 7k if I remember correctly, and today I had my minimum mileage because my knee is so sore.  I did under 3k today by myself.  The good news is that the left knee did almost 40% of the work for the mileage I did do.  Hopefully, with 2 days off because there is no physio or OT until Monday, my knee will recover a bit.  OT was really interesting this week.  Doing a weight lifting program, working on biceps, triceps, pecs, lats and traps; exercises with my hand from squeezing about 12-15 lbs and I want to get up to Neil’s (retired AirForce Colonel) weight who is just a little guy and he is squeezing 70 lbs……it’s inspirational.  I am also leaning forward while sitting in my wheelchair which is strengthening my back extensor muscles which I will need when I am going to stand.  In OT, they are strengthening my arms so I will be able to lift my butt out of my wheelchair and sit up and get into bed, onto a chair, onto a commode, etc.  So my right arm is getting stronger and my left arm, according to the therapist, is improving every day. 

The x-rays that I had on my shoulder indicate there are some arthritic bone spurs that prevents it from moving a lot.  The physiotherapist has taped my scapula which is giving me a lot of relief from the pain in my back and my neck….yeehaw!

A neat thing that happened is when I came back from my shower on Monday night the nurse said there was a present on my bed and of course I asked what it was and who it was from.  And of course she said she did not know.  When I looked at the bed there was a washcloth (a Wilson) with a smiley face on it which will remain near and dear to my heart for a long, long time.  My roommate had one of the nurses put a smiley face on the Wilson.  There were 4 nurses in the room at the time getting me out of my chair and into bed and the 5^th one stuck her head in the door and asked if they needed any help.  So, all the nurses on duty that night were in my room.  It was a hoot and a moment to remember.

You meet some very inspirational people in this place.  In the cafeteria today, I met a gentleman who has had both legs amputated due to poor circulation.  He always has a smile on his face and I believe he is in here for life.  His mind is still sharp and I found out from his wife that he is 95 years old.  She is with him all the time.  He is in a wheelchair and she uses a walker and she is 91 years old.  She was very curious about what happened to me and when I was going to get out of the chair and get rid of my neck brace. 

Next week should prove to be interesting as I will be off to Toronto leaving at 8 am on Tuesday morning for an x-ray and to see my surgeon to see what he has to say about my progress.  It should be interesting being in an ambulance on the 401 leaving here at 8 in the morning……I hope I get to Toronto before midnight. 

Two things are happening here, either I am getting used to their routine or they are getting used to mine.  I don’t think I have upset any nurses very much this week.

Thanks for all the support.  I love having visitors as long as there aren’t too many at a time.

Talk at ya later.