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.