December 27, 2011
Christmas at Parkwood
Christmas is a little different here, however, it did turn out quite well.
Last Tuesday, the 20th, 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 19th. We shall see.
Happy New Year to everybody.
Thanks for listening.