Parkwood

I’m at Parkwood; I’ve been at Parkwood since Wednesday. Wow what a difference.  My biggest fear was being alone at night with out Darcy or Meghan there. The nurses reassured me that they would look after all of my little quirks.  They gave me a call bell that I could call to the nurse’s station, the only problem is it had to be attached to my bed where I could see it and touch it with my right hand. It works.  When I couldn’t find it or it got moved my roommate was kind enough to call for me. It is a completely different attitude here…because this is a rehab hospital and Toronto western is acute care facility.  The basic difference it acute care is interested in looking after your injury and they don’t necessarily worry about nor have time for diet, bowel care, showering washing etc. in 25 days in acute care including IUC I had 2 showers. Every morning I did get a bed bath which helped but according to my wife…I did stink.  When I arrived here they explained they would slowly work me into there routines. Which is a shower every other night, and I had mine last night…it was wonderful. And then every morning I get a bed wash down. Now this is where it gets into body function thing.

In Toronto, I never got onto a commode and they give you lots of laxative to keep things moving through. Not the most pleasant sensation as you feel like a 6 month old child sitting in a poopy diaper. They did try to change me regularly but they are awfully busy so sometimes I had to wait. Given the laxatives and all the movement for the transportation here I was very very uncomfortable and felt like I was going to explode all day Thursday. Wednesday was a nasty day my nerves were a bit jangled. Thursday I had the most wonderful experience I have had in about 25 years…that was they actually got me up sat me on a commode and I was able to poop vertically for the first time in 27 days …WHAT A RELIEF …they are slowly moving me over to there bowel management routine which after my first experience works great.  I have met all of the Doctors here who will be looking after me, there are two neurology specialists, and a general practitioner, and they aren’t really concerned about my surgery, but in getting me moving, independent and moving to the best of my abilities. The most pain I have had since I have been in the hospital is my left knee (it was reinjured in the fall, when they tried to take my foot out of my pedal, the injury to my knee has prevented a lot of good physio work, because I really can’t move it at all).  In Toronto they simply learned how to move m with out bending or twisting my knee, when I arrived here, they looked at my knee, had a discussion about the best way to deal with it. I had an x-ray this morning wow that hurt a bit. And the plan is if I need it I will have an MRI on it and then we will go from there and the doctor has suggested some cortisone shots as I have to get this knee functional again. 

Physio, the first time I was taken down to physio I was in a wheel chair of course the wheel chair mechanic, and immediately said we have to fix that chair up for you…even though it fit a lot better then the one in  Toronto, which I think was made for a 400 pound guy. In fact it was so big Darcy couldn’t see over the top of it when she was pushing me.  So navigating down the halls was an adventure.  The wheel chair mechanic took about a half an hour fitting me to the chair. And they were very concerned about how I felt in it and the adjusted anything I wanted adjusted. The first day of physio was a lot of testing, of what I could and couldn’t not do and what I could and could not feel. I also have and occupational therapist as well, the difference is they physio therapist looks after my muscles and body parts, and the occupational therapist is concerned with how I can use what I have (function with day to day tasks).  Physio today was some more testing and strength testing and sitting me up at the edge of a table. Slightly differently then they did in Toronto.  It’s my imagination but I do feel a little safer here I had two lovely little physio girls in Toronto, while here one of the people holding me up is a former rugby player (prop). So having a big strong guys hanging on me just gives me a little more confidence which is probable just my imagination, as the physio therapist in Toronto were quite capable of keeping me from falling. I get physio and occupational therapy daily. It appears to be an hour physio in the morning and occupational therapy in the afternoon.  In physio this morning, rather than simply holding my leg to get me out of the chair, which felt like getting knee capped every time they moved me (nauseatingly painful, that even after the pain pills) they found me and adjustable knee brace that locks my knee in the most pain free position and keeps it there even during moves.  They don’t want me to keep it on all the time as that will mean my leg will tend to stay in that position, so it is only used during transitional times. Today is a much much better day then yesterday. Due to my bowel treatment last night I have not had poopy drawers yet today and my knee is stabilized. Care was great in Toronto, and the care is great here…they are just different.