Travels

Hey guys, well I made it to London.  It was sort of a difficult ride in an ambulance, on a stretcher.  They did give me my pain pills and some gravel, which did make me sleepy. But, I didn’t take any water with me and they didn’t have any in the ambulance.  I have an annoying habit that when I doze off my mouth drops open and my mouth becomes very dry, so even though I was doped up for the whole trip I don’t get any sleep.  I think all road supervisors would take a ride in an ambulance and they would soon learn which roads to repair.  We left Toronto at around 8:30 and arrived at the wrong hospital at 11:20 after a trip from one side of St. Joseph’s to the other, and up and down the elevator we finally found out we were at the wrong hospital, and we got directions to Parkwood.  WE arrived here at noonish. .  It is sure different here than in Toronto.  Brand new building and the halls and rooms are made to accommodate wheelchairs.  I didn’t realize how much the trip would take out of me, but I’m really pooped right now, in more ways than one.

It seams they have some great programs here, not only for physio therapy and occupational therapy bur for other issues that plague people with spinal cord injuries. Such as bowel maintenance and I actually get a shower, every other night, I have met my physio therapist, but tomorrow is when the fun begins.  The real difference here is Darcy and Meghan aren’t allowed to sleep on the floor at night so this is the first night I will be all alone :o( ….from 8:30 pm to 11 am.  We will see how it goes.

Now I would just like to say a bit about Toronto Western Hospital.  The care there was absolutely amazing  from the ICU where there was 1 nurse to 2 patients and you are hooked up to million dollar machines, but I think the designers of the alarms on those machines work for Volkswagen because  they are as about as annoying as the seat belt alarm in a bug.  The nurses, aids, and doctors are just amazing and will do anything to make you comfortable. On the 5^th floor where I stayed in room 116 most of the time the nurses and the aids were excellent. Two were particularly  note worthy, for the sake of privacy we will call them A & Z.  They both worked incredibly hard and they were continually running through the halls. But when it was your turn they made it very personal and made it feel like they were working just for you, no matter how busy they were.  They had a good sense of humor and we had a lot  of fun joking around. Z was also a massage therapist and when ever you were rolled up on my side she would be massaging, my ears, my head, and also my feet and my knees. .  A & Z are truly care givers, as well my roommate and I called it the flying when they moved us to our chairs from our beds or from our chair to our beds.  My roommate was a pilot so we had criteria for flying and we rated every flight and kept a log. They way they got bonus points was how smoothly they sat us down in our chairs. If we touched the head rest or the arm rest they would lose their bonus points.  So  A&Z were first place finishers in the flying competition 2^nd place goes to my 2 physio girls who were also very good at getting me off the physio table and back into my chair.  Every week that I was there one of the physio girls would do and A.S.I.A test (to check sensitivity everywhere on my body.  She would use a paper towel and brush it lightly on my cheek and then she would touch my arms, legs, chest, feet, and hands and if I felt I would say touch and same (as my cheek) or different (as it felt on my cheek) the 2^nd test was done with a safety pin and she would pick me with the pointed end and then touch me with the dull side. Then she would go over my body again and I would have to tell her if I felt sharp or dull. The good news is she did my sensations had improved with every test….YEHAAAW!!

Now I am starting a new life in London and my new roommate seems to be very pleasant and comes from a town close to tillsonburg so we will probably have a lot to talk about. Again thanks again for all of the cards, gifts and visits.  It means a lot!!

There are visiting hours at Parkwood Monday to Friday 4:30-8:30

                                                            Saturday and Sunday 11-8:30

I am in Room 489 Level 4A in the East Pod.