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.