Last Words From Parkwood

Thought I’d write this blog as the last one from Parkwood. I know Meghan said the next blog will be written in the living room….well…the next one will be.Can’t say enough good things about this place. Here’s the last blog from Parkwood.

On Feb 28 I was  awake at 6:30 and had breakfast and was washed and dressed by 8:00 and arrived at the University Hospital for a  9 o’clock appointment. Saw the Surgeon who was/is going to do my knee when we think I am ready. He is going to see me every 6 weeks until I am ready. That is a huge load off my mind which hasn’t been working all that well for a while. I can now work on getting the leg stronger as soon as the calf is healed.

On Saturday Darcy, my wife picked me up in the VW Bug and took me home for 6 hours. A nurse helped getting me in the car and a friend helped get me out. A problem is the arms on the chair are hard to get out and Darcy has difficulty getting them out. I can slide into and out of the car but the hard part for Darcy is taking apart and putting the wheelchair together. The ride home was ok but my butt was getting a little sore as there isn’t much muscle left. THE fun part was getting out of the car at Parkwood. We had the sliding board in and I was sliding to the chair and we had left the arm on the chair. Slide back into the car and watch Darcystruggle to get the arm off the chair. I am always in such a hurray that I always forget to take my seat belt off.

Just reminiscing about my stay here, arrived on Sept. 14 and it will be 6 months in another  week. I was a big pain in the butt with all the little quirks and some big ones.Here are some of the quirks I had: eye drops had to be put in on the tip a piece of tissue, took my pills one at a time, wouldn’t blow my nose had to clean my nose with a q-tip, had to have someone feed me Ensure and a cookie at 10:30 every night, in the shower couldn’t have water in my ears, had to use the big black commode, my fingers were so sensitive I thought my wife was cutting off the ends of my fingers when she trimmed my nails,  felt every wrinkle in the sheets and I protected my knee and would react if anyone  went near it and I’d react to every move around me even if it didn’t hurt and in PT and OT I’d tense up before they would move me and the list goes on and on. I’m relatively easy to look after now, I think, as I can slide on the commode, use the washroom and do 90 % of the shower. I still need help dressing and some other personal stuff. When I look up I see the lift that took 2 nurses to lift me out of bed and into the chair or commode. Can’t remember the last time I used it. The good things that have happened other than the rehab is that I am pretty sure the claustrophobia is gone, don’t know 100% but very close, found out I have sleep apnea and my depression is being treated. When I got into the hospital I hung my dignity on the door and I should get some of it back when I go home. I really do not know what is going to happen when I get home. I’ll keep you posted.

Feb. 20 was 6 months from the crash and they say that at 6 months the body has repaired itself and you plateau and the changes are much slower after that. Here’s what I have: right arm and hand work at about 80%, the index finger and thumb on the left hand move but they are not strong, middle finger, ring finger and baby only move a little, the left wrist is turned in and it moves very little on its own but will straighten out with some help, the arm bends at the elbow and moves to the shoulder but won’t straighten out on its own. The left tricept is too weak to straighten the arm.I have a lot of muscle tone in both arms. The flexor muscles in the left arm keep the fingers clenched and the extender muscles are too weak to open my left hand. The brachialplexis is a big nerve group in the shoulder that runs the shoulder and it was damaged in the crash so the left arm is behind the right. There is also lot of muscle tone in my back and runs in a band round my abdomen from my belly button to my Chest. The band tightens when I move. It is very tight in the morning and sometimes prevents me from sitting up.

Both legs work but the left is a long way behind the right. As mentioned the left knee won’t straighten out but will bend to 110 degrees plus. I need a CPM – constant perpetual motion machine that moves my leg from 10 degrees extension to 110 degrees flexion. If anyone has a spare CPM laying around, let me know!My left foot has drop foot which means that I can’t pull my toes up. Before I tore the calf muscle I could lift it past 90 degrees but now even with a splint on it won’t come up.

As with any plateau, it takes a lot of hard work to get off of it. Now that I will be at home withno PT or OT I will have to do my own program for my right arm and legs. I will be on a waiting list for outpatient PT and OT which may take 2 to 3 weeks to get in. Just have to remember, a lot of hard work for small gains. The physio from CCAC will hopefully train the homecare worker to stretch and massage my left arm and shoulder to keep it moving.

Thanks for listening…….