Really

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As competition at the national level in both Canada and the US is about to begin, I know that FSUers will be thinking and talking about @Really and @Gerry and their family as they gather together (in person or via the board).

We will all be missing her insights and comments :(

We will also be looking forward to hearing about her continuing steps toward recovery and giving thanks for such a supportive and thoughtful spouse!
 
Good morning... it's been a while since I gave you guys an update.

The days seem to blend into each other here... Lee continues to show improvements, but as indicated by others, they are mostly incremental and hard to see... you would notice more if you showed up after 2-3 weeks away. What I'm seeing is greater clarity, less of the blank 'what the hell is going on?' looks... and how she is interacting more with the people around her, through facial expressions (I always knew she had expressive eyes, but it looks like she can put whole sentences together with them when she is trying to convey something and can't talk).

She hears and understands everything, although we have to keep spending a few moments here and there on context... short-term memory is improving, and long-term appears to be fine. She has trouble with anything around the date of her CVA and with the weeks following..little flashes that come and go with no context. She asked me yesterday to tell her again why she is in the hospital, so I went through the whole story again... she quietly said 'Wow. that's a long time.' She then asked 'Am I getting better?', to which I talked about how well she was doing, how much strength she has, and how proud we were of her fight. She looked sort of pleased with herself.

She should be. I can't imagine this... waking up here, not knowing what happened or how you got here, unable to move or communicate, full of tubes and tied to monitors, with strangers shining lights in my eyes and hollering at me to 'squeeze their fingers'...

And yet this week, week 8 of our captivity, she stood: On Monday/Tuesday, she stood up and sat down 10 times (with 40# weight assist on the first 5, 30# weight assist on the next 5).

And then walked: Using parallel bars on Wednesday, she made 10', using an Arjo liftwalker on Friday, she walked down the hall to the elevators (maybe 50'). And it was all her: weight supported by legs and arms, steady-spotting by Physiotherapist team

Conscious initiation and focus continues to be an issue, but we are noticing some improvement there, which is only one place the cognitive therapy crosses over to the phsyical therapy... Once she gets going, it's OK, but getting going is sometimes hard, and maintaining concentration is sometimes tenuous. The Physiotherapy team is pleased with her progress, but recognizes how far she has to go. They have begun the process of referring her to specialized rehabilitation programming, but that's just to get her on the list; they know she isn't leaving this multidimensional specialist-rich environment any time soon.

She is working on swallowing; it's improving, and is speaking more, although it's still quiet. Her Speech Pathologist stops by every few days and spends some time with her. Yesterday, she brought a little yoghurt... Lee had a few spoons, then decided she didn't want any more. When asked if there was something she might prefer, Lee said 'Soup. Tomato soup'. Strange as it sounds, I happened to have a can of tomato soup (you know, the microwavable Campbell's soup-on-the-go?) in my backpack. So Lee had a few spoons of that, as well (thickened with something the speech path had).

The Neuro team and their resident team continue to work on her needs, and in the past week, the GI team has joined the discussion; the team lead told me they had been in contact with her GI specialist and were now moving things forward for her as part of her recovery. He said "we have her undivided attention, and we can control all the variables, we might as well tune up a few other areas while she's here." It's nice that they take the time to coordinate and arrange all the therapies.

I'm taking a day away today... I drove home last night, slept in my own bed, and will pay some bills, do some laundry, maybe go have a beer with my buddies tonight, and just try to remember what normal feels like.

I told her I was going home for a day, and would return Sunday, and she said quite clearly "OK. I'll be here when you get back".

Gotta love that girl.
 
Thanks as always for the update @Gerry. I'm glad you are taking a day of "normal" for yourself. You absolutely need it as much as Lee needs all the specialist supporting her right now.

Tell Lee we are proud of her. Hopefully she gets a chance to watch skating this week (Canadian and US Nationals coming up next weekend!). Getting up and walking after 8 weeks (even if it is only 50 feet or so) after such an injury is another great sign. I know like it must seem like "forever" to you (and her), but in medical terms, it really isn't!!!
 
@Gerry, glad to hear that there's steady progress. I hope you enjoyed your night away. I know that I did when DH was in rehab and strong enough to not need advocating for a day.

One thing about memories. DH didn't have a brain injury (his issue was a surgery gone wrong), but even two years after his stint in SICU, he can't remember much of the experience and quite often, what he does remember didn't really happen.
 
@Gerry Every time you update, you remind us how lucky we are and how grateful we should be for the little things like tomato soup. Please let Lee know how happy we are with her progress. If she keeps going at this rate, she'll make the Olympics!!!
 
Thank you for the detailed update, @Gerry. It sounds like Lee has made great progress even though I'm sure you all wish for even more.

I must say that as wonderful as it is to read about Lee's continued improvement, it is also incredibly heartwarming to see the tenderness and love you hold for her. With so much ugliness in the world right now, it's reassuring to see an example of love, pure selfless love.

Take care and enjoy your day off.
 
Gerry said:
Good morning... it's been a while since I gave you guys an update.

The days seem to blend into each other here... Lee continues to show improvements, but as indicated by others, they are mostly incremental and hard to see... you would notice more if you showed up after 2-3 weeks away. What I'm seeing is greater clarity, less of the blank 'what the hell is going on?' looks... and how she is interacting more with the people around her, through facial expressions (I always knew she had expressive eyes, but it looks like she can put whole sentences together with them when she is trying to convey something and can't talk).

She hears and understands everything, although we have to keep spending a few moments here and there on context... short-term memory is improving, and long-term appears to be fine. She has trouble with anything around the date of her CVA and with the weeks following..little flashes that come and go with no context. She asked me yesterday to tell her again why she is in the hospital, so I went through the whole story again... she quietly said 'Wow. that's a long time.' She then asked 'Am I getting better?', to which I talked about how well she was doing, how much strength she has, and how proud we were of her fight. She looked sort of pleased with herself.

She should be. I can't imagine this... waking up here, not knowing what happened or how you got here, unable to move or communicate, full of tubes and tied to monitors, with strangers shining lights in my eyes and hollering at me to 'squeeze their fingers'...

And yet this week, week 8 of our captivity, she stood: On Monday/Tuesday, she stood up and sat down 10 times (with 40# weight assist on the first 5, 30# weight assist on the next 5).

And then walked: Using parallel bars on Wednesday, she made 10', using an Arjo liftwalker on Friday, she walked down the hall to the elevators (maybe 50'). And it was all her: weight supported by legs and arms, steady-spotting by Physiotherapist team

Conscious initiation and focus continues to be an issue, but we are noticing some improvement there, which is only one place the cognitive therapy crosses over to the phsyical therapy... Once she gets going, it's OK, but getting going is sometimes hard, and maintaining concentration is sometimes tenuous. The Physiotherapy team is pleased with her progress, but recognizes how far she has to go. They have begun the process of referring her to specialized rehabilitation programming, but that's just to get her on the list; they know she isn't leaving this multidimensional specialist-rich environment any time soon.

She is working on swallowing; it's improving, and is speaking more, although it's still quiet. Her Speech Pathologist stops by every few days and spends some time with her. Yesterday, she brought a little yoghurt... Lee had a few spoons, then decided she didn't want any more. When asked if there was something she might prefer, Lee said 'Soup. Tomato soup'. Strange as it sounds, I happened to have a can of tomato soup (you know, the microwavable Campbell's soup-on-the-go?) in my backpack. So Lee had a few spoons of that, as well (thickened with something the speech path had).

The Neuro team and their resident team continue to work on her needs, and in the past week, the GI team has joined the discussion; the team lead told me they had been in contact with her GI specialist and were now moving things forward for her as part of her recovery. He said "we have her undivided attention, and we can control all the variables, we might as well tune up a few other areas while she's here." It's nice that they take the time to coordinate and arrange all the therapies.

I'm taking a day away today... I drove home last night, slept in my own bed, and will pay some bills, do some laundry, maybe go have a beer with my buddies tonight, and just try to remember what normal feels like.

I told her I was going home for a day, and would return Sunday, and she said quite clearly "OK. I'll be here when you get back".

Gotta love that girl.
Click to expand...
There should be a love button.
I will never forget my mom..about 22 yrs ago she had RA and all kinds of other problems and her toe actually fell off and never healed. When my kids, (in grade 1 and 2) asked her where her toe was she told them she put it under her pillow and the toe ferry came and took it.
 
Wow, standing up repeatedly? Walking?? Those are HUGE gains. Every bit counts. And I'm glad you are taking some time to refresh yourself, too. You need a LOT of strength as the main support person, and it's important to step away every so often to care for yourself.
 
Gerry, thank you so much for the update, it is great to hear that Lee is doing so well, and being looked after by such capable medical professionals. I know from personal experience that the UofA is the best, she is in very good hands.
She is so lucky to have you by her side through out this. Have a great day off - you deserve it!
 
@Gerry, thank you for taking the time for such complete updates. I speak for many when I say we check here to learn of Lees progress constantly. That being said, I'm so glad you've taken a day & night for yourself. None of this can be easy on your or any of your family. So I hope you're able to relax a bit & have a few laughs with your pals tonight :)
Keep up the great work @Lee & make sure the nurses put the skating on for you to watch this week! Glad to see you're keeping your whit up too :)
 
Thanks for the update @Gerry important for you to take some self care to get used to your new normal an pace yourself. Lots of people are caring for Lee but you are the only one taking care of you so don't forget that because she will need you lots once she is home, so take the time.
 
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