Jon's physical therapy went well today. The Physical Therapist Assistant taking over for Matt came down and the 3 of us (PTA, Aide, Barb) got him into the chair okay with no incidents. Jon then ate lunch. It was an okay lunch. He didn't eat as much as I wanted but it was half way decent. In physical therapy she worked his shoulders and neck!! He had his brace off when I got there around 9:00. He let me put it on around 11:00 and then we took it back off for his therapy. I have friends at the nursing center and the husband, Bill, came down. He told Jon not to let the PTA give him a hard time. That she can be hard core. Jon replied "She's been pretty hard on me, but it's okay, she's easy on the eyes." When she heard that she turned beet red. She said she has 10 shades. One is normal, and that she was probably a ten now. She is very cute.
He was pretty wiped out after getting back into bed. He was up in the chair for 3 hours.
His friend Mark and his sister Jody came up to see him tonight. Jon was in a good mood and seemed to enjoy them. He got a little sad at the end of the day. I'm not sure what happened but by the end of the day, Jon was getting teary eyed. When Mom asked if he was okay, he said no but didn't want to talk about it.
Overall it was a pretty good day.
God bless you and thank you for checking in.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Building Blocks of Success
As part of his therapy, Uncle J works with blocks as shown in the picture on the left. He works on picking them up and putting them in the peg holes. I haven't been there to see him do much therapy since I am there on the weekends, but from what I gather, he has been doing fairly well.
"Block" on, Uncle J!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Slow weekend
It's been a busy time for me (Barb) and unfortunately Jon has not had visitors this weekend. Friday night I watched children at church for a spanish speaking group. Saturday morning I stopped in and had Jon sign 3 cards! He signed his name in cursive. He did a good job. :) One for Dad for Father's Day, one for nephew Joshua (his birthday was the 18th and he turned 20!!) and one for niece Angelique (her birthday is the 25th and I will let her tell her own age now). He had the front of his neck brace off when I got there. The back was still on and was soaked. I took it off, washed the neck pads and showed the nurse how to put it back on. We had a cookout for their birthdays and for Father's Day in Defiance. I did not get back to see Jon again last night until 8:20. He said it was quiet all day. He still had the neck brace off so I put it back on for the night.
Today, Dad got there around noon. I went to second service and then to a graduation party and worked for about 2 hours doing payroll (something my workers might appreciate) and catching up on other things at work. Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill stopped by on their way back home from Rhode Island. Jon said he enjoyed their visit. Dad stayed until just after 5:30, so he spent a good portion of his day with Jon which is nice for Father's day. I didn't get there until 7:20pm :( I found that he had his neck brace off again. When I asked if he had it off all day, he said "You can put it back on" so I am assuming it was off all day. The instructions were for a few hours at a time. With the goal of having it off permanently in six weeks. We talked for a little bit and then we did a word search. He is good at finding them and seems to enjoy it. I waited until his next check which should have been done around 9:15. I'm glad I stayed. His C-Diff seems to be coming back. I noticed "the odor". So I mentioned it to the aide and she said the last 3 checks he has had diarrhea. She said this morning he was solid. Not good signs. I told the nurse and she is calling the doctor to get an order for a stool sample which won't be taken until tomorrow since it is so late tonight. We still have no appointment for the colostemy. It is taking alot longer than I anticipated. Hopefully Jon won't change his mind before they get around to it. I left at 10:00 pm.
Tomorrow will be the first day of physical therapy without Matt. He is on vacation and one of his assistants will be working with Jon. It will also be the first day of getting into the chair without Matt. All last week, Matt worked with Mom or I on getting Jon into the chair using a lift. He wanted us to know so that we can tell the aides how to do it. Some of them don't really like it when we try to tell them about Jon as they think they already know it. Spinal cord injuries are different and they don't realize how different they can be. The lift itself is the same but putting Jon into the chair and making sure he doesn't fall out is different than what they are used to so we will see how they do with it. I told Matt to show the aides himself and he said he would rather show us and for us to tell them. I said "Okay". The foot rests stick out too far for the lift to get as close as it should, so when the lift lowers him, Jon sits on the edge of the seat. We have to hold onto him and recline the chair in order to get him all the way back into the seat. Matt's biggest concern is that if Jon's muscles go into a spasm as he is sitting on the edge of the seat that he could fall out. Thankfully Jon does not have many leg spasms and is only on the edge for less than a minute but it is still a real possibility. Please pray for Jon and the transfers. He will get into the chair around 1:00 and back out around 3:00pm. He will also be able to eat lunch in the chair which will really help with his swallowing and feeding himself since he will be up at a true 90 degrees.
Jon's friend Mark is working down here again this week and so he said he would stop by and see Jon in the evenings. Jon is looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.
Thank you for checking in.
Today, Dad got there around noon. I went to second service and then to a graduation party and worked for about 2 hours doing payroll (something my workers might appreciate) and catching up on other things at work. Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill stopped by on their way back home from Rhode Island. Jon said he enjoyed their visit. Dad stayed until just after 5:30, so he spent a good portion of his day with Jon which is nice for Father's day. I didn't get there until 7:20pm :( I found that he had his neck brace off again. When I asked if he had it off all day, he said "You can put it back on" so I am assuming it was off all day. The instructions were for a few hours at a time. With the goal of having it off permanently in six weeks. We talked for a little bit and then we did a word search. He is good at finding them and seems to enjoy it. I waited until his next check which should have been done around 9:15. I'm glad I stayed. His C-Diff seems to be coming back. I noticed "the odor". So I mentioned it to the aide and she said the last 3 checks he has had diarrhea. She said this morning he was solid. Not good signs. I told the nurse and she is calling the doctor to get an order for a stool sample which won't be taken until tomorrow since it is so late tonight. We still have no appointment for the colostemy. It is taking alot longer than I anticipated. Hopefully Jon won't change his mind before they get around to it. I left at 10:00 pm.
Tomorrow will be the first day of physical therapy without Matt. He is on vacation and one of his assistants will be working with Jon. It will also be the first day of getting into the chair without Matt. All last week, Matt worked with Mom or I on getting Jon into the chair using a lift. He wanted us to know so that we can tell the aides how to do it. Some of them don't really like it when we try to tell them about Jon as they think they already know it. Spinal cord injuries are different and they don't realize how different they can be. The lift itself is the same but putting Jon into the chair and making sure he doesn't fall out is different than what they are used to so we will see how they do with it. I told Matt to show the aides himself and he said he would rather show us and for us to tell them. I said "Okay". The foot rests stick out too far for the lift to get as close as it should, so when the lift lowers him, Jon sits on the edge of the seat. We have to hold onto him and recline the chair in order to get him all the way back into the seat. Matt's biggest concern is that if Jon's muscles go into a spasm as he is sitting on the edge of the seat that he could fall out. Thankfully Jon does not have many leg spasms and is only on the edge for less than a minute but it is still a real possibility. Please pray for Jon and the transfers. He will get into the chair around 1:00 and back out around 3:00pm. He will also be able to eat lunch in the chair which will really help with his swallowing and feeding himself since he will be up at a true 90 degrees.
Jon's friend Mark is working down here again this week and so he said he would stop by and see Jon in the evenings. Jon is looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.
Thank you for checking in.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
This is a quote from a poem about slaying a dragon by Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland fame:
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
Jon's dragon these last 8 months has been his head gear. First, the halo and then the Miami J neck brace. We spent a total of 4 and a half hours at OSU getting Cat scans, consulting with the doctor and then back again for x-rays, that were initially ordered but not communicated to the EMTs. Dr. Mendell looked at them and pronounced the spine healed and stable. Only one hitch; what looks like the major point of impact at the 5 T vertebrae looks almost like the spine is making a major turn toward the front of his body. The doctor didn't think that the spine was being pulled toward either side of his body but he didn't have any other explanation why he tilts so in bed. It may just be due to poor trunk control (my guess, not his.) He is allowed to remove the brace gradually. At first, when he's not very active and after he has built up some strength through physical therapy he can be without it for longer periods of time. We go back in six weeks for the final word. Dr. Mendell also had no idea why either of the two operations involving the spine that were suggested several months ago would even be considered. Redoing the back in major surgery seems like a step backward to him and he never heard of stretching the muscles by weakening them--perhaps I just didn't explain it well. Although he was very surprised they did not do surgery in the very beginning, before everything had a chance to heal.
Other news: he has major constipation and a urinary tract infection. X rays show there is no other problem than constipation to make his tummy swell so that's good news.
He has been in the chair almost every day and is gaining confidence in his driving. Matt, the physical therapist, is changing the handle from a joy stick to something that will look a little like a goal post. The pressure mapping has still not been done due to the chair reps computer program not working. Although the pressure mapping will allow Jon to sit in the chair for longer periods of time and not endanger the healing process of his bedsore, he has a reclining feature as well to help relieve the pressure of sitting upright. Matt has Jon reclining every 20 minutes for at least 30 seconds. Jon usually reclines for more than that.
The special bed has not gone back yet and we think that we may have some valid reasons for continuing using it. We just have to convince the doctor at the Village that a paralyzed person with arthritis of the spine, in addition to his blown vertebrae, needs to have a bed which is healing and prevents further sores from developing.
Jon has had the pleasure of a good friend from Defiance dropping by three evenings this week. He wasn't feeling great the third day but hopefully that won't interfere with future visits. Thanks so much Mark for stopping by. We really appreciate it.
To see the whole poem go to: www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky/html The poem has been set to music and we had a great time singing it in my high school choir days.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
Jon's dragon these last 8 months has been his head gear. First, the halo and then the Miami J neck brace. We spent a total of 4 and a half hours at OSU getting Cat scans, consulting with the doctor and then back again for x-rays, that were initially ordered but not communicated to the EMTs. Dr. Mendell looked at them and pronounced the spine healed and stable. Only one hitch; what looks like the major point of impact at the 5 T vertebrae looks almost like the spine is making a major turn toward the front of his body. The doctor didn't think that the spine was being pulled toward either side of his body but he didn't have any other explanation why he tilts so in bed. It may just be due to poor trunk control (my guess, not his.) He is allowed to remove the brace gradually. At first, when he's not very active and after he has built up some strength through physical therapy he can be without it for longer periods of time. We go back in six weeks for the final word. Dr. Mendell also had no idea why either of the two operations involving the spine that were suggested several months ago would even be considered. Redoing the back in major surgery seems like a step backward to him and he never heard of stretching the muscles by weakening them--perhaps I just didn't explain it well. Although he was very surprised they did not do surgery in the very beginning, before everything had a chance to heal.
Other news: he has major constipation and a urinary tract infection. X rays show there is no other problem than constipation to make his tummy swell so that's good news.
He has been in the chair almost every day and is gaining confidence in his driving. Matt, the physical therapist, is changing the handle from a joy stick to something that will look a little like a goal post. The pressure mapping has still not been done due to the chair reps computer program not working. Although the pressure mapping will allow Jon to sit in the chair for longer periods of time and not endanger the healing process of his bedsore, he has a reclining feature as well to help relieve the pressure of sitting upright. Matt has Jon reclining every 20 minutes for at least 30 seconds. Jon usually reclines for more than that.
The special bed has not gone back yet and we think that we may have some valid reasons for continuing using it. We just have to convince the doctor at the Village that a paralyzed person with arthritis of the spine, in addition to his blown vertebrae, needs to have a bed which is healing and prevents further sores from developing.
Jon has had the pleasure of a good friend from Defiance dropping by three evenings this week. He wasn't feeling great the third day but hopefully that won't interfere with future visits. Thanks so much Mark for stopping by. We really appreciate it.
To see the whole poem go to: www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky/html The poem has been set to music and we had a great time singing it in my high school choir days.
Monday, June 15, 2009
More surprise visitors
Jon did not need suctioning today until we were getting ready for therapy. He needed suctioning as we were getting him dressed and then an hour later. He ended up being suctioned 4 times in 6 hours. He is coughing alot up on his own but still has alot being suctioned out. He was in the wheel chair for 2 hours again. They were supposed to "pressure map" his seat in order to allow him to sit up in the chair for more than 2 hours. The chair rep got his days mixed up and won't be out until tomorrow. Hopefully starting tomorrow we can get him up a little longer. I will let you know tomorrow what "pressure mapping" is exactly. My understanding is that they use the computer to find out where his pressure points are and then adjust the seat accordingly.
Yesterday among the human visitors we also had a rabbit visitor come in. A lady that lives close by has 4 rabbits and brought in her Fleming giant. He was 40 pounds!! I had her take him into Jon's room so he could see him and Jon flipped out. He is the largest either of us has seen before. Today she brought in it's mate. She is only 17 pounds! Still a rather large rabbit but not nearly the size of Big Bun (short for Big Bunny). Tomorrow she will bring in the other 2 they have. She doesn't know anyone at the center, rabbits can also be therapeutic and didn't know if anyone would enjoy seeing them. They have been a hit with everyone that has seen them. Jon was able to pet the one today.
While Jon was eating dinner (rather late tonight - arrived at 6:50), Greg called and wanted to know where I was. I said with Jon. He said good, go to the front desk. Mark, a friend of Jon's was in town. He has been traveling back and forth daily from Defiance to Columbus for work. He was finally given a hotel room instead of traveling 5 1/2-6 hours round trip. He surprised both of us. He will be in town until Thursday for work so we will get to see him for alittle in the evenings. It lifted Jon's spirits.
Thanks for checking in. Mom and Carol will be down tomorrow.
Yesterday among the human visitors we also had a rabbit visitor come in. A lady that lives close by has 4 rabbits and brought in her Fleming giant. He was 40 pounds!! I had her take him into Jon's room so he could see him and Jon flipped out. He is the largest either of us has seen before. Today she brought in it's mate. She is only 17 pounds! Still a rather large rabbit but not nearly the size of Big Bun (short for Big Bunny). Tomorrow she will bring in the other 2 they have. She doesn't know anyone at the center, rabbits can also be therapeutic and didn't know if anyone would enjoy seeing them. They have been a hit with everyone that has seen them. Jon was able to pet the one today.
While Jon was eating dinner (rather late tonight - arrived at 6:50), Greg called and wanted to know where I was. I said with Jon. He said good, go to the front desk. Mark, a friend of Jon's was in town. He has been traveling back and forth daily from Defiance to Columbus for work. He was finally given a hotel room instead of traveling 5 1/2-6 hours round trip. He surprised both of us. He will be in town until Thursday for work so we will get to see him for alittle in the evenings. It lifted Jon's spirits.
Thanks for checking in. Mom and Carol will be down tomorrow.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Visitor filled weekend
Friday Jon was in the electric wheel chair again for 2 hours. After physical therapy was over, we went on a ride around the inside of the center and then took a short trip outside. He was doing so well on his oxygen saturation that the PT took him from 4 liters to 3 liters. He was still satting at 95 so we lowered it to 2 liters for a while. When we went outside, we took it back up to 3 liters and checked again when we came back in and it was still 95 so we lowered to 2 again. I know this doesn't make sense to most of you, the short of it is that he is able to handle less oxygen. That is one of the goals is to get him off the oxygen so it was a good thing. We took it back to 4 liters when he was put back in bed. After Jon got back in bed I read the fact sheet they out for "today in history". Jon listened to the facts okay. On the back was a word search. I thought it would be good mental exercise so I asked him if he wanted to find some. After the 3rd one he said "I'm done". I found one and showed him and he started again. He ended up finding them all. For about 3 of them I would give hints "I found panda. It starts in the 3rd row" or something similar and he would find them. He seemed to enjoy it. I went down to the activity room and asked if they had some word searchs. She said yes and gave me xerox pages of 7 different puzzles including a word scramble.
Friday evening Greg and a friend Shawn came down to spend the weekend. Jon was more communicative this weekend than he was last weekend. He was not his old self but definitely improved from last weekend.
Saturday I asked Greg and Shawn to do another word search with him. He did very well and again seemed to enjoy it. Jon was interactive with both. Jon had a rough afternoon with his breathing. He asked to be suctioned 4 times in about 3 1/2 hours. That is alot in a short time period. We used the "pickle" to help break it up more and it worked. They left about 9:00pm. I went back around 10:15 to help with the last check before the Aides shift change and then stayed for the first check on night shift. I left at 12:38 am. This night nurse is very nice and helps the aide in checking Jon so I don't have to worry about whether he will be checked and if it is on time or not.
Sunday I went in around 10:15am (so much for 8:15- my intended time). Greg and Shawn came in around 11:15 and I went to to the 2nd service at church. Dad had gone to first and so he got there around noon. During service our Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy called. I said I would call back around 1:00 when service was over. Little did I know that they were coming to Columbus as they were flying out of Port Columbus and they wanted directions to Jons'. It all worked out well though as I called them around 1:15 and they were just at Polaris. I walked them through directions on how to get to Jons and I literally got there about 1 minute before them. My mom is in Traverse City for my cousin's sons high school graduation and she called while I was directing our aunt and uncle so I called her back. As I walked into Jon's room, I was on the phone with relatives from Traverse City and Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill behind me. Greg, Dad and Shawn were already there. So Jon went from famine to feasting on visitors. Jon talked to about 5 people on the phone and then visited with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill. After everyone left I let Jon rest and I went down to the lounge to take a nap myself. Later Jon did a word scramble on different birds. Again, he seemed to enjoy the mental challenge. We worked on exercising his hands and legs. Before I left him for the night, he said he enjoyed the weekend and all the visitors today.
It is my bedtime so I bid you all a good night and thank you for checking in. Please continue praying. If anyone would like to call and talk to Jon you are welcome to call me talk to him. If it is not a good time we will call you back. My number is 614-403-6834. I am off for 10 weeks from my primary job so you can call during the day. He is usually in therapy from 1 to 3, other than that our days are pretty open. Thanks again.
Friday evening Greg and a friend Shawn came down to spend the weekend. Jon was more communicative this weekend than he was last weekend. He was not his old self but definitely improved from last weekend.
Saturday I asked Greg and Shawn to do another word search with him. He did very well and again seemed to enjoy it. Jon was interactive with both. Jon had a rough afternoon with his breathing. He asked to be suctioned 4 times in about 3 1/2 hours. That is alot in a short time period. We used the "pickle" to help break it up more and it worked. They left about 9:00pm. I went back around 10:15 to help with the last check before the Aides shift change and then stayed for the first check on night shift. I left at 12:38 am. This night nurse is very nice and helps the aide in checking Jon so I don't have to worry about whether he will be checked and if it is on time or not.
Sunday I went in around 10:15am (so much for 8:15- my intended time). Greg and Shawn came in around 11:15 and I went to to the 2nd service at church. Dad had gone to first and so he got there around noon. During service our Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy called. I said I would call back around 1:00 when service was over. Little did I know that they were coming to Columbus as they were flying out of Port Columbus and they wanted directions to Jons'. It all worked out well though as I called them around 1:15 and they were just at Polaris. I walked them through directions on how to get to Jons and I literally got there about 1 minute before them. My mom is in Traverse City for my cousin's sons high school graduation and she called while I was directing our aunt and uncle so I called her back. As I walked into Jon's room, I was on the phone with relatives from Traverse City and Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill behind me. Greg, Dad and Shawn were already there. So Jon went from famine to feasting on visitors. Jon talked to about 5 people on the phone and then visited with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bill. After everyone left I let Jon rest and I went down to the lounge to take a nap myself. Later Jon did a word scramble on different birds. Again, he seemed to enjoy the mental challenge. We worked on exercising his hands and legs. Before I left him for the night, he said he enjoyed the weekend and all the visitors today.
It is my bedtime so I bid you all a good night and thank you for checking in. Please continue praying. If anyone would like to call and talk to Jon you are welcome to call me talk to him. If it is not a good time we will call you back. My number is 614-403-6834. I am off for 10 weeks from my primary job so you can call during the day. He is usually in therapy from 1 to 3, other than that our days are pretty open. Thanks again.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
A Futile Trip
Went shopping for some clothes for Jon and so I arrived on the late side again today. The nurse told me that Jon's feeding tube was clogged, again, only this time they didn't seem to be able to get it unclogged. Clogging has been a problem for the last couple of months. They had decided that this time they would send Jon to the hospital to have the tube replaced. I kept bugging her about when would he be leaving and got some answer about being unarble to reach the doctor or not having time, or whatever. Finally about 5:30--just before supper--she announced the ambulance would be there at 6. He ate a medium breakfast, next to nothing for lunch and now no supper! Not so sure how much difference it would have made but still.
On the way over the ambulance driver commented about the time difference between OSU and St. Anne's emergency room visits. OSU: average time from start to finish 6 hours; St Anne's: 3 hours. Because they had trouble getting ahold of the place he's staying they couldn't call the ambulance to send him back??? Anyway it was after 10 before arriving "home" and around 11 before he was settled in and ran out of requests.
To make a long story short there are two different kinds of installations for PEGs and we didn't know which it was. An ultra sound around his tummy was no help at all. After much rummaging for a tube that might fit it was decided that since they didn't know for sure just which kind of attachment they were making that maybe it would be best to see a gastroentestinal doc and start from scratch.
On the way over the ambulance driver commented about the time difference between OSU and St. Anne's emergency room visits. OSU: average time from start to finish 6 hours; St Anne's: 3 hours. Because they had trouble getting ahold of the place he's staying they couldn't call the ambulance to send him back??? Anyway it was after 10 before arriving "home" and around 11 before he was settled in and ran out of requests.
To make a long story short there are two different kinds of installations for PEGs and we didn't know which it was. An ultra sound around his tummy was no help at all. After much rummaging for a tube that might fit it was decided that since they didn't know for sure just which kind of attachment they were making that maybe it would be best to see a gastroentestinal doc and start from scratch.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Rough Weekend
Our Uncle Frank and Denise came down Friday the morning he was moved from OSU. Jon had a good visit with them. Our cousin Dean came down Wednesday and visited with Jon for over 4 hours. Jon seemed to be in good spirits then. As the week went on he started to be more withdrawn. This weekend he kept his eyes closed most of the weekend. When asked if he was tired or bored, he said both. Even Greg and Angelique could not pull him out of it. Angelique said he did laugh a time or two but he was definitely more withdrawn than usual. He is no longer watching or wanting the tv on 24/7 (which is good), as he said "the shows are tending to repeat themselves". I was able to read the first 7 chapters of 90 Minutes in Heaven in which the author died and after 90 minutes of no pulse came back to life and was singing. The story concentrates on his recovery from massive damage as his car had been run over by a semitruck on a narrow bridge. It ends up being an inspiring story. I think it is important for Jon to hear about others that have gone through tough life changing experiences and have managed to live productive and often inspiring lives. Another person is Joni Earkenson Tada who is, like Jon, a partial quadriplegic. She does not have use of her hands either but does her arms, again like Jon. She was in a diving accident in 1967 at the age of 17. She has become an artist, using her mouth to write, draw and paint. She is also known world wide as an advocate for people with disabilities.
To add to Mom's description of the bed, the glass beads are coated with soda lime silicone. The soda lime keeps a ph balance between 9 and 10 which does not kill bacteria but does prevent it from growing and spreading so the bed itself is truly part of the healing process. Another drawback of the bed is that while it does "harden" for patient transfers, it is difficult to get him turned to see if he has had a bowel movement or not. Saturday night I stayed all night and he was clean all night. Last night I stayed all night and he had to be cleaned at every check starting with the 10:00 pm check. Yesterday at 5:40 pm, while Greg and Angelique were still there we discovered that the wound bandage had come off and that there was nothing covering the wound. It was open on the sheets. We don't know at which turn it came off but it was definitely off for 3 hours. He had been checked and cleaned at 2:20 and checked again at 5:00.(He is supposed to be checked every 2 hours). At 5:00 he was checked and was clean so no sheets were removed and the bandage was not on the sheets at 5:40. The aide did not say anything at 5:00 about the bandage being off but a different aide at 5:40 pointed it out. Due to the air circulation of the bed and the silicone pulling out the moisture from the wound, he can not have a moisture barrier between him and the bed. So the "chucks" they use to keep the sheet clean can not be used on Jon. Each time that the sheets are soiled they have to be thrown away. Apparently they can't bleach and sanitize them. This is getting expensive for them. As the turns are hard on Jon he has finally decided to see about having a temporary colostemy. This will help keep the wound area free of contamination and less expensive for the nursing center. The doctor is supposed to be in this morning. When I left at 8:40 this morning I left Dad with specific questions to ask about the procedure, how long he would be out of the nursing center and therefore off the air bed he is on. Hopefully we can get it scheduled soon.
Please keep Jon in your prayers and include his depression. When the social worker saw the amount of depression medication he is on, she asked if he wanted to speak with a counselor or not. He said no but he is going through alot and I think he needs to talk to someone.
Thanks for checking in. Sister Barb
To add to Mom's description of the bed, the glass beads are coated with soda lime silicone. The soda lime keeps a ph balance between 9 and 10 which does not kill bacteria but does prevent it from growing and spreading so the bed itself is truly part of the healing process. Another drawback of the bed is that while it does "harden" for patient transfers, it is difficult to get him turned to see if he has had a bowel movement or not. Saturday night I stayed all night and he was clean all night. Last night I stayed all night and he had to be cleaned at every check starting with the 10:00 pm check. Yesterday at 5:40 pm, while Greg and Angelique were still there we discovered that the wound bandage had come off and that there was nothing covering the wound. It was open on the sheets. We don't know at which turn it came off but it was definitely off for 3 hours. He had been checked and cleaned at 2:20 and checked again at 5:00.(He is supposed to be checked every 2 hours). At 5:00 he was checked and was clean so no sheets were removed and the bandage was not on the sheets at 5:40. The aide did not say anything at 5:00 about the bandage being off but a different aide at 5:40 pointed it out. Due to the air circulation of the bed and the silicone pulling out the moisture from the wound, he can not have a moisture barrier between him and the bed. So the "chucks" they use to keep the sheet clean can not be used on Jon. Each time that the sheets are soiled they have to be thrown away. Apparently they can't bleach and sanitize them. This is getting expensive for them. As the turns are hard on Jon he has finally decided to see about having a temporary colostemy. This will help keep the wound area free of contamination and less expensive for the nursing center. The doctor is supposed to be in this morning. When I left at 8:40 this morning I left Dad with specific questions to ask about the procedure, how long he would be out of the nursing center and therefore off the air bed he is on. Hopefully we can get it scheduled soon.
Please keep Jon in your prayers and include his depression. When the social worker saw the amount of depression medication he is on, she asked if he wanted to speak with a counselor or not. He said no but he is going through alot and I think he needs to talk to someone.
Thanks for checking in. Sister Barb
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Week in Review
Overall it has been a good week for Jon. We have an entirely new type of bed. It has fluidity . . . little glass beads surrounded by silica gel are swishing their way around in the top part of the mattress. It almost looks like someone was popping popcorn. This motion is to prevent new bedsores; the silica is to absorb any moisture and keep the bedsore dry. At the size of Jon’s sore it would take over a year to heal. The manufacturer claims to heal it 4.4 times faster. It is not without its problems..the second day it started spitting fine silica on the floor. Feels extremely slick on the shoes! It was replaced and the second bed is doing well. I had a chance to look at the sore and it looks much better. Now the biggest problem is that it can’t have more than one layer on top of the mattress which is almost like chiffon. This tends to make anything on it shift downward when the head is elevated. He would definitely have needed to wear his turtle shell if he had had this type of bed in March since he looks rather scrunched most of the time. The other problem is that since the door to the room has to be kept closed for temperature control around the bed many of the staff takes that as a sign that he is busy with someone else. We’re thinking that that is one possibility why he has missed his second shower this week. Since he missed both shower days the week before by being in the hospital he is well overdue! I thought I had the problem solved yesterday; I gave instructions for his neck brace, the bath bed was outside the door and so I went to lunch. When I got back nothing had been done and was informed it was too late since that shift had already gone home. We were assured it would be given this morning but that’s what they said last Saturday. Barb is there now since one nurse advised being there at 7 a.m. and I haven’t been getting up as early as she does.
A piece of good news- the wheelchair made its way back to Jon. He drove it down two halls and he parked in the dining room to eat lunch. I had good intentions of letting him feed himself but I was wrong about the chair being able to raise and lower itself to fit under tables. Since I couldn’t get a tray table to fit under the wheels of the chair …once I got it high enough…I gave up and fed Jon myself. The dining room was almost deserted and Jon was facing a beautiful glassed wall looking out on a patio. (He has had several meals where he fed himself entirely on his own.)
The wheelchair was adjusted in a few places and we asked about a tray and a place for an oxygen tank. The therapist is so sure we can get him off oxygen which is great but I think it would be handy to have that option in case he needs it at some future time. As we went down the hall we noticed a cute license on one of the other chairs similar to Jon’s that said “Wilson’s Mercedes.” we’ll have to see what kind of sign Jon wants on his.
The occupational therapist has brought a spongy pad to put under Jon’s dishes and a plate guard to give him something to push against when forking his food. She also found some silverware with fat handles that fit in his hand without being strapped in. She brought some pegs and a board but was interrupted and never made her way back. We’ll try to work with them ourselves.
The physical therapist is quite enthusiastic about getting Jon out of his room. He is doing some shoulder exercises to help give his lungs more room to breathe. I have looked over a report from Fort Wayne several times and completely glossed over the fact that he had fractured at least one shoulder blade in addition to the cracked ribs and blown vertebrae but Matt caught it when I gave him the report to read. One of his goals is to get Jon off of oxygen by strengthening his lungs,stretching his shoulder muscles to give the lungs room to expand and building some upper body strength to prepare for board transfers.
We have two different types of breathing apparatus to encourage deeper breathing but have found the advice of using them every hour to be impossible. I have a chart to help me to remember to exercise his arms, hands, shoulders, legs and feet …and breathing and the best I’ve been able to do in a long time was 2 complete cycles yesterday.
Diet wise Jon is eating regular foods. He finds some meats tough. The speech gal asked how he was doing and he complained about that so she gave him a couple of more exercises--then he got supper which was beef "tips” and noodles. Chunks of the beef had gristle and it was almost impossible to tell which ones did or didn’t. Plain tubular pasta without sauce is rather uninteresting and for some reason he thought the frozen peas were “tough” too. He’s never preferred canned peas so I’m not sure what his problem was. He has seemed rather “down” the last day or two so maybe that was it. They have been giving him Ensure to increase his nutrition intake 3 times a day--although yesterday I was sure it was four, possibly five! At any rate I had really been pushing it all day and we were already two behind when an aide brought another one for his evening snack! Regular meals are still supplemented by tube feedings but that runs only at night.
Again, we are impressed with the therapy programs but continue to be frustrated in the lack of staff. That is compounded by the work ethic of the aides who seem rather nebulous about calling in to say they’re not coming to work or are extremely late. There is also a great turnover in staff as we had noticed at CRSI and the admission director confirmed our observation saying that it was a problem throughout the health care industry. I’m not sure how much 12 hour shifts contribute to that. One compensation here is that they work 3 days and are off 3 days but I’m not sure they are on 12 hour shifts…those would kill me!
Brief update on the rest of the family: Josh had been wrestling and was in a foot hold when he heard several cracking sounds. Everything seemed all right when he walked on it except for some swelling and so he continued on his way for the next week but he did wear an ankle brace. The next weekend he was playing football and he fell on the already injured foot. I saw him come limping up the driveway and he showed me his ankle which looked like someone had inserted a hardboiled egg under the skin on top of his ankle bone. I agreed it needed x-raying so we went off to the hospital. They took pictures and said it was just sprained and gave him a more substantial brace to wear. A couple of days later they called to say that when the x ray was dry it looked like it had a hair line fracture and he should make an appointment with a doctor. He chose a different clinic and they took x rays also. They didn't see a break but decided to treat it as such and he has a walking cast. While Jon was in the hospital lat week at OSU Barb had a high fever and was feeling and looking more miserable than I think I've ever seen her so she went to the doctor and a CAT scan was ordered. We were concerned that she might have the infection Jon had. She was evidently so concerned about that possibility that she was positively joyous to find it was "just diverticulitis." She joins a long line of relatives with that ailment I understand. She had a check-up with her oncologist this last week and everything looks okay. I'm recovering from an ear, nose, throat infection but doing okay otherwise. Everyone else is fine healthwise as far as I know. Josh and Angelique are both celebrating birthdays this month. I cannot believe my youngest grandson will be 20!!!
Must go--Columbus has a really big arts and crafts show and ouor favorite artist from California is here. We are anxious to catch up on news of his health and his family. Hope you are enjoying the same weather we've been having.
A piece of good news- the wheelchair made its way back to Jon. He drove it down two halls and he parked in the dining room to eat lunch. I had good intentions of letting him feed himself but I was wrong about the chair being able to raise and lower itself to fit under tables. Since I couldn’t get a tray table to fit under the wheels of the chair …once I got it high enough…I gave up and fed Jon myself. The dining room was almost deserted and Jon was facing a beautiful glassed wall looking out on a patio. (He has had several meals where he fed himself entirely on his own.)
The wheelchair was adjusted in a few places and we asked about a tray and a place for an oxygen tank. The therapist is so sure we can get him off oxygen which is great but I think it would be handy to have that option in case he needs it at some future time. As we went down the hall we noticed a cute license on one of the other chairs similar to Jon’s that said “Wilson’s Mercedes.” we’ll have to see what kind of sign Jon wants on his.
The occupational therapist has brought a spongy pad to put under Jon’s dishes and a plate guard to give him something to push against when forking his food. She also found some silverware with fat handles that fit in his hand without being strapped in. She brought some pegs and a board but was interrupted and never made her way back. We’ll try to work with them ourselves.
The physical therapist is quite enthusiastic about getting Jon out of his room. He is doing some shoulder exercises to help give his lungs more room to breathe. I have looked over a report from Fort Wayne several times and completely glossed over the fact that he had fractured at least one shoulder blade in addition to the cracked ribs and blown vertebrae but Matt caught it when I gave him the report to read. One of his goals is to get Jon off of oxygen by strengthening his lungs,stretching his shoulder muscles to give the lungs room to expand and building some upper body strength to prepare for board transfers.
We have two different types of breathing apparatus to encourage deeper breathing but have found the advice of using them every hour to be impossible. I have a chart to help me to remember to exercise his arms, hands, shoulders, legs and feet …and breathing and the best I’ve been able to do in a long time was 2 complete cycles yesterday.
Diet wise Jon is eating regular foods. He finds some meats tough. The speech gal asked how he was doing and he complained about that so she gave him a couple of more exercises--then he got supper which was beef "tips” and noodles. Chunks of the beef had gristle and it was almost impossible to tell which ones did or didn’t. Plain tubular pasta without sauce is rather uninteresting and for some reason he thought the frozen peas were “tough” too. He’s never preferred canned peas so I’m not sure what his problem was. He has seemed rather “down” the last day or two so maybe that was it. They have been giving him Ensure to increase his nutrition intake 3 times a day--although yesterday I was sure it was four, possibly five! At any rate I had really been pushing it all day and we were already two behind when an aide brought another one for his evening snack! Regular meals are still supplemented by tube feedings but that runs only at night.
Again, we are impressed with the therapy programs but continue to be frustrated in the lack of staff. That is compounded by the work ethic of the aides who seem rather nebulous about calling in to say they’re not coming to work or are extremely late. There is also a great turnover in staff as we had noticed at CRSI and the admission director confirmed our observation saying that it was a problem throughout the health care industry. I’m not sure how much 12 hour shifts contribute to that. One compensation here is that they work 3 days and are off 3 days but I’m not sure they are on 12 hour shifts…those would kill me!
Brief update on the rest of the family: Josh had been wrestling and was in a foot hold when he heard several cracking sounds. Everything seemed all right when he walked on it except for some swelling and so he continued on his way for the next week but he did wear an ankle brace. The next weekend he was playing football and he fell on the already injured foot. I saw him come limping up the driveway and he showed me his ankle which looked like someone had inserted a hardboiled egg under the skin on top of his ankle bone. I agreed it needed x-raying so we went off to the hospital. They took pictures and said it was just sprained and gave him a more substantial brace to wear. A couple of days later they called to say that when the x ray was dry it looked like it had a hair line fracture and he should make an appointment with a doctor. He chose a different clinic and they took x rays also. They didn't see a break but decided to treat it as such and he has a walking cast. While Jon was in the hospital lat week at OSU Barb had a high fever and was feeling and looking more miserable than I think I've ever seen her so she went to the doctor and a CAT scan was ordered. We were concerned that she might have the infection Jon had. She was evidently so concerned about that possibility that she was positively joyous to find it was "just diverticulitis." She joins a long line of relatives with that ailment I understand. She had a check-up with her oncologist this last week and everything looks okay. I'm recovering from an ear, nose, throat infection but doing okay otherwise. Everyone else is fine healthwise as far as I know. Josh and Angelique are both celebrating birthdays this month. I cannot believe my youngest grandson will be 20!!!
Must go--Columbus has a really big arts and crafts show and ouor favorite artist from California is here. We are anxious to catch up on news of his health and his family. Hope you are enjoying the same weather we've been having.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
