Anybody for a Game of Jeopardy?

Jon had his second appointment with his rehab doctor. We took the dinky list of equipment the physical therapy lab has at Brookview but the doctor seemed to have forgotten that they had suggested coming to Toledo for a couple of weeks of therapy. When I mentioned that he checked Jon's triceps and again found that he has fairly well developed triceps on the left side but is woefully lacking on the right side. . . and the idea seemed to be dropped since again, Jon spent a lot of time talking about an operation at some time in the future. It seems a nurse who goes to the same church he's been attending works at Parkview where he was originally taken a year and a half ago. She told him some neurosurgeons there have been reattaching the spinal cord but he didn't catch their names, or the kind of operation, and the Toledo docs don't seem to keep up on that aspect of treatment--just rehab. Anyway, we came back home with an appointment in the future and no exercises for the hands or the arms. We were both disappointed. Meanwhile, I checked out a fitness center co-sponsored by Defiance College and the local Y. They seemed to think that they had some equipment that would be beneficial and he could work pretty much on his own. There is a trainer available for an extra fee which seemed fairly reasonable to me. Jon assured me he would check it out--sometime.

The rest of us are not too happy with Jon although he seems happy as a lark. He's out everyday by 2 o'clock and getting quite a tan. It seems there's not a friend in town that he can't manage to get to although he's been having some troubles with his battery necessitating someone pushing him up the Northside hill which is pretty steep--cyclists are more apt to walk their bikes than try to peddle up it. He's also gotten hung up on some railroad tracks. Even though they are seldom used it seems like some pretty scary stuff to me, even in the daytime, but these have happened at night. He assures me that the city has put some stone and tar at the crossing making it smoother so he shouldn't get stuck again. He also has taken to coming in rather late at night--Greg took the 2 a.m. call and went out looking for him and I missed a call at 12:30 on my cell phone. Without my hearing aids I can't hear my cell phone even though I keep it about 15 inches from my head!

We went to Walmart today and spent a considerable amount to buy lights, battery and charger, wire, reflectors, etc. which a buddy will use to make his chair more night-worthy. Someone reported that the police had stopped him because he was almost hit by a car but I don't know if this was a daytime incident or night time....I don't always ask for all the particulars! Friends and acquaintances fill us in on events they think we should know about even if there's very little we can do about it. Not sure how to ground a 44 year old man although the thought occurs to me that Brookview could refuse to get him out of bed--mostly I'm being facetious, but then again.....

He's also taken up all his old habits of drinking and smoking which doesn't earn him any Brownie points with us either. His reasoning is that it wasn't his choice to stop and he wants to see if "he can stop on his own." If anyone knows how to successfully explain "addiction" to him we would all be grateful. Our biggest fear is that if, at some point, an operation of some kind is feasible that his lungs would not be up to being exposed to anesthesia for the time period such an operation would require.

My apologies if I sound down and out...it is because I am. All of us put in a lot of time and effort in helping him to recover and we hate to see him seemingly throw it all away. His list of friends who he'll listen to seems to be getting shorter and not all of them are on the same page we are. Unfortunately, Brookview is getting quite perturbed with him and are worrying about their liability in all of this.

We need some magic fairy dust but heartfelt prayers will go a long way, too and we thank you in advance for them!