Measuring progress.
This morning I passed out on the commode. It was frightening, but luckily I wasn't alone.
After a fairly restful night Jacki and I were working together to get me up for the day. Transfer from bed to shower chair, wheel to bathroom, transfer to toilet bench ( a toilet seat that can be positioned over a toilet or equipped with a bucket to catch the daily waste). We did this successfully with the watchful eyes of the aid Ruth. Once I settled onto the toilet seat portion of the bench I found my vision closing in. I let Ruth know and she checked my blood pressure. All good. I was still fading so she had nurse Rikki come assist. This light headedness is a common result once you incur a spinal injury. First suspects are bladder and bowel.
"I am going to cath you Louie," Rikki explained.
"Okay, let's cath me," I replied. Jacki and Rikki looked at each other. Apparently, I had lost consciousness at Rikki's statement and lay naked, sprawled awkwardly on a toilet bench with three women attending to me in a hospital bathroom. Rikki cathed me, removed a meager amount, then I came to and told them I was ready to cath.
Quick side note. This experience has seen me in the most compromised positions possible. The people helping me have never once made me feel embarrassed or ashamed. People I barely or don't even know continue to blow me away. It is truly remarkable. Okay back to the business at hand.
After finishing the real business of emptying my bowels I felt myself fading again. I quickly shuffled on the bench and relief was instantaneous. We think that my position on the toilet seat area may have been cutting off circulation in someway. While this might be uncomfortable to a feeling person, it turns out it makes some without feeling respond in different ways to what the paralyzed body finds threatening. In this instance I became flush, and passed out. Good to know.
Currently we are dealing with pain better and my strength is building daily. Discharge date is March 31st. That's not far from now. Therapy carries on. We strengthen, stretch, balance, transfer, and motor around in the chair navigating the small world outside the hospital. All the therapist have been amazing and extremely supportive. Speech therapy has graduated me into the world confident that my head wound/scalping was not major brain damage. So we have that too.
Oh, the earthquake was a wild ride and required the hospital to relocate the rehab. We are in a newer section of the hospital for the time being as engineers do a thorough examination of the older portion. We will most likely move back next week.
Now what to do about all this COVID 19 business...
Here are a few x rays of my spine from earlier this week. There is a lot of hardware in there.
After a fairly restful night Jacki and I were working together to get me up for the day. Transfer from bed to shower chair, wheel to bathroom, transfer to toilet bench ( a toilet seat that can be positioned over a toilet or equipped with a bucket to catch the daily waste). We did this successfully with the watchful eyes of the aid Ruth. Once I settled onto the toilet seat portion of the bench I found my vision closing in. I let Ruth know and she checked my blood pressure. All good. I was still fading so she had nurse Rikki come assist. This light headedness is a common result once you incur a spinal injury. First suspects are bladder and bowel.
"I am going to cath you Louie," Rikki explained.
"Okay, let's cath me," I replied. Jacki and Rikki looked at each other. Apparently, I had lost consciousness at Rikki's statement and lay naked, sprawled awkwardly on a toilet bench with three women attending to me in a hospital bathroom. Rikki cathed me, removed a meager amount, then I came to and told them I was ready to cath.
Quick side note. This experience has seen me in the most compromised positions possible. The people helping me have never once made me feel embarrassed or ashamed. People I barely or don't even know continue to blow me away. It is truly remarkable. Okay back to the business at hand.
After finishing the real business of emptying my bowels I felt myself fading again. I quickly shuffled on the bench and relief was instantaneous. We think that my position on the toilet seat area may have been cutting off circulation in someway. While this might be uncomfortable to a feeling person, it turns out it makes some without feeling respond in different ways to what the paralyzed body finds threatening. In this instance I became flush, and passed out. Good to know.
Currently we are dealing with pain better and my strength is building daily. Discharge date is March 31st. That's not far from now. Therapy carries on. We strengthen, stretch, balance, transfer, and motor around in the chair navigating the small world outside the hospital. All the therapist have been amazing and extremely supportive. Speech therapy has graduated me into the world confident that my head wound/scalping was not major brain damage. So we have that too.
Oh, the earthquake was a wild ride and required the hospital to relocate the rehab. We are in a newer section of the hospital for the time being as engineers do a thorough examination of the older portion. We will most likely move back next week.
Now what to do about all this COVID 19 business...
Here are a few x rays of my spine from earlier this week. There is a lot of hardware in there.
It seems that the whole human world has joined you this month to face its challenge of a lifetime, to travel a long road with an uncertain outcome.. I found these words today, from Eckhart Tolle: "When the ego weeps for what it has lost, the spirit rejoices for what it has found". Dig deep brothers and sisters, there is something to be found here for all of us. Much love to the Arevalo clan!
ReplyDeleteAre you able to giggle a bit at the ridiculous things you now have to figure out? I'm so glad the pain is improving!
ReplyDelete