Knit 1, Read 2

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Day 64

Day 64 and trying not to count!

Most of you don’t know that Aaron had a minor accident back in October when he, a passenger, and a four wheeler got into a discussion that the four wheeler won. Passenger was fine – had the sense and agility to jump to safety before impact. Just to be on the safe side, Aaron went to the ER and had x-rays done. He was fine. No problems. Other than he doesn’t carry his insurance card on him, which meant that today, I was still dealing with insurance companies and billing centers. It didn’t help that in November he had a much more serious argument with an antique door – no safety glass – and once again Aaron lost. Still no insurance card, but mom rode to the hospital in the ambulance with him and since we live out past Egypt, I had plenty of time to find his insurance information before they got here. Ya know what? Didn’t make any difference. I have had to make the same number of phone calls about that accident today as the first one! Today was insurance day.

Scott started off with a regular hospital bed, too short. New extensions, bed won’t work properly – new bed. Bariatric, since he’s tall. Insurance company thought we had two beds. That was a four call problem which still isn’t resolved, but it is no longer my problem! The medical equipment people will take care of the rest of the claim. Nice folks. I have to say, of the thirteen (may have been fifteen - I forgot to write down how many times I talked to White River Hospital) phone calls today to insurance companies, hospitals and billing companies, all were very nice and pleasant! It wasn’t a totally traumatizing experience at all!

The new braces have arrived. They had to be fit professionally. We had to do that part twice – but it was here at home. They are heavy and bulky, but they do allow him to walk a few steps unassisted. I’m beginning to be concerned about the pain he is still in. We knew his pain level would go up once he was released to start some therapy, but he’s back to the levels where he was just out of the hospital. Real therapy doesn’t even start until next week or the week after!

We are now in the process of getting ramps out of the house. If you’ve not visited here before, we have steps everywhere. There is not a way out that you are not confronted with at least three steps. Friends are researching aluminum ramps as a temporary fix. I think after this is all over we’ll probably put something in a bit more permanent for our later years.

I am going to try to go back to work full time next week. I am going to feel guilty no matter what I do, but I feel I at least need to try. This is the last nine weeks and I almost missed last nine weeks. In many ways it doesn’t seem like it has been that long, at least to me. I am sure it is more of an eternity to Scott.

Lyn, Aaron, Gene and Beckie came to visit last week. Aaron went to New Orleans after leaving here. He was not impressed. Lyn, Beckie and I had fun shoe shopping and going to pick up braces and our latest vehicle. We bought my dad’s van from the estate. We are fairly sure Scott will be able to get into it and reasonably sure he’ll be able to drive it eventually.

Just some pointers we’ve learned if you are ever in similar circumstances to ours.

1. Water chestnut cans under the back legs of a futon make it more comfortable for folks over 50 and under 5’5”.
2. Clorox wipes used on the hands several times a day will cause dryness. Use baby washcloths or wipes instead.
3. Corn bags heated for 3 minutes and applied to aching joints cause instant sleep when hydrocodone, aspirin, valium, and darvon have all failed for hours.
4. There may be 200 channels, but nothing is on TV on Wednesday night.
5. A loose leaf binder with page protectors lets you put the bill on the left side and the EOB on the right side to see who’s been paid and who’s still whining.
6. Get a big binder.
7. You don’t need to go to town nearly as often as you think you do.
8. The closest store will not have what you desperately need – so just go to the one all the way in town to begin with.
9. Twin sized T-shirt sheets fit hospital beds perfectly.
10. Flannel top sheets are comforting and warm without being heavy.
11. Cats will turn over glasses of water at 2:30 am on a regular basis. Both sets of sheets will get wet when this happens.
12. Hair dryers will overheat before sheets are dry.
13. When #’s 11 and 12 happen, there is a justifiable use for bottled water.
14. Friends and family visiting are better than presents at Christmas.

We’re glad you all keep up with us. Thanks for all the encouragement!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Cable Box Complaints

I am a bit miffed. If Scott were not bedridden I would pull the Comcast box out of the house. These people put two poles in our yard to provide service for others, strung cable wires we have to dodge while mowing, were not going to run cable to our house from the poles THEY PUT IN OUR YARD because it was too farrr, and then charge US to get their service, and when it gets here it is unwatchable. Not just fuzzy. You cannot follow a conversation, much less plot lines. Most any channel above the fifties is interrupted by seconds of blank screen or up to several minutes of constant pixelation. ANYTHING local is digitized and interrupted. The On Demand service only works occasionally. I've called three times today and have only spoken to a native English speaker once. Her grammar wasn't perfect, but at least she was adept enough to schedule a tech to come three days from now. In the past if we had pulled the cable box we would have gotten two local channels with watchable clarity. Now, since our antenna is gone and antenna service is a thing of the past, we are over a barrel if we want to watch TV. If Scott could make it to the den and could watch from his movie library I wouldn't be overly frustrated, because I can watch my two shows after the fact via Bell South on the computer. But since he is tied to one room, he is tied to that TV by default and has no access to his DVD library. I just HOPE the tech is on time and semi-literate Saturday, else my Southern Belle persona may turn to the Joan Crawford-pitbull side and leave marks.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Insert around January 20

Since some of you haven't heard, a little background...My dad, Donald Nelson, went into the hospital the day after Christmas and died on January 6. We buried him on January 9. It was a beautiful service, very simple like he would have wanted, and we were surrounded by friends and family. I was prepared, even if not ready.

This next part is long. Skip to the bottom paragraph for the Reader's Digest version!

Wednesday morning, after Daddy's funeral Friday and the kids had gone back to school in Arkansas, Scott and I were trying to get back into the work routine. He leaves at 3:30 in the morning, I sleep in until 5:30. Like she does every morning, the dog barked a few times when Scott left and I rolled over and went back to sleep. Almost immediately, the phone rang. It was Scott telling me to come outside. That isn't that unusual, but he did sound cold. I believe it was eleven degrees at the time. I grabbed my robe and slippers and headed outside to see whatever it was to see. What I found, was Scott in a heap at the bottom of our back steps, lying on the brick walk, phone in hand. He had stepped off the top step and gone to the bottom and could not move. By the time I ran in to get blankets and pillows, he had called the ambulance and work to say he didn't think he'd be in that day! Amazing.

Eleven hours in the ER, traditional x-rays, 1 1/2 hour MRIs, and a CT scan (which required a field trip across town via ambulance to another hospital) later, he was admitted to the hospital. This was after the doctor got so tickled at his Sherpa hat that she almost couldn't do the exam. This was also after they put him in knee immobilizers and tried to get him to stand to release him. That didn't work, which actually was what told them what all the tests didn't show. His quadraceps were completely detached from both knee caps. (That would actually show up later in surgery. More about that later.)

Neither Scott's usual orthopedist nor the one the hospital has practicing there could fit him in to surgery until Friday, so we spent the rest of Wednesday and Thursday and Friday until noon looking at the walls and eachother. Honestly, I did go to school on Thursday for most of the day. I had to get stuff ready for my second graders. He had company and lots of drugs, so he made it. I had intestinal distress due to stress.

Come Friday morning, we went from thinking his surgeries were at 4:00 to 10:00, and then 2:00. So, they came to get him at noon. Four hours later the doctor told me both surgeries had gone well, but that his injuries were much more severe than he originally thought. He removed lots of clotted blood and clumps of stuff that forms when you swell somewhere due to injury and said had that been the only thing he did, Scott would have felt better. But, since the damage was so complete, he was able to basically use God's parts and pattern and sew his muscles back to his knee caps with a miracle substance known as fiber wire. I must admit, as a former computer teacher, I thought he said fire wire. Thought I was going to get to plug Scott in somewhere in the system! According to Dr. Stacy Dinkins, local healer and self proclaimed "dumb bone guy," this fiber wire is stronger than rope, will not disolve and will support the muscles and knees the rest of Scott's life. The fact that the damage was complete actually made the repairs better.

He enjoyed being asleep under anesthesia a bit more than he should have so they had to wake him up with more drugs and some oxygen. When he finally got back to me, he was in a good mood, remembered asking the nurses if they would pray and then he remembered waking up. He had two femoral nerve blocks which lasted into Saturday. That was a blessing. The pain was different, but it was still severe. We were both flabergasted when his favorite nurse turned Nazi and made him stand up. She was sweet about it the next day and he was able to walk about 20 steps. Monday, he managed about forty feet. No walking Tuesday. We had to get ready to go home.

Arranging for home health, hospital beds and wheelchairs, checking out of the hospital, and ambulance rides with Frick the flirt and a one-armed Frack should not be attempted by the weak of heart. Home health was a breeze. Hospital bed is too short. Checking out of the hospital was a breeze. Frick and Frack were not only separate pieces of work for different reasons, they couldn't get him in the house. Did I mention it was snowing and 27 degrees and Scott had on a tee shirt and his drawers besides the immobilizers? (Oh, and the funny Sherpa hat.) Thank goodness for exceptional neighbors who are able to provide a fourth and fifth arm. (You thought I was kidding that the other guy only had one arm, didn't you?) Know what's funny? They knew how big Scott is before they got there.

He has to keep his knees perfectly straight for a month. Then, we will see if he gets a slight bend for another month. Then, we start rehab.

So now it is nearly nine pm and he is doped to the gills and we will make it till tomorrow. We are both glad to be home. It has been a long six days.

READER'S DIGEST VERSION

Scott had a really bad fall early Wednesday morning. Detached both knee caps. He wore a funny hat to the ER. Put him back together on Friday. Came home from hospital Tuesday. Eight weeks in a hospital bed. We are both pooped, but he gets drugs.

End of month two

Wednesday, we got a call from the RN who is Scott’s case manager. She is in charge of getting us a ride to the hospital since Scott can’t bend. By the time we got off the phone, Scott and I were both freaking out. She had never seen injuries as bad as his before. She could not understand why Scott was not in a nursing home. She was sure it had had been terribly hard on me to provide all his care. She could not believe I left him home alone to go to work. She implied that she wasn’t entirely sure walking was going to be in the near future, much less by a month from now as we had been hoping. By the time I got to work, I was blubbering at lunch during our team meeting. The staff was very supportive and felt the case manager might be a bit pessimistic.

We went to the doctor Thursday. Getting there was even more interesting this time! The same company which doesn’t want to pay for an ambulance to take Scott to the doctor sent two, yes, that is 2 ambulances and four crew members. So, we got there without any terrible occurrences. This crew was as personable and capable as the last crew, although riding backward in an ambulance after being immobile for two months can induce some serious carsickness.

As hyped up as we were before getting to the doctor, the sense of relief once with Dr. D was amazing. The puffy redness on his right knee is just due to the body trying to reject some of the 200 or so internal stitches. Doc removed five or six while we were there. I almost got carsick on that one…ick. The knot and dent in his right leg is just due to muscle atrophy and the new exercise regimen should begin to take care of that in a matter of days. The healing process is “golden” according to Dinkins. We start physical therapy at home as soon as the PT can get here, then outpatient will start about two weeks after that, then Scott’s knees can get to a workable 45 degree bend. In five weeks or so, we will hopefully be close to the magical 90 degree point to be able to sit in a chair and stand without help! Walking with a walker and new braces will start next week; we have made it to the big goal!

Lyn will be here for a week. Gene and Beckie (Arkansas friends) are coming for a few days to help me buy a van, and Aaron will be home at least for the weekend. There is hope that the Christmas tree will be down before I go back to work full time! I do hope that by the end of the two weeks of spring break that Scott will be able to get about on his own (the braces will lock to not allow his knees to bend either backward or too far in the normal direction) at least enough to get him to the wheelchair point.

So many people have been so good to us. There are too many to mention individually. People have brought food, visited while I tried to work, stayed a week during the snow days just to give me a breather, bought him guitar to ease the boredom, made calls to Chattanooga to the insurance company, gave me money to survive the hospital, came to the rescue when we had less than capable ambulance drivers, replaced a too short hospital bed with a longer one, only to return with a new, larger bed, called on the phone just to pass the time, accepted phone calls at 3:00 a.m., bought and put in a jungle gym in the kitchen to make getting in and out of bed a possibility…the list goes on and on. We do have exceptional friends and family.

The emotional roller coaster of the last two and a half months have been demanding on both of us. Scott has been an exceptional patient and exceptionally patient. That play on words is not nearly as good as his saying he was not an invalid, but that he was in-valid. Even though we have at least five more weeks to go before we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we do at least know that the tunnel does actually end.