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.
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.
posted by Rushton at
7:34 PM
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