Wow if it weren't for Dave helping with this blog I don't think you would have any updates! It is a good thing we make a great team LOL!
I got to stay the night with Abi last night and I forgot to take my camera. I was bummed about it. I really want some pictures of her walking. Even though she thinks she looks like a granny with a walker.
Today I was able to get Abi to drink 7 ounces of a carnation instant breakfast. But it has to be chocolate or she won't touch it! I had to push it constantly, even in therapy, when she was taking breaks. She ate a few potato chips for me also. When I talked to her a few minutes ago she said she ate a few bites of her chicken at dinner. They finally have her feeding tube turned way down at night. Hopefully after a few nights of this she will start to get an appetite. She has no desire for any kind of food whatsoever, so we just have to force her to try a few bites. The problem with not taking in enough calories is that her body will start to consume itself with the energy it needs to recover from her therapies.
I am also hoping that she can start blogging just a bit every few days. I think it will be therapeutic for her. You can now catch her on facebook as well once or twice a day. She wears out extremely easily so she won't spend much time on it, mostly she wants to sleep more than anything.
Recreational and occupational therapy want to take her to the gateway shopping. She said it would ruin her reputation to be caught down there in a walker. Then they said they should go out to lunch at a restaurant and she said she wasn't hungry. They suggested going for a ride on the Trax train but it seemed too overwhelming of a thought for her. Maybe next week some of these ideas will seem more appealing. Mostly I think her lack of energy eclipses everything else in her life!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Whoops
Sorry, my mind isn't what it used to be, or maybe never was. Abi was also visited by her sister Linda and family from Duchesne. That made her really happy as well as Linda.
A blessed afternoon
I took the day off yesterday to do some work on the church and spend the afternoon with Abi. It was a very blessed afternoon. She had a busy afternoon. They changed the dressing and filter on her incision. They thought about closing it up, but decided to wait an other day or two to allow it to come together a little more. That made her late for OT so they reschedule. Right after they finished the dressing, the Physical Therapist came in. It took her a little bit to get going, but then she walked quite a ways (using her walker) She had to stop and rest a couple of times. Occupational Therapy caught up with us in the hall, so it was strait to their treatment. She did very well with them. When we got back to the room she was really beat, but still had a smile. She slept for a while and Caleb and a friend came for a half hour or so. Josh came up and then Stacey came and spent the night with her. It was indeed a blessing to see may "baby girl" smiling. She still needs to start eating real food instead of those vanila shakes through the feeding tube.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Rehab Rocks!
Rehab Rocks when you have a really nice therapist! Abi has 2 therapists who take great care of her. They push her but not too hard. I was going to post some pics but my internet is not cooperating.
Anyhow, Abi did so awesome today! She was given 2 goals for walking one was about 30 ft away and the other was about 60 ft. away. Abi surprised us all and walked about 150 ft. The greatest part is that she did it with the proper technique, not putting any weight on her left leg.
Earlier she walked herself to the restroom twice and also asked if she could get up and brush her teeth by herself. She has to use a walker, but it gets her mobile. I tell her baby steps when she gets frustrated and then when she is doing good I encourage her to do more.
Movement is difficult with the left leg. She has lost a lot of muscle mass in the right leg as well and can not lift her leg straight up. It goes to the inside and she can not control it. It will take some time to get her muscles back to normal. Also it takes a ton of core muscles to lift legs and move them the way she is supposed to. And her core muscle in her abdomen has been cut through and is not healed yet. It makes things really difficult to deal with when you have spinal and pelvic injuries on the back and a large incision on the front.
No weight bearing on the left leg allowed. No moving with out a brace on. She must walk with a walker which requires her to bear weight on her arms in turn causing pain in her front incision. She really can't win either way she looks at it.
Today she did not eat much, by that I mean she ate 2 small potato chips. She has a feeding tube at night and they keep it turned up to 70. I am convinced that the feeding is what causes her vomiting at night. Which in turn causes her to be nauseated for most of the morning and not want to eat for the entire day. She has absolutely no appetite what so ever. We can not entice her with anything. She could care less. We have pretty much tried everything. I think if they let her go with out the tube for 1 night she would have the desire to try something. For all of her progress, I am most worried about the eating. I am worried that she will develop an eating disorder from this ordeal. When I say that she eats nothing I really mean nothing.
In the last 22 days she has had 6 bites of apple sauce ( weeks ago when they were doing speech therapy), 4 baby bites of chicken last night , 2 small potato chips today, and a bite of graham cracker last week. If there was anything else last week I was not made aware of it.
Physically she is coming along which is a huge praise! I just wish she would start to eat. She needs to eat in order to fully recover.
I promise more pics soon! Just as soon as my internet works properly!
Anyhow, Abi did so awesome today! She was given 2 goals for walking one was about 30 ft away and the other was about 60 ft. away. Abi surprised us all and walked about 150 ft. The greatest part is that she did it with the proper technique, not putting any weight on her left leg.
Earlier she walked herself to the restroom twice and also asked if she could get up and brush her teeth by herself. She has to use a walker, but it gets her mobile. I tell her baby steps when she gets frustrated and then when she is doing good I encourage her to do more.
Movement is difficult with the left leg. She has lost a lot of muscle mass in the right leg as well and can not lift her leg straight up. It goes to the inside and she can not control it. It will take some time to get her muscles back to normal. Also it takes a ton of core muscles to lift legs and move them the way she is supposed to. And her core muscle in her abdomen has been cut through and is not healed yet. It makes things really difficult to deal with when you have spinal and pelvic injuries on the back and a large incision on the front.
No weight bearing on the left leg allowed. No moving with out a brace on. She must walk with a walker which requires her to bear weight on her arms in turn causing pain in her front incision. She really can't win either way she looks at it.
Today she did not eat much, by that I mean she ate 2 small potato chips. She has a feeding tube at night and they keep it turned up to 70. I am convinced that the feeding is what causes her vomiting at night. Which in turn causes her to be nauseated for most of the morning and not want to eat for the entire day. She has absolutely no appetite what so ever. We can not entice her with anything. She could care less. We have pretty much tried everything. I think if they let her go with out the tube for 1 night she would have the desire to try something. For all of her progress, I am most worried about the eating. I am worried that she will develop an eating disorder from this ordeal. When I say that she eats nothing I really mean nothing.
In the last 22 days she has had 6 bites of apple sauce ( weeks ago when they were doing speech therapy), 4 baby bites of chicken last night , 2 small potato chips today, and a bite of graham cracker last week. If there was anything else last week I was not made aware of it.
Physically she is coming along which is a huge praise! I just wish she would start to eat. She needs to eat in order to fully recover.
I promise more pics soon! Just as soon as my internet works properly!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Laughter Is Great Medicine!
Abi had some great visits today. The laughter was great and it kept abi in stitches... hahaha get it stitches???
I know that was cheesy, and lame. Forgive me.
It hurts for Abi to laugh but I think it is such great medicine. She was in such a great mood and her energy was great for the most part.
Josh stayed the night with Abi last night and it was a good break for my mom. I am sure having Josh stay over was a great thing for Abi as well.
Her BFF came in to see her and have a sleep over tonight. Abi has not seen her in quite some time. Steph stayed with Abi in IMCU but Abi does not remember any of that. So to Abi it seems as if Steph has been away for a very long time. Her BFF is called Right Brain and Abi is called Left Brain. Abi got fairly emotional seeing Steph. Steph brought her a Crispy Chicken Sandwhich from Wendy's and we got her to eat 4 bites of the chicken. They currently have the feeding tube off during the day and turn it back on from 6pm to 6 am. She has no appetite and refuses any food, so 4 bites of chicken was a good thing! The nurse is pushing her to drink the gatorade, that they brought in to her. Now that her feeding tube is off during the day she is not getting any hydration and she needs to start getting some on her own.
Abi has a brain injury, and today that was a lot more apparent to me, than it has previously been, in her sleepy state. It is not something that is immediately noticeable, but if you talk with her long enough, say 1/2 an hour. You will notice she repeats her stories quite a few times with out realizing she has already told them. In the long run it is not something that is going to be life changing. And this is something we are hoping will just be temporary. But it is something that is more subtle. It is funny to tease her about it and she takes it very well. tomorrow she will be so worn out that she won't know what hit her. But it has been two steps forward 1 step back since the beginning.
Today I went to the hospital to help Abi shower. While getting her back into bed I noticed that her hematoma on her back was getting big again. The nurse made a note of it and they are going to have her doctors look at it in the morning. I am adamant that they not touch it with out first numbing her thoroughly. The last time they took care of it, they did it with out any pain relief. I told her she needed to use her words to make sure that they got the point! Please pray that she will not experience any discomfort during the treatment of this hematoma.
Just a reminder that visiting hours are from 4 pm to 8 pm. This ensures that you do not have to wait for her during one of her therapy sessions. They take therapy very serious in REHAB. Therapy takes precedence over everything else. Kids are allowed as long as they are not stressing out the other patients. Her room number is 2616, her phone number is 585-8066. It is a good thing to call before you come up. Especially if it is before visiting hours. She has a schedule and can tell you what time would be good.
Well that is all for tonight. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Have a great week. I will keep you updated if there is anything new to share.
I know that was cheesy, and lame. Forgive me.
It hurts for Abi to laugh but I think it is such great medicine. She was in such a great mood and her energy was great for the most part.
Josh stayed the night with Abi last night and it was a good break for my mom. I am sure having Josh stay over was a great thing for Abi as well.
Her BFF came in to see her and have a sleep over tonight. Abi has not seen her in quite some time. Steph stayed with Abi in IMCU but Abi does not remember any of that. So to Abi it seems as if Steph has been away for a very long time. Her BFF is called Right Brain and Abi is called Left Brain. Abi got fairly emotional seeing Steph. Steph brought her a Crispy Chicken Sandwhich from Wendy's and we got her to eat 4 bites of the chicken. They currently have the feeding tube off during the day and turn it back on from 6pm to 6 am. She has no appetite and refuses any food, so 4 bites of chicken was a good thing! The nurse is pushing her to drink the gatorade, that they brought in to her. Now that her feeding tube is off during the day she is not getting any hydration and she needs to start getting some on her own.
Abi has a brain injury, and today that was a lot more apparent to me, than it has previously been, in her sleepy state. It is not something that is immediately noticeable, but if you talk with her long enough, say 1/2 an hour. You will notice she repeats her stories quite a few times with out realizing she has already told them. In the long run it is not something that is going to be life changing. And this is something we are hoping will just be temporary. But it is something that is more subtle. It is funny to tease her about it and she takes it very well. tomorrow she will be so worn out that she won't know what hit her. But it has been two steps forward 1 step back since the beginning.
Today I went to the hospital to help Abi shower. While getting her back into bed I noticed that her hematoma on her back was getting big again. The nurse made a note of it and they are going to have her doctors look at it in the morning. I am adamant that they not touch it with out first numbing her thoroughly. The last time they took care of it, they did it with out any pain relief. I told her she needed to use her words to make sure that they got the point! Please pray that she will not experience any discomfort during the treatment of this hematoma.
Just a reminder that visiting hours are from 4 pm to 8 pm. This ensures that you do not have to wait for her during one of her therapy sessions. They take therapy very serious in REHAB. Therapy takes precedence over everything else. Kids are allowed as long as they are not stressing out the other patients. Her room number is 2616, her phone number is 585-8066. It is a good thing to call before you come up. Especially if it is before visiting hours. She has a schedule and can tell you what time would be good.
Well that is all for tonight. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Have a great week. I will keep you updated if there is anything new to share.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
FRIDAY NIGHT SATURDAY MORNING
Abi has had kind of a rough 24 hours. The therapy sessions have been rather strenous. The wear her out and then she sleeps. She has been in pain a lot today. They have had the brace off today as much as possible. They changed the charcoal filter in her incision. It was painful as the skin had adheared to the filter in a couple of spots. Also the tape was really stuck in a few spots. The nurses were very kind with her. She has been awake and talking with us and joking. It is so great to see her smiling and giving all of us crap. The crying when she is in pain is not nice at all. She has a corrset type thing around her middle. It is like a back brace the that contractors wear. We are very optomistic for her. God has bless us so much.
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