Monday, April 6, 2015
Update # 196
8 Years
FREE AT LAST!!! Thank God Almighty, Jeff’s free at last! He has no “things” attached “to” or “in” in his body.
Early last Friday morning, Jeff had an appointment back at Barnes with Dr. DiPersio’s nurse practitioner, Stephanie. The rehab van drove Jeff, Meridith, and me to/from the hospital/Barnes. Jeff had a list of questions and requests that Steph answered or granted.
Yes, the 3 daily Heparin shots could stop. Jeff is moving quite a bit in therapy so the chance of blood clots due to lying in bed is diminished.
Yes, the PICC line could be removed. No medicines were ever given by IV at the rehab hospital and weekly routine blood counts can be taken by a vein. A nurse came into his room about 10:00 PM Friday night and pulled the line. Yeah! Jeff was able to exercise his left arm more today since he was free to stretch it without any hindrance.
Yes, the trach could be removed. Jeff had done a week and a half of rehab with no breathing problems. But the rehab respiratory therapist asked Jeff if he would be willing to wait from Friday to Monday for her to remove the trach. She would rather be able to see Jeff daily than to have weekend people check on him. Jeff also felt more comfortable with her idea. So at 7:20 this morning, she pulled the trach. Double Yeah!!
Friday afternoon right after lunch, the case worker came to Jeff’s room to finally discuss his weekly meeting the staff had on Thursday. Jeff’s functioning level rose from 1 to 3. Pretty impressive! They were thrilled to see how much movement Jeff had gained in his core/back, arms, and legs.
PT had Jeff “walking” again with the harness. He really concentrated to have his feet and legs work more straight. Today, they had him on his hand and knees for 35 seconds without help. I noticed that left arm really quivering but it never gave out. Great first time after the PICC line removal. Now he needs to work on loosening the left shoulder.
Jeff is trying to do some things on his own. Last evening, he transferred from the wheelchair to his bed using the sliding board by himself. He demonstrated that again this morning with OT.
OT and PT gave Jeff 2 days of relaxation. He had no scheduled sessions but did a few exercises on his bed over the weekend.
One exercise that Jeff enjoyed doing on his own Saturday afternoon was – their taxes. He really was happy to be able to do taxes himself!
The 4 of us had a wonderful quiet Easter. There were 9 people plus the Chaplain at the Easter morning Bible reading service. Ken’s brother arrived about 11:00 AM, had lunch with us, visited, and left around 2:00 PM. We then Skyped with Meridith’s family in the afternoon. So we all enjoyed spending Easter with family.
We pray you had a glorious Easter celebration with your families. The Resurrection of Jesus was especially meaningful for us this year following the ups and downs of the last weeks. New life and rebirth are a wonderful sight to behold. Thanks for your prayers that give Jeff strength to work on rebuilding his life.
love,
Marcia