Thursday, December 11, 2008

hospital

I'm in the hospital ... recently switched to rehab ... i was in a car accident Sat, pick up turned right in front of me, i had no choice but to hit it. Monday had surgery. two broken leg bones, messy, wrist bone, not so messy. more to follow ...

If you haven't guessed already, the car is totaled and my days of driving stick shift are done for. Yesterday it seems as if the push for me to be more independent has slowed to a crawl. I'm under orders to call for a bedpan rather than hop to the commode. Evidently my bones are so much of a mess that any weight bearing activity is dangerous.


My son brought pizza and a movie yesterday ... certainly a treat. Made my blood sugar rise but forgivable. Earlier a visitor came by and fascinated me with anecdotes about pet birds.
A friend is acting as my "private social worker" and was able to assure me that I'll be able to stay here until at least the end of the month. I was also able to get some suggestions for lawyers.

... Monday. I've got a lawyer. No trouble trusting him since I've known him for about ten years. He will come to visit tomorrow afternoon. he suggests that my son take pictures of me, ugly bruises etc. One of the teachers that I assist came by this evening. I'm so grateful to know so many people who are so generous with time and concern. Especially in this very busy month.

I'm hoping I'll learn more patience because it's my impatience which gives me the most pain.



... update Dec. 16
I'm feeling so blessed in a laid up, banged up sort of way. My therapy sessions were good .. I didn't misbehave and I worked hard ... feeling the burn. Then suddenly I got moved to a new room! It's private and has more room for my equipment. And visitors no longer have to sit on the commode .. I've got a few chairs. My lawyer came by and made me feel that things would wind up OK .. a long time down the road, but OK. Then came Dave the good singer from church. It's nice to have the time to better know people I know by sight.

NEW ROOM NUMBER 3128
NEW PHONE 410-219-1329


Tomorrow, I hope to get things together to wrap presents during occupational therapy. When people are fretting about Christmas preparations, I think I might win the prize. I won't even be able to go home for weeks and weeks. But I had done most of my "shopping" before Thanksgiving.

Dec. 17
I still haven't wrapped presents. I missed OT because of intestinal cramps. But I think I haggled myself permission to use the commode with non-therapist staff.
Huge news of the day is that I have more surgery coming up on Friday. Good new is that it should not set me back to square one on recovery. There a lot of misplaced bone fragment near the achilles tendon that would cause arthritis later. Dr. wants to "smush" them into the right place. Smush is a medical term.
My son brought me some clothes and spread my great get well and Christmas cards around. It really cheers me up to see them.


Dec. 18
here is a call for help. I have a whole lot of forms to fill out and could use some help doing the pen work. PT and oT have just about wiped me out today.




This afternoon the therapy folks brought cookies to my room. They didn't have to do that and could have insisted I take the wheel chir to them. So I am thrilled and have a twinge of good ol American traditional Christmas spirit. Maybe all Ebineezer Scrooge needed was a cookie. God Bless us! Every one!

dec 19 Operation today. I'm back in the tcu with the private room. dr has clout.

Dec. 20 Last night's pain was the worst I can remember, but then we don't really remember pain do we? Today the Kim's brought me some wonderful noodles. Korean food is both hearty and healthy. I also had visits from the Replogles, my "designated social worker" Connie, and a call from my vice principal. My pastor drove all the way to Pittsville to deliver a present to my mentee, who was delighted. I feel so very well cared for.

Dec. 21 - actually it's 4 AM on the 22nd. I am not in pain! and I asked my nurse what pain medicines I've had since early afternoon and he said I haven't had any. Yesterday was full of progress. Finally I got my hair washed. A nice guy from OT did it. My PT person gave me great help with the wheel chair and good exercise too. I have so much strengthening to do. I had great visitors! Gareth and Seth came by, Melesa and Rob Canfield, Judy Meyers brought real flowering camelias, Julia brought me goodies that included gingerbread and the flavor of Christmas, and Connie brought me a violin motif arrangement. By the time Carol Replogle called to check in, I had gone to bed early.

i had asked to transfer to my bed after i had finished lunch. thy said i had to wait half an hour after eating. i asked if i was swimming. they didn't like that comment and i had to wait over an hour. i hate silliness. it was the first meal i'd had out of bed.

Today I am determined to work on personal stuff. I am feeling overwhelmed about it already. My son has been looking for my car title stuff. My car was paid for more than 4 years ago and I have nice folder - somewhere.
Memo to self - ask Connie her life story.

later...My grandma was proposed to on the longest night of the year - the winter solstice. So it was neat to share that info with my OT who had a new big diamond and was walking on air today.

I did a good bit of phone work and learned where I would be next, and found out my health insurance premium payments during my unpaid leave were about 1/10 what I had expected. What good news!

My wheel chair stamina - sitting and rolling - just about doubled today.

Dec. 23 - father's birthday and i remember interviewing my grandmother about the blessed event. Martha Usilton brought a poinsettia that has a rather unique kind of red, looks painted on. Joni brought me envelopes and stamps. Carol R. called and we talked about all sorts of stuff, shared family histories. Good day for exercise, went to bed early again, but got up early for starters. Gareth and Seth came by. Seth and I are urging Gareth to take some sabbath time.

Dec. 24 - I got a call from my cousin - a son of the other twin in the picture. It has been a good day. Did paperwork while listening to lute music on Pandora. Next month I'll be roughing it - no way to plug my computer into the net. The place has a room that has some desktops, so i may blog a bit. Catch up reading here I come. Looks like I'll be back in a tiny space again.

Dec.26 - If one can be considered busy while moving in slow motion that's me today. I washed labels over the coffee cups I gave to the therapy staff (along with fair trade coffee which I, in turn, bum in the morning). My son found my car title (in a box labeled old files) and I made some progress toward getting a new car. Now I've got my legs up in bed and am watching House.

Dec. 28 - Morning finds me not so much full of self pity as annoyed or disgruntled. I'm tired of waking up with casts immobilizing my left side and unable to wash parts of my body or go to the toilet without company. I also can't find ways to be more independent except to keep developing my muscles.

I'm grateful for the cheerful crew in morning therapy and the coffee they make (Union Victoria Guatemalan coffee!). Maybe we're all cheerful because we're all taking Oxycontin, but it's nice to be social. I'm not a terribly social person at work, but I miss the interaction I have.

Someone taught me a neat card trick yesterday. I spent much of yesterday trying to figure out the math behind it. Started to make a spread sheet to show the possibilities. Writing functions helped me see the relationships. I think what made the trick seem so amazing is that there are both ordinal and cardinal numbers to consider.

I got to show the card trick to a nurse a then to a fourth grade teacher friend (who brought oranges!). If you wish to see it, bring a deck of cards when you visit.

I'll be working on origami projects in the coming month.

As I write this I'm hoping to see a friend who's just had knee surgery. Also praying for his recovery.

I'll be moving to the Salisbury Center nursing facility (known as Genisis) tomorrow, New Year's Eve. I am in 517 (which is as far away from the computer room as can be).
It's time to close this blog entry and start a new one called "nursing home". Click here to continue.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Waiting



One of my favorite bloggers remarked on the events of a few days ago, black Friday, as an instance of the need for waiting, and specifically, waiting on God.  I've never understood Black Friday, maybe because I'm an INTJ which classifies me as highly independent and an introvert. "Hey let's go join a huge crowd and buy what everyone else wants." No thanks. But the importance of waiting applies to me as well. I would like to be relieved of pain yesterday. I feel I have a right to eat sweets every day.  I want my friends and family to be immediately enthused about my ideas.  I want my students to follow my directions the first time -- actually that's one of my classroom rules which I would find hard to give up ... it prevents me from doing the broken record thing.

Psalm 37:
7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. 8.Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.

Today I have gratitude for the music teacher who taught me to sing that psalm in a song, O Rest in the Lord from Mendelssohn's Elijah. And thanks as well, to Mendelssohn who also wrote the melody for "Hark the Herald". Which takes me around the circle to the words of the great satirist Tom Lehrer
Hark the herald tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry, merchants,
May you make the yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high
Tell us to go out and buy!

As with many of Lehrer's topics, over the years they have worsened into tragedy.