Rich D
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Below is an update on Russ from my sister.
"Russ is doing well. He has been home 11 days already and we have only had one set back. He had a seizure last Wednesday and had to be taken back to the hospital. They increased his seizure medicine and sent him right back home. His back seems to be healing properly now and he doesn't seem to have as much numbness and leg pain like before. I think his worst pain now is his head not his back. He has a great appetite and overall seems generally healthy. Mentally - Russ still has many problems. He has acquired a taste for swearing..like a true trucker as a matter of fact. He also can be very demanding and irritable but in the next moment he can be as sweet as pie. He can tell you F/U, get me a drink NOW, and I love you sweetie all in one breath.... You can imagine our confusion the first couple days. However we are getting accustomed to Russell's new form of language and personality. He has sworn so much in the last week or so that I don't seem to notice it as much. The kids of course find humor in it. And Nicole has informed me the 6th graders on the school bus still swear more than her dad..... Needless to say...... I am hoping this is part of the healing stage and this too shall pass.
I have found the hardest part of taking care of Russ is trying to get him to do things on his own and sleeping. Motivation and Initiation is just not there for Russ yet. Even simple things such as drinking and sitting up. He constantly is asking for help and assistance. Russ can actually do a lot more for himself than he gives himself credit for. But I guess from being tended to 24/7 in the hospital he is use to that constant guidance and support. I have to admit it becomes very tiresome. Its a fight to have him just to sit up in a chair a couple hours a day. I have only been able to get him outside a couple times. One day I had him take a walk up the street a couple houses and back and Friday I coaxed him for a wheel chair ride to the ball field and back. The funny thing is in his mind he wants to do everything. Just last night he told me he needed to buy his hunting license to go hunting on Saturday but yet all weekend I couldn't even get him to sit up longer than 1 hour total all day. Hopefully with time he will be able to do more and more on his own.
Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy all come to the house twice a week. A nurse and nurses aide also come twice a week. The nurses aide is a god sent. She comes and bathes and shaves Russell a few times a week. This works out perfect since I am back to work and she is scheduled to come on days Bobby watches Russ. The other days I bathe him but that means he has to be up by 5:30 - 6 so I can have him showered before I go to work. That's hard... plus I really suck at the shaving thing.
Today I put a call in to the doctors. I am checking to see if the therapists can come more than twice a week. I don't understand how Russ can go from having therapy twice a day everyday when he was in the hospital to just twice a week, 20 minutes at most, when he is home. I feel he is losing his endurance that he was building while he was an inpatient. Russ hasn't even been in a car since his ride home from the hospital. I don't see how he will ever graduate to outpatient therapy at this rate.
I also want to mention to all of you please feel free to stop by and visit Russ at home. It truly does lift his spirits and it keeps his mind off of his problems. Heck maybe you can even motivate him into a nice walk or you could just distract him long enough that he sits up for a while. Someone is there with him all day long. Russ is awake all day into early evening. He usually tires and is ready for bed around 8 - 8:30 PM. Russell's parents are there watching Russ - Mon and Weds till 3, Carole F on Thursday afternoons, my brother Richard - Tuesday nights and Friday nights
"Russ is doing well. He has been home 11 days already and we have only had one set back. He had a seizure last Wednesday and had to be taken back to the hospital. They increased his seizure medicine and sent him right back home. His back seems to be healing properly now and he doesn't seem to have as much numbness and leg pain like before. I think his worst pain now is his head not his back. He has a great appetite and overall seems generally healthy. Mentally - Russ still has many problems. He has acquired a taste for swearing..like a true trucker as a matter of fact. He also can be very demanding and irritable but in the next moment he can be as sweet as pie. He can tell you F/U, get me a drink NOW, and I love you sweetie all in one breath.... You can imagine our confusion the first couple days. However we are getting accustomed to Russell's new form of language and personality. He has sworn so much in the last week or so that I don't seem to notice it as much. The kids of course find humor in it. And Nicole has informed me the 6th graders on the school bus still swear more than her dad..... Needless to say...... I am hoping this is part of the healing stage and this too shall pass.
I have found the hardest part of taking care of Russ is trying to get him to do things on his own and sleeping. Motivation and Initiation is just not there for Russ yet. Even simple things such as drinking and sitting up. He constantly is asking for help and assistance. Russ can actually do a lot more for himself than he gives himself credit for. But I guess from being tended to 24/7 in the hospital he is use to that constant guidance and support. I have to admit it becomes very tiresome. Its a fight to have him just to sit up in a chair a couple hours a day. I have only been able to get him outside a couple times. One day I had him take a walk up the street a couple houses and back and Friday I coaxed him for a wheel chair ride to the ball field and back. The funny thing is in his mind he wants to do everything. Just last night he told me he needed to buy his hunting license to go hunting on Saturday but yet all weekend I couldn't even get him to sit up longer than 1 hour total all day. Hopefully with time he will be able to do more and more on his own.
Physical, Occupational and Speech therapy all come to the house twice a week. A nurse and nurses aide also come twice a week. The nurses aide is a god sent. She comes and bathes and shaves Russell a few times a week. This works out perfect since I am back to work and she is scheduled to come on days Bobby watches Russ. The other days I bathe him but that means he has to be up by 5:30 - 6 so I can have him showered before I go to work. That's hard... plus I really suck at the shaving thing.
Today I put a call in to the doctors. I am checking to see if the therapists can come more than twice a week. I don't understand how Russ can go from having therapy twice a day everyday when he was in the hospital to just twice a week, 20 minutes at most, when he is home. I feel he is losing his endurance that he was building while he was an inpatient. Russ hasn't even been in a car since his ride home from the hospital. I don't see how he will ever graduate to outpatient therapy at this rate.
I also want to mention to all of you please feel free to stop by and visit Russ at home. It truly does lift his spirits and it keeps his mind off of his problems. Heck maybe you can even motivate him into a nice walk or you could just distract him long enough that he sits up for a while. Someone is there with him all day long. Russ is awake all day into early evening. He usually tires and is ready for bed around 8 - 8:30 PM. Russell's parents are there watching Russ - Mon and Weds till 3, Carole F on Thursday afternoons, my brother Richard - Tuesday nights and Friday nights
That'll get him up/down those stairs.
