CRAIG HOSPITAL: Week 1

Tuesday, April 2

We arrived at Craig around noon. As soon as we got into Josh's room, his nurse, Sara, started the 1 hour total evaluation on him. She ran tons of tests, asked questions that I had to answer because he was still heavily drugged up from the flight, cleaned up his dressings on his owies, cleaned him up and sent him on his way to get a MRI, which he does not remember. Our buddy Cam Asay, who we went to school with, showed up out of the blue! I forgot they moved from New Mexico. Anyways, he hooked me up with a truck so I could get around a little easier. What a stud!

After all the evaluations and tests and stuff, they realized that the chest tube was no longer working properly, so it needed to be replaced, with two tubes! One to drain fluid at the bottom of the lung and one to drain the air pocket at the top! So, here we were thinking he was going to get that dang chest tube out so he could hit it hard here at rehab, but now he has to get it replaced and be bed-ridden even longer:( he can't sleep, he's drugged up from so much pain in the chest, he can't get comfortable....but, they think he would only need it for a day or two. Just a speed bump...

Wednesday

Josh got his chest tube out and it was replaced by 2 smaller ones. He still had some discomfort, but not like before. So that was good.

Before...

After...

 

He still gets the shakes so bad and they last forever! We have to cover him up with lots of warm blankets to get him to settle down....then he gets a high fever. We just can't win. But, as soon as he warms up, we take the blankets off and his temp goes back down.

TMI you've been warned...

There are some other problems he's had as a result of his spinal cord injury. One is he is so backed up from just laying around and all the narcotics he's been on. They have tried so many things and it just results in him feeling even worse. :(. The second thing is he had a priapism, which can be very dangerous. Look it up if u really want to know what that is. But they did about 2 different abrasive procedures to help it, and none of them worked! I was sick! And even though he can't feel anything, his body can so after each procedure, his body would go into convulsions! At this point, I was starting to lose it. I didn't think I could take any more bad news. :( Just another speed bump...

Josh's new "Green Monster". Lol! 3 weeks clean!

 

Thursday

Josh got his chest tubes out today! Yay!

During...

After....tube free!

This was his first day out of bed in 3 days! His Dr. let him get the neck part taken off. Thank goodness! That thing was so annoying. Now for a hair cut and shave....

This is the hallway that connects the east wing to the west wing. Lots of nice sunshine:)

So the way this rehab works is, when you first get their, you are admitted to the west side where the nurses are on hand all the time to help you. Spinal cord injuries on the 3rd floor, brain injuries on the 2nd floor. All I can say is thank goodness he's not on the 2nd floor! Anyways, once you become more independent, they send you over to the east side in an apartment like setting and that is where you transition into living at home. I get to move in with him at that point, even though I have slept in his room since he got here, but then I won't have to run to my apartment to shower n stuff. :) There will still be nurses if he needs them, but they encourage him to take care of himself.

Friday

Finally got a dang haircut! Thank goodness for one of Josh's nurse techs bringing in her own pair of clippers for me to cut his hair. He even shaved! He's a new man!

My sister Charity made that banner in the background. We love it!

Saturday-Sunday

Josh's brother Chase flew in Saturday night. He hadn't got to see josh yet since he lives back east and was in the middle of his work week. So he was excited to finally get to spend time with his big brother. Even if its just sitting around staring at each other. Hahaha! Then Sunday we just hung out and watched/listened to LDS conference when we could. My favorite talk was by Elder Holland. "All things are possible to them that believe". That is so what I needed to hear. Even though we were all spiritually lifted, I could tell something wasn't quite right with josh. He just seemed really bummed. It hurts me so bad to see him like this. I'm sure it's because of 2 days of doing nothing after an unproductive, trying week, valium out of his system and more time and a clear mind to "think", which isn't the best at this point. Monday has to be better!

Monday: Training Day!

It's Josh's birthday today and it's snowing!!! That is crazy because Saturday it was in the 70's! Crazy weather here. We didn't do much for his birthday today. We are lame. But he got a couple of packages, so that was exciting! This is the first day of actually doing therapy with his Physical Trainer, Joe. Last week all they did was tests. They did this one test called the ASIA test. They use a Qtip and both ends of a safety pin to brush, touch and poke different areas of his body to test the sensitivity and document exactly where he has all, partial or no feeling. They repeat this test before he goes home. So today Joe had him work on transfers and did some stretches to test his range of motion.

He also worked with his Occupational Therapist, MaKenzie, on a couple of different transfer moves. Like getting into bed and back out. It's crazy how difficult that is when u don't have the use of your legs or abs! Josh's upper body is going to be taking a beating! So that is why he will start working out his upper body to get it even stronger. But, both his trainers are impressed at how strong he is for being laid up for the last 2 weeks. He is a stud! Happy birthday baby!

 

 

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