Spring has sprung in George's world!!!
After I don’t know how many months of driving him back and forth to hospitals, doctors offices and other appointments, he got up yesterday, got himself dressed, grabbed his car keys (gasp!!) and took himself to get his bloodwork done! Whoo Hoo – HooRay---Yippee!!!!!
Even better, after he left the lab he decided to go to the local auto parts store, the bank and then he went to his favorite grocery store!
He picked up some odds and ends we needed at the house and wandered up and down the aisles, making a point of going to the office to see the owners (he used to always see these folks before he got sick) and speak with them. This is the first time he has actively sought out people he knows and the first time he's tried speaking to anyone outside of family and the medical community. He’s always avoided going where people who knew him before the surgery would be. What a big step he has taken. I am soooo proud of him and so very, very happy for him.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
I need to apologize to all of you who have stopped by to check on us. I didn’t realize that it had been so long since my last post. It seems such a short moment since radiation stopped and recovery truly began.
In that time span some of the following things have popped up:
I was rooting through the sample bag the speech therapist sent home with George. In there were round and oval stickeys with a hole in the center and little plastic and foam buttons that snap into them (now I know they are called baseplates!). Ah…this is what the speech therapist was explaining. She said they just peel and stick. Ok- I peeled the backing off, stuck it on his neck, put the little button in…and watched as he tried to talk and blew the whole contraption clear across the room! Seems there is a liquid adhesive that goes on first to help the stickey stuff stick!!! An ah-ha moment if ever I’ve had one.
Somewhere in the back of my brain I thought that once the radiation burns went away and the IV fluids stopped that all would be well. Ummm Hummmm……did I really believe THAT?!?!?!?!?!?
Fighting – and pleading, and begging, and crying – with the insurance company is becoming a way of life. If they aren’t denying a claim (it’s still a NO for the teeth replacements) they are only agreeing to cover partial payments on the medication. Their opinion was that George only needed to take a certain medication every other day. I won that argument – and boy, was I proud of myself. I did it all without one curse word … not a hell or a damn or anything else that was on the tip of my tongue!
Our 15 year-old grandson decided to try longboarding (a form of skateboard) down an ice-covered street, got caught up on a chunk of ice, fell, slid across about 30’ of roadway, ripped the skin off his arm and wrist and tore the ligaments in his knee. He and his friends were filming it … something only a bunch of 15 year-olds would do…and once he was released from the ER he had to email me the footage. I think I liked it more when I couldn’t see what they were doing!
My apologies to all that live in a cold climate but I have realized that I never, ever, want to live in Alaska, Maine or anywhere else that has true snowfall. Sitting around a warm, cozy fire while snow fell outside and blanketed the world in soft white down was always a fantasy of mine. Now that I have experienced 40+ inches of snow in less than 3 weeks I can honestly say the fantasy is over! I live near the ocean for pete’s sake – not North Dakota!!!! I’ve also noticed I am way toooo old to shovel snow!
Caregiving and snowstorms do not make for smooth sailing…unless, of course, one considers sliding across the bridge from one state to another to visit the surgeon sailing!
There we were, a man that can’t speak and sooo wants to, and a woman saying things that probably shouldn’t be said by anyone, sliding sideways over the bridge and through the snow; 4-wheel drive be damned, a death grip on the wheel, and a husband trying to mime how to handle the slide. Yep- I am not moving farther north…never……ever!!!!!
George is on the road to recovery. I think he is recovering faster physically than he is mentally. He is so very, very tired, still in a lot of pain and still learning how to adjust to all of this. Sometimes he wants to give up and then he has times where he can see better times ahead. The one-day-at-a-time approach is the only thing I know to help him through.
Thank you, all of my wonderful blog friends, for all your continued support for both of us. I have thought of all of you often and you are always in my prayers. I go about my day and think “Ah, I’ll have a chance to catch up tonight,” and then I get caught up in the minutiae of the day and before I know it days and days have flown by.
Now, I am going to post this and go visit your bloggie homes and say HI!
In that time span some of the following things have popped up:
I was rooting through the sample bag the speech therapist sent home with George. In there were round and oval stickeys with a hole in the center and little plastic and foam buttons that snap into them (now I know they are called baseplates!). Ah…this is what the speech therapist was explaining. She said they just peel and stick. Ok- I peeled the backing off, stuck it on his neck, put the little button in…and watched as he tried to talk and blew the whole contraption clear across the room! Seems there is a liquid adhesive that goes on first to help the stickey stuff stick!!! An ah-ha moment if ever I’ve had one.
Somewhere in the back of my brain I thought that once the radiation burns went away and the IV fluids stopped that all would be well. Ummm Hummmm……did I really believe THAT?!?!?!?!?!?
Fighting – and pleading, and begging, and crying – with the insurance company is becoming a way of life. If they aren’t denying a claim (it’s still a NO for the teeth replacements) they are only agreeing to cover partial payments on the medication. Their opinion was that George only needed to take a certain medication every other day. I won that argument – and boy, was I proud of myself. I did it all without one curse word … not a hell or a damn or anything else that was on the tip of my tongue!
Our 15 year-old grandson decided to try longboarding (a form of skateboard) down an ice-covered street, got caught up on a chunk of ice, fell, slid across about 30’ of roadway, ripped the skin off his arm and wrist and tore the ligaments in his knee. He and his friends were filming it … something only a bunch of 15 year-olds would do…and once he was released from the ER he had to email me the footage. I think I liked it more when I couldn’t see what they were doing!
My apologies to all that live in a cold climate but I have realized that I never, ever, want to live in Alaska, Maine or anywhere else that has true snowfall. Sitting around a warm, cozy fire while snow fell outside and blanketed the world in soft white down was always a fantasy of mine. Now that I have experienced 40+ inches of snow in less than 3 weeks I can honestly say the fantasy is over! I live near the ocean for pete’s sake – not North Dakota!!!! I’ve also noticed I am way toooo old to shovel snow!
Caregiving and snowstorms do not make for smooth sailing…unless, of course, one considers sliding across the bridge from one state to another to visit the surgeon sailing!
There we were, a man that can’t speak and sooo wants to, and a woman saying things that probably shouldn’t be said by anyone, sliding sideways over the bridge and through the snow; 4-wheel drive be damned, a death grip on the wheel, and a husband trying to mime how to handle the slide. Yep- I am not moving farther north…never……ever!!!!!
George is on the road to recovery. I think he is recovering faster physically than he is mentally. He is so very, very tired, still in a lot of pain and still learning how to adjust to all of this. Sometimes he wants to give up and then he has times where he can see better times ahead. The one-day-at-a-time approach is the only thing I know to help him through.
Thank you, all of my wonderful blog friends, for all your continued support for both of us. I have thought of all of you often and you are always in my prayers. I go about my day and think “Ah, I’ll have a chance to catch up tonight,” and then I get caught up in the minutiae of the day and before I know it days and days have flown by.
Now, I am going to post this and go visit your bloggie homes and say HI!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)