Category: Magee

Bob is always busy around here. Friday came with a “pedicure” in the morning. The podiatrist came by to clip his toenails. And his nurse Melissa made me cry a little bit when she informed me that if his bladder issues don’t resolve before discharge, that I would potentially need to do the intermittent catheterization at home. I very quickly switched into work mode and said, “Okay. If I have to do it, I will do it”.

Then I watched the procedure today. Not. A. Fan. So PLEASE pray for the bladder issues to rectify. It’s most likely a brain injury issue and not a complication of the repeated bladder infections.

Brian came for ADLs (activities of daily living) as part of OT Friday morning and Bob did a great job getting himself ready. I was shocked at how flexible he is becoming. I told him I should sign him up for yoga. He made a face (sorry Beth).

Speech is always fun and I started the session by grabbing some sequencing cards out of the box and also some where you had to decide which item didn’t belong and explain why. I am always excited to play the brain games with Bob. And we always ask Ashley for more homework.

We played cards for a bit and then I went down to meet with my peer mentor while Bob went to PT. I talked to Ryan for almost an hour. It was an incredible story and 5 years post accident, he said his wife does almost everything she did before the accident and even more. The only thing she doesn’t do yet is drive. But he put the blame more on himself than her. We both got teary here and there but the overall message I got was one of hope. They travelled to Arizona for a vacation 7 months after their accident.

PT with Ranit went well. I came in for the second part of it from my meeting with Ryan. Bob was on his second lap of walking around the gym and then he showed off how he can go up and down a set of four stairs holding both railings. So we need to install a second railing to get into the house.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a meeting with his case manager Trisha discussing discharge planning and the neurology appointment from earlier in the week. Anyone have a neurologist that they recommend from the Philadelphia area? I’m hoping that they are affiliated with Jefferson or Penn and might have office hours on the Jersey side. But the Jersey thing isn’t a deal breaker.

Friday night was a “Brittany, Joey, and Karen Night of Fun”. We headed to AC and had drinks, dinner, and escaped a room. We took it easy Saturday and decided not to drive to Philadelphia in the weather. And we needed a day to recuperate from the fun.

So back I came today to spend the day with Bob in makeup therapies from what he missed Tuesday. We started with Recreation Therapy where Bob decided he wanted to spend time on the computer. He was tasked with creating a new gmail address (which he will likely NEVER use) so I emailed him. And he wrote back.

He also looked up information about the super bowl and watched a bit of the live feed from church this morning.

We had OT with Maryanne. She was super sweet and worked on short walk transfers to a commode and really worked to stretch his left shoulder.

Speech was with Ashley and he did well on the new cognitive log and worked to repeat sets of four words back to her in reverse order. If you zone out, you’re never going to get them right. I had a hard time for a few of them when I lost focus. Bob was working hard. We also did some sequencing of entries in a checkbook to balance it. I know he just wanted to snatch the pencil and start working.

It was a jam packed day. Quick lunch. Room stop for meds and off to PT. He worked on “sit stands” where he has to get up and down over and over. We also played catch where first we did chest passes and then I threw the ball out to his sides for him to grab. He also did a great job again on the stairs.

I gave him another buzz cut and then Brian, Laurie, and Andy came for a visit. It was nice hearing the guys talk about old stories from when they were younger.

We had dinner and Bob got cleaned up. We played SkipBo and worked on speech homework for about an hour. We did the one where I say three words and he comes up with the word that relates to all three. Bob did well, except for fixating on “elephant” as the answer to multiple questions. Made me think of this British version of Family Feud and their fast money round.

Turkey

Overall, busy few days. And he will hit this week hard. We’re bummed to not see Ranit or his day nurse, Melissa, as they are off this week, but we’ll see them next week and we hope they are both having a great time on their trips. Happy birthday Melissa!

It’s been a rough week around here. Tiny baby was admitted to the hospital for two nights for observation. He came home yesterday and when I went to the pediatrics floor to pick him up, his nurse, Laura, actually remembered me from when Michael and my blonde boy had been there years ago for a stay. Tiny baby is getting better; it will just take time for his bronchiolitis to go away. It was really eerie this week to realize that half of my household was hospitalized.

Michael had an endocrinologist appointment that will now require him to have blood work. Which I will take him to. By myself. Anyone ever taken a two year old for labs? Not. Fun.

Bob did see a neurologist from the Atlanticare physicians group, but I no longer have the time, nor the energy, to rant about that visit on here. He did ask the transport team to drop him off at home because he was so close. They declined.

Michael and I went to Bacharach Tuesday night for speech and after a rough start, we ended the trip with a visit to the gym for some music. He now wants a “tar” (guitar).

I checked in to the hotel tonight without fancy club level treatment. Just so you don’t think I’m living it up here, I’m still awake and not sleeping at 1 am and here is my view:

I saw Bob tonight for a couple of hours and I’ll be with him all day tomorrow for therapy. He has told me that he’s working on stairs and we worked on his homework from Ashley (speech therapy). I was impressed with the conversation we had tonight about deciding if “ball” floated or not. Bob said if it was a beach ball, yes, but a bowling ball, no. More than once he told me I was being too “teacher-y”.

The next problem page said “if butter is made from cream then…and if it’s made of something else then…” and there were tasks to do based on which statement was correct. He said, “butter is made from butter”. And then snatched my phone to google it. Ingredients in butter say “80% butter fat” but a recipe for homemade butter says “cream”. The correct answer is cream.

And then we had a conversation about “in front of” and “on top of”. He was having a hard time distinguishing the two. And got a little frustrated.

Hey Bob, Emily is “in front of” Cinderella’s castle wearing a Magee shirt! Love that girl and the time we spent with her last summer.

Bob’s reports from therapy say he was on the vector (a suspension system on a track for walking while only supporting a portion of your body weight) and I watched him use a walker to go from bed to bathroom and back again. He is improving. Little bits at a time, he is getting better.

I also received a call tonight from the spouse of a TBI patient. He has been matched with me as a support person. We are going to try to meet up tomorrow to share stories. I look forward to getting his perspective and hopefully, one day, his wife’s, so I can better understand the things that Bob will feel as we progress. He said something that resonated with me. “It’s only up from here. It’s a very slow process to move up even the littlest amount, but every day is a little bit up.”

I hit a wall at 4 am this morning. And I wasn’t sure I was going to make it over this obstacle. I’ve been running on adrenaline and prayers for the past 7 1/2 weeks and the exhaustion caught up with me. The tiny baby was awake and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through his bottle without completely losing it. But I did. And when my alarm went off at 6, I rallied. Had a mini breakdown at work when I first got there, but I knew our first day of PARCC testing and my probability activities for the week were going to be hits. Hugs and cupcakes from coworkers worked as fuel for my soul today.

I ran what felt like a million errands after work today (it was really only 7 stops) before I got to the hospital. But Bob and I talked on the ride in. He said he was happy to finally hear from me and I told him that we had spoken three times already throughout the day. He said he didn’t remember and he said that made him feel bad about himself. So then I felt badly. But, he did remember that I told him he would have a follow up with his neurologist in EHT next week. So that was huge.

I was really concerned when he said he didn’t remember the details of how Michael came to live with us and information about his birth family. That should be long term memory. I reminded him of the history and I think that he is blocking that out because it is painful to think about that knowing how much we adore Mikey. So there are going to be ups and downs and I realize that I’m not totally prepared for any back sliding. More than once Bob told me that he “doesn’t like not feeling sharp”.

I called the concierge at the hospital, Robin, who has been beyond helpful. He job is to make us all more comfortable. She had a white noise machine put in Bob’s room a few weeks ago and tonight she was preparing to deliver a TV with DVD player for us to watch Stepbrothers. I also asked if she could bring us Pat’s steaks tomorrow for lunch. Her response, “whiz wit?” ABSOLUTELY! It’s a surprise for Bob. I actually told him tonight but I still think it will be a surprise. We’re celebrating our “date-aversary” a few days early.

When I got to the fourth floor, Bob had a party in his room. His brother, Kevin, and cousins, Joe and Johnny, were visiting. He was video chatting with his brother, Ryan. I took everyone to the sixth floor to give a tour and get out of his room for a few minutes. Joe commented, “You really want to leave this place? It’s beautiful!” And it is. But I also know my baby wants to come home. And June 12-19 seems SO far away to be discharged for him.

I also got a text from our sweet neighbor, Elisabeth, that my fur baby, Squalie, is doing well with her. He is on her lap anytime she sits down. Just like Brittany, Joey, and I talk about the baby being “broken” when he is held for an entire weekend, my kitty cat will come home broken for sure! She is spoiling him and I appreciate it and the Squals is loving every second.

Bob was going to get ready for bed so he said “you do you” and sent me off to check in to the hotel across the street. My friend, Michael, was working tonight and he has checked me in a few times before. We had previously discussed that boys named Michael are ornery and he has shared pictures of his adorable niece. And tonight he took care of us. He upgraded us to the club level which is free apps and drinks for happy hour and free breakfast in the morning. He told me to hurry up and go grab a drink and snack before they closed.

I can’t go back to a “regular” room now. I’m spoiled.

The gorgeous view from my room tonight. I told Bob about my four star treatment and he asked if we needed to switch our rewards program from Marriott to Sheraton. Ha!

I went back to the hospital and had a great time laughing at Stepbrothers with my hubs. He was near tears at a few points.

“Did we just become best friends? Yep. Do you wanna do karate in the garage? Yep.”

He loves that movie. I stayed an hour past visiting hours and Bob was afraid I would get in trouble. I didn’t. I have made my way back to the hotel and have continued this evening’s laugh track by watching Impractical Jokers.

I’m excited about therapy tomorrow and for my mom and Michael to come up and spend the night tomorrow. And to go back in the pool since I grabbed my little fish a swim vest. 🙄