Seth-n-Jode's Adventures

My Mom had to leave today to get back to her ranch and also help my sister with some things in Steamboat.  She has been with me 24/7 since the day after Seth's accident.  I want to tell you a little about my Mom (Donna) because she is truly an amazing woman.  Not only that, she is an angel.

She grew up on a farm in South Dakota.  This is a picture of her when she was three or four with her twin brother Don.  She went to nursing school and then moved to Colorado where she met my dad, John Ashbaugh, who was a rancher.  She was a nurse for 42 years before she retired a few years ago.  During all these years, she also helped Dad run their cattle ranch in Steamboat, CO and then eventually in Craig, CO.  My dad died in 1990 from a traumatic head injury while horseback riding.  My mom kept her job nursing and ran the ranch.  She is one tough lady. 

When I first saw her after Seth's accident, I saw the same look in her eye as when my dad had died. My mom has seen these things being a nurse in a hospital for 42 years.  I was afraid.  I asked her if Seth was going to be OK and she said she didn't know.  That God and Seth would decide these things. 

When I woke up the third or fourth night after Seth had dropped off to sleep in a complete panic, she quietly told me to go try to wake him up if I needed to.  When I couldn't breathe for the fear of the journey I was on and where it might lead, she stroked my hair and asked me, gently, to breathe.  No not fast like that.  Slow.  Steady.  When I have nightmares, she listens to them.  She makes me eat.  She takes me on walks.  She started to anticipate what I would need and would hand me whatever I was looking for. She showed me how to care for Seth.  She was instrumental in ensuring he received proper medical care particularly when he was not able to communicate what was wrong or what he needed.  I also saw her smile brighten as Seth got better and I instinctively knew he was going to be ok by that very gesture.

When I left the ranch for college, I was sure that I could make it on my own.  And I have.  But in times like these, I give praise to the universe for giving me a Mom like my Mom.  She has said she will come back to Denver to help me care for Seth next week if I need her (especially this tough time before he gets to Craig Rehab) and she will come to Durango when we finally come home to help get us settled in.  She is an angel sent straight from heaven...

So I put Seth through the Routine that I posted in my last blog.  Yesterday, I kind of messed it up because I showered him first and then did all the excercises and then took him for a walk.  And he was all sweaty. And then I put him back in his bed before I changed the linen!  Bad caretaker!

Today, I did it perfect.  We chatted first.  Then we did his leg PT for about 45 minutes.  Then we had lunch.  Then arm PT.  Then he loaded himself onto his wheelchair and he wheeled himself up and down the block two times by himself.  That is incredible!  We are going to have to celebrate!  I have set up one goal for him and that is to be able to wheel himself up to the front door of the hospital.  Its at a bit of an incline and he couldn't quite get the chair up to the door without my assistance so I'll be working to get him to the point where he can do that himself.

Then we had a nice long shower where I soaped him down and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.  He says these showers make him feel human.  Then we put freshly laundered shorts and shirt on.  I changed the linens BEFORE he went back into it.  And then I gave him a foot massage. And then we were both so tired, we had a little nap.  When I asked if he wanted another session of PT before I left, he said he was too tired. Especially because he said he did some of the exercises before I arrived.  So I let it go.  He really worked hard today.  Tomorrow, I told him I'd bring him some Kentucky Fried Chicken for doing so well today.  (I'm letting the raw food thing go for just a little while until I can actually get some poundage back on his bones!)

Judy, Seth's Mom, is now staying with me until I think I can make it on my own.  Our sister in law, Sue and her daughter Maria, often go see Seth in the mornings before I get there to do brain excercises with him, give him coffee and just chat him up.  Everybody is really chipping in to keep Seth in a good place.  It makes my heart happy.