Seth-n-Jode's Adventures

Hello All!  Seth is pretty much getting around on his crutches now and not going in his wheelchair so much.  He walks from his room to the lunchroom to the therapy room to my apartment.  His right ankle will swell a bit if he's on it too much but he really seems to be gaining noticeable strength by the day.  The doc is writing a prescription for a wheelchair if we think Seth will need it in Durango but we aren't sure he'll need it.

Also Seth's left hand and arm are getting stronger by the day.   He was cutting up some of his dinner tonight and remarked "Hey, I'm using my left hand just like normal.  Wow!".  It was really great to see.

No new news on our status or discharge date which seems to always be in flux and is almost certain to be sooner than August 29th at this point.  I think the insurance company has a special program to distress spouses and hurt patients by keeping them in limbo.  They must practice this a lot because they are really good at it.

We did inform Dr. Ripley and our social worker that we were definitely going home and would not do outpatient at Craig (which would mean staying in Denver for another month and doing therapy for only three hours per day for only three days per week).  We thought this was just too light of a schedule to justify staying in Denver.  I really waiver on this decision because I will always do what's right for Seth.  But I believe that what is right is for us to come home when they discharge us from the inpatient program which has a comprehensive and intensive daily rehab program.  We'll make our own intense rehab program with the resources in Durango.  I know we can.  I'm not expecting that any one person is going to heal us.  There is no magic bullet with this kind of recovery.  We'll set up a therapy plan that we will work on every single day for much of the day.   This is our primary focus in order to get us both back to 100%!  And I think we'll pick up quite a bit of emotional strength just being home.  So that's my justification.  Maybe I'm wrong (and I always tend to second guess myself on huge decisions like this) but its the decision we've jointly made for what we think is best for the next leg of this journey.

So you ask, why the title?  Why the picture?  Well I'll tell you!  Seth's OT has him doing wax on and wax off just like the Karate Kid.  He has to clean all of the mats once a day by spraying on the cleaner and then using both his right and left arms to clean the mats in a circular motion which helps his shoulder range of motion. And helps out the cleaning staff!   Hopefully, he will graduate to doing some karate kicks before they let us loose!  In any event, Seth and Eric don't look like they have their black belts yet in this photo!