Seth-n-Jode's Adventures

Alot of big wins today, 7 in fact.  What a lucky number.  We have to celebrate!

1) Seth was cleared to transfer from bed to wheelchair to commode and back on his own.  This makes him officially much more independent!

2) I became certified to be Seth's shower guru as well as to be able to take him around the Craig campus.  So I got to take Seth down to this beautiful garden cafeteria here at Craig and have lunch and dinner with him.  Tomorrow, we are working to get me certified so I can take him off campus to a restaurant around the corner.  The day after or so, we are shooting to be able to drive to get that dinner and a movie I posted about yesterday!

3) Dr. Ripley emailed over to Dr. Smith (his orthopedic surgeon) at Denver General and got the OK to get Seth weight bearing on his left leg next week.  This is awesome as we were thinking it wouldn't be until the first of September before he could bear weight on his left leg.  So now they should be able to do more rehab on his left as well as his right leg and get Seth up walking sooner.

4) Our friend, Judy, who retired from Craig after 27 years last week came back to be Seth's PT for today and tomorrow to fill in for his PT who is on vacation!  A few days of retirement and then back to work!  Hmmmmmm!  Thanks Judy.  It was nice to have a friend be his therapist today.  :)

5) Seth got clearance to do nearly full range of motion on his left arm and shoulder.  You should just see him rolling himself around.  He is getting stronger by the day although that left hand is still pretty weak.  But his OT, Tonya, seems to be dialing in on exactly where the weakness is and I'm quite confident they are going to have some sort of plan on how to properly rehab his left arm back to normal.

6) Everybody is saying that Seth is doing really well.  I do think he has this Wolverine gene that is helping him heal along with the therapy he has gotten so far and finally a fierce determination to get through this all!

7) I joined the Craig / Swedish wellness center club today.  They have spin classes and yoga and its right here between Craig and the Swedish Hospital.  I couldn't beat the convenience nor the price; $20 for a month long pass.  So I plan to do my exercise from 6:30 to 7:30 in the mornings to take care of myself so I can be sure to be able to take care of Seth.

The day was just packed.  Seth has this schedule which he keeps in his pocket and we just rush from one therapy to the next.  In fact, near 4:00 p.m., we were so tired, we crashed and took a nap.  I'm tired and I'm not even doing the therapy!  I'm just watching it all!

Our final appointment was in the therapy rec center.  Craig has all of these awesome group programs for the patients to participate in such as river rafting, pottery, scuba diving, planting plants, etc.  In fact, when we wheeled into the rec center, they asked us if we wanted to go to a Rockies game tonight.  We were all for it but Dr. Ripley said no and I totally understand.  Seth has only been here 3 days and Craig is still getting to know him.  This is the kind of stuff that we will eventually get to do and its so nice to know that its all there for us to participate in eventually.

I picked this picture for today because, to me, it represents power and peace.  Its a pair of telemark skis on one of our hut trips against a backdrop of a sunset that is almost too beautiful to bear.  The power of the universe to present such a scene and the peace I have in knowing that Seth and I will have many more years to witness such beauty together has soothed my soul.