Seth-n-Jode's Adventures

Seth hopped on his right leg using parallel bars today.  He did two laps.  It was just awesome to see him upright and moving around.  Although later that day, he beat me in foosball which we played down in the rec room.  How is that possible with a hurt arm???  :)

And the evaluations continue!  I think speech therapy has mapped most of his brain at this point and his occupational therapist has examined each and every single muscle and nerve and tendon in his right and left arms and hands!

I did become certified to take him off campus within walking distance.  So now he can come over to my apartment between therapies and we can go have some lunch close by.  We are thinking of going to a Thai restaurant on Saturday that is just down the block. We'll go around noon.  If you are in the area and you'd like to join us, let me know!

Today's picture is of Seth and our nephew JP imitating the pictographs behind them in Canyon of the Ancients.  A few years ago when JP was 3 or 4,  Seth took JP, my sister and my mom on what he called a "stroller trail".  The problem, it was up Sanitas mountain near Boulder which would be hard to imagine as a stroller trail.  Its steep and rocky.  Seth ended up getting JP up the trail by pretending that JP was a frog and then Seth would hop him from rock to rock.  Ribbet! And so we made the top.  Hippity Hop.

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.

They took so many x-rays of Seth today that he came out practically glowing orange!  And they keep the x-ray machine ice cold.  So Seth got pretty cold sitting on the x-ray table for an hour.  He came out with goose bumps and didn't really warm up until we gave him a nice hot shower.  He never had much body fat and then he lost all that so now its basically muscle and bone on a hard surface!

The days are pretty structured.  He has his therapies at designated times.  We didn't realize we were supposed to go to the therapy room to have the therapies but now we know.

I've also been lobbying to take him outside.  I think the sun, wind and air are an equal part of any therapy program and certainly one that is important to my state of mind.  They have much stricter rules here so I am doing a certification program so I can take him outside, so I can give him a shower, so I can take him outside off the campus and then finally outside in the car.  We both agreed that I would just keep pushing to get all these certifications because at the end of the day we'd really like to be able to go out to dinner and then go see the new Batman movie on the big screen!

The therapies today were mostly screenings.  They are examining Seth with every test known to man.  Which is good.  But Seth did do his old Kindred therapy this evening just to make sure his muscles keep supple for when they really start the PT on him.  Plus Seth says it feels good to just move his legs about and get the blood flowing.  

I met one of Seth's night tech's tonight who is a climber and a kayaker.  The more I learn about the staff here, the more I realize we really made a good decision to come here because they understand where Seth needs to go.

That being said, I'm feeling pretty homesick.  I try not to think about home but sometimes I can't help it.  Perhaps it was a startling question that came from our Occupational Therapist today when she questioned if the goal was to go home or to move to outpatient rehab.  The answer was and remains resoundingly home.

The picture today is Seth on the Slickrock Trail in Moab looking over the La Sals.   Durango lies behind those hills.  I can't see it yet but I know it is there awaiting our return.

Wow!  I was toasting a drink with some friends the other night and we were toasting the success at having gotten Seth into Craig Rehab.  Its sort of an oxymoron.  I'd probably prefer not to be toasting to this at all but the fact is, it is what it is, and I'm impressed with Craig.  As is Seth.  We are glad we are on to this leg of the journey and we are glad he is at Craig Hospital  to walk this walk.

Craig doesn't feel so hospitalish.  All the staff wear regular clothes (not uniforms) and they don't wear rubber gloves to touch you unlike what it has been like the last month and a half.  Our nurse, Laurie, has dreadlocks, a nose pierce and is a river rat.  Plus she has a beautiful smile.  She's exactly the kind of person that will help Seth get well! I just felt this sense of relief walking in the door.  We are in the perfect place to get Seth back up walking.

Dr. Ripley (who will be Seth's MD here) came to talk to us near the end of the day.  He spent quite a bit of time examining Seth.  After doing a thorough evaluation both cognitively and physically, he said he is much less worried about Seth cognitively than he is orthopedically.  Seth aced the mini mental test that Dr. Ripley gave him.  Dr. Ripley spent a fair bit of time on Seth's left shoulder and hand.  Seth's shoulder is still very weak and his left pinky is numb.  Dr. Ripley said he would order a elbow pad that might alleviate what he said might be an ulnar nerve issue because his arm was inactive for so long after the accident. And if that doesn't start alleviating the numbness, he'll do an EMG test to test his nerves in that shoulder to see how they can best rehab his left arm.

The first test they did on Seth was an ultrasound of his legs to check for blood clots.  Unfortunately, they did find two small clots but the good thing is they are not near the big veins in his legs.  Dr. Ripley wasn't too worried about them but did say that Seth would have to go back to a two shot a day mix of blood unclotting medicine until those clear up.

Craig will be running a series of tests on Seth over the next week.  He is going to get another brain MRI (Dr. Ripley called it a super duper MRI or something like that, anyway, looks like it is cutting edge technology not just your regular MRI) and a complete CT scan so they can see how his bones are knitting.  He'll see a neuro psychologist as well as a neuro optometrist.  Dr. Ripley also said we could possibly get Seth's teeth fixed here too!  He's needs his teeth too especially with the food they had tonight!  It was turkey leg and I'm not talking about a spindley little leg but this mammoth sized turkey leg like cave men used to eat.  Seth was having a bit of a time with it with no front teeth!

Seth will be getting his speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy throughout the week and they already posted his schedule.  He is in therapies from about 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 p.m.  He has breaks in between but they keep him pretty busy.  For those of you who will be here in Denver that would like to visit, it probably would be best to visit before 9:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m. or come in around lunch time for a quick visit since he doesn't have therapies over the noon lunch hour (at least this week anyway).  We get a schedule weekly and I'll keep you updated if any of these times change.  Craig doesn't have a posted official visiting hour policy but Seth usually goes to bed around 10:00 p.m. and gets up around 6:00 to 6:30 a.m.  Right now he is in room 214A.  But if you are visiting, just be sure to ask at the front desk where he is because they said they might be moving him around.  And if you are sending him anything, just send it to the address in my last post; Attn: Seth Furtney.  They don't really use room numbers here to identify patients.  Another way, I think, of showing how you are a person and not a number. 

So the big question is when do we get to go home?  I asked Dr. Ripley this straight out based on what he saw of Seth and his experience with Seth like type people (if that is possible!).  He wouldn't give me a time frame.  They will be having a case planning meeting next Tuesday where they go through all the test results and the first round of notes from all of Seth's therapists.  In that meeting, they will determine an estimated discharge date.  The week after that, we will have a family care conference to discuss where we are at and where we are headed and if we are on track for the estimated discharge date.  Seth will be participating in that family care conference as well. So I don't know when we'll be home.  Its very hard to say this but right now I just have to focus on being here.

Bottom line, Craig seems to be taking a very detailed, informed, methodical approach to tuning in to where Seth needs help and then setting up a plan to get us to The Plan. 

Craig has set me up in a little studio apartment that is just a short walk from the hospital.  Although I won't miss the commute from South Boulder, I will definitely miss the oasis and friendship that June and Carl Bock provided me for the past few weeks.  I was literally drowning in uncertainty when this all first happened and June gently reached for my hand and said, "I've got guest quarters with a kitchen.  Here's how to get to my home.  I'll see you tonight."  And just like that, I had a home away from home!   Truly another set of angels watching over us.

The picture for today is one that I really love.  We were hiking Paria Canyon in the Utah desert with our friend Todd a couple years ago.  I like this picture for what it is, Seth on the move (he's got the red backpack on).  Seth got a little frustrated today because they wouldn't give him a wheelchair until the doctor's orders from Craig came in that he could be up and about so he had to rely on other people to get him to the bathroom, etc.  He is so independent.  They said the wheelchair is coming tomorrow and I have no doubt that Seth will be up and walking on his good right leg here shortly!  Seth on the move!

We got approval from Blue Cross to move to Craig Rehab on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It feels like rain on the desert sand.  So soothing to my mind, body and soul. A relief to both of us from the uncertainty of it all.  To know that this is the last step until we chart a course for home.

We'll still be at Kindred tomorrow and Sunday (and Seth would love any visitors if you have time as it gets dreadfully boring with no staff around on the weekends!) but Monday morning, we ship out.

Here's where we'll be as of Monday.  I'll let you know the room number as soon as Seth gets checked in.

Craig Hospital
3425 S. Clarkson St.
Englewood, CO 80113

I'll be taking a weekend break from posting to the blog.  I'll post again on Monday evening with how the move to Craig went and how we are doing.  Maybe I'll even write an ode or poem!  My heart is bursting with happiness right now.  Seth says I have a worry line in my forehead that looks like the Grand Canyon.  I think even that worry line has eased a bit with this development! 

Here is Seth on our trip to the Maze back in 2005.  It had just downpoured on us in the desert.  All these waterfalls started cascading over the canyon sides like a wilderness symphony.  It was pure beauty.