Seth-n-Jode's Adventures

Seth and I got to go swimming today.  It was so much fun.  Craig has this heated therapeutic rec pool.  They took us through a bunch of exercises and then Seth got to swim to and fro across the pool.  I swear he looked (to this proud wife of his) just like a little slower version of that Phelps fellow who won 8 gold medals in the Olympics! 

This experience gave me some more ideas on how to do his outpatient rehab once we get home.  I'm going to add aqua aerobics to the schedule.

Seth also got on a treadmill at 2 mph at a 3% grade for 10 minutes.  Then he stood on one of those balls that are cut in half with the ball on the top and a solid base on the bottom.  They make you really work on your balance.  He was able to do some exercises standing on top of this thing!   This is amazing considering he wasn't cleared to walk until last Thursday!

With all that he can do, Seth is going to think that Craig's inpatient rehab is a walk in the park with the schedule he's going to have once we get home! 

We also are planning to do gentle yoga as the doc said that would help him get more stretchy. And eventually work him back into doing hot yoga.

Along with all his other therapies and exercises. 

At least we'll be home to do them.  That will make a decided difference in helping us both heal.

I've been pretty busy setting up Seth's schedule for when we get back.  He's got doctors, dentists, and therapists all to see.  Plus we've got his whole routine to do every day.  He is going to get some pool therapy this week so that should be interesting to see if that is something that will help to strengthen his muscles.

We both really like all of his therapists here at Craig.  Two of them were down in the gym with me this morning in the Wellness Center before the day started.  The right kind of folks to help Seth on his way.

We were playing cards with one of his therapists the other day and thus what sparked the entry highlight for this evening.  We were playing Kings Corners which is kind of like Solitaire.  I kept straightening the cards as the players placed them on the table.  I don't know why.  I like cards in a straight line.  So she commented, "Do you have OCD?"  I had no idea what she was talking about!  In a place like this, I guess you must have an "ism" to fit in.  Mine is obsessive compulsive or so I'm told!  I don't think this to be true, by the way.  I just like things nice and neat.

After the accident and I was up in Denver for about a week, I had started to make some plans to try to get home for a day to pick up some much needed files I needed to keep everything running smoothly on the home front.  Erinn and Darren graciously agreed to save me a trip and bring up my truck with the much needed critical files.  Thanks again for doing this guys!  But it was the second load brought up by Mark and Pate that may have saved my sanity!  They came up the very next weekend and I had some more time to think of what I needed.  So I asked them to bring up more of my files and most importantly, my label maker.  This is the part where you might say "Yep, she is OCD." 

I like to label everything.  We have neatly organized shelves in the closets at home with buckets appropriately labeled with their respective contents.   So when I got my label maker, I breathed a little sigh of relief and immediately started up a set of files. Seth's Medical Expenses, Seth's Rehab, Seth's Care Info, Seth's Appeal Info.  Heck, I even labeled my new bucket that ended up being my recycle bin, "Recycle".  It seems crazy but just putting some organization around a completely unorganized event helped me.  It started to bring in some semblance of control...a way of righting my world.

I don't call it OCD.  I just call it being me!  And thus why we have buckets for "Sewing Kit", Eyeglass Stuff" and Misc Goops / Gadgets" in some closet at home right now.

I just got back from tucking Seth in.  He stays over at my apartment until 9:00 or 10:00 each evening after his therapies and we watch movies, go out to dinner occasionally or visit with friends or family.  He showers and brushes his teeth over here and then we walk back over to the hospital which is just next door.  It's our little oasis from hospital life. 

He always takes his final meds for the evening out in the hallway on a sofa by the chapel.  He still complains mightily about the searing pain of the anti-blood clotting shot which he has to take in the stomach twice a day but they are converting him over to this new anti blood clotting medicine called Cumadin which he can take as a pill once we leave the hospital and which he will most likely have to take for about 3 more months. 

Once the nurse is done with his meds and vitals, we can go quiet as mice into his room so as not to wake his roomate.  And it makes me calm to know that he is safely tucked away.  He sleeps well which is such a blessing.   And all he is taking is tylenol or Ibuprofen for his aches and pains!  He said after walking all day on Friday, he felt like he had run a marathon.  His muscles were so tired.

He walked stairs today normally with no assistance (crutch or cane).  Although he did say it made his legs really sore.

Some of you might be wondering about the weekend....I have no idea why I signed us up to watch a baseball game.  You baseball afficionados might want to skip this paragraph and I certainly don't mean to offend you!  :) Perhaps I just don't understand the strategy, don't know the players and really don't understand the game.  But it seemed kind of like chinese water torture to me.  We were sitting in the blazing sun watching people bat at a ball that they only hit, on average, 25% of the time or less.  And it went on for 12 innings!  Uggggg..... There were no rapids or technical rock descents!  There was no long slog uphill with refreshing views at the top.  No deep powder to slice through....   I finally hit the wall at the bottom of the 10th inning and started packing up.  I'm pretty sure that will be our last baseball game in this lifetime!

The zoo on the other hand was pretty fun.  It actually reminded me of a thing Seth and I do.  Its a kiss we've enhanced from just the regular Eskimo, Butterfly kiss to Eskimo, Butterfly, Giraffe, Fish, Hippopatumus kiss.  We rub noses, then rub eyelashes, then rub our necks together (I've actually never seen a giraffe do this but we imagine this is how they kiss each other!), then pucker up our faces (or try to because we are usually laughing out loud at each other by this point) and try to do a fish kiss.  The final Hippopatumus kiss is never fair.  We open our mouths wide and see who can open their mouth wider just like hippos do and try to kiss each other.  Seth always beats me!  Eskimo, Butterfly, Giraffe, Fish, Hippopatumus Kiss!

Here is a picture of Seth playing boca ball in group therapy.  He played like a pro.  It was even fun to watch unlike my new nemesis, baseball!

This was another one of those, "I don't know where to start today." days. One of those days when the whole world is right.  Just like I blogged about awhile ago where I would soon exit the hurricane and the world would be right.  It all happened today.

We went to Seth's orthopedic appointment with Dr. Smith (who performed his surgeries) and he lifted all weight bearing restrictions and all precautions on all of his limbs. He says Seth has healed and he said it is amazing!  He told Seth to get on an excercise bike today if possible (which Seth did briefly when we got back to Craig!).  My little flame of hope has raged into a fire of immense proportions.  Seth is going to walk out of Craig Hospital, not hop or wheelchair out.  He is going to walk out, get in the truck and we are coming home on Friday August 29th. 

I also turned 40 today.  My mom asked me what I wanted.  But there is nothing that I want in the material sense.  I told her that the miracle of my husband surviving a near fatal accident and then thriving in his recovery and the fact that we will be together for the rest of our lives....I simply could not ask for anything over that.  Its the best birthday present ever.

Its an interesting turn of events from my 30th birthday.  I had an early mid life crisis when I was just turning 30.  I quit my job and decided to go out on a bike tour all by myself.  Seth helped me set up my touring bike with my Bob loaded up with my tent, sleeping bag, a stove and some extra clothes.  I biked from Eugene, Oregon to Steamboat Springs, CO via Montanta, Idaho and Wyoming in 26 days.  It was an amazing trip.  As a woman traveling alone, one would think it is dangerous and foolish.  This is what the 24 hour news cycle would have us believe.  In fact, it was as if everyone I met took me under their wing and wanted to help me.  As I would bike into a campsite, on many days of the trip, inevitably some other family would come over to see what was up and I would have dinner with them.  I met the most kind and wonderful people. 

However, the night before my birthday that year, I stayed in a campsite somewhere in Montana where my fellow campers weren't that considerate. This was the only night that something like this happened.  They were up all night running around and drinking and making a bunch of noise.  And they scared me a little because I thought they would trip and fall into my tent.  I didn't get any sleep and I was so mad because I thought this was a bad omen for my 30th birthday.  So I got up at about 5:00 a.m., packed up my gear and biked to the nearest phone (I didn't take a cell phone on the trip so I had to find phones to call home.).  Anyway, I called up Seth blubbering about how I was tired and scared and hungry and would he please come get me. (We were living in Sacramento, CA at the time.)  He listened to me and then calmly informed me that he wasn't going to come get me.  That I was to bike to the nearest nice motel, check myself in, and eat a nice dinner out.  He had a map in his office that he'd hung up and he was putting pins in as I progressed each day so all of his coworkers knew where I was.  The fact of the matter was, the trip was not ending in Montana.   So I pulled myself together and biked another 30 miles to this hotsprings that had a swanky hotel and did just what he told me.  I met some really nice people that evening in the hot springs.  And it all worked out.  This birthday I helped him out.  And my last big birthday, he helped me out.  So I guess we're even! Right?  :)  That's how I see it!