4 weeks out of the hospital

Tomorrow marks four weeks since I got out of the hospital. I have made a lot of progress, but still have a long way to go to get back to normal. Since I last posted, Jeff and I have moved to Regina and started  our new jobs. The movers still have not brought our belongings, and we will not have our stuff until sometime after September 5. We expected things to arrive much sooner than that. So while things are a little unsettled in that respect, other things are starting to settle. I have been able to go into work for about half a day most days since about August 15. I am not teaching this semester, so so far when I have been doing at work, is mostly just getting settled. Jeff starts teaching on September 5, so he is frantically trying to prepare to teach a new course.so far everyone has been very helpful and supportive, and it seems like this department is a good fit for us.

We have also so far enjoyed the town of Regina. It is about the same size as Eugene, a little bit bigger, and feels more like a real city. The weather has been very nice, and we have visited several parks in town of which there are very many. We also went to local farmers market, which had a fairly good selection including pierogies which we brought home frozen. There is apparently a large Eastern European community here in Regina, including a Polish community which has been here for about 100 years. There are pierogies in all the grocery stores, much more so than what you can find in the Northwest. This makes me very happy.

Also the University has a very nice fitness center, and last week Jeff and I got our memberships there. I may not be able to walk on my own yet, but I can go to the gym and work out. I am able to ride a stationary bike, and there is an indoor track that is 200 m long which is a great place to practice walking with a walker. Since last week we have been to the gym every weekday. I think exercising every day will help me get stronger faster, and hopefully I will be walking on my own sooner rather than later. Last week I was able to walk all the way around the track, rest, and then all the way around again for a total of 400 m in one session. This is definitely a new record for walking with the walker.

I have also been able to become more independent over the past month. I am now able to transfer on my own from the wheelchair to the couch, chair, or bed, and just last week I have been able to get to the bathroom on my own. This greatly improves my quality of life, and frees Jeff up as well. Although I am still very disabled, and this is definitely the hardest thing I have ever gone through, I am starting to see that eventually my life might get back to something close to normal.

Right now my biggest limitations are my mobility difficulties, double vision, and inability to type or write very well. I am also still very fatigued, and sleep about 10 hours a night or so. I am not really able to do much with my job right now, and fortunately the department and all of the people that I work with have been very supportive of that. I am fortunate that they are taking a long view look at this situation, and do not view my current limitations as a permanent problem.

About a month ago, Jeff mentioned that I have been checking my e-mail regularly.This is true, I check my e-mail every day. However, because I still have a great deal of difficulty with typing, I have been very bad about replying to the many nice e-mails I have received. I appreciate all of your good wishes, and just know that I am reading those e-mails, and will eventually respond.

Bridget in Eugene

Hello everyone, Bridget here, writing a blog post from Eugene using voice recognition software called Dragon. Typing is still painfully slow, and the software isn't perfect but it helps. I left Seattle yesterday, and Jeff left this morning. Jeff is driving with the two kitties, and will arrive in Regina on the ninth. As of lunchtime today he says that the drive is going well, and the kitties are not having too hard a time with the drive. I'm glad to be out of the hospital, and at the same time it's hard adjusting to new places. The house here in Eugene is set up better for me than the house Seattle was. I can get around here without going up and down any stairs, and  the doorways are wide enough to get the wheelchair through. Today I have had fairly good energy and even went out shopping at Fred Meyer. A couple of weeks ago I would never have been able to do that. I've come a long way, and being out of the hospital also reminds me how long I have yet to come.

Our last few days in Seattle we had many visitors, and said goodbye to many people. It was a hectic few days after getting out of the hospital but it was good to see so many friends. Two days after getting out of the hospital I also had a brain scan, and follow-up appointment with neurosurgery. Everything looks as it should  on my brain scan, and they are happy that I'm continuing to make progress. They say I could continue recovering for up to two years. I have a long road ahead, but I'm glad to know that I will keep getting better and that there is a long window for me to recover functioning.

Jeff and I will continue to post occasionally on this blog with updates. Thanks to everyone for all the support you have been sending. I have greatly appreciated all the cards, candy, e-mails, and other things people have sent me. It has made my recovery much easier knowing that I am well supported.

HOME!

Discharge complete! Bridget and I left the hospital today at around 10:00. The drive was very smooth and did not increase Bridget's vertigo, which was another sign of her continued improvement.

Being home has been both wonderful and difficult. Bridget is very happy to be home, and to see her kitties, and to be out of the hospital. However, it is also really hard making that transition. Our house, and especially our bathroom, are not ideally designed for people with mobility issues, which makes trips to the bathroom pretty exhausting. In some ways coming home has made her her realize just how much has changed since this surgery, and how much farther she has to go, recovery-wise. So it's been a pretty emotional day, both in happy and sad ways.

But I know, and you all know, that she is going to get better and better and stronger and stronger every day.

You should all know that Bridget regularly checks her email these days as well. So please feel free to write and send her well wishes directly!

OK, time to go. But I'll leave you with a picture of Bridget with one of her two new therapists:

On the eve of graduation

On rehab they call discharge day Graduation Day. And my sweet sweet Bridget's is tomorrow!

Right now she is enjoying her last chocolate chip walnut cookies and Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream (a favourite dessert). She had a good last day of her therapies. One of her OTs showed her some hand exercises she can do with her "thera-putty", and one of her PTs showed her some leg and balance exercises to do at home. As you all know, Bridget is no slacker, and she'll be doing these daily until she gets better! She ended her last PT session with a 500 foot walk outside in the Seattle sun, across some zig-zaggy uneven surfaces. We said goodbye to all of her therapists, and got pictures of Bridget with each of them too.


Here is Bridget with one of her awesome OTs Audrey:

 Here is Bridget with another awesome OT, Rishana:

And here is Bridget with her super PT, Alison!

 
The green sticker on Bridget's shirt is her Graduation sticker, which patients wear so that everybody knows they are leaving (and to remind nurses and therapists to do all of the discharge paperwork). Bridget leaves tomorrow, sometime between 10-11 in the morning. I plan to do another post then!

Bridget's LAST night in the hospital! Huzzah!!!

Updates, at last!

Dear readers,

My sincerest apologies for not updating anybody for 10 whole days! What can I say - I am busy man. Now that Bridget is doing so, so, so much better, I don't really have the time to do posts during the day. We stay busy doing exercises during her therapy sessions, working on puzzles, playing games, or watching movies. So much different than when she was sleeping all of the time for the first few weeks! I am also very busy preparing for us to move in just 16 days! Yikes. Right now Sheila is up visiting, and so while she's helping Bridget at the hospital I have time to do an update (among other things).



I have been getting emails from many of you worrying a bit about Bridget, since I hadn't posted in so long. Rest assured, it is only for the aforementioned reasons. Bridget really is doing great these days! Her walking gets better and better and better. The other day she walked a total of 500 feet across her two PT sessions - a new record! She also has done stairs over the last two days. The stairs she is using have rails on both sides, which is rare for stairs in the real world. But, as long as she has one rail and someone to help on the other side, it looks like she'll be fine. Finally, just yesterday she was cleared to have a walker in her room, that she can use with supervision of a nurse or family member. This is huge!

All of this makes Bridget and I feel much better about her increased independence in the near future, as we prepare for her discharge from the hospital. Her discharge date is set for August 1st right now. Although someone will have to be home with her at all times, she'll be able to do a lot of things by herself. We'll have a have a week together at home in Seattle, with friends from afar visiting (our very brief summer vacation!). Our movers are packing up our stuff on the 6th, and then she'll leave for Eugene for a week or so. The cats and I will leave on the 7th, and arrive in Regina on the 10th. I'll get the house set up (e.g., purchase a bed and other necessities, as the moving company won't deliver our stuff for a little while). I'll then fly out to Eugene to pick Bridget up, and we'll fly out to Regina to start our new life together.

Regarding Bridget's symptoms, her sense of midline is hugely improved. This was a subtle development that sort of slipped under the radar, because it doesn't really "feel" any different to Bridget (she would always be shocked to learn that she was leaning left, as it felt centered to her). But it's something the therapists and I have noticed, as her standing and sitting is so much straighter these days. I'm sure all of the walking has helped her brain to figure some of this out. 

Bridget's double vision is still an annoyance. On Friday she had an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist, to get an assessment of what her specific double vision problems were. This involved a short car ride to a different hospital, which went very well (i.e., didn't increase her vertigo too badly). This guy was able to characterize just how bad her double vision was (pretty bad!), and noted that it is primarily due to trouble coordinating the left eye. He also also said that it is highly likely to go away. He said that she doesn't need to worry about exposing herself to double vision time (i.e., time without patching up one eye), and also doesn't need to switch which eye she is patching throughout the day, as there's no danger of one of her eyes "taking over". He said just patch up whichever eye you prefer, and wait it out. That was *really* nice to hear, as Bridget's rehab doctors and therapists have been giving her the opposite advice. It's nice to get the official word from someone who knows their stuff! :) And, in the very rare case that her double vision isn't gone within 6 months - 1 year, there are glasses that they can design which can correct the problem for the most part. So that was a very relieving and reassuring appointment :)

Bridget's hand coordination is also greatly improved these days. She eats most of her meals with her right hand now, and makes it look easy. She also practices writing with her right hand everyday, and it is getting more and more legible - which is amazing when you think about it, since she can't really feel that hand very well!

Over the last few days we have begun purchasing equipment for Bridget as well. I found a used wheelchair on Craigslist for her, which is in good shape and runs smooth (a "Tracer SX5", sounds speedy, eh?) We've also purchased a shower bench and other stuff for the bathroom.
Getting ready for home!

OK, there you have it. It should come as no surprise that I probably won't update for a few days again, at minimum. But it is so nice to know that so many people are following Bridget's progress, and get so much out of this blog. The world is indeed full of good, caring, internet-savvy people, like yourself :)

250

Dear readers! Times have been busy lately. Bridget's sister, Sihu, and her fiance Joshua arrived two days ago from Norway. And Bridget is so active these days it's hard to find free time to post! Which is a good thing.

Anyway, just a short post for tonight. The exciting news: Today Bridget walked a total of about 250 feet! The day before she about 140, so that's a significant improvement! But that wiped her out pretty good, and so she had an early bed time tonight.

There haven't been any huge improvements in Bridget's sensation, but little sensations here and there have come back. She finds them hard to describe, as their not exactly like normal sensation, but she can feel "something".

The double vision is still a problem, and her vertigo has increased somewhat of late. Probably all of her increased activity with walking and spending more time sitting is shifting things around in her brain, which makes her a bit more dizzy. But hopefully this a good thing in the long run!

OK, more in a few days.

To the park!

Yesterday was another exciting day for Bridget, as had her first trip out of the hospital in nearly a month! Bridget, Jon, and I, and Bridget's recreational therapist all went out to Volunteer Park in Capital Hill. In all our time in Seattle, we had never actually been there! It was a very pretty park, and it was a lovely sunny day. The car ride to and from the park was pretty rough, though, as it increased Bridget's vertigo a lot. Unfortunately it was also the hottest day of the year so far in Seattle, so it ended up being pretty exhausting for her. But still worth it! Here are some photos of us in the conservatory at the park:

 Bridget continues to slowly gain sensation on her right side. Just yesterday she started feeling parts of her right torso. And the sensation in her fingers is creeping back a little more too. Her motor coordination has improved a lot lately as well. Today she put together a small wooden puzzle - something she would never have been able to do a week ago. And she's now able to check her email and surf the web on her iPod too. So that is awesome! 

Bridget gets up and walks with help at least once a day during PT, ever since her walking breakthrough. It's still pretty tough for her, but she's starting to get into a groove with it. Yesterday and today she also was balancing on her knees on the mat, which looks very impressive as well.

Bridget and I just got finished playing a rousing game of Yahtzee. And she played the whole game with her double vision in full force! Her therapists and doctor are all recommending she spend as much time as possible exposing herself to her double vision, instead of covering up one eye, so that her brain gets exposure to the problem and "practice" trying to correct it. The trouble is it makes Bridget very uncomfortable, and can increase her vertigo and nausea as well. So whenever she's doing therapies she usually blocks on eye. But she's trying to expose herself to double vision during her break times. And so playing a game of Yahtzee with double vision is quite an accomplishment! But I won :)