A Little Better Every Day

Monday, April 5

11:40 am

I had a great night last night. Of all my nurses, I got to know last night’s nurse the least because the only time I saw her was when she woke me up at midnight to give me my meds. She was positive and upbeat; I’m sure she’s as good as all the other nurses I’ve had. These days, I sleep so soundly that when someone wakes me up it feels like emerging from a coma and I have absolutely no idea what time it is until I look at the clock. My nurse gave me meds again at four or maybe five o’clock. At some point, she gave me my shot in the stomach, which is a blood thinner that I get twice a day. It stings, and I now have many little needle marks in my stomach that have turned to tiny bruises.

I knew Dr. Davis would be coming in at six, as usual, so I intermittently dozed and worked on getting my muscles awake from five o’clock on. I found Dr. Davis’s bedside manner off-putting earlier in the week, but I have really grown to like him. He came in at 5:45 for his usual check and told me that, again, I was making great progress and he was very happy with how much I could do. I thanked him again for calling my son-in-law Ben, which Dr. Davis said he understood as part of the job. That was nice to hear. I also told him about my hallux rigidus (essentially toe arthritis) and how the range of motion of my toe before the accident was probably not much more than I could do right now. He said that was helpful to know. I then admitted that it might just be an excuse.

Dr. York came in shortly thereafter, and I also thanked him for calling Ben. He was actually much more personable today. He said that he was pleased with what he saw in my progress since he’d last seen me before the weekend. It looks like I’m making progress then hitting a little plateau repeatedly, which is good, because it means that I’m making bursts of progress in addition to the incremental improvement.

At some point this morning, I was listening to an audiobook on my phone and wanted to turn it off. I can use voice control to open the app and start playing an audiobook, but I can’t get it to stop. My phone was set in a little tripod stand on the table in front of me, so I was able to use my left arm knock the tripod off the table onto my lap and maneuver a finger and tap pause. Then the tripod was stuck in my lap until somebody came in to move it. Linda texted me to say good morning, and after my phone was set up on the table again I called her around a quarter to eight.

I called someone to help me with my breakfast around 8:40. Rose came in and had given me only a couple bites of egg and yummy bacon when physical therapists Alice and Jamie showed up. PT never schedules anything; they just show up. So Rose set my breakfast aside, and I was sitting up in bed by nine o’clock.

There had been no PT over the weekend, but I was determined to work my muscles, so yesterday (Sunday) afternoon my nurse, a tech, and Christine helped me sit, stand, and do a few squats. Today I think my sitting was even better; I’m sure I got my arms back on the bed by my sides better, even though I felt like they were useless. As soon as I was sitting up, Christine walked in and immediately turned on her phone camera to capture my progress on video, as she and Linda have been doing all week. PT wanted me to stand and practice using an assistive device that looks like a cross between a walker and a cane. It has four legs like a walker, but it stands to one side and is held with one hand. So I stood up and practiced putting my left hand onto the device and straightening up to balance or push on it. Alice was visibly impressed by my progress since she had last seen me on Friday. After tiring, I sat back down (with their assistance) and rested for two or three minutes before standing again. This also allowed the pain in my neck to subside a bit. I continue to feel that my pain impedes my progress.

I stood again and PT made me do five squats, then I did two more, at which point I was exhausted. After another brief rest, I stood again, regained my balance, and followed PT’s direction to take side steps with the walker. I was able to take three small steps to the side—right foot, then left—each time rebalancing and figuring out how to put weight on the walker using my left arm without falling over. I had to completely straighten my arm before the walker could be used effectively, so I didn’t push myself up with the muscle so much as straighten the elbow before there was enough support for me to put weight on it.

After the successful PT session, Rose gave me a clean robe (white and blue, which will make Linda happy, as she hated the ugly yellow robe I had worn for the last few days) and took out the Foley catheter I had had since Tuesday. Christine was kind enough to finish feeding me bacon and cold eggs, and then gave me the most delicious cinnamon chip scone, which she had made and brought from home. I had one bite of scone left when occupational therapist Leah showed up. The notes from her are necessary for my transfer to my next destination, an inpatient rehab hospital in Richmond called Sheltering Arms Institute. This transfer could happen today; I am cleared for discharge and we are only waiting on insurance approval.

Leah worked with my arms, tested my ability to squeeze and move my wrists, and stretched out my arms and shoulders, which was delightful because it was the first time I’ve gotten that kind of stretch since I arrived here. One at a time, she had me straighten each arm and raise it above my head as well as I could, and then she helped me stretch the rest of the way. She put a special brace over my right hand, which will help me do things like eat and brush my teeth without my hand. She then put a toothbrush in my left hand and helped me hold it in place and “brush” my teeth. She also made me hold the cup of water to spit into. It is a good thing she helped me, otherwise I would have gotten wet.

We just now got word that insurance has approved me for transfer to Sheltering Arms. I am excited, but honestly I’m a little scared. It’s going to be hard. I don’t think anybody can look forward to difficult workouts that, according to my standards, show little progress but at the same time are completely exhausting. I hope I’m up to the challenge. (Note from Christine: I have no doubt he is! Lee Coogle has never shied away from hard work, and he won’t start now.)