Daily Log 02/22/2008

I drove my truck for the first time since the accident. It felt nice. My left shoulder and right side are very sore from lifting my wheelchair and my legs are mostly just tired but, I did it. The anxiety is still pretty distressing. My heart starts racing every time I see someone start to make a left or right turn in front of me. I'm going to start riding my exercise bike tomorrow to begin strengthening my legs. My shoulder and ribs will start feeling better over time the more I use them.

Update

Things with my mom are slowly getting better. She's finally starting to open up and believe that her opinion and wants are important. For the first time she asked for something to eat and drink. It may not seem like much but, it's huge. Buffy is making a huge difference. I'm constantly having to fight mom for Buffy. Not much of a fight as Buffy is my baby but, mom is sneaky and is constantly calling Buffy up onto her bed which, can potentially negate some of her training so I'm having to be stricter than I like.

Kat is going Monday to sign up to work for a Care Giving company called Serao. Once she's signed up and trained, she'll take over my mom's care giving. It's going to solve her job delima and help her feel better because she'll be doing something worthwhile. She is a natural. I have heard Kat and my mom talk and Kat really opens her up. She's been reading Memoirs of a Geisha to my mom and my mom is really getting into it.

They locked up my mom's house yesterday and had the trash people over this morning to trash everything. We got almost all of her stuff out but, thanks to my sister Aimee's
unreliability, the second piano has probably been trashed. Such a waste.

Daily Log 02/14/2009 - Valentines Day

I cooked Kat and my mom a wonderful dinner and I say wonderful because I cooked it. For the entree, I made Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with light cream cheese, roasted red pepper hummus, and green bell peppers. It was fantastic, everyone loved it. http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/simplemeals/articles/dt-fresh0114.html#commentform

I got Kat something else but, I'm not going to talk about it as this is public ;o).

She surprised me or rather tried to surprise me by laying out rose peddles all over the bedroom floor along with a dozen or so cards of varying sizes. Each card was hand drawn with a depiction of something memorable that occurred during the year. She is so thoughtful and creative. I can't believe how lucky I am to get to keep her. I say tried to surprise me because she forgot to close the bedroom doors and I was passing by and caught her.

Not even in prison and I got violated

While working around the house, I sometimes put things behind me on my wheelchair seat. Mental note, don't set a pair of needle nose pliers on your seat behind you and forget about them. I did just that and when I sat back, I punctured my right butt cheek. The plus is that I now know that I can stand up in the blink of an eye. I don't think I have ever moved that fast before.

Forgot to mention that while I was standing there with my pants down holding my poor wounded butt cheek, Kat laughed her ass off.

Daily Log 02/10/2009

Thanks again to Crystals family, we were able to save my mom's car. To lose it would have broken her heart. So, here is a shout out to Teele who, went out and picked up my mom's car and is storing it for us thus helping to preserve a constant reminder of a happier time in her life. Once things settle down, I'm going to start saving to restore her car.

Thanks again so much to all of those who helped Kat and I get my mom taken care of.

Daily Log 02/06/2009 - 02/08/2009

Thanks to the efforts of my very wonderful friend Linda, my mom arrived here safe and sound Friday and was greeted by Buffy with a huge hug and lots of kisses. We got her settled into her room and things have been going as well as can be expected. She's withdrawn and depressed which, under the circumstances is to be expected. After all, she lost her house of 27ish years and has to live with and be taken care of by her son. It's going to be a long process to get her to open up and start to live again but, I really think it's going to work. She's already showing some signs of being happy. She's so used to be left alone in her room in the dark that we make sure that her window is open and her light is on until bedtime. She needs as much stimulation as possible. Once she gets more comfortable, I'm going to start introducing her to my wonderful friends/neighbors.

Saturday, Spence and his father in law helped Kat and I move the rest of the big stuff, antiques etc out of my mom's house. Moving the piano was a chore. Several times, I had to look away while they worked on getting the piano up the Uhaul ramp. The piano survived with only some minor structural injuries. Getting it down was easier thanks to gravity and Spence's friend Ivan I think. I felt so bad after Kat dropped Spence off to pick up his care at work. He only made it 2 miles or so before it broke down and I couldn't get a hold of Kat to ask her to turn around and pick him up. Luckily, his father in law was able to take a tow truck out to get him.

We really like my mom's weekend care giver. She is absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, she is working for someone else during the week so we can only get her on the weekends.

Daily Log 02/05/2009

Kat has been absolutely amazing. She's not even related to my mom and she is literally helping my mom until she's sick. We had to go to Urgent Care today instead of my mom's because she's been sick and she finally just couldn't take the suffering anymore. She broke down in tears because she didn't want to miss going over to my mom's to continue packing but, she just couldn't take the pain or fatigue anymore. It's frustrating the hell out of me not being able to drive and take away some of Kat's stress.

Thankfully, Spence is going to help us pack and bring back most of my mom's smaller stuff. tomorrow. Between their truck and Kat's mini-van, we should be able to get most of the smaller items. If not for Crystal and Spence, I just don't know what we would have done.

They prescribed some strong antibiotics for her sinus infection and a decongestant so Kat should be feeling better soon.

Daily Log 02/04/2009

Still on my way to recovery. Pain is much more manageable but, still can't drive.

My mom's hospital bed got delivered today, now all we need are some twin sheets and we're golden. We're still planning on picking her up and bringing her over Friday morning. My good friend Linda uses a wheelchair van and she has offered to help transport mom over here.

God willing Friday and Saturday will go well.

Daily Log 02/02/2009

Pain is still getting better. Since Kat and I have been going over to my mom's every night to pack, I'm usually hurting pretty bad by the end of the day. Kat is a real trooper. She has been fantastic. Still can't drive and I'm getting antsy. I'm finally able to sleep on my stomach again, I just need to make sure my pillow is squished up to keep my chest from pressing on the bed.

Daily Log 01/30/2009

Pain has been much better yesterday and today. Still can't drive or lift anything heavy but, I am getting better finally. I'm down to 1 or two pain pills a day.

Still stressed out and working hard to take care of my mom. We have until 2/6/2009 to get everything figured out and in place.

Daily Log 01/28/2009

Pain was about the same today as yesterday. No real change.

More bad news. We found out today that if mom moves in with me or to Pinal County in general, then she loses her medical coverage through Mercy Care. This means no wound care, hospital bed, nurse, or care giver. The can request that Pinal County take her on but, it could take a month to month and a half which, means no coverage until then. There are two alternatives. One is to move her in and try our hardest to take good care of her without any medical services in which case, Pinal County would be forced to take her. We still have to go without services for a while. Two would be to put her in a nursing home temporarily and request that Pinal County take her. Two problems with this option. 1. My mom would rather die than be put in a home even temporarily. 2. Pinal County could say that they won't take her at all.

It's going to be insanely hard but, we chose option 1. Kat has an old Full Pillow top mattress set that we are going to use temporarily and we are just going to do the best we can to take care of her without medical services. If anyone has a bed frame for a full size mattress that we can borrow, I would be very appreciative.

God willing, mom will be okay until we can get new medical services started up.

Daily Log 01/27/2009

I worked again for a few hours today and it wasn't as bad. I just need to move around allot and take breaks. Pain was a little better today. Most of the major pain is still located in the bottom right of my pectoral region. My PCP called me today and confirmed that the CT showed no fractures. He said that there is allot of cartilage in the area of my chest that's bothering me and that with my brittle bone disease, that it's going to take a long time to fully heal. He's decreasing the strength of my pain medication which is also good. I hate being on pain medication.

Chris gave his stamp of approval on the Sienna mini-van so Kat is the proud new owner of a bouncing baby mini-van. She absolutely loves it.

Daily Log 01/26/2009

I attempted to do the laundry today and failed miserably. The weight of the wet sheets was just too painful to lift. I left a message for my PCP to check on the CT results and express my concern regarding the severe pain that I'm still feeling in my sternum and the right side of my chest. No callback yet.

Edgar painted the weight room today so it's almost ready for my mom. I worked for a few hours today. It's getting easier to sit at the desk but I still get sore in my chest and back after a few hours.

Kat got the Toyota Sienna today and pending Chris's checkup tomorrow, it's her new baby and she absolutely loves it.

Daily Log 01/25/2009

Slept in to catch up on sleep. Because I'm still useless, Kat took care of some yard work. We went to my mom's house to do some more packing and I ended up getting hurt again. Buffy tried to give me a hug and put her paw against my sternum which, almost killed me. Kat had to go to her mom's house to get me a heating pad so that I could stay and help. 25 days after the accident and I'm still in just as much pain. The only difference is that the pain isn't chronic, it's movement based.

Daily Log 01/24/2009

Pain is about the same today as yesterday. It's no longer chronic pain, just when I move or do anything that requires using my chest. I'm still concerned about my right clavicle. I don't think it used to be so far out of alignment. I'm wondering if the entire right side of my chest was slightly dislocated, if that's even possible. That's sort of what it feels like when I move anyway and maybe that would explain why my right clavicle is misaligned. Makes sense too since the seatbelt crossed my chest from my top right to bottom left. I'm going to call my PCP tomorrow and see if he has the latest CT results. If they don't show anything, I wonder if a full standing chest X-ray would should any dislocations. I'm worried that there may be permanent damage but, my hopes are high.

We are finalizing the details on Kat's new used car. It's a 2001 Toyota Sienna Min-Van. It's the 7 seat version with 80K miles. It's in very nice condition. We need to replace a few plastic fasteners but, they only cost a couple dollars a piece. It's getting dropped off on Monday.

Tonight, we are finally getting to go over and help start packing my mom. Monday my painter Edgar is coming over to paint my mom's new room.

Daily Log 01/23/2009

Haven't been sleeping well and I had to get up early for PT. We only did range of motion and the heating pad because of how much pressure hurts. My movement has improved quite a bit but, the pain around my sternum and pecks persists primarily when moving. The chronic pain is getting better finally. Still haven't hear anything regarding my latest CT.

Kat was out all day today so once again I was stuck at home alone. We were supposed to go help start packing my mom's belongings but, Kat didn't get home until almost 10PM.

Bruise

After 23 days, I'm still bruised.

Daily Log 01/22/2009

Pain is a little better today. I made the mistake of trying to roll through my grass to pull some weeds. Apparently, I still can't pull my weeds or do any yard work. Live and learn.

Kat was out all day looking for a replacement car without success so I was trapped at home all day. She has until Monday to purchase a car before they take back the rental.

Turns out DES won't approve cash assistance for mom so I'm not going to be able to afford to pay for her apartment. For now, Kat and I decided it would be best to move her in here. We're going to get my weight room painted and setup with a hospital air bed and move her in sometime before the 7th of February if everything goes according to plan.

Daily Log 01/21/2009

Woke up late this morning due to pain and a little depression. I feel a little better. Depending on my movements, pain is better or worse which, is an improvement. At least it's not all pain all the time anymore. I had my CT today and my doctor should have the results in 72 hours. Until I get my CT results, I have to postpone PT. I just can't risk doing any serious injury.

It's pretty depressing to think that my sex life is based on when I can drive again. Sad isn't it. Until my chest is healed, I can't lift my wheelchair into my truck or safely turn the steering wheel and you can use your imagination for the rest.

Daily Log 01/20/2009

Woke early but had to stay in bed for an extra 3 hours. I'm not sure why but, I was very dizzy. It lasted for several hours. Pain has been very bad in my ribs and sternum but, my lower back hasn't been spasming today which, has been a blessing. I'm scheduled for a more detailed chest CT tomorrow evening.

Still haven't been able to get over to my mom's to help pack her stuff. We're running out of time so I'm going to have to just deal with the pain and get over there in the evenings.