Sunday-Monday Feb 20-21
Well I have seen Graham on Sunday for 2 hours and yesterday (Monday) for 4 hours. That is a lot of time! But it did open the door for him to tell me a lot more than just a quick visit does. Of course we go back a long way (met in 1972) and thus he feels he can confide in me in ways perhaps he can't do with anyone else. He told me how much love he is feeling from everyone there and how important it has been to him. Keep up the good work, folks!!
He has been doing really well in so many areas and I will attach a photo from yesterday showing him sitting up in his wheel chair. He has been out of the bed the past few visits and sitting up looking out the glass doors looking at the scenery listening to his CDs when I arrived.
He has learned about most of the other people there, what their stories are, how they were injured, how they have been making progress. There are some young lasses there who he clearly finds intriguing as they go dashing about in their wheelchairs! Good for his spirits to see people improving, I can tell you that. He also sees people who may not be fighting the good fight and comments on how they need to get with the program to improve.
The physiotherapy and occupational therapy has been helping him quite a lot. On Sunday he said he really hurt in his shoulders from the Friday workouts, but yesterday he said he found out that was actually good as it meant he had done some harder work and thus was improving in that sense. He finds he can do things a little better each day. So his spirits can be quite up about that.
Unfortunately, sometimes a bit of negative kicks in. The doctors and other staff say things around him that start to worry him about his condition and whether they will 'ship him back' to California to some unit there in Palo Alto which is so far from anyone he knows. We don't believe they will do that, but he focuses on that sometimes and so I told him firmly he is going to walk again and return to his job there and all his friends who are sending him such good loving vibes all the time. Keep those up, folks, they have a real effect on him.
Phone calls really help too, so if you can manage one or two of those, please consider doing it...you have the number.
He was thrilled to get a phone call from the church minister the other day. He felt very happy to talk with him. Also cards from other folks from the church sent directly to the hospital have arrived and the letter from Vera. I read them to him yesterday as I had no emails to read. You can see his face light up when he looks at the cards and photos that are sent. Thank you for those. He still gets quite emotional when thinking about and looking at the booklet of people from his work that was created for him. These moments make a huge difference in the life of someone who is so restricted in other ways. He needs these very positive things to think about to chase away the shadows of worries that come to him in the night.
There are at least another 6 weeks of having his halo on and then seeing how his spine has improved with a new MRI. I am hoping that the improvement will be easily seen and he will understand how the time factor is to be seen as very long indeed. There are 4 people who are being discharged from the ward this week who came in months ago with similar injuries so that gives him hope. He was talking about how their stories encourage him.
He does seem to go from hope to despair on a bit of a cycle, so he will benefit from encouragement about being able to come back to his job. He is worried because of it being on the second floor, but if he is walking that will not matter. He is worried that it won't be there for him and that all the financial stuff will not be sorted out. Airasa and Ian are doing a gargantuan job trying to sort out his income tax, his insurance, his financial matters, etc. but as it is 'foreign' it is not so easy from so many miles away. I think the income tax is a real eye opener as we don't have any such things to worry about here unless we are self employed!
The encouragement and love coming from California and his Washington family is a great help in his recuperation. We are a small group here, visiting him regularly, but friends are a very different matter. You are 'his' friends rather than Airasa's friends. I know he is looking forward to his mother's upcoming visit and she is just waiting for the passport to come through before she can travel over here. Having emails to read him regularly really helps us as well.
We are all busy people and the hospital is now much further away for visitors to travel to but Airasa is doing a wonderful job of seeing him almost every day -- now she is taking the odd day off so she can look after herself and that is so very important.
We have snow today and that at least gives him something new to see outside! WE, of course, have to contend with driving in it!!
OK, folks, that's the lot. I will attach the photo and get this off.
Kind regards,
Linda
He has been doing really well in so many areas and I will attach a photo from yesterday showing him sitting up in his wheel chair. He has been out of the bed the past few visits and sitting up looking out the glass doors looking at the scenery listening to his CDs when I arrived.
He has learned about most of the other people there, what their stories are, how they were injured, how they have been making progress. There are some young lasses there who he clearly finds intriguing as they go dashing about in their wheelchairs! Good for his spirits to see people improving, I can tell you that. He also sees people who may not be fighting the good fight and comments on how they need to get with the program to improve.
The physiotherapy and occupational therapy has been helping him quite a lot. On Sunday he said he really hurt in his shoulders from the Friday workouts, but yesterday he said he found out that was actually good as it meant he had done some harder work and thus was improving in that sense. He finds he can do things a little better each day. So his spirits can be quite up about that.
Unfortunately, sometimes a bit of negative kicks in. The doctors and other staff say things around him that start to worry him about his condition and whether they will 'ship him back' to California to some unit there in Palo Alto which is so far from anyone he knows. We don't believe they will do that, but he focuses on that sometimes and so I told him firmly he is going to walk again and return to his job there and all his friends who are sending him such good loving vibes all the time. Keep those up, folks, they have a real effect on him.
Phone calls really help too, so if you can manage one or two of those, please consider doing it...you have the number.
He was thrilled to get a phone call from the church minister the other day. He felt very happy to talk with him. Also cards from other folks from the church sent directly to the hospital have arrived and the letter from Vera. I read them to him yesterday as I had no emails to read. You can see his face light up when he looks at the cards and photos that are sent. Thank you for those. He still gets quite emotional when thinking about and looking at the booklet of people from his work that was created for him. These moments make a huge difference in the life of someone who is so restricted in other ways. He needs these very positive things to think about to chase away the shadows of worries that come to him in the night.
There are at least another 6 weeks of having his halo on and then seeing how his spine has improved with a new MRI. I am hoping that the improvement will be easily seen and he will understand how the time factor is to be seen as very long indeed. There are 4 people who are being discharged from the ward this week who came in months ago with similar injuries so that gives him hope. He was talking about how their stories encourage him.
He does seem to go from hope to despair on a bit of a cycle, so he will benefit from encouragement about being able to come back to his job. He is worried because of it being on the second floor, but if he is walking that will not matter. He is worried that it won't be there for him and that all the financial stuff will not be sorted out. Airasa and Ian are doing a gargantuan job trying to sort out his income tax, his insurance, his financial matters, etc. but as it is 'foreign' it is not so easy from so many miles away. I think the income tax is a real eye opener as we don't have any such things to worry about here unless we are self employed!
The encouragement and love coming from California and his Washington family is a great help in his recuperation. We are a small group here, visiting him regularly, but friends are a very different matter. You are 'his' friends rather than Airasa's friends. I know he is looking forward to his mother's upcoming visit and she is just waiting for the passport to come through before she can travel over here. Having emails to read him regularly really helps us as well.
We are all busy people and the hospital is now much further away for visitors to travel to but Airasa is doing a wonderful job of seeing him almost every day -- now she is taking the odd day off so she can look after herself and that is so very important.
We have snow today and that at least gives him something new to see outside! WE, of course, have to contend with driving in it!!
OK, folks, that's the lot. I will attach the photo and get this off.
Kind regards,
Linda
posted by Fearless Leader Sue at 9:48 AM
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