Progress !

Wednesday Dec. 11th was my doctor appointment in Seattle. The new X-rays looked "very good". Doc says now I am unrestricted, but use common sense. 9 more months until I'm "completely back to normal". Which means I'm off crutches ! (but no piano moving) Each time I stand up, I literally have to think about walking and correctly moving my legs. I guess after 3 months I should expect it. But it is nice to be able to walk and carry things. (I can now take out the trash) Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Accident update

Here sit I 2 1/2 months since the accident. Let me ramble a bit. So many things I took for granted. Ability to put on my own shoes & socks. Pick up a bar of soap that falls in the bathtub. Walking and buttoning up a shirt at the same time. Sitting up in bed. Taking a shower by myself. Thousands of things every day. I note these things as I again become able to do them ! Yesterday, I went upstairs in our house for the first time since the accident. (OH, that's where I used to live ! ) I live and sleep in a guest bedroom on the main floor. I'm on crutches for at least a few more weeks. Slowly adding more weight to my left leg. Too much too early worries the doctors that I might shear my sacrum and require surgery for plates and pins. I think I'll be good and avoid that ! I'm doing physical therapy now. PT says that after an accident like mine, PT is like a part time job. She has me doing 3 hours of exercises per day. Not my favorite thing, but I do them. When she tells me not to push it, I sometimes ignore her. :)

With the crutches, I can walk fairly normal. Sometimes I really feel like I can walk unaided, but I resist the urge. I can now walk stairs but not too many. Stamina is low. At Costco I take the motorized carts. I walked at Wal-Mart and was tired when I got back to the car. I have taken advantage and got a disabled sticker for parking. Shar has been a real trooper. So have my friends and ward members. The hospital wanted to send me to a nursing home for a few weeks because they knew I'd need extra help. I told them I had friends who would help. They said "everyone SAYS that they'll help" Mine do help. Not much now that I cannot do by myself. But Shar still helps a bunch. Looking back, I was in worse shape than I thought I was at the time. But I'm feeling fine, no pain. (discomfort, yes. Particularly after PT exercises) Doctor appointment Dec 11th and I'm hoping then to ditch the crutches. I need to mention how stiff one becomes with this type injury. Can't bend to the right or left; forward or backward. The first shower after 2 weeks feels GREAT. Warm water flowing over your back. Hummm But you cannot reach most of your body to wash or dry yourself. Thank goodness for a hand held shower, a shower seat and a Shar. I'm past that now, except the shower seat. I'm not going to risk a fall when I try and turn around without putting full body weight on the left leg. In fact, today was my first, totally unaided shower. (I still let Shar get my clothes out for me.)

Out of the hospital

Sept 13th Friday Physical Therapist and Occupational therapist spent some time and wanted to see what I could do for myself. (not much) But enough that they cleared me to go home Sat if I could show the Therapist on Saturday that I could walk and climb stairs in a stable manner. Erik brought Shar over and she stayed the night. Buddy and Allyson, and Uncle Bob & Karen came to visit. In the eve, Dr. came to say they were there to remove the chest tube. What a relief. That is miserable. Sept 14th Saturday Kelli & Keyton came to visit. Jared and Madison came to pick Shar & Myself up. Jared brought my fore-arm crutches. I took some pain meds and called in the Therapist. He walked me through some stuff, then onto the walker and then the crutches. He agreed that for me, the crutches were a better choice. Then some steps (with lots of sweating) and I was cleared to go home. Mike Millet picked up a wheel chair and had it waiting at home when we got here at 9PM. And Bruce, Doug and Erik joined Jared to get me out of the car in the back yard and into the wheel chair. I slid ¾ out of the car but had no more strength so 3 of them just picked me up and plopped me in the chair (gently) Erik has pulled our (very) low seat toilet from downstairs and had a new tall one which he and Jared finished installing. With the extra handicap lift, the toilet is now the same height as the wheel chair. I “moved in” downstairs. Wheel chair will not fit in the bathroom so the door was removed and Jared hooked up a sheet door.

Sept 11th Stuck in one position in bed Erik brought himself and Shar over to visit. Kelli & kids came to visit but the kids were excluded since I was in ICU Everytime they take me to X-Ray and roll me to the side the pain spikes to a 9 and I can’t even scream. Sept 12th Thursday Moved to AAC room 610-2 Physical Therapist came and tried me on the walker. 5 steps is all. Even basic bodily functions are difficult or impossible Tough to just lay there when the phone is ringing with (probably) a welcome, familiar voice, but in no way can I move to reach the phone.

Auto Accident

Sept 10th 2013 Tuesday 7:10 AM I was on the way to drop my old Avalon of at the auto glass place. Change out the cracked windshield and then in the afternoon, sell the car to my son Erik. Last week we purchased Shar’s Dad’s old Lexus. “Old” but 9 years newer than my Avalon. As I came down Race Street, instead of stopping at the red light at First Street, for some reason, I ran the red light. I looked up, saw the red light and thought “What” Then I saw the red Chevy Avalanche and thought “this is going to hurt” It did. I was T-boned right into the drivers door. Crushing me between the center console and the Avalanche. It was over quick. Never lost conscientiousness. Left chest felt like someone has a baseball bat and was shoving the end very hard into my chest. A few bystanders and drivers there to talk to until paramedics came. Lots of questions and checking me out. Then they asked if I could crawl to the passenger side, which I did. They asked me if I could stand. I could not. But from there, they got a board under me, loaded me and took me to the hospital. (2 blocks away) Many X-rays etc. at OMC and they saw cracked pelvis and cracked rib. Tried to have me walk with a walker, only a few steps. Too painful. The pelvis had a high risk of continuing to bleed, so they sent me via ambulance to Harborview Trauma Center in Seattle. At Harborview they found a punctured and partially deflated left lung so put in a chest tube to relieve the pressure and let the trapped air out. Also discover the fractured sacrum on the left side. No weight on left leg for 12 weeks. Every time I try to use the right leg, the pelvis sends a pain message to get off the leg. So neither leg currently is useable.

10 June 2013 Today we took a tour up to the Black Forest here in Germany. The Romans gave the forest it's name. It's where the folk stories like Hansel & Gretel came from. Also where the farmers, bored during winters, started making cuckoo clocks. Photos of "worlds largest cuckoo clock" Most passengers were very impressed, but it was so similar to forests we cycled through in Switzerland (not that far away) that the forest, farms, and houses were common to Shar & I. This evening, Shar & I and a couple from England won the music trivia quiz and received a free bottle of wine ! They were so grateful that we just gave it to them, they offered to buy us a specialty coffee ! We are meeting lots of very nice people onboard. And interesting. River is rising fast so we headed down river early today. We have 4 locks to clear and some have a vertical clearance problem. When the river rises 3 feel, we get real close. The entire top deck folds down and the bridge is on an elevator so we can slip under some of the locks. Interesting process.

On to the river cruise

Sunday 9 June 2013 Our hotel in Basel was excellent in most ways. (do you see something coming?) Location was great. Super helpful staff. Big room. Comes with pass for local transit. But a new AC unit is being installed, so no cooling in the room. The weather is great so just open the window. Which overlooks a street which has a trolly go by all night long. Too much noise with the window open. But we did OK. Sunday morning we went to church with the Basel 1st ward. They had an interpreter but the electronics weren't working so we struggled to catch a few german words. An investigator was asked to come up and bear his testimony. Turns out he is a catholic priest and ended with " I'm so happy that I will be baptised soon". Then on to the Viking river cruise. We show up at the dock - no boat. If you have been following the weather in europe, you know about the flooding. The flooding caused 2 problems. Too difficult to navigate in the Rhine gorge. And water too high for the ships to get under some bridges. So we were bussed 50 miles down river to the boat located where our first full day is to begin. Got to be flexible when you travel! We are in Breisach Germany. Ship has free email most of the time, so contact is good this week. The boat (ship) is made such that the entire top can be made to lay down flat. The railings, canopies, wheelhouse, and windbreaks all can fold down so the boat can fit under some tight bridges and locks.