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.