Robin's First Week of Rehab---6/21/08

Again, it has been difficult to get to email this week. Robin's Mother, Johnnie, has been staying with Robin during the day. Our daily routine is as follows: I have been going to the early morning Communion service, and then taking Johnnie (aka, "Mom," or Robin's Mother) to the Clear Lake Rehabilitation Hospital, where she stays through the day, assisting when she can, but mostly providing Robin with comfort and morale support. I have been going to work from there. Work has been quite intense recently, but I try to call a few times throughout the day to see how Robin's doing. After work, I go to the hospital for the evening, sometimes bringing dinner with me for Mom and myself. At some point, when it is quiet, we pray together and I give Communion to Robin. When she starts getting sleepy-eyed, we take our cue and go home.

Robin has continued to make slow progress each day. They get her up and dress her each day. I'm sure Robin's Mom assists quite a bit with this. Then they put on her turtle shell and take her to therapy sessions. She appears to be getting Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) each day. Not sure what else. PT is teaching her how to strengthen herself and how to walk, sit, and stand again. OT is helping her to learn to do basic things in life again, like getting dressed, with her limitations resulting from the surgery. The have gizmos for putting on her socks without bending over, a gripper for picking things up, etc. She also gets visits from the doctor, who has started her on some interesting supplements in addition to her regular medications. Apparently, these are used widely in Europe, but are not recommended by most doctors in America, for some reason. I'm trying (in my copious spare time) to learn more about them. Her friend and former coworker, Charlie, who is the director of rehabilitation services at this hospital, also comes by almost every day.

One of Robin's nurses has been using her head and trying to time Robin's pain medications to synchronize well with her PT. If Robin gets her Meds to close to PT, she is too wiped out to do all that they want her to do. If she gets it too early, the pain is the limiting factor. This one nurse has figured it out so that, when she is assigned to Robin, Robin accomplishes much more in PT. When she is not assigned to Robin, Rob tries to ask for the pain meds to accomplish the same goal, but they do not respond on Robin's schedule, so it is a crap shoot. Mostly, she gets them just before PT shows up, and she accomplishes less than she might otherwise. It is pretty frustrating. I plan to talk to the case manager about this to see if we can get the schedule worked out for maximum benefit.

Robin did make some big strides this week in her recovery, though. She finally had a bowel movement, the first since May 31st, on Tuesday. They had been feeding her stool softeners, laxatives, and prune juice for several days without success, so they resorted to the enema, and it worked. Talk about a BIG accomplishment!!! Robin also had two or three showers this week. The nurses are very good with the sponge baths, but there is nothing quite as satisfying as a shower when you are getting a bit "ripe." As I said earlier, Robin's PT has had its ups and downs, but on the good days, she has walked to the gym, walked around the gym, exercised on a bicycle, and done arm exercises with resistance/weights. She has been eating lunch in the cafeteria, using a wheelchair but propelled by her own feet. I am sure there are other accomplishments that I cannot remember, but these alone are great. When she has a good day, her face is beaming when I arrive, and she is so excited to tell me all about it. It really makes my day.

Where do we go from here? Well, the doctor said yesterday that she would probably be there for a "few more weeks." That news was heartbreaking. We both want her at home as soon as possible, but we do not want to screw up the fine work of Robin's neurosurgeon! Since she's going to be in the hospital for a while longer, Robin's Mom is returning home to North Carolina. Robin is very disappointed, but she understands. So, that's about it for the near term.

I'll close for now. John and I are doing pretty well. He took his Grandmother to the hospital this morning, and I need to get moving in that direction.

Once again, I need to thank everyone for the prayers and support for Robin and for John and me. I have not been home much, so I am still unable to reply to most emails. Robin's room is small, and she has a roommate, so flowers and plants are not recommended, but cards and letters are always welcomed and very much appreciated.

Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery for Robin so that she can get back to her job of helping OTHER people get better!!!

Thanks again to everyone,

Love to all of you,

                  Robin, Larry, and John (and Johnnie, too)