Well the day has finally arrived. Believe it or not, tomorrow Rick will be returning home to Memorial Drive in Menomonee Falls for the first time since his accident on September 3.
His recovery has been nothing short of amazing and under two months!
Rick will have to attend out patient therapy for some time yet to be determined by his progress. But he will be able to sleep in his own bed with his wife Mary at his side.
It is like a light bulb has been switched to the on position. Since Saturday night when I last saw him, he has had an amazing week. He watched the Packer Game and had pizza delivered with his family. He has been alert and cooperative all week.
His therapist took him for a walk down to Lake Michigan one day, for the first time. They went down some paths and over a walking bridge. When Mary, Ang and the kids came to visit later that day, he took them on the same walk, unassisted, and remembered the entire route.
He's almost giddy with the excitement of getting his life back. The things we complain about daily like getting up, going to work, taking out the trash; are all tasks that Rick cannot wait to be able to do.
If there is anything we can take from this event, is to cherish each day as it comes no matter how mundane it seems. We must cherish our friends and family because without them life wouldn't be worth living or recovering. Take every day as it comes and deal with them the best you can, because you truly never know when they could be stolen from you through no fault of your own.
Unbelievable THANKS to Rick's family, including his parents and siblings and his friends who have all been there for him. It is because of all of your visits, cards, and prayers that he has been able to get through this so quickly. I know that when he is able, he will be eternally grateful for each and every one of you!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Weekly Update
Rick has had a week of ups and downs. He seems to be getting better and more cooperative and then he will have a day where nothing seems to satisfy him. So it goes with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). He has been doing his daily series of therapy and there seems to be progress, which is great. But since there really isn't anything medically wrong with him other than his memory, it's time to find a new temporary home for Rick to continue with his therapy.
This hasn't been an easy task for Mary and she has visited a few different rehab centers looking for the right fit for Rick's needs. The professionals are looking to add Behavioral Therapy to his list of Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapies.
Mary has been at his side constantly since the accident and has only left him for going to work and sleeping at home. This weekend there was a family activity that she would be missing, so we offered to sit with Rick Saturday night.
Rick had showered and shaved , then dressed in clean clothes anticipating that he would be joining Mary and was sorely disappointed when he heard he would have to stay in the hospital.
"You mean I did all this for Dale and Linda?"
When we arrived he climbed out of his bed and sat upright in a chair for about 4 hours while we had multiple conversations with him. He was calm and cooperative with us, but refused to eat his dinner no matter what we tried.
He spoke of confusing things that we couldn't understand and didn't remember things that had happened in recent years like who had died, married or moved away and kept mentioning things from years ago. The three of us have a long history together and we knew a lot of what he was trying to say, but it was still pretty jumbled. When he said things that we knew aren't correct, we challenged him and he would become argumentative and offer to bet millions of dollars that he was right. Then would back down and say , "well maybe not." (TBI again)
Dale asked him how he would get home from the hospital if he could drive home. This was his response:
"Well I would take 94 to 894 then get to where it says Fond du Lac to 41/45 and exit at Silver Spring, then drive to Town Line Road turn on to MacLynn and the second right is Memory"
Pretty good!
I'll close with what I think is the best line of night. Dale was asking him about more recent events to see if we could get him to remember and began questioning him about his trap shooting which he did remember and the fact that he had borrowed Dale's gun and had it "under my bed" :) Then Dale asked him about the specials they had during the season.
Rick responded , "Dollar beers."
I laughed at him, "you are unbelievable, you can only remember things from 10 years ago, but you instantly remember that!"
He smiled and said, "I remember the important things"
This hasn't been an easy task for Mary and she has visited a few different rehab centers looking for the right fit for Rick's needs. The professionals are looking to add Behavioral Therapy to his list of Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapies.
Mary has been at his side constantly since the accident and has only left him for going to work and sleeping at home. This weekend there was a family activity that she would be missing, so we offered to sit with Rick Saturday night.
Rick had showered and shaved , then dressed in clean clothes anticipating that he would be joining Mary and was sorely disappointed when he heard he would have to stay in the hospital.
"You mean I did all this for Dale and Linda?"
When we arrived he climbed out of his bed and sat upright in a chair for about 4 hours while we had multiple conversations with him. He was calm and cooperative with us, but refused to eat his dinner no matter what we tried.
He spoke of confusing things that we couldn't understand and didn't remember things that had happened in recent years like who had died, married or moved away and kept mentioning things from years ago. The three of us have a long history together and we knew a lot of what he was trying to say, but it was still pretty jumbled. When he said things that we knew aren't correct, we challenged him and he would become argumentative and offer to bet millions of dollars that he was right. Then would back down and say , "well maybe not." (TBI again)
Dale asked him how he would get home from the hospital if he could drive home. This was his response:
"Well I would take 94 to 894 then get to where it says Fond du Lac to 41/45 and exit at Silver Spring, then drive to Town Line Road turn on to MacLynn and the second right is Memory"
Pretty good!
I'll close with what I think is the best line of night. Dale was asking him about more recent events to see if we could get him to remember and began questioning him about his trap shooting which he did remember and the fact that he had borrowed Dale's gun and had it "under my bed" :) Then Dale asked him about the specials they had during the season.
Rick responded , "Dollar beers."
I laughed at him, "you are unbelievable, you can only remember things from 10 years ago, but you instantly remember that!"
He smiled and said, "I remember the important things"
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Field Trip
There have been many "firsts" for Rick this week, but a couple of the best happened today. Rick has been complaining to Mary about the hospital food. The menu is somewhat limited and with the concern over his sugar levels, he has been on a pretty healthy and boring diet. The staff gave permission for Rick to go on a mini field trip to get something to eat.
Anyone who knows Rick, knows that his favorite fast food place is Subway. There is one located on North Ave. just a few blocks from Sacred Heart. It was a little breezy, but he put on his winter coat and hat and walked to the Subway with his wife, daughter, son and best buddy. He waited for the walk signal to cross the busy street and knew when he was able to start to cross. Angela stayed close to him, walking arm and arm with her dad, just in case he stumbled or became unsteady.
Rick decided what type of sub he wanted, "chicken bacon ranch", and settled into a place at the table while Mary ordered for him. He ate the whole sandwich with a soda and a few chips. After visiting a little while, we then walked back to the hospital as Rick was eager to get back.
Rick, Mary, Dale and I have played many games of cribbage over the years. Although the guys might disagree, I think we are tied with wins and losses. For the first time, since his accident, the four of us sat down to play four handed cribbage. We made Rick count the cards to make sure we had a full deck, "I counted 52". Then we had him deal, five cards each
I was impressed at his game play, obviously he wasn't as sharp as before the accident, but I'm telling you, the man can still count his hand as fast as he ever could! He stumbled a bit with the Aces, as he kept forgetting they were one point. But every hand he kept getting more and more Aces and ultimately they didn't stump him. We had to remind him what "knobs" was, but other than that, we played two full games of cribbage.
Score: Men-2
Ladies-0
Anyone who knows Rick, knows that his favorite fast food place is Subway. There is one located on North Ave. just a few blocks from Sacred Heart. It was a little breezy, but he put on his winter coat and hat and walked to the Subway with his wife, daughter, son and best buddy. He waited for the walk signal to cross the busy street and knew when he was able to start to cross. Angela stayed close to him, walking arm and arm with her dad, just in case he stumbled or became unsteady.
Rick decided what type of sub he wanted, "chicken bacon ranch", and settled into a place at the table while Mary ordered for him. He ate the whole sandwich with a soda and a few chips. After visiting a little while, we then walked back to the hospital as Rick was eager to get back. Rick, Mary, Dale and I have played many games of cribbage over the years. Although the guys might disagree, I think we are tied with wins and losses. For the first time, since his accident, the four of us sat down to play four handed cribbage. We made Rick count the cards to make sure we had a full deck, "I counted 52". Then we had him deal, five cards each
I was impressed at his game play, obviously he wasn't as sharp as before the accident, but I'm telling you, the man can still count his hand as fast as he ever could! He stumbled a bit with the Aces, as he kept forgetting they were one point. But every hand he kept getting more and more Aces and ultimately they didn't stump him. We had to remind him what "knobs" was, but other than that, we played two full games of cribbage.
Score: Men-2
Ladies-0
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Milestones
Since our visit on Sunday, Rick has had some mini-breakthroughs that I think are worth mentioning. Again, they may not seem like huge things to many of you, but we have seen Rick's progress over the month and a half since the accident and we think these are clear signs of recovery and improvement.
For a while every night when Mary visited, Rick would pack his suitcase because he wanted to go home. After he fell asleep, Mary would un-pack. Then next night they would repeat the same scenario. He would even walk out into the hallway and pull the suitcase behind him and walk around the perimeter of the floor he is on. This week that hasn't happened.
I have mentioned before that since Rick wanted to make phone calls, Mary gave him an old cell phone without a battery to make his imaginary calls with. He would have many conversations throughout the day on a dead phone. Well yesterday he told her he needed the phone charger because he couldn't get the phone to ring and he tried calling people all day.
There is a cognitive test that Rick has been given by one of his therapists, Mary called it "ABC, 123". I'm not sure what it is, but I know that last week he couldn't do the test at all. This week he performed the test, made three mistakes and when prompted, corrected his own mistakes.
When he was having a conversation about deer hunting, he was asked, "When is deer hunting Rick?"
It's the same time every year, March...No that's not right, it's in November. I think it's the third week in November.
For a while every night when Mary visited, Rick would pack his suitcase because he wanted to go home. After he fell asleep, Mary would un-pack. Then next night they would repeat the same scenario. He would even walk out into the hallway and pull the suitcase behind him and walk around the perimeter of the floor he is on. This week that hasn't happened.
I have mentioned before that since Rick wanted to make phone calls, Mary gave him an old cell phone without a battery to make his imaginary calls with. He would have many conversations throughout the day on a dead phone. Well yesterday he told her he needed the phone charger because he couldn't get the phone to ring and he tried calling people all day.
There is a cognitive test that Rick has been given by one of his therapists, Mary called it "ABC, 123". I'm not sure what it is, but I know that last week he couldn't do the test at all. This week he performed the test, made three mistakes and when prompted, corrected his own mistakes.
When he was having a conversation about deer hunting, he was asked, "When is deer hunting Rick?"
It's the same time every year, March...No that's not right, it's in November. I think it's the third week in November.
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