Friday, April 29, 2011

April 29, 2011: Back at TIRR


Jim returned to TIRR on Wednesday, 4/27/11. The admissions office wanted him there as early as possible. Luckily Amy wasn't Jim's nurse so we didn't have to deal with her. The admissions lady called me on my cell and wanted to get in contact with someone at Sharpview. For some crazy reason she thought I was bringing Jim to the hospital myself. So no one called for an ambulance. Finally I convinced Nishwani that we did indeed an ambulance. It arrived around 1 PM. I stopped at the house to feed the kitten and then drove over to TIRR.

Jim was placed in the overflow fourth floor. Most spinal cord patients are on the fifth floor. The staff wasn't even ready for Jim. He did a lot of waiting around in bed. Then the doctor's intern came in and performed the ASIA test on Jim. He said that Jim left as an ASIA B, C-4 in January. He tested ASIA C, C-5 this time. This is a big improvement!

On Thursday he was tested by the OT and PT. He got very little rehab that day. Today he had OT in the morning. I was there for his 2 PM PT with Jessica. She continued testing him and then they did some therapy. Jim was able to stand up using the EVA gizmo. He said it was easier than using the parallel bars at the home. He did really well as you can see in the photo.

He was in pain on Wednesday night in TIRR's hard bed. He had no pain at the home in his big bed. His morning nurse, Angela got him an airbed that folds up like a chair. He was much better Thursday night.

Tirr is doing sonograms on Jim after he uses the urinal. They say he doesn't empty his bladder all the way so then they catharize him. We asked the doctor to give him more time to do it on his own.

I spoke to Dr Berliner today. He said he would take over Jim's care but first he has to talk to Dr Wenzel. He says he is not afraid of stepping on toes. Jim likes him much better personally. He seems to be much more positive than Wenzel. Berliner is also working with Rice on the walking machine trials. That sounds promising.

Jim was so tired this evening from lack of a good night's sleep that I was able to leave at 6:30. I came home to take care of my baby kitten.

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