Hi Everyone,
Tonight, when I came home to dinner, Ruth was already at the table and kids were in various stages of arriving. We talked for a couple of minutes and then, in the quiet, Ruth said, "Adrian helped me walk to the table." I didn't really get it at first, but as I looked at her, she looked low and small. Something was missing. Then I realized she was in my family's small "heirloom" green wooden chair, not the giant wheelchair.
! 1. She was sitting in a simple wooden chair for the first time in months, and
! 2. that meant she had not wheeled into the room, but arrived in her walker!
Well, yes, great things keep on happening. We saw the orthopaedic surgeon in Philly on Tuesday (or, rather, his assistant; he's in Haiti, which only deepened our respect for him). She said things look very good (and we were able to see the xrays which was cool. Glad all that stuff is on the INside) and gave Ruth permission to start putting a tiny amount of weight on her right foot. That's huge. And she no longer has to use the platform part of the walker, which means both hands are on it like you would normally use one. So she did today, several times, walk around a bit. Wow. Her right arm didn't even hurt after leaning on it in that way. That is so much to be grateful for. She even learned to do stairs (though not the whole flight yet, only a couple).
The other part of the story involves a "wait" from God, but it's minor, I guess. Her hip wound (still about a 6"x6"x6" triangle) is ready for the skin graft, but she needs to be on blood thinner until April and they can't do the graft while she's still on the blood thinner. So that will be a bandage site until then, and certain foods she is restricted from will still be off limits.
But generally all is well. We have been to church three times now and to prayer last Sunday night---it's been wonderful---also a little shopping, she's folding laundry, making salads, doing pretty much unrestricted stuff with her hands. The worst of it now is probably once a day her knee has some pain, but the med helps.
Again, your prayers and help have been priceless to us. We will understand if you don't check the blog again, but we will post a few more times over the months when we get significant news.
If I can give you something else to pray for, many of you "got to know" Naomi through this blog for her mom. She is in the midst of college applications now, we are still very busy at home, she has a lot of schoolwork and she doesn't have a specific college preference. If you would pray for God's guidance and discernment, and that life would slow down just a bit, it seems like that would be really good for her.
thank you
Brian
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Mid January
Hi Everyone,
Brian here. Things are going well. Ruth is really good.
The biggest thing is that she has graduated from the wound-vac. This sponge-tube system has been emptying fluid from her hip/body ever since about two weeks after the accident. After some quick figuring, I would say it has removed over 16 quarts of fluid. Anyway, the output was waning and the nurse said the little "cave" (space between skin and tissue) is gone (big yay), so they took her off it last Friday. This means no more 4' hose and 3 lb. machine to go wherever she goes. That is very nice, and so is the news that the healing continues to go so well. The nurse loves how the sight looks (nurses love strange things, amen?). Now we have a multi-layered dressing that will be changed every two days that actually has silver as part of the inside layer to promote healing and kill bad stuff.
I realize there are some questions you may have that we haven't answered. Someone asked me today about Ruth's prognosis in terms of walking. Well, if we haven't said it, doctors think she'll be fine aside from some arthritis. She has used her platform walker some. It's pretty tiring for her, more in terms of lungs, heart and endurance than leg or arm pain. She still won't be able to put any weight on her right leg until mid-February, so any steps she takes are actually hops supported by her arms.
She is able to use our downstairs powder room now (we removed the door and frame to make room to get the wheelchair in the doorway) (and then, don't worry, we hung a curtain), she can transfer from chair to sofa by standing on her good leg, her appetite is great, skin looks good, sleeping well (last night was the first night she slept solidly all the way through without a potty break).
By the way, phone calls are fine and for those of you who are local, visits are fine. Call first so you don't stop by when she may be out or have a therapist here.
Prognosis for procedures: Now is the time for a skin graft on her hip, but Ruth is not at all sure she wants to go with one. She doesn't like the idea of another hospital stay (of course, being away from me is agony) or the month-long discomfort (feels like a bad itchy sunburn, they say) of the site where they would take the skin from. When pressed, the plastic surgeon said the skin should eventually grow back on its own, though it could take a year or so. Ruth, who has always been more evolutionary than revolutionary, likes the sound of that better. I like the quick fix, but we are, of course, letting her decide.
The orthopedic doctor at HUP who is still following up (who is incidentally one of the most impressive doctors we have ever met in terms of knowledge plus communications skills plus bedside manner plus familiarity with her case even though he's only seen her a few times over two months ago ... I could go on and on ...) says a hip replacement might be in her future. Some slight bone growth that doesn't look too good is developing. He'll keep his eye on it.
That's about it for the news from our house. Our dog (Rio) just about goes nuts when he gets some face time with Ruth. She was always a devoted mommy to him and he hasn't seen much of her since the accident (he is an outdoor/mud room dog, and she is mostly in the living room and her bedroom). He echoes our sentiments.
Again, praise be to God for his healing power and to all of you for your prayers and help. We are so grateful.
By the way, oh, I meant to get right back to you with this, but we are still very busy at home: remember in my last blog, I asked you to pray for my old coworkers? God answered your prayers before they were even prayed. I had dinner the next night with two friends from there. Two weeks earlier, the company had decided to keep this office open.
!!!
What is that Scripture in which God says, "Before you ask me, I will hear you?" Remarkable, and thank you for praying. This doesn't mean that all is well there, but at least it keeps any of those people from being desperately unemployed all of a sudden.
still grateful,
Brian for all of us.
Brian here. Things are going well. Ruth is really good.
The biggest thing is that she has graduated from the wound-vac. This sponge-tube system has been emptying fluid from her hip/body ever since about two weeks after the accident. After some quick figuring, I would say it has removed over 16 quarts of fluid. Anyway, the output was waning and the nurse said the little "cave" (space between skin and tissue) is gone (big yay), so they took her off it last Friday. This means no more 4' hose and 3 lb. machine to go wherever she goes. That is very nice, and so is the news that the healing continues to go so well. The nurse loves how the sight looks (nurses love strange things, amen?). Now we have a multi-layered dressing that will be changed every two days that actually has silver as part of the inside layer to promote healing and kill bad stuff.
I realize there are some questions you may have that we haven't answered. Someone asked me today about Ruth's prognosis in terms of walking. Well, if we haven't said it, doctors think she'll be fine aside from some arthritis. She has used her platform walker some. It's pretty tiring for her, more in terms of lungs, heart and endurance than leg or arm pain. She still won't be able to put any weight on her right leg until mid-February, so any steps she takes are actually hops supported by her arms.
She is able to use our downstairs powder room now (we removed the door and frame to make room to get the wheelchair in the doorway) (and then, don't worry, we hung a curtain), she can transfer from chair to sofa by standing on her good leg, her appetite is great, skin looks good, sleeping well (last night was the first night she slept solidly all the way through without a potty break).
By the way, phone calls are fine and for those of you who are local, visits are fine. Call first so you don't stop by when she may be out or have a therapist here.
Prognosis for procedures: Now is the time for a skin graft on her hip, but Ruth is not at all sure she wants to go with one. She doesn't like the idea of another hospital stay (of course, being away from me is agony) or the month-long discomfort (feels like a bad itchy sunburn, they say) of the site where they would take the skin from. When pressed, the plastic surgeon said the skin should eventually grow back on its own, though it could take a year or so. Ruth, who has always been more evolutionary than revolutionary, likes the sound of that better. I like the quick fix, but we are, of course, letting her decide.
The orthopedic doctor at HUP who is still following up (who is incidentally one of the most impressive doctors we have ever met in terms of knowledge plus communications skills plus bedside manner plus familiarity with her case even though he's only seen her a few times over two months ago ... I could go on and on ...) says a hip replacement might be in her future. Some slight bone growth that doesn't look too good is developing. He'll keep his eye on it.
That's about it for the news from our house. Our dog (Rio) just about goes nuts when he gets some face time with Ruth. She was always a devoted mommy to him and he hasn't seen much of her since the accident (he is an outdoor/mud room dog, and she is mostly in the living room and her bedroom). He echoes our sentiments.
Again, praise be to God for his healing power and to all of you for your prayers and help. We are so grateful.
By the way, oh, I meant to get right back to you with this, but we are still very busy at home: remember in my last blog, I asked you to pray for my old coworkers? God answered your prayers before they were even prayed. I had dinner the next night with two friends from there. Two weeks earlier, the company had decided to keep this office open.
!!!
What is that Scripture in which God says, "Before you ask me, I will hear you?" Remarkable, and thank you for praying. This doesn't mean that all is well there, but at least it keeps any of those people from being desperately unemployed all of a sudden.
still grateful,
Brian for all of us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
