News from the Denver Outpost September 8, 2007
Hi Friends,
The Denver Outpost has been suffering technical problems, as the laptop succumbed to effects of the vehicle rollover and experienced it's own need for therapy. But with a little judicious cussin and swearin and help from Jay, we finally are up and running again after three days of frustrations and disconnection from the world outside Swedish Hospital.
However, progress has continued and we are definitely on track to return to Omaha on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. We have made arrangements with Rachel's cousin, Beverly, to get us to the airport, and with Jay and Leah to get us home to our house. With a little bit of luck, we will be getting a good nights sleep without the sounds and intrusions of a night in the hospital. We definitely will not miss the early morning visits from the phlebotomists and respiratory therapists. Friday, the first blood draw was at 6:10 am and the second two hours later. Today, we were allowed to sleep in, and had the first blood draw at 6:37 am. I suspect the first blood draw next Wednesday will be around 10:50 am and that will be in Omaha at the family physician's office. Still have to check the ole rat poison levels.
Rachel has regained a great deal of her walking strength. She went outside to walk on the grounds of the hospital three times in the last two days. We practiced curbs, slops, and uneven surfaces. We walked in grass, parking lots and along flagstone paths. Tuesday, she will be walking in airports, up and down curbs, and in and out of airplanes. All new adventures for us in this state.
She will be wearing her new going home clothes too. Not wanting to alarm the traveling public, she has decided to wear long pants to cover the skin graft donor sites on her right thigh. The shorts we kept here would just not do that job. So we bought her a new pair of loose fitting slacks and a shirt to go with them. She also needed a new shoe. The swelling in both feet has made it impossible to put her normal sized shoes on her left foot. Subsequently, she has been wearing a men's 9 1/2 athletic shoe with the initials PT on her left foot. I found her some women's athletic walkers withVelcro closures like those her children wore until they went off to grade school and had to learn to tie laces. Her swollen foot can fit into these as well, because theVelcro allows for the expanded area. I asked her if she wanted to write PT on either new shoe. The right one so she could donate it to PT here, or the left one so she knew which foot to put it on, but she said she would keep them clean and bring both home so she had an easy shoe to wear when the big walking boot finally comes off.
Britanie continues to thrive in Boston. She is enjoying her professors, the new students she has met, and the intense conversations and discussions generated in the classrooms. She has also found some new restaurants and new foods there in Boston. We talk with her for a few minutes every day between classes or while she is en route to or from classes. However, she had to call today and tell her two parental units that they were overusing the cellphone minutes we share in common. She was a little concerned that in only the first 12 days of the billing month we had used up over 80 percent of the allotted minutes. She called the cellphone minutes provider and worked out a deal to get more minutes, and in the process got them to credit the account for the overusage we had in August. She might just have the makings of good lawyer yet!
Jay, Renee, Britanie, Zach and Leah's Dad
The Denver Outpost has been suffering technical problems, as the laptop succumbed to effects of the vehicle rollover and experienced it's own need for therapy. But with a little judicious cussin and swearin and help from Jay, we finally are up and running again after three days of frustrations and disconnection from the world outside Swedish Hospital.
However, progress has continued and we are definitely on track to return to Omaha on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. We have made arrangements with Rachel's cousin, Beverly, to get us to the airport, and with Jay and Leah to get us home to our house. With a little bit of luck, we will be getting a good nights sleep without the sounds and intrusions of a night in the hospital. We definitely will not miss the early morning visits from the phlebotomists and respiratory therapists. Friday, the first blood draw was at 6:10 am and the second two hours later. Today, we were allowed to sleep in, and had the first blood draw at 6:37 am. I suspect the first blood draw next Wednesday will be around 10:50 am and that will be in Omaha at the family physician's office. Still have to check the ole rat poison levels.
Rachel has regained a great deal of her walking strength. She went outside to walk on the grounds of the hospital three times in the last two days. We practiced curbs, slops, and uneven surfaces. We walked in grass, parking lots and along flagstone paths. Tuesday, she will be walking in airports, up and down curbs, and in and out of airplanes. All new adventures for us in this state.
She will be wearing her new going home clothes too. Not wanting to alarm the traveling public, she has decided to wear long pants to cover the skin graft donor sites on her right thigh. The shorts we kept here would just not do that job. So we bought her a new pair of loose fitting slacks and a shirt to go with them. She also needed a new shoe. The swelling in both feet has made it impossible to put her normal sized shoes on her left foot. Subsequently, she has been wearing a men's 9 1/2 athletic shoe with the initials PT on her left foot. I found her some women's athletic walkers withVelcro closures like those her children wore until they went off to grade school and had to learn to tie laces. Her swollen foot can fit into these as well, because theVelcro allows for the expanded area. I asked her if she wanted to write PT on either new shoe. The right one so she could donate it to PT here, or the left one so she knew which foot to put it on, but she said she would keep them clean and bring both home so she had an easy shoe to wear when the big walking boot finally comes off.
Britanie continues to thrive in Boston. She is enjoying her professors, the new students she has met, and the intense conversations and discussions generated in the classrooms. She has also found some new restaurants and new foods there in Boston. We talk with her for a few minutes every day between classes or while she is en route to or from classes. However, she had to call today and tell her two parental units that they were overusing the cellphone minutes we share in common. She was a little concerned that in only the first 12 days of the billing month we had used up over 80 percent of the allotted minutes. She called the cellphone minutes provider and worked out a deal to get more minutes, and in the process got them to credit the account for the overusage we had in August. She might just have the makings of good lawyer yet!
Jay, Renee, Britanie, Zach and Leah's Dad
posted by "Jay, Renee, & Britanie's Dad" at 9:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home