February 12 thorugh February 16, 1999 update

Su is continuing to do wonderful. Today (2/16) she had her trach removed and the hole should close up in a couple of days. She gave the nurses a BIG thumbs up after it was removed and they told her she won't have to have it anymore. Now we can work on swallowing and eating so she can get the stomach tube removed. Discussed with the dietician about shifting her feeding schedule around to more closely resemble a regular meal schedule and she made it happen so Suze will get a 'meal' 3 times a day with 2 'snacks' in-between which is pretty close to her eating patterns before the accident. That should help her energy schedule out and also make it easier to substitute one of the 'meals' for regular food when they start to make the transition.

After her morning routine she wanted to do one thing and one thing only and that was WALK. She walked <<<85>>> feet with the walker. They said she was moving so fast PT was struggling to catch up. I think she got going and then realised she didn't know how to put on the brakes. Flat wore her out. Still working on the balance but her cadence is coming along great.

This weekend we worked on hand exercises and as usual she did excellent. Had a bit of difficulty picking up the blocks and pegs but once she had a hold on them she was able to manipulate them as required. Needed no prompting to know where they were supposed to go and how to get them there. I had put one of the boards at the furthermost edge of her wheelchair tray to get her to stretch her left arm (still very limited in mobility with the right arm) and after the first peg she stopped looked at the board, thought about it and reached out and moved the board closer to her so she wouldn't have to stretch her arm. Good problem solving but sort of defeated the stretching idea.

Evaluator for Sheltering Arms came by today and they are ready to accept her, as soon as they can get a VAIL bed she will transfer, most probably on the 17th or 18th. Sheltering Arms in off of I295 so the distance is about the same. She needs to get to the next level of rehab before she stops progressing because sometimes it is difficult to get the patient restarted. MCV still doesn't have a space for her and Riverside is playing some sort of game and I don't have the time or inclination to play along. Sheltering Arms is a new facility (6 mos old) and is already building a very good rep and they have a dedicated brain injury floor vice a general rehab that she will go to so while the driving and the distance issues will remain it is the best solution. Most probable length of stay is 8 weeks then she should be ready to come home and go to a day program.

Still at loggerheads with TriCare(less) over billing. Spent the morning in court trying to get guardianship and should have the order by the end of the week. Power of Attorneys ahead of time would have been a hell of a lot cheaper and easier. Made the initial call to my Senator and Representative about the TriCare billing issues and coverage issue. Norfolk has the major Navy concentration on the East coast and TriCare doesn't have a contract with the only Major Trauma certified hospital in the area, talk about a BIG hole in the plan. They are being such pains that it has just about got me to the point where causing them as much pain and suffering as I possibly can is becoming a worthwhile expenditure of time and energy.

The Daily Press printed up a fairly decent article on Suze, a copy can be found on the internet at: http://www.dailypress.com/archives/1/local/stories/90345sy0.htm for the next couple of days at least. They used our wedding photo.

Sat down and had a long talk with the PT and OT staff the last couple of days. Both were trying to recruit me into the field and let me know that recommendations for entrance to the programs were available if I wanted and the program administer mentioned that if I ever got my RN she would hire me on the spot. All I can say is that after 3 mos I am pretty burned out and couldn't see doing that for a living, too emotionally draining.

Well need to sign off, tomorrow looks to be a big day if the transfer happens, take care.

lawrence