Day 29 THE REALITY Light day yesterday due to the holiday. Renee had a scheduled day of PT, OT and Speech. That did not mean she was not worked hard. Out of the three things that seem the hardest right now would be the speech therapy. I sense she gets frustrated at times when they ask her questions in different ways. She says it is very boring and repetitive. The speech therapists always humor her and let her know that they will try to keep it as upbeat as possible. During the first session of physical therapy they worked on an exercise to build coordination and hand eye skills. Basically Renee had to take a small shaped cone and place it on different colored bars that stuck out from a tube that was sticking up. Each bar was color coded and each one was longer than the other. She was to take each cone and slide it to the end of the rail. The higher she got the more trouble she had. One thing that I was very surprised at is that she is now stronger at doing these types of exercises with her right arm and hand then her left. Something that does have me a bit puzzled as she had no movement in her right side a few weeks ago and now that side is more dominant than the left side. She is right handed so I do not know if this has anything to do with it. The therapist and Renee also played a game of Connect 4. Again something so simple we would play with our children required a lot of concentration to get the pieces in the slots and also have the mindset of trying to beat someone at the game. Something the therapist reminded Renee of a few times. Short bouts of exercise followed by short bouts of rest. I was told this would build up over time and the extent of the exercises would become longer with shorter rest breaks. Renee did question the point of the game but was reminded that the small things like this are adding up for much bigger things coming down the road. After completing Connect 4 they worked on her standing and posture again. Over and over, and standing for a period of two minutes and then sitting for a minute. Amazing how long two minutes must feel when you are going through what she is. After an hour of physical therapy she was allowed to return to her room and rest until occupational therapy arrived. Occupational therapy arrived and when we went back to the gym they worked on stretching her upper body out. Renee was starting to become a bit frustrated but the therapist and myself kept reminding her she was doing great and not to stop, keep going. She worked on sitting up straight and good posture. The time was about 11:30 and I wanted to grab us lunch so we could eat together and I could work on getting some weight back on her. She needs it. I went across the street to Rex’s again and ordered another cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mayo. Also got an order of cheese fries and another Snapple for her. When I got back to her she was waiting for me. I set the small table and we ate making a mess of everything. At one point she looked at me and said she felt like a child with the way she was eating. I smiled back and said “making a mess is what it’s all about now and if anyone would have said 29 days later we would be eating like this I would have never believed it”. Tomorrow I plan on seeing if I can somehow get to Chickie and Pete’s in a reasonable amount of time and get her the favorite thing she likes. Crab fries and hot shrimp. She loves the place and we use to go there often. Something we will do again in the near future and another thing I am adding to a list of things we will do when she is up to it. I am calling it Renee’s world tour. The afternoon session of speech came at around 1:00 and she said she was not going. I told her there was one problem. I was pushing the chair to the room and she couldn’t stop me. She wasn’t thrilled but I followed the speech therapist and away we went. I have to admit Renee and the therapist hit it off and when the therapist asked her to ask any questions she wanted Renee asked many. Renee started about her hair because they both had similar hair. This went on for a good twenty minutes about hair care, hair products and hair styles. The hour went by very fast and the conversation went from one end of the spectrum to the other. I said before I am amazed how these people can take the small things and make them very big in recovery something I would never be able to do. Trained professionals getting someone’s life back together piece by piece. Before dinner Renee had another craving, Doritos. Sure enough I found a vending machine on the 6th floor and bought her a bag. Got back to her room and she ate the entire bag and washed it down with a ginger ale. I could tell from my point of view she was getting her appetite back and craving things she really loved before this happened. At dinner we went down to the cafeteria since she is allowed to eat now with family members in the cafeteria or off the floor. When we got down to the cafeteria and I ordered her the food that she wanted she only lasted a few minutes and wanted to go back to the room. You see when I took a tour of Magee they told me that sometimes the cafeteria is too much stimulation for the brain with all the lights, tv’s and people in it. I didn’t fully understand it at the time but when I experienced it with Renee I realized what they had meant. We simply boxed up our food and went back to the room and had a nice private dinner. Another thing I look forward to daily. Renee is getting a hair cut tonight. Unfortunately the knot on the top of her head cannot be managed. Renee has not had a hair cut in many, many, years. In the fifteen years we have been married she has only had it trimmed a few times. I am not sure how she will handle it at first. I am not a woman and do not know what a woman goes through with the sense of pride and her hair. I do know this. I told her that no matter what our love is not based on the length of her hair. It is based on the fact that our family has something so special and so strong that hopefully will never be taken away for many years to come. I am not a very wise person with advice or sayings but I did say this to her. Hair will grow back, life does not. In those moments I told her how I almost lost her 29 days ago and how if I did I do not know how I would have functioned. When people are married for a very long period of time and one passes I can see how the other can pass away from a broken heart. I think a broken heart is one of the things in life that is very hard to mend. When you share love that is very deep and experience a life changing event such as this one you never want to let go ever again. Lastly I have to admit. When I am not near her I do get frustrated for her. Sometimes I do get angry and ask why. My wife is a great person with never a mean bone in her body, never did anything to deserve the position she is in now. I look at her working her ass off trying to do something we all learned years ago when we where children. A lot of bad people in this world that go on without ever having to experience any type of hardship. But then again I know god has a plan for us all in one way or another. I am glad god gave me this plan. The plan is for my wife to be alive, to recover and be part of our family again. Just taking a detour to get there and make us all appreciate it more daily. Today I am grateful for what I have and tomorrow I will not forget that.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 11:32:26 +0000
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