Lolli wrote:What's charley horses?

It's a muscle pain (cramp or bruise) in the quadricep muscle of the leg. (See Charley Horse.)

DMT, I will be happy to take you up on Cathedral Peak

re: bills - Fortunately I'd managed to keep my self-employed health insurance all paid up. I checked the claims submitted to my insurance on the web recently and noted that the 13 day stay in Modesto, including 6 days in ICU and two surgeries was billed at about $600k. The helicopter bill was over $12k. I can't imagine what 5 weeks in spinal cord rehab at valley medical in San Jose was... including the services of an attending physician, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologist, psychologist, social worker, etc. I also had medical coverage through my auto policy, which helped.

Pavel, if you and Vendula are back from Africa - thanks for loaning me all those books ! They helped preserve what's left of my sanity

Hi Rob
It's great to hear that you are recovering so well. I went with Cathy and some others up to Yosemite again last weekend and I swear deer were in the road around every corner. They're out to get me! All bucks too, so maybe it's mating season or something. I know I only visited that once but I've checked up on this thread fairly regularly to see how things are going. I didn't post before this since you have to sign up first
It really is inspirational to hear how you're getting around now. It won't be long before you're outwalking me again, I swear! And it's especially inspirational to see how much support you're getting from your friends. You are very lucky & special, Rob.
Take care, we're all routing for you!

-Holly

feline143 wrote:Hi Rob
. . . and I swear deer were in the road around every corner. There out to get me! All bucks too, so maybe it's mating season or something. . . .

Mating season and they know they will not get shot at on raodways. They still haven't got the fast moving metal things aren't good idea down yet.

It's amazing how we have such great health care these days...leaps and bounds ahead of what was available a century ago. The downside is that all procedures and care worth much of anything nearly literally costs an arm and a leg. I spent today observing at a CT facility. Between the CT scans, the contrast media (iodine IVs), and everything else, I don't even want to know how much money was changing hands!

Rob, when we start the unit that covers C-spine x-ray imaging I'll be thinking of you!





Okay, okay, more sharing time...

I live and go to school in Hays, KS. Today I drove down to Wichita to visit this particular medical imaging facility...

In early November 2001, my mom and sister were involved in a serious motor vehicle accident that resulted in the injuries to my mom that I have previously mentioned. The accident happened near my hometown of Manhattan, KS. While my sister's injuries were fairly easy to treat and she was able to be hospitalized in Manhattan, my mom was flown by helicopter down to Wichita the night of the accident. Mom spent the better part of that November in the surgical ICU in a drug induced coma. After healing her lungs up, getting her legs pieced back together, and fighting a battle with a MRSA infection, she eventually came home by the beginning of January.

At any rate, I spent a lot of time in hospitals over that November and December. The time I spent with my sister in Manhattan was one experience... She was banged up, and they had gone in a fixed two broken bones, she just needed to heal and get back on her feet again. Being with my mom was something else. I don't know how many times I drove down to Wichita with my dad, brother, and eventually, sister, to wait in the ICU waiting room for the short windows of time that we could go in and see mom. That November and December I got to know that hospital in Wichita pretty well... cool comfort and hope--but hope not given to all--in a building of caring...all with early autumn evenings fading outside the windows.

All those difficult and numbly hopeful days and nights that I spent in hospitals had a profound effect on me. I know that I had to go into a profession that helped people in a direct way when they needed help the most. While I still don't quite understand the path I took over the next few years, before my mom was even home I had changed my major to something that I felt was within this new "calling" of mine, psychology, even though I knew that deep down, this calling was primarily to something directly in the medical field. One year later came the priest/Franciscan thing, which died about three years later (early 2006), leaving me confused and without a direction. Then a suggestion form my sister led me to where I am today. I finally, had come full circle.

This evening as I was on my way back to Hays, driving down I-35 through Wichita, I looked to my left and made out the distinctive sight of St. Francis Hospital, lights shining out in the autumn evening. As I gazed I had an interesting feeling come over me. The memories of those November and December evenings I spent there nearly six years ago came back to me.... the fragile hope, the healing, the caring.............my new direction. This as the hours of the first day that I actually had, though very limited, my very first experiences practicing patient care with a real patient, drifted away into the cool, dark night.

Sometimes good things come from very bad circumstances. You'll never believe how a tragedy can change you life for the better. Not that I am happy in the least that my mom and sister nearly got killed, and that mom will never be the same again physically, but if that accident had not happened, I don't know if I would be in the place that I am today.

Gareth wrote:Sometimes good things come from very bad circumstances. You'll never believe how a tragedy can change you life for the better. Not that I am happy in the least that my mom and sister nearly got killed, and that mom will never be the same again physically, but if that accident had not happened, I don't know if I would be in the place that I am today.

yes, when your world comes crashing down, the true miracle is finding the strength to rebuild.


So glad you are home Rob. Stay strong.

Thanks for sharing that with us Gareth. I wish you the best in your new profession

I've spent some time in hospitals too. My father's health deteriorated gradually during the last couple decades or so of his life. First were the biopsies that revealed diabetes - he had to inject insulin after that. High blood pressure. Then the parkinson's, and the alzheimer's. Eventually there were the nursing home visits. Finally more hospital visits. He passed away in 1989, about a year after I graduated college. I'd been making regular trips from my home in Pittsburgh, PA back to where he was in the DC area. Needless to say it was not beneficial to the development of my younger siblings, but that's another story ...

I have to admire people who work in the health care field, because I don't think I could bear it.

Thanks again for the good wishes Karen, Holly, Gene, and Jeff and everyone else.

Outside I've been walking with a left leg brace - a piece of molded plastic called an AFO (ankle-foot orthosis), to compensate for weakened ankle & lower leg muscles. I've been thinking a lot about what it will take to ditch that thing, and the crutches. Lately I've mostly been using only one crutch, and consciously making an effort to walk indoors without them at all, doing balance exercises and standing calf raises. Carefully, until the damned halo comes off ...

I think of the wheelchair (a rental) as being a comfortable computer chair while I'm still wearing the halo. After the halo comes off, the wheelchair goes back

My initial plan was to wait a few weeks after being discharged from the hospital to start working again, but sure enough I started back the day after

I started at the adaptive fitness program yesterday that I mentioned earlier - feels good to be working out and sweating again. Every night I attack the therapy putty with my left hand, which seems to help my strength and dexterity. One of the drs. said that the lingering numbness might be due to pinched nerves, but anyway I think that's slowly on the decline.

Awesome Rob. It's been a bit since I posted here. You are one amazing human. I know it's still 8 - 9 months out, but I'm looking forward to Mount Olympus and you joining us.

Just some more positive vibes for your recovery. Hope things continue to improve, Cheers

Hey Rob,

Keep working hard, I'm ready to go for some ice. Picked up a slightly used BD Shrike yesterday for $35.

I doubt I'll be ready for ice season this year Jeff, but I'm looking forward to lots of good stoke pics, as long as they're not from LVC There are several people I can recommend to you as partners for the Ouray Ice Park, for example.

Thanks Chris and Dan Definitely looking forward to Olympus in July or Aug ... inshallah

Rob,

Time for an update. When's the halo coming off? How's the left leg doing? Hope all is going well for you.

Gene

hey Gene ! Things are going well.

As I posted on p & p, last Saturday I went for a short hike with Lisae -



The next day I walked 1.8 miles around the neighborhood with a forearm crutch and the leg brace. In PT I've been walking around in the leg brace without crutches, and today they gave me a cane for situations where I might want one for balance (eg. hills, carrying groceries, etc). So I've got a pair of forearm crutches to put on ebay now

I need to get an appt in November for a neurosurgeon at valley medical to evaluate my neck for halo removal still. Hopefully things will have healed up enough by then, but I've heard of people with complex C1 fractures being in the halo for 15 weeks to 4.5 months Mine isn't so complex, but it was broken in the front and the back. I guess I could also go back to Memorial in Modesto to have my neurosurgeon there do this, but it's kind of a haul (2 hrs each way ?), and I'd probably end up going twice (once for the CT and again for the office visit).

My OT gave me some new finger exercises today to hone different muscles and develop fine motor control in my left hand. I feel like the gains are subtle but noticeable.

Just got back from a spinal cord injury support group meeting - someone asked me how long it had been since I was injured, and they were amazed that it was only two months

Hey Rob,

I think that's the most bad-ass photo I've ever seen on SP. Keep it up man. You're an inspiration.

If you came to Modesto Rob, you, Gene, and I could have a mini SP get together over lunch.