Thursday's update

I know you must be getting sick of pictures of Cris in the hospital but these are legit--new ones. Notice the "shirt" and tom-terrific jammy pants and the smile and the almost straight legs. Physical therapy today went really well. He's gaining strength and balance and the pelvis is mending and doesn't hurt as much.

Now this picture is important for two reasons. 1) He's casually sitting on the side of the bed airing out his back and bum from the constant laying-down-position. 2) I took the splint off his arm today to give his wound some air time. The zipper is on the under side and can't be seen in this picture. His arm is still a bit swollen but it looks great. We did our usual "range of motion" exercises and it was NBD (no big deal). Tomorrow we're hoping the nurse takes out the staples. Not to worry--I'll have my office staple remover in my purse just in case. Tomorrow's pictures should be really cool of the "filleted arm".

A special shout out to Nathan and Annalisa for their super surprise package yesterday with very special chocolates. He now has a candy "drawer" by his bed and feels right at home. Thanks to Gramma Decker for the Dewars ice cream gift cards. We had yummy sundaes today. He's collecting the greeting cards in his drawer and likes to review them when he gets bored. Thanks so much for all the well wishes. All is well and we're moving forward. Love to all, Carol

Physical Therapy Rocks!!

Yesterday Cris went to the PT ROOM and worked with "Ian". Getting from bed to wheelchair is difficult and sometimes painful but he is glad to do it.

LOOK--He's standing. Awesome Dude!! Absolutely no weight on the left leg/pelvis for a month.(Maybe pants would have been a good idea)

Today (pants included) he did different exercises and they didn't hurt too bad. Notice the mouth helps the left leg move better. Way cool socks.

Charlie decided he would exercise with Papa and make his muscles strong.
Loved the bouncy ball.
Notice all the beautiful cards from grandchildren. All other cards are greatly appreciated but not worthy of wall art. (grandkids, click on this picture to enlarge and see your cards :)The beautiful plant and balloons are from the Jeppson Family. Much appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Today I took off the splint, cleaned his arm, being careful not to touch any staples, and took another picture to document the healing process. It really does look cool.

Transferring from bed to wheelchair was MUCH better today and he is very encouraged. He had several visitors today and lots of activity and felt really good about it. His strength and endurance is increasing every day and we are very encouraged. Thanks so much to everyone for all your love and support.

What a good day we had!!

Our second full day at Mercy SNF went really well. The staff is super quick to respond to the "button"--the food is much better--the room is excellent--the TV and remote are good (this is very important when only your fingers work) and Cris had lots of company which really made him feel loved. He wouldn't have been ready for company earlier, but it was perfect timing today.

The physical therapist worked with him for about 1/2 hour, moving legs, arms and standing him up a few times. It wasn't too bad and he felt good to get off his back a bit. So we've moved past "survival mode" and are on to "we have a plan now let's get to it".

Again, Nick spent most of the day with Dad watching football which left me free to play with grandkids. They left about 4:30 for Henderson and we settled in for evening visitors.

Our Bishop and his wife and his second counselor came for a visit, gave us the sacrament and sister Lewis played her cello. It was awesome and helped us feel the Sunday spirit.

At home we made fresh play dough and had fun. Bella and Tasha

Liesl and Owen

Clara loves her Aunt Lori.

As I got Cris all settled for the night he said, "This was a really good day". I can't ask for more than that right now. (smiley face)

Saturday is a special day (primary music in the background)

Well Folks--today was a great day for many reasons.

1. Nick and Lori and girls are here for the weekend

2. Nick wanted to spend all day at the hospital with his dad watching football which left me free to enjoy my little princesses. It was a wonderful gift.

3. The rest of us gathered at Em and Sherod's to watch the BYU football game. It was a major fun cousin time.

4. Riley gave me a foot massage as I lounged on their couch. Oh, if I only had a picture of that. I swear I almost fell asleep midst all the noise. (It was still much quieter than KMC)

5. The girls and I made cupcakes and ate a lot of frosting.

6. We took Chinese food up to Mercy and Cris LOVED civilian food. He's eating much better.

We are so thrilled to be at Mercy. It's clean, quiet, kind, nice, peaceful, clean, quiet, kind, nice, peaceful. Cris moved his body much more in the bed today--a good sign. He was able to use his hands a bit more too and was relieved to get back to channel surfing. I think he'll be there about a week or so and then re-evaluated. All good things.

Check out this cool zipper on his arm. Can you believe that thing?

Fun cousin time.

Who doesn't like cupcakes?

Papa with Nick, Lori and the girls. We are so happy they came for a visit.

WE MADE IT OUT OF KMC!!!!!

Today was another exercises in frustration and patience but we finally made it out of KMC. There are so many facets to health care, insurance, patient needs. Making your way through the labyrinth can be stressful---but I prevailed. Cris was transported by Medivan (see picture below) to Mercy Hospital skilled nursing facility on Truxtun and in his new room (rm 111) by 4:30. If any of you come to visit you'll think, "this is just an ordinary not-so-appealing hospital room". You'd be wrong. It's all relative people and believe me----it's a great room. It was determined he was not ready for "acute rehab" and we should save that benefit for after the pelvis heals. So OK--could we not have heard this 3 days ago? As it turns out--this is the right decision and we're very pleased.

He was out of bed and in the wheel chair twice today and yes it was painful but he did really well. He LOVED the ride in the medivan because it was the first time in 7 days he's seen the sky. He ate a really good dinner for the first time in several days and is very happy.

Sherod and Charlie brought Gramma Rogers up to see Cris today and she really appreciated it. Charlie and I went on a short outing to Target while they visited. It felt so good for me to be on a date with one of my munchkins. He chose slimy eye balls from the Halloween section for his treat. Is anyone surprised?

Nick and Lori and the girls arrive tonight and it will be so good to have them here for cheer and support.

Hope all you traveling flanksters are having fun. You know who you are.

No that's a sweet ride! Yes, we're all happy I put pants on him.




Look at that face--pretty happy.

One more day at KMC--seriously, it's got to end sometime.

Well peeps--it didn't happen. Cris is still at KMC waiting to be set free and go to Health South. Do you know the paperwork/channels/process to accomplish this task? Three hours on the phone, 7 phone calls from the bottom of the insurance food chain to the top and we're getting closer. Tomorrow is the day. I've walked that fine line between professional, polite communication and aggressive "this is my husband people, get off your rear ends and make it happen". Word of advice: We are all grateful for our double blue cross coverage (thank you KHSD) so don't burn any bridges. Oh the patience we're learning.

The good news for today:
1. His new pj's are terrific
2. Major score with the Jamba Juice as he has no appetite and doesn't want to eat much.
3. Thank heavens for baseball on TV--helps pass the time.
4. Again with the thank you to the great nurses.
5. Cris' patience and graciousness in his helpless situation is most admirable.
6. Thank you to our beautiful grandchildren for their cards, hugs, kisses and smiles.
7. Thanks to our ALS Group friends, local ALS case manager and Cedars Sinai team for their advice and support.
8. Thanks to our ward family
9. Again with the wonderful daughters in town and sons out of town. What would we do without them?

Today was a better day.

Today was a better day. One I can talk about with a cheerful voice. Yesterday--not so much. Lessons learned yesterday:
1. When you have to take morphine for 3 days (broken pelvis pain is BAD) and then you stop. There are natural consequences. a) anxiety b) pain c)loss of appetite d)you feel "wired" and can't sleep e) depression/things feel fairly bleak.
2. Hospital rooms stink. No other way to say it.
3. Lack of sleep makes everything worse--do whatever you can to avoid it.
4. Daughters are angels
5. Ward members and friends are angels
6. When you hit an emotional wall--let someone else take over. Give up, go home, go to bed.
7. Thank the nurses regularly. They don't get paid enough.
8. Never have sleepovers with strangers. This is referring to Cris' roommates. I can't even begin to explain.

Lessons learned today:
1. Patience is a virtue for 5 days. It will not happen on day 6. If Cris' doesn't get moved out of KMC tomorrow some one is going to die. And it ain't gonna be me.
2. Sleep helps everything.
3. Daughters are angels.
4. Our Bishop is an angel.
5. When your loved one has no appetite (for various good reasons)--coaxing with smoothies sometimes helps. Just don't tell him how many "boosts" you put in that Jamba Juice. He'll find out soon enough :)
6. When feeding your husband--put on your glasses so you get the food IN his mouth.

Cris had a much better day today. He finally slept last night and his pain level was very low. No pain meds at all. He was moved around in his bed quite a bit today and tolerated it much better. While rolling him on to his side to change sheets/bathe, etc. the nurse exclaimed, "There it is"!! We finally found the bruise from the fall. We were so perplexed that he didn't have any bruises. We hadn't been able to roll him over until today and there it was--about the size of a large grapefruit on his left butt-cheek. Finally, something to show for all this. Emily stayed with Cris for lunch today so I could make a shopping trip to find him some spiffy physical therapy outfits. Fashion and comfort--an important thing. I had to look for stuff that could fit over the cast, button up the front, cover the necessary parts and still look good doing it. Success!! Look for PT pictures in the future.

Love to everyone,
Carol

P.S. Who is voting for Cloris Leachman on dancing with the stars? Whoever you are--stop it!!