July 23, 2017 10:00 pm
One month ago today Josh had his terrible accident. The time has both dragged and sped by, if that makes any sense.
Before we get into today's journal of events, we want to thank each of you for staying with us through this journey. Although you cannot physically be with us, we can see how many times the entry was read. Knowing that you are with us in Spirit and in love gives us strength throughout our day. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your lasting support.
It was an up-and-down day for Josh today. We got to the hospital at about 8:15 and were surprised to find him zipped into his bed and with mitts on his hands so he couldn't escape. Mitts were pretty common at OHSU weeks ago, but Josh hasn't really needed mitts since we got to Denver. At Craig, Josh has been assigned one-on-one care, meaning that a staff person is ALWAYS with him. This is obviously due to the severity of his injuries and the related medical and safety needs. But that wasn't the case this morning. We got him out of bed, into the bathroom, and then got him started on breakfast, which he wanted to eat in bed. We confirmed that he would have one-on-one supervision now that he was awake and ran off to catch a couple of hours of church.
As an aside, church was interesting. The bishop looks like he is about 32 years old. He told us that if everyone in the ward came to church, they would have 135 members, but at most they get 100 people attending sacrament. At the end of sacrament meeting, Mary counted 65 adults and 15 children. There was 1 young man and 0 young women. Apparently a family was on vacation that has the other young man and the only young woman. This is so very different from our ward in Beaverton; we have as many youth in our home ward as this ward had in total members attending today. But it was sure great to feel the Spirit there today.
We got back to the hospital after church and helped Josh with lunch. He ate nearly all of his breakfast and nearly all of his lunch, which was good. Once he can prove to the medical staff that he can consume the nutrition his body demands by eating through his mouth we can have the PEG tube removed from his stomach. The PEG tube causes Josh no end of annoyance and even pain, so this is an important goal.
After lunch, we took Josh downstairs to the main gym to watch some wheelchair rugby. Josh was never that interested in sports before the accident, so we weren't sure if he would want to stay. Well, we got to the gym a little early -- and the rugby players were a little late -- so Josh had some time to kill in the gym. After playing a bit with the bungee cords tethered to the walls of the gym and running his wheelchair back and forth across the width of the gym, one of the rugby players befriended Josh and played catch with him. Other players soon joined in and it was fun to see Josh in the middle of six or eight players throwing the ball around.
While Josh was playing, we had a chance to meet two couples staying here at Craig. Both husbands had suffered serious traumatic brain injuries, one from a kite surfing accident and one from a stroke and medical malpractice. Both had made significant improvement while at Craig and it was good to get some hands-on information from their wives.
When the match started, Josh came over to the side of the gym by us to watch the rugbyists play. It was crazy watching the players play the game, which consisted of grabbing a volleyball and either carrying it in their laps or passing to a teammate until they could cross a makeshift goal line. There were many violent and noisy collisions. The game held Josh's attention for about 15 minutes or so, then he wanted to leave. So with his BA, Josh spent some time wheeling around the building both inside and out. By about 4:00 he was pooped and ready for bed. He slept about an hour (as did Paul!), but when he woke up, he seemed out of sorts. He was very lethargic and lacked interest in doing anything. He refused to eat anything for dinner. We finally coaxed him back in his wheelchair and took him outside again, but after about 15 minutes, he was ready to go back to his room. By about 8:15 he had literally fallen asleep in his wheelchair. So we got him ready for bed and basically lifted him in. We're hoping this was nothing more than exhaustion after a big day, but we don't know for sure. It's very hard to know what is going on with Josh with his limited communication ability.
He did recognize a photo of his uncle Stephen today, which is very rare. He usually doesn't know anyone in photos we show him, so this was positive. And when we asked if he knew who is brother-in-law RJ is, he said yes. But when we asked who RJ is married to, he said "Hebgen," which we had just asked him about. (Hebgen is the place outside of Yellowstone Park where the extended Taylor family vacations each year.) This illustrates the unreliability of his responses.
One month ago today Josh had his terrible accident. The time has both dragged and sped by, if that makes any sense.
Before we get into today's journal of events, we want to thank each of you for staying with us through this journey. Although you cannot physically be with us, we can see how many times the entry was read. Knowing that you are with us in Spirit and in love gives us strength throughout our day. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your lasting support.
It was an up-and-down day for Josh today. We got to the hospital at about 8:15 and were surprised to find him zipped into his bed and with mitts on his hands so he couldn't escape. Mitts were pretty common at OHSU weeks ago, but Josh hasn't really needed mitts since we got to Denver. At Craig, Josh has been assigned one-on-one care, meaning that a staff person is ALWAYS with him. This is obviously due to the severity of his injuries and the related medical and safety needs. But that wasn't the case this morning. We got him out of bed, into the bathroom, and then got him started on breakfast, which he wanted to eat in bed. We confirmed that he would have one-on-one supervision now that he was awake and ran off to catch a couple of hours of church.
As an aside, church was interesting. The bishop looks like he is about 32 years old. He told us that if everyone in the ward came to church, they would have 135 members, but at most they get 100 people attending sacrament. At the end of sacrament meeting, Mary counted 65 adults and 15 children. There was 1 young man and 0 young women. Apparently a family was on vacation that has the other young man and the only young woman. This is so very different from our ward in Beaverton; we have as many youth in our home ward as this ward had in total members attending today. But it was sure great to feel the Spirit there today.
We got back to the hospital after church and helped Josh with lunch. He ate nearly all of his breakfast and nearly all of his lunch, which was good. Once he can prove to the medical staff that he can consume the nutrition his body demands by eating through his mouth we can have the PEG tube removed from his stomach. The PEG tube causes Josh no end of annoyance and even pain, so this is an important goal.
After lunch, we took Josh downstairs to the main gym to watch some wheelchair rugby. Josh was never that interested in sports before the accident, so we weren't sure if he would want to stay. Well, we got to the gym a little early -- and the rugby players were a little late -- so Josh had some time to kill in the gym. After playing a bit with the bungee cords tethered to the walls of the gym and running his wheelchair back and forth across the width of the gym, one of the rugby players befriended Josh and played catch with him. Other players soon joined in and it was fun to see Josh in the middle of six or eight players throwing the ball around.
While Josh was playing, we had a chance to meet two couples staying here at Craig. Both husbands had suffered serious traumatic brain injuries, one from a kite surfing accident and one from a stroke and medical malpractice. Both had made significant improvement while at Craig and it was good to get some hands-on information from their wives.
When the match started, Josh came over to the side of the gym by us to watch the rugbyists play. It was crazy watching the players play the game, which consisted of grabbing a volleyball and either carrying it in their laps or passing to a teammate until they could cross a makeshift goal line. There were many violent and noisy collisions. The game held Josh's attention for about 15 minutes or so, then he wanted to leave. So with his BA, Josh spent some time wheeling around the building both inside and out. By about 4:00 he was pooped and ready for bed. He slept about an hour (as did Paul!), but when he woke up, he seemed out of sorts. He was very lethargic and lacked interest in doing anything. He refused to eat anything for dinner. We finally coaxed him back in his wheelchair and took him outside again, but after about 15 minutes, he was ready to go back to his room. By about 8:15 he had literally fallen asleep in his wheelchair. So we got him ready for bed and basically lifted him in. We're hoping this was nothing more than exhaustion after a big day, but we don't know for sure. It's very hard to know what is going on with Josh with his limited communication ability.
He did recognize a photo of his uncle Stephen today, which is very rare. He usually doesn't know anyone in photos we show him, so this was positive. And when we asked if he knew who is brother-in-law RJ is, he said yes. But when we asked who RJ is married to, he said "Hebgen," which we had just asked him about. (Hebgen is the place outside of Yellowstone Park where the extended Taylor family vacations each year.) This illustrates the unreliability of his responses.
A slow and somewhat discouraging day, it seems. Well, line upon line. I'm hoping Monday begins a new week of progress. Thanks for your continuing updates. Since Loo made it possible for me to easily get your blog, it's the first thing I do each morning. Love and kisses.
ReplyDeleteWe missed you at church, but are glad you were able to meet with the Denver Saints. Maybe Josh realized it was Sunday and a day of rest - let's hope!
ReplyDeleteI love that you are taking each day in stride -- the good, the bad & the what the heck is going on! That will get you to where you need to go! <3
ReplyDeleteHis uncle Stephen prizes that photograph.
ReplyDelete