Nov 26, 2010

Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Jimmy has been out for over a week now! It feels so so good to have him home. Here is a quick run-down of how everything went. You all know how I love to make lists!

1. First night was a disaster. No exaggeration. Disaster. We hit a major speed-bump and had to call the hospital and ask for help. A nurses's assistant from the hospital was nice enough to come over our house at midnight after her shift ended to help us out. Since then, everything has been going ridiculously smooth! It has been great!

2. Nick and Jessica came to visit us! It was great having them with us for 5 whole days and we miss them already! Familiar faces made this unfamiliar apartment really feel like home. Not to mention that they cooked us wonderful meals and took charge of a lot of errands! Jimmy and I are both so thankful to have such fantastic friends!

3. All our pets are back under one roof! We started out with the cat, then the bunny, then finally the dog. Seeing the pets crawl onto Jimmy's lap and lay with them is sooo cute. He loves that they don't treat him any differently after his accident. They don't stare or get uncomfortable like many people do. They just want to snuggle him as usual.

4. Thanksgiving! I think it's obvious what I am thankful for this year. I get more time with my best friend in the whole world, I really can't ask for anything more than that! He made it, he's happy, and we're slowly getting back to normal.
Hopefully everyone is having a great holiday!

Nov 16, 2010

Jimmy is being released today and I am so nervous! I hope I do a good job and take really good care of him. I feel experienced enough, the hospital did a great job teaching me all about spinal cord injuries. For those of you that are friends with Jimmy and saw his Facebook post last night, YES that was really him! He has a sweet program on his laptop now called Dragon Speak. It types whatever he says; so of course he got on Facebook to say hello to everyone! Okay, I'm rambling now. It's only because I'm nervous!

Nov 9, 2010

 If all goes according to plan, Jimmy comes home in a week! I've got my to-do list about halfway checked off and I feel like I'm scrambling!

Nov 8, 2010

Hey folks!

Thanks to some wonderful folks at the law school our apartment is now full of our stuff and live-able! It is such a strange feeling to unpack boxes of your stuff that you haven't seen in months. I about had a heart attack when I came across my Uggs! It has been way too long since I've worn them! And all my favorite beanies! And when I get tired of unpacking I can lay down on our bed! I am so over the bed in the hospital. Only 8 days until our release date! YAY!!!!!

Oct 29, 2010

Great news! We are officially no longer homeless!!!!!!!! I am standing inside out new apartment! It is wonderful and beautiful and great and super duper. Maybe I'll put up some photos soon!

Jimmy got his trach out yesterday!!! It is wonderful to see him without the nose tube and without the trach! He looks great, and he feels great too!

No trach, beautiful apartment, end of homelessness, plus Halloween! This may just be the best weekend ever!

Oct 25, 2010

Lots of news! On Friday all of Jimmy's food and drink restrictions were lifted! He can now eat and drink whatever he wants! He has really been enjoying diet pepsi, diet coke, and pickles!

This went really smoothly over the weekend, and the nurses were able to convince him to take his pills by mouth instead of through his nose tube. Now that he can consistently take them by mouth, they are going to go ahead and pull out the nose tube! Whooooo!

He has been doing okay with the new trach tube, but he still needs them to suction out his lungs occasionally. It will all get better, and I am sure the trach tube will come out soon!

Oct 19, 2010

Yesterday when I got to the hospital after work Jimmy had his new trach in! It's all metal, and looks super crazy! It stays plugged so Jimmy has to breathe through his nose and mouth instead of breathing through his nose, mouth, and throat too. He says it's like breathing through a straw, but that he's starting to get used to it. He had the nurses save the old trach in a jar so I could look at it when I got there. Crazy! As I said before, when people get the metal trach put in it only stays in for about a week! So excited!

Oct 16, 2010

Hey everybody this is Jimmy. Ashley's typing for me. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes, it's helping me get stronger everyday. Miss everyone back in California, and looking forward to more visits from my Wisconsin friends. Hope everyone's doing well! Getting sleepy....bye!

Oct 15, 2010

Hey everyone! I haven't posted anything new in a while. We've just kinda been hanging out. If anyone wants to visit, please just contact me to set up a time!

Jimmy's arms are getting stronger, and he worked on feeding himself yesterday. He was able to eat some lunch with just a bit of help from his occupational therapist. Yes!

His breathing is also improving so they are going to be putting in a new trach tube called a "Jackson" on Monday. Usually when the Jackson gets put in, it only stays in for a week and then they go ahead and pull everything out and let it heal. It's the last trach tube step, so that's a really good thing!

Next Thursday the College of Engineering is holding a demo of cool adaptive technologies that have built for people with disabilities. Jimmy's physical therapist is going to drive him over, and I will leave work and meet them there. It should be cool! Can't wait to see all the vendors, all their gadgets and doo-dads, and what we can look forward to!

Oct 8, 2010

Jimmy took another swallow test today and he did pretty well! He is still not allowed to drink thin liquids, but he can have normal food now (with the exception of raw fruits/veggies and nuts). Today when I got to the hospital he had already ordered and nibbled on a burger, fries, and a slice of cheesecake! And for dinner he ate some pizza and lemon meringue pie. You should have seen the smile on his face when his pizza arrived...priceless!

In other news, I went to visit the apartment we will most likely be moving into. The landlord is SUPER sweet, and had the place completely gutted. The last tenants were pretty hard on the place so we are getting: all new carpet, new vinyl flooring, new kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, a new stove, new light fixtures, and they are remodeling the bathroom for us to make it 100% wheelchair accessible. It's going to look ridiculously awesome! She also gave me a whole bunch of ideas on how to use our space well and "make it look really cute". It's in a quiet neighborhood, and there is a community garden that no one uses (that means I can take over it, right?) Such an awesome apartment and it's super duper wheelchair friendly! Yay!

Oct 6, 2010

Yesterday Jimmy's physical therapist got him into his wheelchair and took him outside. He then proceeded to have Jimmy navigate the wheelchair in the dirt and on a little hill. Totally went off-roading!

The physical therapist is trying to demonstrate the difference between front-wheel-drive and mid-wheel-drive wheelchairs. They'll go off-roading again today in a mid-wheel-drive wheelchair so Jimmy can feel the difference. I looked up the differences between the two and we have discussed them extensively. Jimmy's pretty sure that he's going to go for the front-wheel-drive, but of course he wants to go off-roading again!

Oct 5, 2010

Today they let me put Jimmy's wedding ring back on him! Whoo! I have been wearing it on a necklace for a month now, so I'm probably going to have at least 5 moments over the course of the day where I'll think I have lost it.

Oct 3, 2010

Hi everyone! It's been a couple of days since my last post! Things are going about the same over here. Jimmy still has the sore throat, but an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor came in to look at him. Everything down there looks pretty normal, but they are thinking that it's a viral infection. Looks like we are just going to have to wait it out. They have this numbing medicine that they give him just before he eats to allow him to eat much easier. Today he ate a whole bowl of cream of wheat for breakfast, and a whole little bowl called a "Magic Cup" for lunch (Magic cup= ice cream packed with nutrients and protein). When he first started eating, he'd take like 4 bites of Magic Cup and be totally stuffed. He has come a long way!

They get him into his power wheelchair everyday. They usually do this during the day, so by the time I get here in the evening, he is back in bed. The last time I saw him in the wheelchair was on Wednesday afternoon, the day he got it. Since it's the weekend, I have been with him constantly and could see him and his chair in action. He's SO GOOD at driving it! I am amazed! When I get in that thing, I hit every wall in sight. It's actually much much harder than it looks. He's getting a lot more adventurous and wants to go for walks around the hospital. Today we went and visited the Neuro ICU and got to reunite with our nurses there. They were all so happy to see him! Then we puttered around the lobby and looked at the paintings, the sculptures, and this cool area with a glass ceiling. After that, we laid down in his bed and watched Date Night. It has been a great weekend!

Sept 30, 2010

Jimmy is about the same as the last few times that I have posted. Still hanging in there! He tried out a practice wheelchair yesterday and it was awesome. He even drove it for a bit. After the nurses put him back in bed, me and his physical therapist decided to crank up the speed on the wheelchair and see how fast it can go. Oh my goodness, it was scary fast!
We got moved to another room, and it's much bigger. We are in the same area of the building as before, but 3 rooms down (room 460). It's super awesome!

Also, Jimmy has a really awful sore throat that is preventing him
from eating anything. The sad thing is that his appetite is back and he
actually wants to eat! It turns out that he never had pneumonia, and he
definitely doesn't have strep, so the doctors are confused at what is
going on back there. It may be the trach tube, but he's not ready to
have that pulled out yet. They are giving him lozenges, spraying numbing
stuff, and next on the list is to try gargling with lidocaine jelly. I
hope it works!

Sept 27, 2010

President Obama is visiting campus tomorrow!!! Who thinks I should storm the stage and give him a big hug for health care reform? Can you imagine Jimmy's nurses walking in and saying "Sorry Mr. Anderson, your wife can't be with you tonight because she was arrested." HA!

Sept 25, 2010

Today is one of those days when you wake up and decide to wear your FINEST cat shirt just to make someone you love laugh. We've been watching movies for the majority of the day: the 40-year old virgin, Juno, Legally Blonde 1 and 2, and now The Proposal. Jimmy's laugh is hilarious!!! It doesn't even sound like him! He'll laugh at the movie, but then start laughing at the way he is laughing, and then I'll laugh, and then we'll just keep laughing and laughing and laughing.

They let me take him outside today! It was chilly, so I'm going to go to the yarn store and get crackin' on a scarf/hat/mitten set for him.

Sept 24, 2010

Oh man, that Trazadone makes him sleep like a baby! So awesome! I woke up a couple times last night and peeked over at him, and he was totally out! Thank goodness, he needs all the energy that he can get for rehab. Yesterday he sat all the way up in his wheelchair during the whole rehab session (about 6-7 hours). A couple days ago he could only sit in a wheelchair for about an hour IF the wheelchair was tilted back 30 degrees. He is doing a great job!

Today is September 24th and I can't believe that we have been in the hospital for a whole month now. And with our discharge date planned for Nov 16, we will be in the hospital just shy of two more months. When all of this is done, we'll have spent one-quarter of 2010 in the hospital...but at least he'll be home for theholidays! Thanksgiving and Christmas...so excited! We are missing Halloween though, and I'm sad because we've always done couple's costumes since we were like 17 or 18. Hmmmm, maybe the hospital will let me dress him up anyway... If so, I better start thinking of something good!

Just wanted to say that President Obama is my hero. Jimmy has a lifetime health insurance maximum of $2 million. That sounds like A LOT, but we are close to reaching it. After 3 weeks in the ICU in California and getting neck surgery, we were already at $1 million. Then we had to get on a private flight to Wisconsin. Then we were in the ICU for another week. His rehab is about $3,000 per day, and this doesn't include wheelchair and all the adaptive equipment that we'll need. We'll be in rehab until November 16th.

Thanks to healthcare reform, I'm no longer worried about Jimmy reaching a stupid lifetime maximum! And in 2014 we'll be free to switch insurance companies without worrying about all that "pre-existing condition" BS. Thanks, Obama! You totally saved us from riiiiiiiiidiculous amounts of medical bills.

Even if you aren't a fan of health care reform or Obama in general, you gotta admit, this is pretty freaking awesome!!!

Sept 23, 2010

Jimmy didn't sleep at all on Tuesday night because of all the disruptions involved in hospital stays. Tonight, they brought in the big guns: Trazodone! He's sleeping like a baby, and even fell asleep during his breathing treatment (a very noisy procedure!)

It's SO nice to see him resting! He hardly ever sleeps!

This morning before I left Jimmy said, "Don't forget tonight is The Office and 30 Rock". YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I'm glad he's keeping track of these things because my brain is totally fried!

Okay, so it may be a bit longer than 3-4 weeks... Our planned discharge date is november 16th! Applied for an apartment yesterday and am waiting to hear back. Wheelchair accessible places are hard to find, and are a hot commodity!

Sept 22, 2010

We got moved to rehab yesterday! They let him rest for the remainder of the evening, so today was his first full day of rehab. He is pretty darn tired! It's 6 hours per day of re-learning how to do stuff, and he even lifted some weights today. They put a speaking valve on his trach tube, so when I got to the hospital we were able to talk! He also sat in a wheelchair for an hour. I come back from work and he was in normal clothes, sitting up, AND talking. I was soooo excited!

He's eating real food now too! No thin liquids like water and regular juice, but things that are thicker are just fine. They add thickener to juice and lemonade so that he can have "beverages". I tried some of his thickened orange juice today and it sucked! Today for dinner he had some minced carrots, mashed potatoes & gravy, and pudding. He did not want the hospital meatloaf (it definitely looked sketchy!)

I talked to his doctor today and found out that we'll probably be in rehab for 3-4 weeks. Now to find an apartment!

Sept 21, 2010

Jimmy has pneumonia! Yucky! He feels pretty sick, but it still in such good spirits! It is not surprising that he has pneumonia though, since he was on a ventilator for so long, his cough is still pretty weak, and he has tubes leading straight down into his lungs. He's on broad spectrum IV antibiotics and hopefully he'll
start feeling better soon!

His respiratory therapist put a speaking valve on his trach tube. This morning, she woke me up and said
"Jimmy has something to tell you". Usually they wake me up so that I can help them lip-read what Jimmy is saying. I sat up in bed fully prepared to lip-read, but he actually said "I love you" with his voice! It was
pretty much the best thing ever! ♥