Friday, Don's mom came and stayed with him. They went to town to run a few errands. I got home about 3:45 and Don's mom prepared to leave. She had brought pork chops for dinner for us. Our usual choice of food on Friday night is fish. So once again we went to North Star fish camp and had dinner. None of the children wanted to go with us so we were on our own. After supper we went to a couple of retail stores in Lincolnton to try and find me some clothes for work. We met one of my cousins at one of the stores and he was surprised to see Don in a wheelchair. He said he hadn't heard of the accident at all. We spent about an hour there just catching up with him and shopping at the same time. We finally got home about 8:30 and Don was pretty tired.
Saturday, I had to get a haircut. I had just had my hair cut on the night of the accident and hadn't had another one since. I was looking pretty shaggy. Kristi came over and we went to Lincolnton to get the haircut. Don and Donnie Lee went to the flea market in Dallas and weren't home when Kristi and I arrived. I jumped in the shower and had Kristi to call the guys and ask them if they wanted to eat here for lunch or had they grabbed something while they were out. They said they would grab something here when they got back home. We all had a little lunch and Taylor came over. We had talked about going out to eat as a family on Saturday night but didn't finalize that before Don, Kristi and I set out to go shopping again. Don doesn't want to stay home if he doesn't have to. He said 10 weeks of being inside was all he could stand. Donnie Lee and Taylor headed over to some friends house to go 4 wheeler riding. The shopping crew went to Hickory and hit a few stores up there but didn't find much. Around 4:30 we decided we needed to think abut dinner. We decided on Sports Page in Denver, my favorite place to eat in the local area. After dinner we stopped by the Wal-Mart in Denver and so many co-workers and kids from school. They were all excited to see Don and he felt the same about seeing them. We finally headed home and Don got a shower for church on Sunday before turning in for the night.
Sunday morning I woke Don up at 7:30 for breakfast before getting ready for church. I fixed him two egg sandwiches like I did on Saturday morning. I ironed his clothes while he was brushing his teeth and getting his under clothes on. I took his clothes into the spare bedroom and began to help him get dressed. Although he gets dressed by himself during the week, it's easier on him if I help him. I then put his socks and shoes on and that was difficult. Don's feet are narrow so all of his dress shoes are very tight and hard to get on. I have even tried to get him to wear his slippers but he says absolutely not. When I finally got his shoes on he then returned to his wheelchair and I pushed him back to the living room to wait on me to get dressed. An hour later I was dressed and we were waiting on Kristi and Taylor to arrive to go to church with us. Donnie Lee was already dressed too! Kristi called and said that she wouldn't be going because she had been up all night with a stomach virus and her alarm had just gone off. Donnie called Taylor and she was on her way to the house. We left about 10:15 to go to church. We arrived at church and Donnie Lee got Don's wheel chair out of the trunk and helped to get him into the church. After church Donnie Lee did the same to get Don back in the car. We arrived home about 1:00. Kristi had text me to say that she would be coming over for dinner. Don's mom had brought pork chops on Friday so Don told Kristi and Donnie Lee what ingredients to use to make the breading for the pork chops. Taylor and I just stood behind them and helped to get them what they needed. We joked later how that dinner had been prepared by everyone. We were just finishing dinner when Don's parents arrived. They had been at the church in High Shoals for missions that morning. They stayed until about 4:00. Taylor had to leave to go back to Western and Donnie left to help a friend move. Kristi still wasn't feeling well, so she laid down on the coach and slept most of the afternoon. I went to the spare bedroom to work on some jewelry and Don came in there and tried to rest on the bed. Kristi left about 6:00 and Don and I went back to the living room for the evening. We watched TV and finally turned in for the night.
Monday Donnie Lee and I went to work and left Don at home for the first time by himself. I made Don agree to call me every few hours so that I would know how he was doing. He called a couple of times before heading off to therapy. The transport service picked him up about 12:30 for therapy. It was assessment day again for therapy. Don had been dreading it. Don's leg was pretty swollen - actually both legs were pretty swollen. But even though he had a lot of swelling, he had more range of motion on his own than he had last week with assistance. His PT said that he was improving by leaps and bounds. He is doing so well that Don will be featured in the Kindred Health Care newsletter as a success story. Tuesday at therapy they will follow him around the entire time that he is having therapy to take pictures and interview him for the story. After coming home from PT, we had Chinese for supper. We turned in about 10:00.
Tuesday, Don was to stay by himself again today. I had him to call me again to make sure he was OK. He got ready for therapy and his dad and a pastor friend of ours brought the power wheel chair that we have been hoping to get now for some time. Don left for therapy about 12:30 and went to the YMCA for therapy. He had a full day of therapy. When he has aquatics he has a longer time in therapy because of the time involved in getting dressed and redressed. They raised his weight that he lifts over his shoulder to 5 pounds. He used his walker on Monday and Tuesday to get around at the center instead of his wheelchair. His PT told him that he may need to start wearing the support hose again to help with the swelling in his legs. Don used his power chair after he got home. It really helps him to get around much quicker. I wasn't feeling well so I jumped in the shower before supper in hopes that it would help me. After the shower we began to talk about supper. Donnie Lee had brought some stuff into the house and said that our neighbor had wanted him for a couple of minutes. When he returned he was carrying a big baking dish and a loaf of Italian bread. She had made lasagna for her family and had gave us enough to geed the entire family supper. It was a blessing! This is the second meal that she has prepared for us. Donnie went to a friend's and Kristi had plans too so it was just me and Don for supper. We had the lasagna, Italian bread and salad for supper. After supper I still wasn't feeling any better so I got one of Don's grandmother's quilts and curled up on the couch. Don eventually came over and sat on the couch with me. I feel asleep there and woke several times for bed time. I just kept getting more sick. I thought I was coming down with stomach virus that Kristi had. She was unable to go to work on Monday. I just kept praying every time I woke up and then I would go back to sleep.
Wednesday, I woke up about 4:00 and couldn't go back to sleep and I felt very bad. I finally went back to sleep somewhere around 5:00 and the alarm went off at 5:30. I was amazed at how good I felt. I wasn't 100% but I felt better than I had all night. I made my way to the bedroom to turn off the alarm (since I had slept on the couch all night). Don's mom is coming today to take him to the lab in Lincolnton to get blood drawn for his blood thinner check. He has to have it checked quite often. Both his parents came today and took him to the lab. They ate lunch and then headed back home. His parents left shortly before 3:00. I started feeling bad again at work. I had our school nurse to check my ears and she said they were swollen and red. She encouraged me to go to the doctor but I explained I don't have time. I told her I had some antibiotics that Don's dad had picked up on his mission trips and that I would just take them. When I got home, Don was wrapped in his prayer shawl from St. Luke's and I asked him if he was cold. He said he wasn't feeling well either. He sounded a little congested. We finally had some soup about 5:30 and Don said he just couldn't get warm. I asked him if he wanted me to take him to the doctor in the morning. He said if he didn't feel any better in the morning that he would call for an appointment. He said that he would have Donnie Lee to take him. I told him I thought that I would go to work in the morning and then after the doctor opened I would call for an appointment too. We have different doctors and Don's is in Lincolnton and mine is in Denver. Don stayed wrapped in his prayer shawl and or a blanket. He is having moments of depression again. I believe it was Monday night that he said he didn't think he could take much more. We had just been talking about how he only had two more weeks until his leg would have weight bearing status on it. I told him look how far you've come and two weeks is nothing compared to all the time that has passed since the accident. I reminded him how much progress he has made and how well he is doing. He told me a little later when I asked him if he was OK, that no he wasn't but that he would be. He had another "one of my moment's" again this evening. He was very upset because he couldn't do some things for Kristi. Kristi called and she is having some backlash with the stomach virus. She worked from 7:15 this morning until 6:00 tonight. She had a tough day and was feeling really bad. I just mentioned it to Don and that set him off. He said he felt so useless and that he didn't know how much more he could stand. He started crying and I had to remind him again of how well he was doing and that he didn't have much longer to wait on release of his leg and then he would hopefully be able to do a bit more.
I will probably update the web once a week unless there is some note worthy news. Tomorrow will mark 12 weeks and today is day 84. Please just keep praying!
1 comment:
I finally took time to check your blog for updates and I am so happy to hear that things are progressing slowly, but surely. I know how tough it has to have been on you and all of your family. You have been in my thoughts and prayers over the past months. God is good!!!
Donna Cadle Witt
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