My first week home has been busy but good! We packed up and left
SCVMC hospital last week. Medicare would not give me any more in-patient
time because the last few days I was only utilizing the physical
therapy. They figured I could do that from home not understanding the
difficulties in finding therapists knowledgeable in SCI. I was overdue
for some uninterrupted sleep and for real whole food anyway and was
gifted a huge double rainbow on our drive home to kick off my next phase
of recovery.
I returned to an empty apartment above me (for those of you that
know) this was such a relief and the best homecoming gift. It wasn’t
until I first rolled into my apartment, that I fully appreciated my new
taller perspective! I’m sitting so much straighter and loving it!! Next I
crawled into my new bed and I slept for about 12 hours straight. LOVE
LoVe love my new bed!! Endless gratitude to all the people who made this
happen for me. It is a huge blessing to have an adjustable bed thru
this recovery, I can’t even express how helpful it is, especially since I
was let out of the hospital so quickly. It even has different massage
settings to help with circulation for healing. I just have to put
quarters in it about every 15 minutes! Lol!
The first few days were a bit challenging since the lower planes are
not in my reach as of now. Constant adaptation makes things more
manageable over time but its never easy to loose mobility and things
that you are accustomed to doing. I get angry and sad at times but then I
remember how lucky I am. I’m still able to be independent, to cook, to
drive and able to do all my personal care. It was so scary signing up
for this surgery when I was gambling with chips that big and had bad
odds. But a huge sigh of relief that the loss is minimal and the odds
seem to have played out in my favor. Looks like all that hard work i put
in upfront paid off! I’m feeling good and in the flow of things.
My dad is still by my side for another week and is taking excellent
care of me. We traveled to SF on Monday and the doctors took out the
stitches and the drain! Dr. Berven was quite impressed by the speed of
my healing. He said he has not seen someone bounce back so quickly from
this type of surgery. He nicknamed me Superstar! I know it has a lot to
do with all of the positive energy coming my way and with having my
nutrition on point throughout this journey. Please keep the good vibes
coming!! He did put some limiting restrictions on my movement for the
next 2 months to let things heal properly. A bit frustrating because I’m
ready to go full speed with therapy but it looks like I have to stay in
first gear for a bit longer.
Wednesday I went for my out-patient physical therapy evaluation.
Medicare will cover 20 sessions (if I’m lucky) so the plan is, do one
session every two weeks until the restrictions come off then go full
speed for the remainder of the sessions. In the mean time my dad and I
have come up with a stretching and exercise program at home and I am
going to use some of the donated money to pay for a few months of SCI
Fit (an out of pocket neuro-rehab). I’m hoping to do some stretching and
strengthening of my upper body and core there while I wait for the
restrictions to be lifted.
Yesterday all my wounds had scabbed over so I finally got to take a
long hot shower!! First one in a month. I can’t tell you how good it
felt! I can’t wait to take another one today! Everyday I make a little
progress. I am very hopeful about the future.
I’m still researching different vans, trying to find the right fit. I
will have to wait a bit yet to see where my mobility lands before I
make my final decision. My dad and I are going next week to look at some
used vans to get a better idea of what is out there. It is quite an
investment as the conversion alone runs about $29,000 then you add he
price of the vehicle to that. A bit overwhelming right now but trying to
trust it will all come together as it should. I still have time to
figure it out.
As always thank you so much for all the continued love and support. I
would not be this far along if not for all the help. I am so humbled by
the generosity and selflessness. And special thanks to Michelle and
Heidi for jumping in to make the transition home smooth. I’m up for
visitors and can get out for short trips so let me know if you would
like to visit! Sending everyone big hugs! #straightup
If you want to donate to my cause:
http://www.gofundme.com/charvine
or https://paypal.me/charvine
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.helphopelive.org/campaign/12154
If you shop Arbonne’s sustainably sourced, vegan, GMO-free, gluten-free, clean products, Char will get a % of sale:
http://www.charvine.arbonne.com
If you want to donate direct or product email:
mailto:char@charvine.com
1.27.2017
1.16.2017
STRAIGHT UP DATE 1/16/17
My apologies for not posting an update sooner, my recovery has been
all consuming. I was transferred over to SCVMC in San Jose on the 9th.
In-patients get about 4-5 hours of mixed therapies a day here which
kicked my ass hard the first few days. There was a lot of nausea,
puking, shaking, dizziness, bleeding and disreflexia. But I pushed
through it with my dad by my side and I’m now past the most painful part
of this journey. So grateful for my dad and his courage, I know it’s
not easy for him to see me in that state. But we have left those things
behind and I feel much more solid now.
I am able to keep up with the Physical Therapy and the other therapies are struggling to find things for me to do. With 17 years of SCI experience, in a lot of sessions, I end up teaching the therapists. As of this week, I am doing all my transfers on my own, doing all my personal care, can push up an ADA ramp and I put my shoes on without help today! I have been mentoring and teaching wheelchair skills to some of the new in-patients which has helped keep my spirits up. I still have a drain in my spine and stitches in so I am not able to shower yet, itch, itch. Sleeping as much as possible in this environment and trying to eat as best as I can. My dad has been doing a great job of smuggling in my nutrition shakes, vitamins and beef broth. The swelling is continuing to go down and PTs are working on my range. So far everyday, I am able to do a little bit more. Still hard to say exactly how it turned out and how much my mobility might change, but at this moment, I am hopeful that it will be minimal.
It looks the hospital will be releasing me on Thursday. A bit sooner than we hoped but I guess Medicare has been progressively shortening stays here. The doctors and I agree that I need a lot more physical therapy but to justify the hospital stay, I have to utilize the other therapies and the nursing and I have grown past needing most of them now. Before I go, I’ll be teaching a cooking class on Tuesday and on Wednesday I’m going to try out some different vehicles with ramps! I’ll continue my physical therapy as an out-patient. We are figuring out what that will look like now. I might stay in San Jose for a bit. Once I get back up to Sac I would love to have visitors!
So, I still have a great deal of work to do to get myself straight up! My body must grow bone in the cage for the surgery to hold and the other big issue is rebuilding muscle memory. The muscles on my right became very shortened and the ones on my left became very stretched out over the last 5 years so they are still pulling me off center. My focus now is on getting those muscles working symmetrically again to allow my right ischial to drop to straight. The PT’s are saying it could take months of therapy and hard work to make that happen but it is possible. So those are my next goals in recovery.
As always, thanks so much for all the endless love and support streaming my way. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such caring and generous people. I have not been diligent in my responses so forgive me but I will get there in time. Love and big hugs to you all!! #straightup
If you want to donate to my cause:
http://www.gofundme.com/charvine
or https://paypal.me/charvine
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.helphopelive.org/campaign/12154
If you shop Arbonne’s sustainably sourced, vegan, GMO-free, gluten-free, clean products, Char will get a % of sale:
http://www.charvine.arbonne.com
If you want to donate direct or product email:
mailto:char@charvine.com
I am able to keep up with the Physical Therapy and the other therapies are struggling to find things for me to do. With 17 years of SCI experience, in a lot of sessions, I end up teaching the therapists. As of this week, I am doing all my transfers on my own, doing all my personal care, can push up an ADA ramp and I put my shoes on without help today! I have been mentoring and teaching wheelchair skills to some of the new in-patients which has helped keep my spirits up. I still have a drain in my spine and stitches in so I am not able to shower yet, itch, itch. Sleeping as much as possible in this environment and trying to eat as best as I can. My dad has been doing a great job of smuggling in my nutrition shakes, vitamins and beef broth. The swelling is continuing to go down and PTs are working on my range. So far everyday, I am able to do a little bit more. Still hard to say exactly how it turned out and how much my mobility might change, but at this moment, I am hopeful that it will be minimal.
It looks the hospital will be releasing me on Thursday. A bit sooner than we hoped but I guess Medicare has been progressively shortening stays here. The doctors and I agree that I need a lot more physical therapy but to justify the hospital stay, I have to utilize the other therapies and the nursing and I have grown past needing most of them now. Before I go, I’ll be teaching a cooking class on Tuesday and on Wednesday I’m going to try out some different vehicles with ramps! I’ll continue my physical therapy as an out-patient. We are figuring out what that will look like now. I might stay in San Jose for a bit. Once I get back up to Sac I would love to have visitors!
So, I still have a great deal of work to do to get myself straight up! My body must grow bone in the cage for the surgery to hold and the other big issue is rebuilding muscle memory. The muscles on my right became very shortened and the ones on my left became very stretched out over the last 5 years so they are still pulling me off center. My focus now is on getting those muscles working symmetrically again to allow my right ischial to drop to straight. The PT’s are saying it could take months of therapy and hard work to make that happen but it is possible. So those are my next goals in recovery.
As always, thanks so much for all the endless love and support streaming my way. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such caring and generous people. I have not been diligent in my responses so forgive me but I will get there in time. Love and big hugs to you all!! #straightup
If you want to donate to my cause:
http://www.gofundme.com/charvine
or https://paypal.me/charvine
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.helphopelive.org/campaign/12154
If you shop Arbonne’s sustainably sourced, vegan, GMO-free, gluten-free, clean products, Char will get a % of sale:
http://www.charvine.arbonne.com
If you want to donate direct or product email:
mailto:char@charvine.com
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