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
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