Monday, March 7, 2011

March 6, 2011



Here are 2 photos of Jim's newest trick. He can raise his right leg- even against gravity. See him lift his right leg while tilted on his chair. He can't do this with his feet on the floor with shoes on yet.
The other photo is Jim in a hoyer lift being put back into bed. This lift is not as good as the ones at TIRR. This one takes a lot of pushing to get the front bar down in the front. TIRR's lifts had this movement motorized. I'm not strong enough to put him into bed with Sharpview's lift. Jim is raising his right leg again in the lift. His left side is much weaker but he is working on it.

If Jim is sent home early, we'll have to get a fully automated lift so I can handle him. My orthopedist said that I shouldn't lift more than 20 pounds. I still don't have a kneecap on my left leg and this makes it very weak. So, I can't use my knees to lift.

I'm feeling much more positive about Jim's recovery. It made me so happy to see Jim lift his leg.

Sunday I washed his hair and gave him a shave. He looks great. I'll have to push the morning CNA to give him a shower. He hasn't had a shower since he's been at Sharpview. Florence, the morning CNA, prefers talking on her cell phone to doing her job. Jim can press the button for help and wait for her for over an hour. When I'm there, I walk up and down the halls looking for her. I listen for her voice since she is usually somewhere talking on her cell phone. She will lie to me about where she is, too. Nothing I hate worse than being lied to.

Yesterday I asked Florence to put Jim back into bed so I could fix his catheter and then get him back up into the chair. She looked like she was going to do it. She left the room. I thought she was coming right back. Instead the nurse, Amy came to the room and told us that Florence could not do all that in the time left on her shift. I said it was okay to just put him to bed. Thirty minutes went by - no Florence. I started searching for her. Someone told she was in the east wing. She doesn't work in the east wing. After another twenty minutes she came back into Jim's room. She told me she was helping another patient in the bathroom. I know that the first thing she did after she left the room was to go complain to the nurse. I don't what else I can do. I've complained about her to the nurse, Amy. Amy used to seem sympathetic. Now she seems annoyed with me. I am including this in my blog so if I need to complain to Tina, the head nurse, I will have a specific incident to report.

His CNA on the afternoon shift is Lolita. She does a wonderful job. I asked her if she would help me give Jim a shower. She says it's the morning shift's job. If I didn't wash Jim's hair, it would look like a big oil slick on his head.

Overall Jim is being well cared for at Sharpview. The physical therapy is great. Occupational therapy isn't going as well. OT is for above the waist, PT is for below. Jim's arms need to get stronger so eventually he will be able to use a walker. But, he still has a long way to go.

We are disappointed with Jim's fingers. The fingers are very stiff and curl up. I work on them and they get almost straight. Within minutes they curl right back. I will search for more exercises for him to work his fingers. Since the fingers have little muscles, it will take longer for them to return. They may not return to being usable, however. But, since it's only been 3 months we still have lots of hope.

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