work

Work? Ya, I've been back in the work force for a couple of days and it's been great. I've still been running into people I haven't seen and I've begun to realize that's going to wear off over time. Part of the reason I used the word great is that today I'm part of that grue. I'm part of the schedule, people ask me what I think and want to know what I'm doing. I work with some good people who are very supportive daily and are concerned with my well-being. From the first day into the second I doubled my performance and from the second into the third I tripled it. I still have some of the "quirks" but they seem less noticeable when I out working. At the end of the day I'm alitle more tired than I used to be, but mostly that's endurance or the loss there of, from laying around and healing. Carole has made the statement that 2007 wasn't very kind to our family and she hopes 2008 will be better. My youngest son had a broken leg to start the year off, Carole had her elbow operated on in the early summer and I fell in the fall. It's changed all of us, but we are looking to 2008. Different things change you for different reasons in your life.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! A customer asked me the other day how my faith was and I replied that it had definitely improved. It was nice to go the Christmas eve church service and yes I had a lot to be thankful for. All of my brothers and their families came to our home for dinner which was awesome. Ya, you scurry around to clean and get ready before everyone comes to your house, but there is two benefits. First you have the benefit of having everyone at your house and secondly you end up with a clean house. I'm glad I could be there.. The day after Christmas was my first day back to work in three months. I felt alittle like a new employee at our first stop in the morning. I knew what to do, but I felt like I was in a new situation, but I had been there lots of times before. We were over staffed today and we weren't too busy, so it ended up being a good day to come back. A couple of key people had the day off or were on vacation this week, so that took some of the stress off. Everyone that was working did their part and the day went very smoothly.

situations

A couple of fun things happened in the last couple of days. On Friday night I saw some of my cousins at a pizza shop. Not to eventful, but one of them is 13 years old and the last time he saw me was in hospital in a coma and with some tubes sticking out of myself. We said hello, but I think unfortunately it freaked him out to see me walking around. I really didn't mean to.....
Second of all and most important to me was I started doing driving also on Friday evening. It was pretty big to me when I drove around the town, nothing too serious but it was driving. I asked Carole if she was afraid to ride with me, she wasn't!! I didn't hit any snowbanks or come close to anything else for that matter. Three months is long time......
The third thing was, I spent the day with one of my associates doing his job with Genex. He does the same thing as I did and we saw allot of our customers. Again all were happy to see me, with coveralls on and out around cows. I stayed safe and I stayed out of his way, but it was a great confidence builder that I can go back.. I hadn't thought about it before but, one of our customers mentioned that she had heard several bad rumors. I hadn't given it thought that there was rumors out there, but apparently there was. She hadn't been updated on my situation so I quelled the rumors in person.... I am so thankful that I was able to do that....

finger repair

The finger repair went fine. For those of you that have never been there, the Harrison Center surgery place is like an assembly line. They do all of the paperwork ahead of time, there's pre-surgery rooms, the operating room and two recovery rooms. The whole process is very smooth. I had a small bump in the process when the anesthesiologist realized that I had been in a coma and had a head injury previously. She made a quick call to the neurologist, who gave her the lowdown, and I think she lightened the dosage some. The doctor said he could have done the job with a local, but as it turned out I was out lightly. I was at least partially awake before they were completely done. Yesterday the finger was pretty numb but, today it's definitely sore. I also have this nice stylish bandage on my pinky. It sure would have been nice if they could have fixed it when I was in the hospital.

another one off the list

While, there has been a few things of note in the last couple of days. First of all thank you to all the people that made positive comments about going back to work. Probably I'll miss the "vacation" next year sometime but, right now it is exciting to be given the opportunity to be going back to work. I realize the situation could be a lot different and there will be ongoing "healing" of my head during the next year.
Yesterday, I had two more follow-ups from my time in the rehab. center of the hospital. I have this attachment to the place and probably will for some time. It certainly was nice to be walking down the halls before I talked to a couple of employees that had worked with me. I was there to see the rehab. doctor who said everything checked out fine as far as she was concerned. Another one off the list...... Next I had an appointment with the psychologist who has responsibility for the patients in the rehab. center. I never thought I would be comfortable with a person in this profession, but we had a nice hour conversation and we'll have another one in the future. It was nice to talk to someone who had a good understanding of my situation and what I might be going through. I had talked to her in the hospital and at that time she was just another employee. Honestly, I think it would have been good to talk to talk to her since I've been home about "stuff". Nothing against Carole for sure, but it was nice to have someone else to talk to that I didn't have to go home with. Today we'll see how the finger repair goes....

great stuff

What a great day.... Today is one of those days that you hope will come sometime as you lay in a hospital bed for weeks. The neurologist said I can go back to work. He looked at the Sept. CT scan and compared it to the one he had me get before his appointment today. The spots that were there before are not there today and that's a great thing. There is still a couple of small quirks that we discussed with him, but he said he hopes those will improve over time, but he doesn't know. Along time ago, he told Carole that he would expect improvement for at least a year. I have feeling everywhere its supposed to be, but I still have some right hand finger tip tingling and some mouth sensations that I didn't have before. But fortunately it doesn't keep me from doing stuff. I don't know if any of you have ever had a CT scan before but I'll describe it briefly for you, it was cool. The machine was at Upstate in a room with a technician. You lay on a table after you took off all the metal you had on. The table had head blocks on it so you don't move and they Velcro your hands over your body so they don't move either. The machine is like a big donut that passes over the table and it makes a low whirling sound as it moves. Apparently it takes multiple e-rays of your body and the computer puts them together to make a 2-d image kinda like a bread slice of your body. One of coolest thing that we had him look at, was the Sept. image that he had to see what the pinky looked like then. Surprise, it was dislocated then, but it was right up in the corner of the computer monitor screen and I think it got missed. Oh well, they will fix it on Thursday and we will move on from there. Right at the moment, the short term disability ins. runs out on the 25th and the long term kicks in. She wrote the back to work paper for the 26th of Dec.

parties

It's been a busy weekend, many things to do at the house and a wonderful Christmas party. I went to the Christmas party of one of my biggest Genex customers on Sunday where there were lots of people that I knew and many of them knew of my situation. I was able to say hello to the partners, many employees and owners of other small businesses that I have done work with. It was good for the soul, as they all said they were glad to see me up and around and looking like I was doing much better. One of the coolest stories that I have heard was from Dale VanErden, one of the owners. He said in the week following my accident he was about to cut a limb off a roof and thought about me, saw a rope in his truck and thought wisely to use it. Needless to say he slid off the roof, the rope caught him. Good for him and I'm glad something good came to somebody else out of the situation...
Saturday I was at the mountain and they were busy. They had plenty of employees working and I was feeling like not a very productive member of society. But I did get a magazine mostly read though. That is a bad thing about not being able to drive. All in due time..... The CT scan is tomorrow and I'll see were we are after that.

good and bad

Well, I should say that everything went perfect yesterday. In most cases, it did. They x-rayed my hip, then I saw the orthopedic doctor and he watched me walk down the hall. He said, as far as he was concerned, I was healed and I didn't need to see him again. YAY, one gone. Then we went down the hall to the hand doctor, to have him look at my pinky. He said, it is differently dislocated and he would be happy to operate on it next week on Thursday, oh joy... He thinks that it has been out since the accident?? and that it got missed at the time, what with the right hand and arm being so swelled soon after. Who knows, but it is still out today and it needs fixing. I signed so much paperwork for HIPA, and so the doctor can get paid by the insurance company etc it wasn't funny. I try to keep in mind that it is the pinky and it is along way from being important in my overall well being, my driving, and me being back to work. I wasn't taking the whole process very well by the time 12:00 came around and we had been there since 8:00, but a slow ride home in a snowstorm and I had calmed down some.

The pinky

Well, I had a weird experience with one of the "quirks" on Monday. The rehab. therapist has been working with my right hand right along, but on Monday he felt the pinky finger was overly swelled up. I went to the ER, because I was already in the right building, and they checked it out and they did an x-ray while I was there. The therapist had been working on the range of motion, especially on the pinky finger, but it seems it was dis-located on Monday. I really don't know if I made it go out, I don't think so, or he did or if it was something different, but it still out... So the hospital put a finger splint on it and I told them I was going to see the orthopedic doctor on Thursday anyway for a follow-up on my pelvis and he could take a look then. It didn't slow down the progress, just a bump in the road. I still have four different doctors to follow-up with in the next week. O joy....... I haven't seen this many doctors in my whole life.
Kevin had a great idea, referring to the last post, that I should take the diving evaluation in a dump truck. LOL Carole didn't think it was such a good idea. I've gotten some invites to a few Christmas parties just recently. I am going to try and make as many as possible, it will be good to see a bunch of different people.
Other than the quirk above, the rehab. must be working. At the mountain I've occasionally been using a hole puncher to put a hole in the passes, their plastic is about the thickness of a credit card. Yesterday was the first time that I have been able to do it with my right hand only. A small success, I know, but to me it shows that hand is getting stronger.

impressions

Over the last couple of days, that I have been at the mountain, I have noticed some peoples impressions of me. I have been there, following the rules, staying near my wife's desk, and answering the phone when it's convenient. But, a couple of times previously, when I talked to people who knew of my situation, I noticed that they are looking me over to see if they can see something wrong with me..... It's kind of subtle, but they are doing it. I don't let it bother me, but I know they are doing it. I previously talked about needing a bandage to go around my head....... I don't know what they are hoping to see, maybe my ears twitching or an arm shake, I just don't know. LOL I think I look normal, I don't do anything weird that I know of. If they would read the blog that would help......

Over it

So, I got over it. Carole talked with the neurologist and the rehab. doctors today and we now have the CT scan scheduled for the 17th. I think we have the doctor scheduling worked for right now. We will wait and see what happens. I learned today that theoretically your personal care physician would make a decision on the driving, but in my case the rehab doctor and the neurologist will decide together.
I continue to go to rehab. at the hospital, where they are regularly making me sweat. I am getting two kinds of rehab. there. One person is working on my endurance and overall balance, which has gotten a lot better. The other person is stretching the ligaments/muscles of my little fingers on my right hand and my making my right wrist go backward further. I feel good about it and I am glad they are making the rehab. challenging. I also think that I am getting the insurance company's moneys worth from the process. The people that I am working with there have been great and happy to talk with me about the whole process too.

status quo

Well, yesterday was a confusing day. We went to see the neurologist, who I haven't seen before, for an evaluation. I guess the right answer would be, lets wait a little longer, sort of. After we waited an hour to see him, he said in so many words, that he would like to see a new CT scan before he makes any decisions. I was apprehensive before I saw him and frustrated afterward. He did an evaluation of my balance, strength, and vision which I feel I did all right on. But I had a list of questions, that I had made up before hand, about the so called "quirks", so I wouldn't forget anything. We briefly talked about all of them and he made some notes and we moved on. On his behalf, he doesn't have a new picture to look at since the one taken on Sept.26th. Witch would have been comprehensible, but I have had the paperwork from his office, about this meeting, for a month. So that's what a blog is about I think, spilling your guts to who ever is reading with no repercussions. I will let it go....... we will get a new CT scan scheduled soon and I'll be back, but for today it's the status quo.

neurologist

Tomorrow is an important day in the whole scheme of things. I have a scheduled visit with the neurologist in Syracuse. I think he is going to develop some sort of plan after he evaluates my performance todate and or we converse. I still have the driving evaluation with somebody at Upstate hospital who I think will use a computer then will ride with me to check out my driving skills. I feel real confident about this step, but I haven't driven anything since September 25th. It seems like a long time ago, but I have had lots of great people giving me a lift were ever I needed to go. I expect the situation with the neurologist will be similar to the orthopedic doctor. The ortho. guy told me, he had seen me several times and I had seen him once and that was that day. I got to tell you, that's a little weird..... So I hope he will have some direction as when I can go back work and when the diving evaluation will be, first. I am trying not to be too eager about the situation because I know he can make a ya, nay or lets wait a little longer decision. I made a list of shall we say a few quirks that I would like to discuss with him, but none are keeping me off my feet. As I have said before, one step at a time. I want to go back permanently and not get injured or be back in the hospital. We'll see what tomorrow brings......