Guest Blog: A few words from Chris

I have asked permission from Robert to make a reappearance on his blog, and he has given me the OK.
I felt compelled to write for several reasons. First, to thank you all for hanging with us in the past four months, for your faithful prayers, for your many words of encouragement, as well as for the big and small acts of kindness which have blessed us many times. A couple of days ago I read the blog from start to finish, and was reminded again of how anxious were the early days, and of how very far Robert has come since then. Through it all God has been with us, comforting and strengthening, getting us through as He has promised He will . There is still a ways to go to full recovery, but we continue to trust God to bring Robert to that point in His good time.
My second reason to write is to let you know how settling in at home has been going from my point of view. I have admitted to several that the first week was difficult .... so many details to be worked out with appointments, wheelchair taxis, meds, figuring out what a new “normal” day would look like. We"ve had to adjust to new equipment about the house ....a wheelchair, walkers, handrails, etc. And for me, having been gone so long, feeling disoriented and out of step with life here, and of course, Christmas just around the corner. However, we got through that,and I’m happy to say that the second week went more smoothly as we began to settle into a more comfortable routine. Robert continues to amaze with his upbeat attitude and his willingness to make the best of a very challenging situation. As for the Christmas preparations, the tree is up, shopping is complete, the baking is in the freezer, and we eagerly await the arrival of Jen and Wade on Tuesday. As Jen said, it will be so great to be together as a family in a place other than a hospital. We are looking forward to a great time together.
On that note then,on behalf of our family,I would like to wish you all a blessed Christmas . May the God of peace be with you each and everyone.

Chris

Sorry For the Wait

Hey everyone. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. Well it's definitely been nice to be home. As a family we've settled down in to what the routine will be for the next little while and have got most of the little kinks worked out of everything. At first we had a bunch of problems getting the wheelchair taxi schedule figured out. There was only two of these cabs in prince george so it can be a little tough to get into their system. That and communication between the drivers and the dispatch seems to be non existent. We thought we had it all figured out and then this morning one of the two cabs had an electrical fire and burned up. I still managed to get to my physio on time, and hopefully it won't be to big of a problem. The physio at the university is going very well. The guy up there recently quit his job as a dill sergeant for the navy seals and became a physiotherapist, or at least thats how it feels to me. Never have my abs and butt been so tired as they were after doing bridges and crunches and planks for more then an hour. It's a good thing though, and hopefully it will bring about some more results. Getting around the house has turned out to be a lot easier then we first thought. We got new, stronger handrail put in, so I am able to go up and down the stairs using only those. Then we keep a walker on the two main floors so I can get around the rest of the house on those. I have just recently been able to eat a meal at the dinner table while sitting on the cushion from my wheel chair. Other then that life's been pretty mellow. Moms got the house all decked out for christmas, no tree yet, I'm not to sure what the plan is for that. Yesterday me and a couple friends built a gingerbread house, so it's really starting to feel christmasy and I so glad to be home for it. Well I think thats all I have to say for now. Thank-you all for you continued prayer and support.

Robert

Home

Well I'm home. Sorry for not posting for a bit. The trip up here went pretty smooth. We went by air ambulance since I can't sit long enough for a commercial flight. Arriving at home was a bit overwhelming. I suddenly had to walk everywhere and since the Occupation therapist was there she wanted me to try out all the things around the house. So after getting my new wheelchair all set up, trying out a shower seat, grab bars, hand rails, toilet seats, my bed, the stairs, and almost every chair and couch in the house I finally got to just lie down in my bed in my room. Unfortunetly my room was a pretty big mess since all my stuff that had got brought up from taylor was stacked all over. We decided to blow off cleaning that up for a day. Anyways I'm starting to get a bit more settled in now. Getting around the house is a bit of a pain since just to go to the kitchen I have to put on my two braces and shoes. My pain level has been at a very bareable level so far which has been very nice although my activity level has been fairly low. Next week I'll be starting physio up again. I'll be going monday wednesday and friday for an hour and a half untill january 9th when WCB will re-evaluate the situation. So anyways it's good to be home, and I'd like to thank you all for your prayers which have got me this far along in my recovery.

Robert

The Report

Hey everyone sorry it's been so long. Well today was the big day to get the okay for me to go home. After reviewing my x-rays and checking me over the doctor said that I was good to go. So thats pretty good news. I also had to have an ultrasound of my leg because I was having a lot of pain in my right calf. So they were checking for blood clots.They didn't find anything. My doctor is pretty sure that the pain is caused by some angry nerve. The plan now is that were going to be leaving Thursday morning and getting into P.G around 11:00 Then I have to meet with my social worker and my new physio. After that it's just settling into the new atmosphere of home. After 4 months of being in a hospital with nurse and doctors only the push of a button away it's a bit scary to be leaving that comfort, but the food will be better. Well I think thats all the news I have for today, a bit of a pleasant change to have it all be good.

Robert

The Wednesday Report

Well it's Wednesday and that means only 8 more days to go. We got some could news today from my social worker. It looks like a lot of the things I need to have for home are starting to get sorted out. The medical store in P.G didn't have some of the things I needed, so now we are getting them from a dealer here in Vancouver. This does mean however that we'll have to purchase instead of rent a wheel chair. Fortunately It's all covered, so I'll have something to donate to the red cross when I'm done with it. The Plane home has also been figured out. It was a big relief to see that these things are coming together; on Monday it looked like a bit of a mess. Today I went for another good ride on the recumberant bike which is always fun. In physio over the las few days we have started working on balance by standing on a balance board and hitting a balloon back and forth. Yesterday I got talked into going down to the gym to play wheel chair basketball. It was a lot of fun, the chairs we used are very light and turn on a dime. My competitive edge kicked in allowing me to play for 30 minutes which is a lot longer then I have sat in a while. Afterwards I was very stiff and sore though, both from the sitting and from wheeling so much and just all the new movements that the sport involves. But it was definitely worth the pain to have some fun like that. The play different games every Tuesday so I'd like to go again, and I'm thinking of checking out the wheelchair basketball they have in P.G once I'm home. I'm going to post some rehab pictures my mom has taken on my facebook, so you can check those out if you want. Hope your all doing great.

Robert

Monday

Well They sure didn't let me settle into the week slowly. Today I had more appointments then I think I have had my whole time here. I have been meeting with a psychologist to work on pain management techniques. So far I haven't had to much luck with his methods, but who knows maybe something will come out of it. I also got to go for another ride on the recumberant bike. The increases in my drugs haven't seemed to have any effect of the pain I have while sitting, it has however over the last few days seem to have help with pain while standing/walking. On Friday and throughout the weekend I was able to be standing and walking longer then ever, managing to walk about 3 blocks. So now we are trying to figure out which of the two drugs they increased is the one that did the trick. On the weekend I also had several relatives stop by to visit so that helps make the time go by. The Grey cup was tough to watch as I felt sick when ever a team scored since I hate Calgary and Montreal so much. Some stuff that I would really appreciate prayer for is that everything that needs to be arranged for me to go home would happen, and that the right things that I need to have to live at home would be there when I get home. Well thats all for now,
Robert

Friday

Hello. Well another week is over and there's only 13 days till home time. There still hasn't been any changes in my pain. The doctors have continued to increase both my nerve and pain medications. It seems at times that I am able to walk for longer periods of time then I used to, but my ability to sit is still the same. I have also decided to pull myself out of the pool class since it causes me a lot of pain. The weekend is looking likes it's going to be pretty quiet. The grey cup is on but I find it hard to get excited about without the Eskimos in it. Thats about all thats been going on around here lately. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Robert