Friday January 16 (creative title, eh?)

Well, it's Friday night, and that means its Blog writing night, or so it seems lately. I'd like to thank you for all your comments .... there were an exceptional number this week, and its always nice to hear from you guys.
Here's the latest and greatest in the "Great Eye Escapade." As of Sunday, I began to get some slight improvement in my vision in that the blind spot was gone. There was a slight clearing up of the blurriness on Monday. Since then there's been little to no improvement. When I went to see the doctor on Monday he cut back more of my drugs, and wants me to continue to see him once a week until this problem is solved. I am, however, now able to read and use the computer, which has made my days go by alot faster. I am learning to use a 3-D animation program. This can be quite time consuming, but fun, which is what I need right now.
On to Physio ..... this has been the first week where I have gone every day and my body didn't take this so well. By Wednesday, I was quite fatigued and was finding it hard to complete my exercises. But I'd been going 5 days a week at GF Strong, so I guess I've just gotten soft going only 3 times a week. This week I have been doing quite a bit more walking, and have started each appointment with going for a walk around the sports centre. Dad I and also went for a walk around the indoor track there last Saturday. I still get sore and tired quite quickly while walking but my technique has improved.
Last Saturday I made my first social outing and went for supper at some friend's house. I did lie on the floor most of the time but it was definitely good to get a change of scenery and to hang out in that setting.
Well, once again I managed to talk my mother into typing for me, even though I'm quite capable of using the computer ..... I just enjoy being a dictator. That's all for the this week. Until next time , bye bye from Chris and me .... Mr. Robert. (Please hum the theme song to Mr. DressUp in your head,)

Title unknown

Well another week has gone by. It's been a bit of a slow week, as there has been no improvement yet with my blurry vision. Since I last posted my vision gradually got worse until Wed. and since then its been about the same.I went to the doctor yesterday and we came to the conclusion that it wasn't the Lyrica causing the problem. So now we've moved on to the next most likely culprit.
So far there has been no positive results. I would appreciate your prayers in this area as its very frustrating for me to not be able to see or read. Due to the messing around of my drugs, my pain has been a little worse than normal, but for the most part, its under control, as long as I'm not doing anything too active or sitting.
Not too many new things have happened in physio. Today I did go for a fairly long walk around the Sports Centre with Davis, my physiotherapist, giving me some tips on my technique that made me feel a little less stable. However, its a more natural walking position. He also had me walking with one crutch which nearly saw me on my backside. I did manage to get it figured out a bit, but I have to take very small careful steps. Some good news .... I am now going to physio five days a week as of Wed. the 6th. Hopefully that will help my progress.
Well, that's all for now folks.

Robert (as dictated to his mother).

Happy New Year!

Well, first off I'd like to apologize for once again not posting for quite awhile. Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.
MIne was pretty great. Jen and Wade were here for almost 5 days. It was good to have the whole fam together. I was able to get some pretty sweet presents from WCB for Christmas which will help in my recovery and make life around the house more comfortable. The one is a recumbent exercise bike which is the exact same model as at my physio which means its of pretty good quality. The other is a lazy boy that is able to recline completely flat so I can be comfortable in the living room without having to lie on the floor.
This week its been back to physio as usual except that my regular physiotherapist has been sick so I've been working with a different one. Its been good to mix it up a little and do a couple of new exercises. This week I also began to experience blurred vision that gradually got worse as the week went on. So today I went in to see the doctor to find out what was going on. I'd been suspecting that it was a side effect of one of my medications and after doing some research of my own, decided that it had to be Lyrica. He said that he agreed with me although he said it could be one of two other drugs. But since Lyrica is the most likely, he reduced my dosage by one third. Hopefully, that will begin to make some difference soon, as the blurred vision has made it difficult to do anything as my daily life consists mainly of reading, working on the computer, and watching TV. Oooo .... I've also taken up drawing. If you're wondering how my spelling and punctuation have taken such a dramatic turn for the better, I am dictating this to my mother, as I can't see the letters on the screen or the keys for that matter. Hopefully she has been writing what I say, and not writing something like "Robert stinks."
To top this week off, I've also had a very sore neck. Today I woke up with such a bad kink in it that it made it almost impossible for me to turn my head. However, the weekend is looking more promising as Colin, Mike, Ryan, and Dylan are coming down to visit me. That should be heaps o' fun.
Once again, I'd like to thank you all for continuing to follow my progress and for encouraging and praying for me.

Robert

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