October 28, 2011

Hello Everyone!,

Last night was great!  Don only got Mom up one time!  He turns himself from side to side using his trapeze bar.  This is awesome!

This morning Dr. Sohn was in real early and was still a little concerned about the one area of the wound but says it is coming along nicely.   He emphasized that Don has to stay in this bed for at least 8 more days.  He made the orders that Don could be placed in a wheel chair for 1 hour but only 1 hour!  This was such a day to celebrate!!!!!!!!  The first time in 6 weeks to get out of the bed.  Wow!  Mom quickly got out the pajama shorts that I had brought from Lexington and a tee shirt and the physical therapy team came in to transfer him to the chair without letting him put any weight on his feet.  He was so thrilled to get in that chair.  He got out in the hallway and tried to find someone to race wheelchairs with but nobody was up for a race!  I think he watches too much Nascar and Indy Car Races, don't you?  He actually got a slight blister on his hand from working the wheels on the wheel chair.  He says that he is really getting soft from no activity.  The staff brought him some special gloves with the finger tips cut off that are like driving gloves to use to prevent blisters.  Nice that they brought it after the damage was done.  Crazy!  Mom and Don played cards during the rest of the time he was in the wheel chair.  I didn't get here until about the last 30 minutes of his freedom from the bed and I was taking tons of pictures as a reminder of this day of celebration!

Right after Don got placed back in the bed so much was happening here in the room.  The case worker nurse came in and got the phone numbers of the people I was talking with at Blue Cross Blue Shield so they could discuss the preauthorization for the possible medical transfer to Mesa, Arizona.  She also informed us that she was working on getting Don placed at the proper rehab facility that had the right kind of care available.  She is trying to find one that would take his air bed and trapeze but so far we are going to have to be here the 8 days as Dr. Sohn prescribed.  She advised us that we want to save as many of the days of insurance coverage for rehab for when he is well enough to actually gain from the exercise because the coverage only lasts for so many days.

Right after the case worker came in then the financial lady came in and we had a bill from another surgeon from the first night Don was here and she had to call them for us and let us know what to do with that bill and the deductible.  She came right back with the answer and gave us clarity on what to do.

Then the Pain Management Team came in to check how the oral pain meds were working.  They discussed between Mom, Don and I and the three of them how to proceed.  It sounds like they are going to be cutting down the dosage some everyday.  He will probably be off of the morphine by mid week next week altogether.  We will be able to handle the pain totally with Young Living Essential Oils of Vetiver and Valerian from that point on.  We do give him 20 drops of each of those oils everyday two to four times a day and that is probably healing him inside as well.

This afternoon when I took Mom back to the hotel room to rest I went out to get some more pajama pants for Don since we only had one pair.  I also had to go to the post office and I had to go get some sparkling cider so we could celebrate Don's first wheel chair experience!  While I was gone, the Therapy Dog came in to visit Don.  He was very pleased to see the dog and he got to pet him and visit for about 10 minutes or so.  Don is a real animal lover as he grew up on a farm and had all kinds of animals.  I had called a couple of different times to have a Therapy Dog come in but they never came.  I had just given up on the idea and shazam...he shows up!

The case worker called back while I was out shopping and told me that she talked with Blue Cross Blue Shield about the transfer to Mesa, Arizona and she said that the policy clearly states that it is only to the closest facility so we know for sure that we will be here in Las Vegas at least until Don is well enough to get into my van on his own.  The case worker said that his extensive injuries and wound care are such that we will have to do follow up care with the surgeons that have worked on him here anyway and so Don really needs to be here for now until he can get a full release.  That's fine with us, we love the surgeons here and trust their judgment and so for now we know and understand that Las Vegas will be our home for a little while longer.  With Don's determination and strong muscles, we know it won't be long before we will be able to safely take the 6 hour journey back home to Mesa, Arizona.

Later this afternoon my Aunt Detta that was here several weeks ago from Phoenix, Arizona, came back to visit while my Mom is still here.  She will stay with me tonight and tomorrow night while Mom stays with Donnie.  When Mom and Aunt Detta came into the hospital room I announced, "Party Time!"  I quickly got out the glasses and the sparkling cider and of course took pictures again and we all had a toast to Donnie for this day of celebration!  It was fun and we called the nurse with the call button to come in and take our picture together so the four of us could be in the picture together.  She thought it was great and we had a lot of fun.

The World Series is on tonight and so Donnie is watching that and Mom, Aunt Detta and I are playing Skip-Bo together.  Of course, I had to take a break so I would have time to write to all of you who are always waiting to hear what happened today.  I am so excited to have so many that care and love us enough to keep up with our story.  God love your hearts!

With much love and appreciation,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)