Riddle Me This!

Gilbert (brother-in-law) and Justin (brother) had the "night shift" last night.  We've broken these into two shifts, usually from 8:30pm - 2:30am and 2:30am - 8:30am.  Chris slept most of the night comfortably and sleeps more each night.  The nurse comes in every 2 or 3 hours to turn him in bed.  This just consists of taking two pillows from under the right side of his body, putting them under the left side of his body and vice versa through the night.  He can almost sleep right through these turns.  This in turn allows whoever is on the night shift to sleep some as well and we all know that, sleep = sanity.

Here's a quick riddle for you.  How is now Christian similar to a steel belted radial tire...???  See below for the answer :-).

Breakfast this morning consisted of some NASTY looking scrambled eggs.  Christian wanted Chalua hot sauce slathered all over them, he always has a taste for something spicy.  The eggs were chased down with some Frosted Corn Flakes, a yogurt and some apple juice.  The feeding tube is completely gone so he's got to eat all his meals to get enough calories.  This will be a hard task if they're as unappealing as the one this morning.

The nurse measured the circumference of his thighs and calves this morning.  This is something they monitor closely to make sure one leg is not loosing more muscle than the other.  His left leg is slightly larger than the right, but nothing to be alarmed of at this point.

Today in PT they hooked him up to a motorized stationary bike and ran that for several minutes.  They also connected his arms to an electric stimulation machine which causes specific muscles which the machine is connected to, to flex.  In this case, they raised both of his arms up in the air, pretty cool machine :-).  He continues to work VERY hard during PT.  He has even challenged his PT team (a Physical Therapist and an assistant) to get him transferred from his bed to his wheelchair faster so they can have more time in therapy.  The nurses have agreed to try to get him in his chair BEFORE the PT team comes so they can just grab him and get to work!  We hope to put some video of one of his PT sessions up soon.

Jessi went back to work today for the first time since the accident.  Chris had to spend some "alone time" before and after the morning PT session until Jessi's Dad, Rik, came in the early afternoon.  Imagine sitting in bed alone in your room and not being able to lift your arm up to scratch your face, stand up and use the restroom if the urge arises, flip on the TV with the remote, stand up to look out the window, etc. etc. etc.  That's what Chris faces when he's alone, so we're doing our best to be there for him at all times.

Now the answer to the riddle...  Christian is similar to a steel belted tire because he's now TUBELESS!  That's right he doesn't have a SINGLE tube in his entire body.  The catheter was the last to go.  Though the bladder muscles aren't 100%, he can feel when it's time to go, but be ready, when the warning comes that it's time, it means NOW :-).  The doctor was ready to make a campus wide announcement on the PA system when they realized Chris could feel the urge to go, we're told this is a HUGE step in the right direction that many with injuries similar to Christian's never take.

Until next time.