Fellow IMC Rehab patient, Sydney Heyrend, choreographed a dance routine to show off newly re-learned motor skills. The performance, yesterday afternoon, played to a standing-room-only crowd of 12th floor patients and staff. I think Christian's version of "The Robot" is especially entertaining. Enjoy. (NOTE: the professional videographer got so excited he turned the camera for part of this clip; Do Not Adjust Your TV!)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Neck Brace - So Long Old Pal...
(Christian's Dad here) I gave Chris a ride up to Buckner Company again this afternoon. Last time we did this he rode a wheel chair and we were pretty happy about it. This time we took the wheel chair along but it stayed in the back of the car. What fun to see the smiles as he walked into the office. I stay close at his side in case he needs help but he did great. Amazing. There were deals and details to discuss but it is quickly evident that caring co-workers and clients are keeping things on track and helping carry the load while Chris recovers. This is real service.
We returned to the hospital to find awaited instructions from the neurosurgeon that Chris can begin removing the neck brace for a while each day. X-rays taken yesterday show that the spine is healing well. The miracle continues. Thanks again for your prayers. Blessings in great number have been received by our family. We thank you. We thank the Lord.
Here's the picture taken today with the neck brace off for the first extended period (20 min.). Neck muscles are weak after almost 2 months in the brace. We expect it will take 2-3 weeks to get the strength back.
Heading Home
Justin here again. Sorry for the sparse # of posts lately. Christian continues to do well. He is walking without help now, although he does need someone nearby, just in case he stumbles. He's actually decided NOT to purchase a wheelchair, but will rent one for the time being. It's truly a miracle that Chris won't need a wheelchair for much of his moving around, after seeing him in the state he was just a couple months ago. He can dress himself, but this is a long and difficult process. He can also feed himself, but don't bring him any soup :-)! Bottled products like hot sauce can be an issue as well (funny story to share with you later on in the post).
He's heading home this coming Saturday the 23rd. It will be nice for him to be back in his own home, sleeping in his own bed, with Jessi. On the other hand, not having 24 hour care from a hospital nursing staff and multiple therapy sessions each day to keep him constantly busy will definitely be a change. Jessi plans to take several weeks off from work to help Chris get into a daily routine at home. There will surely be many unforeseen obstacles to overcome as life continues in a different environment, but Chris will overcome those just like he always does.
He's planning to continue to do some physical therapy at Neuroworx. Neuroworx (www.neuroworx.org) is an outpatient physical therapy clinic specializing in spinal chord injuries. They have some of the neatest equipment you'll ever see. This will be a great place for Chris to continue his recovery, we know he'll continue to work hard each day!
Christian wants to do one more video blog before he leaves the hospital, so we'll try to get that up in the next few days.
Now about the hot sauce incident... Tuesday morning Spencer, who had spent the 2nd 1/2 of the previous night with Chris, was helping with breakfast. Spence had picked up a nice omelet from the cafeteria on the 1st floor. Chris was doing quite well eating on his own. To satisfy Christian's love for hot stuff, he was putting Cholula Hot Sauce on his eggs. Spence says there was a big crash and he looked up to see the hot sauce bottle shattered on the floor with sauce all over the place. Chris had literally thrown it across the room, not on purpose of course. Basically, while pouring hot sauce on his eggs, Chris had one of his typical morning muscle spasms and the bottle flew out of his hand, across the room and landed on the floor. No harm done, the mess was quickly cleaned up and breakfast finished. For those of you dining with Christian in the near future, I recommend you offer to pour his ketchup on his fries for him :-).
Until later!
He's heading home this coming Saturday the 23rd. It will be nice for him to be back in his own home, sleeping in his own bed, with Jessi. On the other hand, not having 24 hour care from a hospital nursing staff and multiple therapy sessions each day to keep him constantly busy will definitely be a change. Jessi plans to take several weeks off from work to help Chris get into a daily routine at home. There will surely be many unforeseen obstacles to overcome as life continues in a different environment, but Chris will overcome those just like he always does.
He's planning to continue to do some physical therapy at Neuroworx. Neuroworx (www.neuroworx.org) is an outpatient physical therapy clinic specializing in spinal chord injuries. They have some of the neatest equipment you'll ever see. This will be a great place for Chris to continue his recovery, we know he'll continue to work hard each day!
Christian wants to do one more video blog before he leaves the hospital, so we'll try to get that up in the next few days.
Now about the hot sauce incident... Tuesday morning Spencer, who had spent the 2nd 1/2 of the previous night with Chris, was helping with breakfast. Spence had picked up a nice omelet from the cafeteria on the 1st floor. Chris was doing quite well eating on his own. To satisfy Christian's love for hot stuff, he was putting Cholula Hot Sauce on his eggs. Spence says there was a big crash and he looked up to see the hot sauce bottle shattered on the floor with sauce all over the place. Chris had literally thrown it across the room, not on purpose of course. Basically, while pouring hot sauce on his eggs, Chris had one of his typical morning muscle spasms and the bottle flew out of his hand, across the room and landed on the floor. No harm done, the mess was quickly cleaned up and breakfast finished. For those of you dining with Christian in the near future, I recommend you offer to pour his ketchup on his fries for him :-).
Until later!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Clean Your Plate!
Hi there! Jes’ mom here. I had the opportunity to spend lots of time with Christian and Jes last weekend and I’d just feel selfish if I didn’t share. I know how great it is to click on the blog and find an update!
Several birthdays in our family are clustered at the end of September and the first of October, so we celebrated together at Christian and Jes’ house on Sunday. Christian came home and was there for about seven hours. We cooked a steak dinner and just hung out. Up to this point, I had only seen Christian learning to use a fork and spoon again, and even a little unsteady at that, so you can imagine my reaction when Christian said “I’ll try to cut my own steak”. I looked to see if Jes was actually going to hand him a steak knife. She did, but it was his own personalized knife. A great tool, I don’t know the proper name for it, but it was a curved blade with a handle on top. It looked like something from Benihana. He held it and rolled it back and forth to cut the steak. He then proceeded to eat the steak, salad, potato and garlic bread on his own with no mishaps and no mess. Later, he took a nap on his own bed - aaahhh! That had to be nice, especially since Aspen was snuggled up with him. I think I actually heard Aspen say “aaahhhh” also!
Luckily, it looks like only a few minor adjustments to the house will be necessary when Christian comes home, and they may be temporary. The occupational therapists have great ideas and recommendations for making day to day routines more manageable. Obviously, there will be many adjustments to their lifestyle and routine though, at least for a while.
Sunday night, I took the 8:30 pm to 2:30 am shift at the hospital with Christian. I like to give him a head massage and I think we spent 40 minutes with head rubbing and conversation. I absolutely love the time with Christian just talking about whatever. The night was fairly uneventful, with just a few nurse calls for moving him to a different position. At about 2:00, I was sort of dosing off and I heard his bed move suddenly. I jumped up to see what was going on and he had had a muscle spasm. I’m told that muscle spasms are a common thing with this injury, but I had no idea they were this strong. It had almost curled him up in a ball on his side. Christian’s friend Darrell came in for the 2:30 am shift. I guess that the muscle spasms continued more frequently after I left. There is a medication to help with spasms, but he tries to minimize the medications as much as possible. They could be temporary or permanent. We’re hoping for temporary. He has been talking with others with his injury and learning how they manage this issue if it is permanent. We’ve found lots of hope, inspiration and resources from these conversations with others.
At 2:30 am, I went to Jes’ to get some sleep, and then went back to the hospital at 9:30 on Monday. I had not yet seen Christian walk except on the blog. Seems like he’s always doing something else in physical therapy when I’m there; so I was determined to get there for the first PT of the day. I ended up staying until 4:00 pm - for morning PT and OT, lunch, and afternoon PT and OT! I saw him walk. I saw him go up and down the stairs, lots of stairs. I saw him do side steps with crossovers. He did transfers from bench to wheelchair on his own. He stood up from a bench with one foot on a 6” curb. He rode the bike for 15 minutes on level 7, which was the highest level to date. In OT he was working his shoulders very hard, he was doing an exercise that I saw once before, last week. He lays flat on his back, straightens his arms and has to lift them up and over his head while keeping them straight. This is hard because when they get beyond the 90 degree angle, the biceps try to take over and the arms start to bend. However. . . . this time he was able to keep them straight and this time - while holding a ball! It was very hard, but the more he pushed, the better it worked. And I don’t have to tell you that he pushed! A new exercise that day was with a balloon, lying on his back and punching first with left, then with right. This is to help develop a quicker response with his arms. I saw improvement within just a few minutes. We took a victory lap around the floor (he pushed himself in the chair with his legs to work his hamstrings). As we were returning to his room we stopped to set up a walking race for the next day with another patient. I didn’t hear the outcome of the race yet - but with the length of Christian’s legs alone, my money’s with him.
It was wonderful to watch Christian’s interaction with other patients. I saw him bring a smile to the face of more than one patient that was obviously a little down or having a hard time. Everyone from the teenage girl, to the Japanese man that didn’t speak much English, and the elderly gentlemen on the floor, is glad to see Christian coming their way. A few words of encouragement from someone who truly understands has to mean a lot to them.
I saved the best for last - so here ya go. . . Jessi was working on Monday and she brought sandwiches up for lunch. They were big sandwiches with lots of yummy stuff like sliced olives and jalapenos, etc, that could fall off so I was helping Christian with his sandwich while they visited. A jalapeno fell off onto his plate. Jes and I were talking along and Christian just reached down and picked up the jalapeno and ate it! We both said “what did you just do?!!” This was a tiny move, but it was HUGE! The finer motor skills are just the slower things to come and he was very precise with this one. Of course I put more olives, jalapenos, and a grape, on the plate for him to pick up. The grape was the most difficult. He said it’s because the sensation in his fingers is different and he can’t tell how hard to squeeze to pick it up without smashing it. A few olive slices did give their lives while he tested the pressure required. These skills are every bit as important as walking. Think about all of the things that you do with your hands and fingers - eating, getting dressed, working on the computer, fishing, writing, to name just a few.
Another “fine” motor skill that Christian has mastered is a certain hand gesture J As we were talking with the occupational therapist, we learned that many patients have mastered this same gesture - usually when working with the occupational therapist when they are sick and tired of working so hard for him. Another patient had mastered punching when the OT put his face in front of him. Whatever it takes.
In closing, sincere thanks again to everyone who is still praying, following the blog, and rearranging their lives to be part of this amazing journey. Every single thing makes such a difference in Christian’s recovery and his and Jes’ future life. As Jes’ mom, I want to thank you for helping her with your moral support, your time, love and prayers and I want to tell you Jes, that you amaze me every single day. Although I always knew you could do it, I am constantly in awe as I witness your loving, caring, and strong approach to this challenge. With all that you have on your plate, some days I just don’t know how you keep going. I’d like to just take you in my arms and fix it for you, but I can’t. No one can fix it like you and Christian can and you are doing just that with humility and grace. I am convinced that you will have the life you planned together. Stay strong but continue to call on all of us and take care of my Jes. I love you both!
Several birthdays in our family are clustered at the end of September and the first of October, so we celebrated together at Christian and Jes’ house on Sunday. Christian came home and was there for about seven hours. We cooked a steak dinner and just hung out. Up to this point, I had only seen Christian learning to use a fork and spoon again, and even a little unsteady at that, so you can imagine my reaction when Christian said “I’ll try to cut my own steak”. I looked to see if Jes was actually going to hand him a steak knife. She did, but it was his own personalized knife. A great tool, I don’t know the proper name for it, but it was a curved blade with a handle on top. It looked like something from Benihana. He held it and rolled it back and forth to cut the steak. He then proceeded to eat the steak, salad, potato and garlic bread on his own with no mishaps and no mess. Later, he took a nap on his own bed - aaahhh! That had to be nice, especially since Aspen was snuggled up with him. I think I actually heard Aspen say “aaahhhh” also!
Luckily, it looks like only a few minor adjustments to the house will be necessary when Christian comes home, and they may be temporary. The occupational therapists have great ideas and recommendations for making day to day routines more manageable. Obviously, there will be many adjustments to their lifestyle and routine though, at least for a while.
Sunday night, I took the 8:30 pm to 2:30 am shift at the hospital with Christian. I like to give him a head massage and I think we spent 40 minutes with head rubbing and conversation. I absolutely love the time with Christian just talking about whatever. The night was fairly uneventful, with just a few nurse calls for moving him to a different position. At about 2:00, I was sort of dosing off and I heard his bed move suddenly. I jumped up to see what was going on and he had had a muscle spasm. I’m told that muscle spasms are a common thing with this injury, but I had no idea they were this strong. It had almost curled him up in a ball on his side. Christian’s friend Darrell came in for the 2:30 am shift. I guess that the muscle spasms continued more frequently after I left. There is a medication to help with spasms, but he tries to minimize the medications as much as possible. They could be temporary or permanent. We’re hoping for temporary. He has been talking with others with his injury and learning how they manage this issue if it is permanent. We’ve found lots of hope, inspiration and resources from these conversations with others.
At 2:30 am, I went to Jes’ to get some sleep, and then went back to the hospital at 9:30 on Monday. I had not yet seen Christian walk except on the blog. Seems like he’s always doing something else in physical therapy when I’m there; so I was determined to get there for the first PT of the day. I ended up staying until 4:00 pm - for morning PT and OT, lunch, and afternoon PT and OT! I saw him walk. I saw him go up and down the stairs, lots of stairs. I saw him do side steps with crossovers. He did transfers from bench to wheelchair on his own. He stood up from a bench with one foot on a 6” curb. He rode the bike for 15 minutes on level 7, which was the highest level to date. In OT he was working his shoulders very hard, he was doing an exercise that I saw once before, last week. He lays flat on his back, straightens his arms and has to lift them up and over his head while keeping them straight. This is hard because when they get beyond the 90 degree angle, the biceps try to take over and the arms start to bend. However. . . . this time he was able to keep them straight and this time - while holding a ball! It was very hard, but the more he pushed, the better it worked. And I don’t have to tell you that he pushed! A new exercise that day was with a balloon, lying on his back and punching first with left, then with right. This is to help develop a quicker response with his arms. I saw improvement within just a few minutes. We took a victory lap around the floor (he pushed himself in the chair with his legs to work his hamstrings). As we were returning to his room we stopped to set up a walking race for the next day with another patient. I didn’t hear the outcome of the race yet - but with the length of Christian’s legs alone, my money’s with him.
It was wonderful to watch Christian’s interaction with other patients. I saw him bring a smile to the face of more than one patient that was obviously a little down or having a hard time. Everyone from the teenage girl, to the Japanese man that didn’t speak much English, and the elderly gentlemen on the floor, is glad to see Christian coming their way. A few words of encouragement from someone who truly understands has to mean a lot to them.
I saved the best for last - so here ya go. . . Jessi was working on Monday and she brought sandwiches up for lunch. They were big sandwiches with lots of yummy stuff like sliced olives and jalapenos, etc, that could fall off so I was helping Christian with his sandwich while they visited. A jalapeno fell off onto his plate. Jes and I were talking along and Christian just reached down and picked up the jalapeno and ate it! We both said “what did you just do?!!” This was a tiny move, but it was HUGE! The finer motor skills are just the slower things to come and he was very precise with this one. Of course I put more olives, jalapenos, and a grape, on the plate for him to pick up. The grape was the most difficult. He said it’s because the sensation in his fingers is different and he can’t tell how hard to squeeze to pick it up without smashing it. A few olive slices did give their lives while he tested the pressure required. These skills are every bit as important as walking. Think about all of the things that you do with your hands and fingers - eating, getting dressed, working on the computer, fishing, writing, to name just a few.
Another “fine” motor skill that Christian has mastered is a certain hand gesture J As we were talking with the occupational therapist, we learned that many patients have mastered this same gesture - usually when working with the occupational therapist when they are sick and tired of working so hard for him. Another patient had mastered punching when the OT put his face in front of him. Whatever it takes.
In closing, sincere thanks again to everyone who is still praying, following the blog, and rearranging their lives to be part of this amazing journey. Every single thing makes such a difference in Christian’s recovery and his and Jes’ future life. As Jes’ mom, I want to thank you for helping her with your moral support, your time, love and prayers and I want to tell you Jes, that you amaze me every single day. Although I always knew you could do it, I am constantly in awe as I witness your loving, caring, and strong approach to this challenge. With all that you have on your plate, some days I just don’t know how you keep going. I’d like to just take you in my arms and fix it for you, but I can’t. No one can fix it like you and Christian can and you are doing just that with humility and grace. I am convinced that you will have the life you planned together. Stay strong but continue to call on all of us and take care of my Jes. I love you both!
Friday, October 8, 2010
A View from the Rear
Christian's Mom here. I am trying to fill in for the regular bloggers, who are all attending out of state business meetings. I had the "honor" of spending two night shifts with Christian this week. It's great to have those sleepovers with Christian, most especially because you get to view the progress that he continues to make each and every day.
On Monday night I had the early shift-8:30 pm to 2:30 am. That shift involves helping Christian settle in for the night. His sweet wife, Jessi was there when I arrived. They kissed goodnight and off Jessi went for home. The fact that Jessi was not staying to spend the night with Christian, made me again realize how different their life is right now. She's got her job to go to each day, which means she needs a full nights rest, which as we all know, doesn't happen often in hospitals. I'm sure they must look forward to the day they will sleep in their own home together again.
Christian often likes to spend the evening just talking, watching a video, or listening to a book on tape. Eventually, it's time for teeth brushing, jammies, meds, and getting Christian comfortable in bed. All of these take various amounts of help on my part, and HARD WORK on Christian's part to get done. This is where you see the continued progress that Christian is making, as each day he takes a more active roll in these activities. For instance, teeth brushing is still a struggle for Christian, as those fine motor skills in his hands are slower to come back. Just weeks ago, it took two people to help Christian get comfortable for the first couple hours of sleep. Pillows, bed adjustments and body positioning were all part of the process. Now, Christian can move and adjust his legs, arms and head to get into that just right position. Soon, he'll be doing the teeth brushing too!
Every few hours Christian's body tells him that it is no longer comfortable. Often, he struggles at night with very painful muscle spasms. This is one of the very common side effects of spinal cord injuries. For Christian to deal with these spasms requires a combination of stretching, repositioning, massage, and drugs. I am there to help him to get "comfortable" again, thus being able to fall back to sleep. Sleep for Christian is critical, as he needs that renewed energy for therapy each day. Before you know it, I've had a few hours of sleep, along with Christian, and my shift is over.
On Wednesday night I had the late shift, 2:30 am to 8:30 am (so really Thursday morning). I took over from Jenny, Christian's sister-in-law. Usually, the shift change includes a short conversation on how Christian has done so far that night, most especially, if he has gotten some good sleep. Jenny said he had been sleeping like a baby and so had she.
The second night shift involves helping Christian eat breakfast and get dressed for the day. What's great, is that in just two days, I see Christian continue to make progress. Christian wanted a breakfast sandwich from the cafe on the 1st floor. He is now eating most of his breakfast on his own, with MOSTLY great success. Again, those fine motor skills are slower to come back, so drinking on his own is a little dangerous for Christian, but a breakfast sandwich, one way or another, gets to where it needs to go, the mouth!
Christian is also working hard on dressing skills. He's got a grab tool to help with socks, shorts, etc. The good news is, it takes him awhile, but he can get it done on his own. Just two weeks ago, Christian needed two people to help him get from laying in his bed to wheelchair. Now he does it all on his own.
Usually at about 9:00 am, Christian is scooting himself down the hall in his wheelchair to the rehab room. He likes to get there a little early, so that he can stretch and be ready for his day of therapy. By the time Christian was in the therapy room, I'd seen him break a sweat SEVERAL times, and his therapy sessions haven't even started.
I am not the best videographer, but I thought you would enjoy seeing the "view from the rear" as Christian starts the day with a 'walk around the floor', therapy session. Here's to seeing Christian make progress each and every day.
On Monday night I had the early shift-8:30 pm to 2:30 am. That shift involves helping Christian settle in for the night. His sweet wife, Jessi was there when I arrived. They kissed goodnight and off Jessi went for home. The fact that Jessi was not staying to spend the night with Christian, made me again realize how different their life is right now. She's got her job to go to each day, which means she needs a full nights rest, which as we all know, doesn't happen often in hospitals. I'm sure they must look forward to the day they will sleep in their own home together again.
Christian often likes to spend the evening just talking, watching a video, or listening to a book on tape. Eventually, it's time for teeth brushing, jammies, meds, and getting Christian comfortable in bed. All of these take various amounts of help on my part, and HARD WORK on Christian's part to get done. This is where you see the continued progress that Christian is making, as each day he takes a more active roll in these activities. For instance, teeth brushing is still a struggle for Christian, as those fine motor skills in his hands are slower to come back. Just weeks ago, it took two people to help Christian get comfortable for the first couple hours of sleep. Pillows, bed adjustments and body positioning were all part of the process. Now, Christian can move and adjust his legs, arms and head to get into that just right position. Soon, he'll be doing the teeth brushing too!
Every few hours Christian's body tells him that it is no longer comfortable. Often, he struggles at night with very painful muscle spasms. This is one of the very common side effects of spinal cord injuries. For Christian to deal with these spasms requires a combination of stretching, repositioning, massage, and drugs. I am there to help him to get "comfortable" again, thus being able to fall back to sleep. Sleep for Christian is critical, as he needs that renewed energy for therapy each day. Before you know it, I've had a few hours of sleep, along with Christian, and my shift is over.
On Wednesday night I had the late shift, 2:30 am to 8:30 am (so really Thursday morning). I took over from Jenny, Christian's sister-in-law. Usually, the shift change includes a short conversation on how Christian has done so far that night, most especially, if he has gotten some good sleep. Jenny said he had been sleeping like a baby and so had she.
The second night shift involves helping Christian eat breakfast and get dressed for the day. What's great, is that in just two days, I see Christian continue to make progress. Christian wanted a breakfast sandwich from the cafe on the 1st floor. He is now eating most of his breakfast on his own, with MOSTLY great success. Again, those fine motor skills are slower to come back, so drinking on his own is a little dangerous for Christian, but a breakfast sandwich, one way or another, gets to where it needs to go, the mouth!
Christian is also working hard on dressing skills. He's got a grab tool to help with socks, shorts, etc. The good news is, it takes him awhile, but he can get it done on his own. Just two weeks ago, Christian needed two people to help him get from laying in his bed to wheelchair. Now he does it all on his own.
Usually at about 9:00 am, Christian is scooting himself down the hall in his wheelchair to the rehab room. He likes to get there a little early, so that he can stretch and be ready for his day of therapy. By the time Christian was in the therapy room, I'd seen him break a sweat SEVERAL times, and his therapy sessions haven't even started.
I am not the best videographer, but I thought you would enjoy seeing the "view from the rear" as Christian starts the day with a 'walk around the floor', therapy session. Here's to seeing Christian make progress each and every day.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Cinnamon Rolls, Chili, Filters & Footwork
Yesterday Chris came over to Mom and Dad's house for a few hours. Mom made cinnamon rolls and chili for lunch, Christian's FAVORITE! Chris walked from the car to the couch without help. He also took a short nap on Mom and Dad's bed, his first time in a non-hospital bed for over a month :-). It was nice getting everyone together someplace besides the hospital for a change. We took a moment to reflect on what each of us has learned in the last month... That prayers are powerful, patience in life is key, strong and supportive families are a wonderful blessing, a positive attitude is a necessary tool to overcome life's big challenges and is contagious to everyone around, and that there are so many people out there enduring great challenges in their lives on a daily basis.
The doctors removed the blod clot filter this morning. A minor procedure that sounds more major when you hear the details... An incision is made in the neck on the right side. A camera is sent down the vein so that the filter can be located. The filter is made of a metallic material (looks like metal, but it's probably some fancy composite), about 1/2" tall x 1/2" wide (cylindrical). Here's what the filter looks like and where it's placed.
This picture doesn't show it, but there's a little hook on top of the filter. The bottom of the filter fingers bend outward so that they grab into the walls of the vein. Along with the camera goes a catheter tube and a fish hook connected to some fishing line (or something like that, you get the picture anyway). The fish hook grabs the hook on top of the filter, then the catheter tube is pushed down bringing the filter up inside the tube (don't want those sharp filter fingers scratching the vein walls all the way out, OUCH) and everything is pulled back out from there.
Christian says it wasn't painful, more like uncomfortable and not something you'd want to go through very often. He could feel the whole aparatus traveling through his vein and stopping in his abdomen area to get the filter, then coming back out. Anyway, this completes the removal of all foreign implants to Christian's body since the accident, except of course the screws and wire in his neck, those won't be coming back out :-)!
Here's some fancy footwork Christian demonstrated for the camera. The goal is to not touch any of the dividers.
The doctors removed the blod clot filter this morning. A minor procedure that sounds more major when you hear the details... An incision is made in the neck on the right side. A camera is sent down the vein so that the filter can be located. The filter is made of a metallic material (looks like metal, but it's probably some fancy composite), about 1/2" tall x 1/2" wide (cylindrical). Here's what the filter looks like and where it's placed.
This picture doesn't show it, but there's a little hook on top of the filter. The bottom of the filter fingers bend outward so that they grab into the walls of the vein. Along with the camera goes a catheter tube and a fish hook connected to some fishing line (or something like that, you get the picture anyway). The fish hook grabs the hook on top of the filter, then the catheter tube is pushed down bringing the filter up inside the tube (don't want those sharp filter fingers scratching the vein walls all the way out, OUCH) and everything is pulled back out from there.
Christian says it wasn't painful, more like uncomfortable and not something you'd want to go through very often. He could feel the whole aparatus traveling through his vein and stopping in his abdomen area to get the filter, then coming back out. Anyway, this completes the removal of all foreign implants to Christian's body since the accident, except of course the screws and wire in his neck, those won't be coming back out :-)!
Here's some fancy footwork Christian demonstrated for the camera. The goal is to not touch any of the dividers.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Look Ma, No Hands!
Please enjoy sharing this milestone with us... A walk around the 12th floor on his own. He got crossed up a few times but these first few steps were fabulous.
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Miracle Continues
We're pleased you are following Christian's progress. Your positive thoughts, faith and prayers are carrying the day (along with hard work and determination by Chris). These videos, recorded today, 1-Oct-2010, show a wonderful miracle of healing has been granted. We give thanks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)