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.