Check out my new TESTING page where I hope to continue testing new features. Also, be sure to have a look at my new HIKES site and especially some of the “highlighted” hikes that are listed in bold there.
Note that HIKES used to be a “section” here, but there are a lot of them so I made a site just for them.
Mackenzie is snoozing, and snoring, again, after a hard day of therapy and too little sleep from being poked and wakened every 2 hours or so, 24/7. I’m not sure how all her therapy was today because it was all done outside of her room, but it sure wore her out.
Please don’t ever share this with Mackenzie, it would really piss her off, but it sounds like they might have released her earlier than Tuesday had next week had not been Thanksgiving. They worried that she might (would) go more than a few days without outpatient therapy due to the holiday, and they don’t want that. They stressed that this early therapy needs to be frequent and regular. So they are keeping her here in the run-up to the long Turkey Day weekend. I think it will be our family responsibility to keep pushing her through the long weekend and hopefully she can engage with GRMC Physical Therapy on Monday, December 1, or shortly after. The really good news is she will get a full-day (8:30 AM until after 3 PM) of therapy tomorrow, Saturday, November 23.
Not much to update here, but I wanted to post and add Kayla to the updates thread.
Mackenzie had a good nap after therapy and she’s perked up a little. She still hates that she can’t go home tomorrow, but I think she is coming to grips with that. I got an OK to bring some of her OLD video games back with me tomorrow so she hopefully won’t get too bored this weekend when therapy slows down a bit.
Our girl is not too happy this afternoon. Her care team would like her to stay here until Tuesday morning, November 24, so she can receive very intensive speech and occupational therapy for a few more days before moving to outpatient therapy. She is still making great progress but was really hoping to go home before this weekend when things move a little slower around here. I honestly think she’s more bored than frustrated right now.
The therapists and nurses at Mercy IRU are WONDERFUL. They know we want to help and learn, but they also know when it’s best to push us away and disengage, so those are the times I like to connect and get some work done if I can. They also remind us that we will be responsible for continued therapy when she leaves (and that could be as soon as tomorrow or more likely Friday) and they are committed to teaching us all we need to know.
We’ve had a pretty good day here in Mercy CR inpatient therapy. To be honest, Mackenzie has been asleep for about the last hour because they have worn both of us out.
Her day started with occupational therapy and doing the things we all take for granted like brushing your teeth and eating breakfast. All of that went exceptionally well. Next up was speech therapy and that went well, but clearly it’s the biggest obstacle that she still has to overcome. It’s clear that she understands what she hears and even what she reads, but she has trouble verbally communicating some things back to us. We’re finding that she can write and draw even better than she can speak at this point.
This is mostly a way-finding update for anyone who might be coming this way to visit. From memory…
Two things to keep in mind, in Cedar Rapids avenues run east and west while streets run north and south. It’s entirely possible to end up at the corner of eighth and eighth, which is very near the hospital. The intersection of Eighth Avenue and 10th St., which is very close to,
the parking ramp at the hospital, is closed. Do not go there. You have to approach the hospital from the north on 10th St. in order to get into the ramp.
Just moved into room 71-19 (7th floor) of the Inpatient Rehab Unit (IRU) at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids.
For anyone coming to visit be advised that you enter the parking ramp on 10th Street but the intersection at 10th Street and 8th Ave. SE south of the hospital, is closed, you must come in on 10th Street from the north.
So I went home last night and got some rest. When I returned this morning about 30 minutes ago Chris was on the phone talking with a representative from Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids and we believe Mackenzie is checking out of here today and we will be transporting her to the rehab facility at Mercy CR.
She is currently out running laps with her mother around the neuro ward. I took her for a lap and a half before this update and she is moving even better and faster than yesterday. She did have some headaches overnight but they’ve got those under control here. I think she’s feeling pretty good this morning, still struggling with some speech as the words are on the tip of her tongue but she can’t always get them out as quickly as she would like.
Sorry for the late update today but it’s a pretty good one. Mackenzie has been up in her chair all day and every time she visits the bathroom we make her take a lap around the ward. We walked three or four laps today and her coarse physical abilities are back to normal. I think her fine motor skills are also back to normal or nearly so.
Finally the feeding tube came out today at about 11 AM or maybe noon. She feels so much better and she’s so much more talkative now that it is gone. She’s had a couple of showers and for the most part she’s able to take care of herself now that the f-ing tube is gone. Her words not mine.
Sorry for the late update, been a busy morning here. Mackenzie continues to rest comfortably for the most part although her feeding tube is still in and that thing is driving her up the wall. She needs to get one more meal in her today before they will feel safe enough to remove that.
She’s getting up to use the bathroom, brush her teeth, comb her hair, took a shower, all the things we take for granted. She’s still struggling with her speech and processing numbers, but you can tell the information is all there. It’s just getting it out, and communicating that is tricky.