The postings from now on will not be written by the writer of the family--Mike--so just wanted to warn you that they wont be as beautiful or eloquent. Sorry to disappoint you all! ;)
Jake was wide awake when I arrived and one of the first things he said to me was, "Ma, I want you to help with my bathing this morning." He desperately wanted out of the hospital gown and into some "real" clothes. They have "adaptive" clothing there at the hospital for these soldiers (made and donated by a wonderful company) to meet their needs with their injuries. The sides of the shirts, shorts, pants, etc. are all velcro so that they can be easily put on without having to move IV lines or going over different braces, casts, etc. on legs or arms. It makes the job of getting dressed by yourself so much easier for them. We are finding so many great products/ideas of how to make these injured soldiers lives so much easier--along with making them feel more self-worth that they can do things on their own. We got Jake cleaned up--which he did mostly by himself--and he felt so much better.
After a short nap, his occupational therapist came in. We love her. :) She is great with Jake and they tease each other like they were brother and sister. :) She was really impressed that he did most of his bathing by himself. Her job is to make sure that Jake can do things by himself in the outside world. She really wanted to take him down to the therapy room to work more on his upper body strength since that is the source he will depend on until he is out of the wheelchair. He has tremendous upper body strength but needs to continue to keep it built up. Because one of his IV lines was a bit short, she did not want to risk having it accidentally pulled out while doing the weights. And, we found out later that he couldn't leave the floor today due to one of his pain medications. Jake was very disappointed that he couldn't go lift weights. But, she made a "date" with him to get him first thing Monday morning and take him to do the weightlifting. He was quite pleased with that plan! He teased her about going on a "date" with him. :) Now, this is all in teasing because he told us that even though there are a lot of pretty nurses taking care of him, he can't do anything because that would be fraternizing with officers. (The majority of the nurses there--men and women--are all Army officers.) Jake has another "date" with a physical therapist tomorrow morning. :) His regular therapist (a man that jokes around with Jake like they were brothers) wasn't working this weekend, so someone else was filling in. Jake wants to get going on this therapy so that he can get home sooner.
She did, however, make his day when she suggested him getting into his wheelchair. He loves being in his wheelchair and getting out of the bed and his room. He wanted to get into the chair right after surgery the other day! He's really good at using it and getting around. The transition to his chair went pretty smooth without much pain. The transition back into the bed later was a bit more difficult and painful. :( He stayed in his chair for over 3 hours today! That is quite an accomplishment especially since he just had surgery yesterday! We took a stroll around the ward and went out into the courtyard to get some fresh air and get some sun. He really enjoyed spending time outside.
He did finally end back in bed and took a great nap. One of the pain medications that he is on makes him extremely sleepy. Right now it is at a high dosage and after tonight, he decided that he didn't want to feel like that anymore and asked for them to lower his dosage. Every time he presses the button, within a few minutes, he is very sleepy. He hates feeling like that. He wants to stay awake more. He is also on a pain medication called Kitamine--which can cause hallucinations and bad dreams. Luckily, he will be coming off of that medication around midnight tonight. Before I left for the night, he started to fall asleep and all of a sudden jerked awake, shook his head, and kept saying, "Got to keep my eyes open. Got to keep my eyes open." I asked him what was wrong. He told me, in tears, that he had a nightmare again that he was back in Afghanistan and was reliving the blast. :( He was pretty shaken up. He kept telling me that he doesn't want to go back over there. He doesn't want to have to experience what he saw and what happened to him again. He grabbed my hand and told me to pull up a chair so that I can sit there with him and just hold his hand. He made me promise not to let him fall asleep again. No matter what I tried to keep him awake, he would just fall back asleep. He kept jerking awake and asking me why I wasn't helping him stay awake. Finally, he asked me to get his nurse to get a sleeping pill that will help take his bad dreams away. (They give this medication to soldiers that have a hard time sleeping because of nightmares of what they experienced over there.) She came in and gave him something by IV that would help him go to sleep ASAP. He was all for that--he just wanted the dreams to stop. Within minutes, he was in a deep sleep--he didn't even budge when I gave him a kiss goodbye.
Other than that episode tonight, he was happy, talkative, and enjoyed the day. He even had visitors tonight--two country singers/songwriters that write a lot of songs for country singers/groups. He made a connection with one of them because the singer travels up to Vermont quite a bit to spend time with friends--going fishing on Lake Champlain, going skiing at Stowe, and going to the Fair at the Essex Fairgrounds. :) Since he made that connection with Jake, he decided to be the one to sing to him. He sang a song that he wrote about his own girlfriend, but since Jake told him that he didn't have a girlfriend, the man told him that this song can be about his mother. It was a beautiful song which had some funny parts in it. Jake and I looked at each other a few times and just smiled at the parts that were so similar to our relationship. :) It was a visit that was truly enjoyed by all.
Even though Jake has these awful injuries that cause his body and mind so much pain, he has within himself such a strength that can't be measured. His attitude about everything he has to go through has been amazing. He doesn't complain about anything other than the pain. He smiles, laughs, teases, flirts with the women nurses and staff (of all ages)--just a positive attitude about everything. This afternoon, as we were eating lunch together, he told me of a conversation he had with one of his grandfathers (who also has metal in his leg--knee replacement). He told his grandfather that the two of them should go on a trip together, by plane, so that when they get to the security checkpoint/screening, they can both enter different screeners at the same time and set them off! :) He thought that was hilarious! :)
Even though Jake has these awful injuries that cause his body and mind so much pain, he has within himself such a strength that can't be measured. His attitude about everything he has to go through has been amazing. He doesn't complain about anything other than the pain. He smiles, laughs, teases, flirts with the women nurses and staff (of all ages)--just a positive attitude about everything. This afternoon, as we were eating lunch together, he told me of a conversation he had with one of his grandfathers (who also has metal in his leg--knee replacement). He told his grandfather that the two of them should go on a trip together, by plane, so that when they get to the security checkpoint/screening, they can both enter different screeners at the same time and set them off! :) He thought that was hilarious! :)
What an amazing man he has become!
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