September 6 - More Upright Tolerance Issues

Friday night was another horrible sleeping night for AJ.  The medicine that Dr. Rosenbluth prescribed took care of the nerve burn, and that was a big relief.  But AJ still couldn't relax due to the increasingly intense phantom feelings.  Basically, those parts of his body that have not yet regained mobility - such as the legs, feet, hands and torso - give him fits with fake feelings.  Some of these fake feelings include his legs are floating or spread apart, his feet are stuck in holes, his hands are holding onto things, or are covered in mud, and his torso is exposed, or is floating.  These sensations played tricks on his mind all night and made it hard for him to relax.  When we spoke to the doctor about this issue, he said that he would prescribe a non-addictive sleeping medicine that will help him relax.  At 3 am this morning, AJ and Dad spent some bonding time searching Netflix for inspiring biographies and documentaries.  They settled on watching the story of Stephen Hawking, world renowned physicist.

OT today was not what it could have been.  Because of the high blood pressure issue yesterday, the nurse didn't want to give AJ the medicine that increases blood pressure.  So, we put his compression socks and abdominal binder on him, and he was transferred from his bed to the chair.  Once there, he sat up in the wheelchair to prepare for a drive.  However, immediately his blood pressure began to drop.  So, he couldn't go on a wheelchair drive during OT because of low upright tolerance (low blood pressure) even though he had the socks and binder on.  The advice of the occupational therapist is that he needs to be upright more.  Unfortunately, his physical therapist told him to stay at 30 degrees upright when he is in his bed, but this was bad information.  (30 degrees is good information when the spinal cord injury is lower in the back).  He needs to be upright as much as possible for as long as possible in order to allow his body to adjust to the correct blood pressure.  The nurse came and gave him the blood pressure medicine and he completed his OT session sitting in the chair.

For the PT session, the medicine had kicked in and he was able to drive the chair around the rehab unit twice - once using left turns, and one using right turns.  He did really well.

Today AJ's new bed finally arrived.  Since the first day in ICU, the nurses and doctors have been saying that AJ is way too tall for the bed he was in.  His feet would hang over the end of the bed.  Each time we asked if he could get a new bed, they said they would order one.  Well, today it finally arrived and it was a brand new bed with a much more comfortable mattress.  However, the mattress is the exact same size as the other one!  The new bed will still be worth it if it provides additional comfort and a restful night.

Our hometown newspaper, the Tri-City Herald, ran an article in today's newspaper. It was on the front page of Section C and titled "On the Hunt for a Full Recovery",  The author called us on the phone at the University Hospital after hearing about the story.  She spoke with AJ and us for a short time before we were interrupted by doctors.  Becca finished the interview with her over the phone. The link to the Tri-City Herald article is : http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/09/05/3138792/richland-man-on-the-hunt-for-full.html?sp=/99/177/&ihp=1