Sunday, August 23, 2009

In Which Jer Takes The Air

Today Jeremy decided he'd like some fresh air. He's been cooped up in one bed or another since the 11th of August, which hasn't been particularly fun for him. So we got the doctor's permission to move him to a wheelchair for a little while so he could toodle around the hospital.

It took me and three nurses to get him into a wheelchair (not including Jer, of course, though he was doing a good bit of the work). One person reinforced the back of the wheelchair, one person manipulated the leg rests, one person moved his left leg, and one moved his right. The plaster casts on his legs are so thick (they make his legs about six inches wider and four inches longer) that he couldn't fit in the leg rests and we had to prop his legs up on pillows on top of them. Both of his legs have to remain elevated, so that makes for a rather exciting time. After much grunting and a little swearing and lots of half-panicked directions, we managed to get him installed with a minimum of damage, however, and after strapping his wound vac to the back of the chair we were off on our grand hospital tour.

So apparently the rubber wheels on the wheelchair, possibly combined with the battery charge from the wound vac have interesting side effects. Whenever Jer wheeled anywhere he started building up an electrical charge, and then after about ten yards if I touched him he would give me a tremendous static electricity shock. If the lights had not been on I swear you would have seen the ends of his fingers glowing ET style. I of course kept forgetting, so every ten minutes or so we had conversations in which I would touch his hand for emphasis in a point I was making or something and we would break off mid-sentence to both yell "OW!"

I forgot to mention that he's off limited contact now (the Afghan Death Flu has been averted!) so I don't have to wear that ridiculous gown or those gloves any more. Though the gloves might have been nice, as maybe they would have worked as insulators. At any rate, I can't wait to see what him tooling around on carpet is going to do to his charge. I probably won't be able to let him touch the cats. He'd probably barbecue them.

It was really nice for him to be able to get out of bed for a little while, even if he did bang one of his feet on the edge of the elevator and one of the nurses trying to help him get back into bed yanked on his IV and he almost hit a street sign when we went out onto the patio. I'm pretty sure it's not something he'll be able to do every day, as it does take an entire posse to get him in and out of bed, but the twenty minutes he got to sit outside in the sunshine were worth it.

He went back to his bed with tired arms, but feeling pretty energized. No pun intended.

~Jess

5 comments:

Lin said...

Leave it to you to find some humor in all of this. :) You have a great spirit, Jess. And I'll bet just getting him up and in the fresh air helped to heal him a bit--if not physically, I'm sure emotionally. How is Connor in all of this? I was wondering if he's confused.

Julia O'C said...

You do have the most amazing spirit.

I'm happy that Jeremy was able to get outside for a bit. Any word on what's on the horizon for him regarding how long he'll be in the hospital? How are Connor and your mom doing?

Wherever HE Leads We'll Go said...

Just catching up on the last few posts...so this comment will be a bit random.

Love the fact that Jeremy got to get outside for a bit. I also love the fact that you have such a quirky sense of humor (humor is definitely one my defense mechanisms so I can totally relate). : )

The bandaids are adorable! Nothing heals like a Hello Kitty bandaid!

Cannot believe the rude cashier! You are not alone - it always seems like the little things are what push me over the edge when I have been working so hard to hold it together. Sleep deprivation is never helpful!

Glad you are getting better sleep and that your mom is there to help - what a blessing!

I continue to pray for your family and for Jeremy's healing. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Anonymous said...

Fresh air does a body good.

Barbara

leah said...

Getting out into the fresh air is good, even if it does take half the hospital staff to get him into a wheelchair!

I now have this vision of Jeremy as some sort of giant plasma ball, throwing electrical charges around the hospital room. Maybe he needs some dryer sheets to reduce the static cling (I'm actually not joking- I know some parents of kids with CI's will give their kids a rubdown with a dryer sheet in the winter to reduce the likelihood of electrostatic shock)!

 
Blog Directory