Happy Halloween! Today was Mark's last workday in acute care. What a treat!! On Monday, he officially enters the Polytrauma Transitional Program. We had our group meeting yesterday and the therapists, doctors and nurses from both teams met with us to officially hand off the baton, namely Mark.
We were sorry to let go of some of the wonderful therapists, such as Jim, Earlene, Kathryn and Carrie, but we are acquiring some we already know as well as some we look forward to becoming friends with. Unfortunately, the program is not yet completely staffed as far as nursing so he and the others cannot move into the new building. What a trick! He will remain in his current room but participate in the program. Mark is excited to be starting this new phase and we ask for your continued prayers as he starts this important journey.
One of the best things that was decided at the meeting was that Mark can be granted leave to come home for Christmas. We confirmed all this today with the Army and he and Jess will be travelling to Cleveland for almost two weeks. We are so excited. We plan to hold some kind of open house so that we can have friends drop by to say hello. We will keep everyone posted.
Friday, October 31, 2008
October 27, 2008
Today is Mark's 23rd birthday and we celebrated!!!! He doesn't remember last year's birthday because it occurred too soon before the crash. There are some memories he has lost, so we decided to celebrate several times to make up for it.
We started with lunch on Saturday, a great get together with my family on Sunday, ice cream cake at the hospital today, and dinner tonight at the house with our Fisher family, with little AJ being a great clown and entertaining all of us. Jess made him the most beautiful gift. She sketched three of Mark's favorite photographs and framed them. He is looking forward to hanging it in his new apartment.
Saturday turned out rather interesting for all of us. As Mark was about to go into the pool for his Saturday therapy session, the polytrauma medical director, Dr. Scott, told Mark he needed him for another video session on the Lokomat. They had a patient who they were going to use, but at the last minute changed it to Mark. The filming was part of a documentary being made by Bob Woodruff for ABC News. Needless to say, Mark was happy to change out of his swimsuit, shave quickly, and head to the gym for his meeting with Bob Woodruff. He was extremely nice and asked me about Mark's injuries and what he had been through. Then they exchanged stories about the injuries they have in common.
We have no idea when any of the video of Mark will be aired or even if it will, but we will keep everyone posted on any information we get. We, and the hospital PR staff, are still waiting for the information on when American Veteran program we participated in will air.
For those of you who might be interested in reading some information about Dr. Scott and the rehabilitation program here, I have provided a link at the bottom which will take you to a wonderful story the Tampa Tribune did in the Saturday edition of the paper. It was on the front page which was a wonderful tribute to such a fine man.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/25/250014/na-va-hospital-leads-way/
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Mark is wearing a huge smile on his face! Jess arrived back in Tampa on Monday evening from Sydney. We went to the airport to pick her up and fortunately, there were no snags on this trip. She was very worried about going through customs and not being allowed in or having a hard time like she did when she took a short trip to Canada last spring. But... all went well and they were happy to see her at the border this time. Jess was absolutely amazed at all Mark is doing on his own. She was very surprised. She and I are busy catching up after she comes down to the room after spending the evening with Mark. He is still an early to bed guy since he's usually exhausted by seven p.m.
Today was especially long. He was not allowed anything to eat after midnight because today was Botox day. They put in an IV and got him ready early this morning. He was second in line at the Interventional Radiation Department.
His Botox today was done in one of the muscles in the pelvis. Therefore, it had to be done with a CAT scan showing the exact position of the muscle, so as not to interfere with any organs in the area, notably the colon. They mark the area with radioisotopes and then insert a needle from his back into the muscle where they want to inject the Botox. Then they rescan to determine if the needle is in the correct spot. Then they add the medication. They did this in four different areas. It was the first time this area was scanned this way and the doctor said that the muscle on the left was perfectly round like it should be while the one on the right was oval shaped which means that there was excessive tone in the muscle, which they were pretty sure was the case.
Hopefully the Botox will release the tone and work like it has in his arm and legs. He was given a break for lunch and then they did the Botox in his right leg again. All in all he had a very expensive Hollywood treatment!
He joked and kidded with the doctors all the while and has had no ill effects from any of the shots. He's looking forward to next Monday when the first signs of whether it worked or not will most likely show up.
He is off all his pain medication now as well as the blood thinners he was getting. He's very proud of the fact that he only has aches and pains and that he manages well with just ibuprofen. This is another big step.
It looks like the plan for him to enter into the Transitional Program will happen on November 1st. We are having a meeting next Thursday with both the acute team and the transitional team to work out the final details. Mark may not be able to move into the apartment exactly that day, since they are still working out some final glitches, but he will be taken over by that team of doctors and therapists. Fortunately, he knows all of them and that is a big plus.
Just imagine, it's nearly a year since the accident and he has really come so far. At first the prognosis was so bleak that we can only thank God for such a miracle as this.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Today was jammed packed with celebrations here! First was the ribbon cutting ceremony and first look for the hospital staff and public of the new Polytrauma Transitional Center. We were treated to a sneak preview over the last few weeks since Mark has been practicing his transfer skills there. It was a very nice ceremony and you can view part of it and Mark's participation at the following link:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/10/17/393148.html
This center is the dream of Dr. Steven Scott, the director of the Polytrauma Unit and Tampa is the first of the centers across the country to open one. It's lovely and we were very proud that they asked Mark to be part of the story.
Then, after a short break, we attended the retirement ceremony of Marine LCPL John T. Doody, our good friend and Mark's roommate "JT". It was extremely moving to see him in his dress uniform for the first time. I must admit I cried and then teased him about the "bling" on his chest, since he was wearing his medals. As some may know, JT was seriously injured in Iraq when he was shot by a sniper. While recovering at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, he delevoped a rare strep infection that invaded his heart and traveled to the brain causing a traumatic brain injury and leaving him paralyzed. JT and his mom Chris, have been here just about as long as Mark and I. He's a good kid and he and Mark enjoy the Marine vs. Army rivalry! Despite their military differences, they share the same wicked sense of humor and constantly keep us Moms and staff laughing. Good work guys!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Well, it's a good thing that Mark has an additional day tomorrow for his weekend! He wore himself out at sports camp. It started with a kick off "cocktail" party on Wednesday evening and continued to a farewell dinner last night. It was all sponsored by the US Paralympic Military Program in conjunction with the VA. The Tampa VA was the first of the poly trauma units to host one of these camps and recreational therapists from the other three units in Minneapolis, Richmond, and Palo Alto were in attendence. There were also representatives from a number of organizations, most noteably, Blaze Sports which is a nationwide adaptive sports program company. Mark was invited to attend the London paralympics in four years by the representative from the U.S.O.C. who was here. He thought that was the greatest idea yet!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Here it is and another week has flown by. Mark continues to make amazing progress, but, in my opinion, he's a pretty amazing fella!
He has started walking after his Lokomat sessions with a walker and no assistance. This is just fabulous. He will be doing more and more of this as the weeks continue. He is getting around in his chair like a pro (not sure if that's good or bad) since he got his high performance wheels. They have made quite a difference. He still hates the back brace with a passion, but does try to wear it the required 8 hours a day.
For the next three days, he will be participating in the Tampa Bay Military Sports Camp which is being put on by the VA and several other organizations here in Tampa. Mark is only one of three inpatients participating. The other veterans are coming in from other locations around the U. S. He was delighted to be asked to do this. Tonight he attended the kick-off dinner and went off in jeans for the first time since last year! He looked great of course!
The activities at this camp are geared to teach the participants in adaptive sports. Cycling, swimming, strength training, etc. They wanted people who had never participated in anything like this before. Mark's PT, Jim, thought he was the perfect candidate since he is aware of all the activities Mark did before his crash.
To think that we are coming up to the year anniversary of the crash, it is wonderful to see such progress when there was such a gloomy outlook at the onset. Mark and I were talking about how fortunate we have been that his recovery is going so well, when we know and love so many others who have not progressed the same way. Please keep the men of Poly Trauma Tampa in your prayers as well.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
It's been a good week here. On Monday, Mark received the new Sikorsky Air Combat Flight Award for 500 combat hours. He actually had close to 800 combat hours in Iraq, but the award is given at 100, 500, and 1000 hours. He also received the Good Conduct Medal. They were presented at a very nice ceremony which was attended by our family, our good friend Olga, and all of our new friends from the hospital including patients, family members, nurses, and therapists. Also in attendance were service members from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. We had dinner out which was fun for Mark on a "school night" since Rich and Peter left for home yesterday morning. 
Mark had his usual round of therapies today, but his afternoon OT session consisted of baking a wonderful lemon cream cake in one of the practice apartments here at the hospital. He went to the supermarket yesterday for the supplies, and tackled the recipe with the aid of his therapist Earlene early this afternoon. It was happily consumed by patients, families and staff at the evening recreational session and was enjoyed by all. Mark was extremely proud of the fact that he hasn't forgotten how to cook!