Day 161 - Nov 8, 2008

We had a much better day today. Almost like it had been for weeks before all of the pain came.

So, I have a lot to tell you. Let's see...

First, the pain did begin to go away when I eliminated the red dye. The weather really hasn't changed much and it could be the room temp, but I realized that we go to my house daily and it's colder down there. I still can't say that is was the red dye for sure, but we shall see. Now I am not saying that Kev has no pain either - because he does. But, he only has it when he is being moved to the chair or hitting bumps in either the chair or the car. We have been medicating him before moving him and that seems to be sorta working. All this past week, he would even be laying in bed just screaming in pain - that is not the norm for him at all.

We have also started the pain regimen. Somehow, all of his pain meds got canceled the other day, so we had to start all over again today. What a mess that was.

I have also decided to have our cranioplasty here rather than go back to Texas for it. I will admit that I wasn't overly impressed with my neurosurgeon there (for so many reasons) and I really like the team here. We have begun the process by having our CT scan solely for the purpose of. I was told that it takes over two months for the plate to be molded and I figured I better get the decision made. Kev's primary doctor also told me that often times people do so much better with their recovery after their cranioplasty. And I know myself that on some occasions people have awakened after the surgery with the ability to talk. Understand that that isn't the norm, but it can happen. I would so love that - but I am not looking for it. This way, if it happens I will be elated and if it doesn't, I won't be crushed.

And Alison, thanks for reminding me about the other CT scan. The docs were excited to see that his brain has moved substantially back toward where it needs to be. We still have some movement to go, but it has moved quite a bit. I will be adding some pics to this post and you guys will see how dramatically his head size has went down. It's truly unbelievable.

We also had a consult with the doctor that will do the eye surgery on Kevin. He told me that he still has no scratches (I am so anal about the eye meds to keep them lubricated) so we can wait if I want to. I think I am going to wait until the beginning of January for it. So far, we are only going to do the left eye and the plastic surgeons are thinking about waiting to take care of the burns on his neck. This is one of the reasons I want to wait until Jan for the eye surgery because I really want to do them both at the same time. I hate the risks involved from anesthesia. My heart always hurts so bad during and after surgery just because of the possible complications.

Moving on, we did end up going on a trip to mall. We had about 20 minutes of a good time. I actually left there thinking that I just can't do this. It was so hard dealing with someone in a wheelchair. I am sure it will get easier each time we go out, but some things hit home with me. For instance, and this is a biggie - how on earth do you take a male to the bathroom when you are a female? I tried to take Kevin into the 'womens' room and he had a fit! He put his left leg up on the doorframe and stopped me from wheeling him in there. He was nearly screaming and I didn't know what to do. It's not like I can just go into a 'mens' room and make everyone leave. I'm sure the place of business I am in will frown at that. So how do you do it?

And then there's all the looks from people. I have thought about this so many times, but Texas never even blinked when they saw their soldiers that were wounded. Here? Heck, I was so pissed off that I truly almost said something to the two clerks at Subway, not to mention the hundreds of other people that stared rudely. I guess I need to figure out how best to deal with this because it is going to be an issue everywhere we go. and I surely can't start smacking people upside the head now, can I?

Anyway, as I said, we did have 20 good minutes. Here is a pic of the kids in the candy store, lol:



By the time this was taken, Kevin was already leaning toward the right. He does this sometimes when he hurts.

And here is a pic of Kev riding the bed bike:



That was exciting because Kev rode for a full 30 minutes and I am pleased to say that he even rode with just his right leg. He literally was able to pedal with that leg. He was so excited, and so was I! Notice his muscles in his left arm, lol. He was showing off how powerful he was since he could move that leg. Always a jokester, that Kev!

And to finish off this book for tonight, Kevin had a couple of boxes of his stuff arrive from Germany. We have nearly everything now, we are just missing all of his movies and his Xbox games. I was so happy to see his Blackberry in there cause that thing was expensive. And let me tell you - Kev was really happy to see some of the items too. Here was his favorite, lol:



Sgt G - if you had anything to do with sending this stuff - Thanks! It was really nice seeing his uniform with all of his pins and things. I thought I took pics of him holding his uniform, but I must have deleted them by mistake. I will retake them soon.

And now I am going to hit the hay. I know I have some questions that need answered and I will try to get to them tomorrow night.