First Visit to the Workout Room

She took her first trip to the workout room! Her dad & I cheered her on. I got to wheel her there & back. Today was the first time I've ever pushed her in a wheelchair. She gave her all and toughed out the pain. With some help, she stood for about two minutes. Among the exercises she was doing, my favorite was with the Cybex Kinetron II. It's like a Stairmaster, but you can sit down while doing the workout. Her PT was trying to get her to press down on the foot paddles but she couldn't do it. Another PT that was sitting off to the side with us said, "Denise, there are bugs on the floor! You've got to step on them!" Denise still couldn't get the paddles to move and joked, "I guess there'll just have to be bugs on the floor, then." A minute later, she got them moving, and even did an extra set of reps just because she's so motivated to get stronger. One of the PTs said that Denise would be getting her muscles back, and Denise replied that she also needs some flab on her butt, because it hurts to sit, it's so boney.

Her doctor told her that she'd be ready to roll out to the rehab facility tonight or tomorrow. But I also talked to her case manager that would coordinate the move. She felt that as long as Denise had some "red flag" issues (fever, throwing up sometimes, ascites, question over liver labs), she didn't know that Casa Colina would be best for Denise, since it might not have the level of acute care that Denise might still need. I don't know much about medical things, but I do know that acute care is necessary when you have a cute wife. Duh. Moving right along... the case manager threw out the possibility of moving Denise to the rehab facility at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, thereby having a balance of rehab and acute care availability. I just checked their web site, and all I see is outpatient rehab. I'm going to call the case manager, Huntington, and Casa Colina first thing in the morning to try to get all my questions answered. A facility that's between where we live & where I work would be ideal for me & the kids, so the thought of having Denise at a hospital that's about 5 minutes from where I work put a smile on my face... I was imagining all the possibilities for visiting, working, improved commute, maybe even getting the kids from a daycare to a preschool setting part of the day. In the end, though, it's all about what's best for Denise. We can't wait for her to get to a rehab environment, get stronger, and get home. But we don't want her to move until everyone's sure that she's good & ready.

Ending thoughts:
I've got a casserole dish that needs a ride from Duarte to Huntington Beach. If you're up for the trip, let me know.
In fact, I've got a couple dishes that have been sitting on my counter for weeks, and one or two don't have names on them. So if you blessed us with food help and didn't get your dish back, please contact me.

About seven weeks ago, a counter was added to the bottom of the blog web site. Over 21,000 hits since then (over 400 each day!). That probably doesn't count people on the mailing list that never even have to visit the blog site. Denise is well-known around the world, it seems. And as one of her emails said, even more well-known in heaven. Cool!

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