In times of turmoil and uncertainty it seems so much easier to learn things that perhaps you already knew, but never fully processed. I am learning the following:

My mother is a tireless human. She has the energy of a small village who’s water source is clearly laced with Redbull and caffeine.

My hatred for mosquitoes knows no limits. They serve no functional purpose in my life, besides to fester my eternal hatred and bite me with infuriating accuracy. In other news we have lots of mosquitoes at home. All of the mosquitoes live in my parents house. No one else seems affected. I believe there to be some sort of conspiracy going on.

I have no issues lying to small children. Things like “sorry, there is no more ice cream” and “we can’t go in the pool because it’s sleeping” simply roll off my tongue. “Don’t climb up that rock” somehow didn’t occur to me.

Tiny nephews concentrating on making tiny plastic frogs jump into a dish,  – a game that belonged to me as a child – *my mother is clearly a hoarder* –  however do make everything so very much better. 

My Dad is so strong and so determined that I don’t think a traffic jam of oxen could stop him.

His new, at home physiotherapist, came for our 1st visit and was simply amazing. He gave us all the confidence that with his huge bank of knowledge and experience he would have Jim walking again and eventually back to full ability and range. All that is good in the universe, I bow to you.

The physio guy had some electrode type contraptions that he used to activate all his muscle synapses and help to get all the nerve endings firing again. Trudy has decided that we should use it on her abs. She is an idiot going to have a six pack in no time.

The session was over an hour and he really got a huge workout, which was amazing! We were even able to get him into the wheelchair and have a little meander around the house and sit to watch the sunset.

He got tired, but not as quickly as could be expected, and truly the only thing missing was some wine and cheese.

Seeing him in his favourite spot on the front porch, encased (for the 1st time in over a week) in fresh air and the glow of the setting sun made me happier and more hopeful than I could have hoped.

One more day closer.

also this happened…

Slow and steady wins the race…or some shyte like that.

He had a pretty good night and day, all settled in at home. We are taking turns on ‘duty’, but all in all and despite himself, he is actually a very good patient overall. Shocking really. I did cook him lunch today and he pointed out that I should have sautéed the carrots in butter a bit more. I pointed out that beggars can’t be choosers and to shut up and eat his f@#*ing food. He ate it all.

We have our 1st at home physiotherapist apt tomorrow morning so that should be entertaining for me to make a video most restorative and healing on a cellular level.

Poor chap has quite a bit of pain, especially in his shoulders, so lots to do with the fact that he was…oh yeah…hit by a car that broke his neck and had surgery on his spine. The doctor is not concerned and says that the 3-5th day after the actual operation are the worst in terms of pain and swelling. We are at day 4 today. So I am hopeful that he will start to slowly feel better with each passing day.

I have to say in my 35.5 years of knowing him I can with very vague recollection recall him complaining of pain, with almost nonexistent frequency. It was more common to find him happily watching TV or reading a book with a large bleeding wound, and when you responded like a normal human with “oh my god what happened to your head (arm, leg, etc)?” he would nonchalantly ask “where did I scratch myself?”

So seeing him in obvious pain is pretty unsettling and I would happily do anything to share or take all of it from him. But I can’t. So instead we grind up the tastiest cocktail of pain killers the doc prescribed into a tea cup and let him sip some of this silly pain away. One day closer, one more day down.

We are home. The dr said he was happy enough with his progress that we were allowed to take him home last night. Praises to all that is good! He is now cozy and set up on a medical reclining chair in the TV room. Thank you to young Robbie for all of the help and sweet support in moving him and to Trudy for the worlds slowest and most careful drive up this dauntingly bumpy hill. But mostly thanks to Kareen for sitting behind him to hold his head and saying so many prayers, and cringing at each road surface undulation, that we likely had an envoy of angels floating us home. Bonus special thanks to Jim for keeping such a decently stocked bar, my nerves certainly required some serious rehydration.

He is very sore but determined that this is where he is going to heal fully and regain his strength in this very special place and life they have made for themselves here.

The physiotherapist, like everyone else here so far, is delightfully pleasant. Through no lack of skill on her part and mountains of determination on Captain Jim’s part, we were able to actually get him to sit up and even stand up with assistance. He might have done what could be perceived as a dance but really, with his moves who knows if he was just unstable.

At one point when they had him standing up for the 1st time the therapist asked him “where is your head?” to make sure he was not dizzy and he said “Its on top of my shoulders”

It will be a long road but then so is life, and we are all just happy to still be on it together.

Dr. M has come in and reviewed all the X-rays and results, he is very pleased with his progress and based on the physiotherapists report and his management of all the pain we might be on the road to recovery very soon.

The good news is my dad is pretty much the toughest human I know, second only to Kareen, who might not actually even really be human considering how many medical ringers we have all put her through – prior to flying to Canada for my heart surgery in 1983 (i had a baboon heart installed) Trudy fell ill with bacterial Meningitis, I am fairly sure she was faking it. – All the while Kareen maintains excellent health while having O- (universal donor blood) she is always jetting out of the house to go donate. She really got herself in with a dud of a family an awesome family.

The best part about sleeping in a hospital bed is….nothing…. there is no good part of sleeping in a hospital bed.

We had a bit of a rough night as its hard for him to get comfortable and the change in pain medication was a bit of an unpleasant shock to the system. Instead of having a lovely sweet velvety flow of opiates through his IV he is now on pain pills, which he initially refused because he is an asshole didn’t think he had any pain yet. He was très le wrong (thats french)

Got it mostly all sorted out now and waiting for the Magic Dr. Surgeon Extortioner to come give us a review.

he is back in the room now and is working on the mobility he has in his left arm. Clearly these movements can’t be done successfully without growling like a pirate…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y85eKj_vgBA&feature=youtu.be

Callum, my 2.5yrs old nephew would like to give you all the following message:

jjfjkjn4uyy yusjhlupc099

he said “me type” while working on this piece, his ability to articulate so eloquently at such a delicate age truly astounds me. Good lad.

this is what he was lucky enough to survive. the chassis of the truck is apparently completely broken. I don’t know what a chassis is but I think that is bad. I do know what Cassis is and its delicious!