Thursday - June 11

I know it's been awhile since I posted, it's been pretty busy and I've been feeling exhausted. The good news is I've fully recovered from being sick and so far no one else in the family caught the bug, whoohoo.

Jerry had a hard day yesterday. I inspect Jerry from his shoulders to his feet about every 2 to 3 days for pressure sores. Pressure sores can be really bad and is a huge concern for people with Jerry's level of injury. I have to get up at 4 am every night and roll Jerry to avoid him getting pressure sores, also when Jerry sits in his recliner we have to do weight shifts about every hour. The reason I mention all this is Jerry got a sore and it was quite concerning. Sometimes sores can leave you bed ridden and interfere with therapies for weeks or months because the body can heal very slowly. Yesterday Jerry was unable to use the FES Bike because of the sore and the trainers had to be cautious as to what exercises they did with Jerry. Because the sore was near the tailbone they had to avoid doing exercise that could cause the sore to open or get worse. The good news is we had the sore checked out today and it's not a pressure sore, hallelujah!!! The sore is a friction sore, which heals much quicker and is not as dangerous as a pressure sore. It's likely the sore was due to friction from riding the FES bike, at this point that will be his only limitation. Jerry can continue with all other work outs which is good, we were very relieved when we heard it wasn't a pressure sore.

Jerry had a hard day yesterday, he was overwhelmed by the time we got home from Pleasanton. Jerry has been having a couple of other physical issues that has him feeling down and with all the hoopla over his sore I think he was on the edge. While unloading from the van Jerry did not tilt his chair back enough, when he drove the chair on to the lift he hit his head on the top of the door opening. That was it, he had a hard time getting through it. Jerry had a hard time sleeping last night and was up until about 5 am. The unfortunate part of all that is we had to be up by 7:3o because Jerry had a doctor appointment in Santa Cruz with the gastrolagist. Amazingly Jerry felt really good today, emotionally he was a new man after learning his sore was not that bad. Jerry had a very low nausea level, maybe we ought to try only getting 2 1/2 hours sleep more often, he felt really good today. We went to our PT appointment today but the time was spent addressing Jerry's sore so we missed out on the FES hand bike. Jerry is going to take the day off from SCI-FIT tomorrow, he needs to take a break and try and get his sore to heal as quickly as possible, so he won't have therapy again til next Tuesday.

After getting home this evening I gave Jerry a hair cut, it was long overdue. I think it looks pretty good..... ;-D. Jerry finally let me film his arm movement however he only would give me 12 seconds, that's OK, I'll take it. I'll leave you with his 12 second video.

Good night and God bless,

Katie