Enduring to the End

Today I took Craig to the fire station to meet the first responders on the scene. We walked in and I told them my husband had been in an accident last month and wanted to meet them. I didn't even have to tell them which accident, they all knew. It was a pretty cool meeting. The first two on the scene looked like they were going to cry when they saw how well he was doing. They really didn't think there would be this good of an outcome. After accidents like this they very rarely get visitors who are in as good of shape as Craig.

They went into detail about what they saw and experienced when they were on the scene. They even gave Craig a great description of what the car looked like after he hit it. (Pretty gruesome) We had a lot of our questions answered about exactly how he hit the car and where he landed. Craig had fun showing off the x-rays of his thumb.

One of the firefighters has been doing this for 16 years. He said Craig's accident is the first one that actually made him go out and buy a helmet for his motorcycle. He has seen plenty of motorcycle accidents where the helmet made no difference. But seeing how Craig's helmet protected him in this instance made him a believer.

Craig volunteered to speak about bike safety for them anytime they want him to. They said they were planning on taking him up on that. We kept his helmet. That and pictures of his bike and the car will make great visual aids.

We also spent the day going from place to place getting copies of Craig's medical records. Yesterday we received the list of all documents (which is long) we will have to submit to the FAA. They will review the documents and send us a letter stating the length of time before Craig is considered medically cleared to fly again. They said this period can be anywhere from six months to five years. The length all depends on the severity of his injuries. There are many factors which they go by so it is hard for us to predict what they will be telling Craig. We are hoping for closer to the six months than the five years!!!

Knowing it could possibly be a long time before Craig can fly again has been hard, but we know we just need to Endure to the End. We have been taken care of so wonderfully up to this point that we just need to have faith that it will all work out in the end!

The power of prayer (and fasting)

Today has been the best day we have had yet!!! We are convinced the power of prayer and the ward fast, which was held the Sunday after Craig's accident, have gotten us this far.

(The picture is of our celebration - we took the kids to Cold Stone for ice cream)

Speech - Craig's speech therapist could not find anything wrong with him no matter how many rocks she looked under. After four visits she discharged Craig. She has been doing this for over 20 years and she told us she has seen full recoveries but never this fast! She kept looking at me and saying, "You know how luck you are, right?"

OT - Craig passed all the OT testing including the two drivers test. She too discharged him after only four visits. She also said, "You know how luck you are, right?" She then followed that up with a couple of horror stories so I really understood how lucky we are.

Both OT and Speech said they see no reason Craig would not be able to fly again. We still have to meet with a Neuropsycholigst for testing before he can be cleared. Our appointment isn't until August 2nd. They like to wait at least two months after the accident before they do the testing. That's ok. He still has three broken bones that need to heal! (And lots of PT to help get back range of motion.)

That being said we are still aware there can be set backs. Both therapist want Craig to go "back to life as normal". I am supposed to watch closely for any changes or behaviors that are not quite right. Neither thought there would be any but just in case. You never know with a head injury.

I of course fully know just how lucky we are. I got a good look at some of the other patients in Neuro Rehab and I TRULY know how lucky we are. I have also felt everyone's prayers helping us along our way! We are both grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves us and watches out for us. This truly has been a miracle.

A week makes all the difference...

Today I took Craig to his OT and Speech appointments. They were both amazed at the progress he has made in the past week.

The speech therapist gave him a number of test. He passed all of them without any problems. She said he is doing well with his attention (with and without background noises), deductive reasoning and that his speed is good. Speed seems to be the one area he can work on. She figures he is just fine and that having to write with his left hand is what is slowing him down. She pointed out that his chattiness has subsided to an almost normal level. She also sent him home with homework. A sequencing worksheet and sudoku. The therapist also said she wishes the neuropsychologist could meet with him before August 2. She figures he will have no problems passing those test.

OT gave him a visual/perceptual test and a reaction test. His reaction time had to be at or under .5 seconds. He was right at the .5 seconds. He also passed the driving assessment test. Too bad he has all those broken bones that are keeping him from actually driving. The OT guy said that Craig was definitely a different man from last week and that he was running out of things to do with him so he might be done with OT early. He also gave Craig homework after I asked him to. He has been so bored at home that I need something to keep him busy.

They are not starting any of his PT until we see the Ortho Specialist and the Hand Specialist on June 29th.

Craig finally agreed to try taking some sleeping pills for a few nights to help him get his sleeping schedule back to normal. He has not been sleeping well at night so he has been taking naps during the day because he is so wiped out and then he can't sleep well at night again and so on and so on. He slept all night last night and has not had a nap since he got up for the day. I figure a couple of days like this and things will get back to normal for him. (And I can actually get some sleep too!)

Like I mentioned earlier Craig's chattiness has gotten much better. He also has not been as overwhelmingly loving and thankful. He is still kind, loving and grateful though just not in such an overwhelming (almost creepy) way. I know a few of you will be grateful for that. Thank you to all his friends and family who put up with him through that phrase. Although I think Jesse might be sad that he won't get to buy Craig a pink bike. :)

I have gotten a few phone calls about Craig's leave status. At this time he has hit the maximum amount of leave that SkyWest will allow to be donated him. If Craig cannot come back to work at the end of three months they may allow for more leave to be donated although I am not 100% sure about that. I just want everyone to know how grateful we are for the leave which was donated. This has been a very stressful time in our lives and having to not worry about no pay checks for the next few months is such a relief!!! We will be forever in your debt.

New Updates

Sorry for the lack of post lately. My computer was at the computer store being fixed.

Things have been going ok since Craig came home. He talks nonstop and we all know that is not normal. He also likes to go up to perfect strangers and start up conversations. He said he just knows they want him to go and talk to them. He has a hard time sleeping. Nighttime seems to be the worst time of day for him. He loves to sleep on his left side and that's the side he got hit on so every time he rolls over in bed he is in pain. He has been having nightmares and he has a hard time riding in a car. He keeps thinking someone is going to hit us. I wonder why!?!

We started his many doctor appointments. Yesterday we spent six hours on doctor's appointments today it was two. He has to have three different types of therapy, OT, PT and speech, twice a week. That is all in addition to the regular doctors appointments. This summer is going to fly by! :( (Since summertime is my favorite time of year I don't want it to fly by!)

Craig saw the had surgeon yesterday. He took off his big bulky cast, took out the stitches and recasted his hand. The doctor said he has nine pieces of titanium in his thumb. One metal plate, 4 regular screws and 4 small screws. The doctor decided to put a cast on his hand instead of a brace so that it has more time to heal right. He said he was working with bone crumbs and there isn't much left to work with if it doesn't heal right. I tried to talk him into a fun color cast. He chose the conservative blue in case he had to go into work before he got it taken off. I tried to remind him he won't be working for a while but he still didn't want a wild cast just in case they wanted him to come in.

The OT and Speech therapist he has met with so far have been impressed by how well he is doing. His long term and short term memory testing has been just fine.

Speech said they won't need to work on his speaking ability just his speed of processing and his insight into situations. She said the head injury is what is making him talk A LOT. She would ask a simple question and he would give a paragraph for an answer. All of that is normal for a head injury and should go away with time. (keep your fingers crossed)

Ot is also going to work on his processing skills just in different ways. He had to do the test where they show you a tray of items for 90 seconds and then they cover it back up and you have to tell them what is on the tray. Right after he got 13, fifteen min later he got 19 and 24 hours later he got all 20. I couldn't even remember all 20! They were all impressed.

WE SPRUNG HIM EARLY!!!

We were able to bring Craig home from the hospital today. We didn't tell the kids so it was a fun surprise. The doctor did tell Craig that he has to wear the boot on his left leg and this time he listened. He also told him no outside bike riding until 2011. Craig is actually taking that news much better then I thought he would!

This morning at 4:30 when Craig couldn't sleep he decided to shave his beard off. Nothing left for any of his pilot friends to be jealous of. Tonight when we got home we also arranged a haircut. He no longer looks like Grizzly Adams.

They did some end of rehab testing. On the balance test at the beginning of rehab he was 4/28. Today he was 28/28. He tested on the slow side with his reflexes but has been showing improvement since he was first there. We have to take him to see a neuropsychologist soon so he can be retested on a regular basis. Once he reaches a set level on his reflexes he will be able to drive a car again. Flying a plane comes a while after that.

We are VERY glad to have Craig home. It's amazing how much better our kids are just with him in the house. It is going to be really hard to keep Craig occupied. He has already been out walking around the neighborhood and trying to work on things around the house. I think I am more worn out trying to keep up with him then he is!

Transition Time

They moved Craig today to the Transition Room. It has a regular Queen size bed, not a lousy hospital bed, and he is supposed to get around more on his own. They even took him to the grocery store today so he can cook lunch for them tomorrow. Well, tell them what to do to cook a good lunch. He talked them into steaks. It was funny on the way home, he realized that he really couldn't drive a car or fly an airplane when I had to put his seat belt on for him. Broken bones will do that to you.

Craig does not think his ankle is all that bad so he told them he doesn't want to have a boot on it. We will get final word from the doctor tomorrow if that is ok. If not it might take a few of us to talk him into putting it on. It's one of the few things he has been really stubborn on. For the most part he has been nice and pleasant and compliments the staff every chance he gets. They are used to patient who hit, bite, scream and throw to name a few things so I think he is a breath of fresh air.

TSA is going to love me now...

TSA is going to love Craig now. They put some serious metal in his thumb today. The 1 1/2 - 2 hour surgery took 3 1/2 hours. The doctor had quite the jig saw puzzle to put back together. He also had to take a bone graft out of Craig's wrist to fill in some missing pieces in the thumb.

On a happy note... Craig is scheduled to come home this Saturday. We will have lots of doctors appointments and out patient therapy but I will be happy to have him home each night.

Craig has to have a responsible adult with him 24/7 for the first few weeks. He also CANNOT do any activities that could result in a head injury. He told someone today that he wanted to go mountain biking this summer. Anyone who encourages him to go will have to answer to me. It won't be pretty. :)

Visitors will be welcome starting on Sunday. Just a word of caution - if you stay too long I might disappear on you and make you his new care taker. Just kidding. I am sure I will need a some breaks in there but we will work those out when the time comes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!

Happy Birthday Craig!!! Even though we had to celebrate his birthday with him in the hospital we are glad he was here to celebrate it with us! I took a cake to the hospital and Craig had fun sharing it with the hospital staff and his visitors.

Tomorrow they are going to operate on Craig's thumb at 11:30 am. They said the surgery should last 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Shortly after that time we should hopefully find out how much longer Craig will be in the hospital. We are very excited to have him come home but also very nervous. Each day he continues to get better and better. There is still a ton of healing to be done but it is nice to see the improvements each day.

I just want to thank all of you who have sent wonderful messages, cards and provided service for my family. It is overwhelming to see how much we are loved.