Update by Ryan

Hi all. This is Ryan. I'm out of the hospital now, and doing quite well. Thank you for all of the support and well wishes. On last Tuesday (the 10th) I was cleared to resume weight bearing and no longer need the wheelchair. At this point I feel like nothing ever happened, and I don't think I should have any long term ill affects. Everyone, from the doctors on down, keeps telling me how lucky I am and are surprised by my speedy recovery. At this point, all I really should have left is a brief rehab. Soon after, Kim and I plan on returning to California so I will see some of you in the flesh soon enough. This should be around the 20th of April if all goes as planned. Once again, thank you for your care and concern.

An update!

Ryan is home & is doing extremely well! He's been spending the past the few days just resting & helping me take care of some things here. He had his first doctor's appointment with his primary care physician yesterday, & she was amazed at how well he's doing considering the injuries he sustained. His next appointment is on the 10th with orthopedics. Hopefully, at that appointment they'll give the okay for him to be able to start the rehab on his left leg & arm. Until this point, they've been pretty much let those extremities rest due to his clavicle (collarbone) & pelvic fractures. Ryan is SO anxious to try to get up & start trying to walk again, so we know that his rehab is going to go very well.

Ryan has a lot of different doctors appointments in the upcoming weeks (trauma surgery, ENT, vascular surgery, neurosurgery etc.) so that the physicians can track his progress. It truly is amazing how well he's doing. If it weren't for the cervical collar (which hopefully ortho will let him take off) & him being in the wheelchair, you would never know that anything had happened to him at all. Hopefully, in the next day or two, Ryan himself should be posting a message here on the blog, so be sure to check back for that! =D

Ryan Says "Hi!"

I'm sorry it's not bigger and the quality's not better, but it was taken on my cell phone. =)

Ryan will be released from the hospital tomorrow & we are so excited! We'll head home to our apartment in Watertown & probably stay there until his doctor's appointment in this (Syracuse) area on Monday. He's doing amazingly well, & we know that he's only going to continue to get better & better everyday!

We will continue to keep everyone updated, & are going to try & get more pictures & videos of him up as well.

¡¿Going home on Wednesday?!

When one of Ryan's doctors came into see him this morning, he told us that they'd be speaking with his therapists & trying to figure out when exactly he'll be discharged. A few hours later, a case worker spoke with us & explained that they're shooting for Wednesday! I'm not sure what all needs to happen in order for that to come through, but we're very hopeful that he'll be released then. I've already made him an appointment with a local primary care doctor for Monday, so that's already in place. It's probably just a matter of making sure that Ryan gets all of the equipment he needs - which may be a little difficult because his Medicaid is still spending. We're both so excited, though, & he can't wait to get out!

Edit: We spoke with his occupational & physical therapist & they said that the little bit of uncertainty as to his release date is because they doctors are trying to decide what medications he needs to stay on. They said that the equipment he needs (wheelchair, shower bench, etc.) can get ordered very quickly. We're just going to be paying out of pocket for everything until Medicaid comes through & then they should take over & reimburse us.

Things are looking good! =D

Discharged soon!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update! Ryan is doing amazingly well. So well that they're talking about discharging him within a week! They've yet to give us an exact date (which makes things frustrating), but the word is that he'll be released very, very soon. I'm in the process of getting him an appointment with a primary care doctor, because he will need to have one set in place (or at least an appt. scheduled) with one before he's released. The primary doctor will be the one doing the follow-up maintenance care (such as prescription management). Ryan will be doing outpatient rehab through the hospital, but we're not sure of the frequency of that yet.

We're still trying to find an apartment here in Syracuse, so until that comes through I'm going to try & set it up so Ryan can stay at Sarah House. They have downstairs handicap bedrooms that will be perfect for him until we get everything else settled. Also, I'm still having to run back & forth between Watertown for various appointments, so as long as he doesn't have something scheduled, he can come & stay at home with me in the apartment during those times.

We are so happy that his stay in the hospital is almost over. He couldn't be more excited about getting out of here. I'll update just as soon as I/we have some more info about his exact discharge date. =)

Ryan moved to the rehabilitation center

On Friday they moved Ryan out of his regular floor room & into the rehabilitation center in the hospital. It's really great there & we're excited that he was able to get a room so quickly. He has a private room, spends 3 hours a day (Mon-Fri, & about 2 hours on Sat) doing rehab, & is even allowed to have visitors stay overnight in his room! In addition, there's a great media room there where he/we can watch movies, a washer & dryer available for all to use, & showers for visitors (especially helpful if you stay overnight). He's really comfortable there & seems to like it very much. His rehab is going extremely well: he's really pushing himself with all of the exercises that they have him doing. He is determined to get out of the possible as soon as is humanly possible. If for no other reason, I'm glad that they have them doing 3 hours a day of rehab because it helps break up the monotony of being in the hospital. They also take him out of his room & to a dining area for his meals, which helps give him a change of scenery.

Speaking of his meals, he's eating all of them very well, & his voice is getting stronger everyday. Speech is still working with him & they plan on upping the types of liquids that he can have: nectar thick instead of honey thick (his current allowance). Hopefully he'll soon be off all food consistency restrictions & be able to eat whatever he wants.

I should have more updates by Tuesday or so. I'm currently "stuck" here in Watertown: Chloe has kennel cough so I can't put her back in boarding just yet. She seems to be almost over it, & as soon she's well enough I'm going to have her boarded again. But until then, I'm staying at home with her. We (John, Monique & I) are looking into getting an apartment in Syracuse which would make life easier on all of us. We're going to try & find one with short-term leasing & one that allows pets, so I may not need to ship Chloe out to my dad after all.

We continue to appreciate all your concern & interest in Ryan's progress, & thank you very, very, much for all the well wishes!

Wii physical therapy

Today's been a busy day for Ryan. He declined having the nurses give him a bath, but asked me if I could instead bathe him. It took about twice as long, & twice as much work for him, lifting his arms & rolling from side to side, but we managed to get him all cleaned up. =) After that he went down to the rehab gym (for the first) time for physical therapy. The therapist had him playing some games on a Wii! He did a soccer game where you use your feet to move your character's head to the left & right hit the ball, & then played some bowling. He did really well on both... well, he did about as well on the bowling as he does in real life, anyway. They're saying that hopefully as early as tomorrow they'll be moving him down to a bed in the rehabilitation center here in the hospital. It's really nice down there, so we're super excited about that.

After physical therapy he came back up & had a short nap, but was woken up because they wanted to remove his NG tube. Yay! I know that he was pretty excited to have that taken out. Next Speech came back in & reevalutaed his swallowing & speaking. He's still quite soft spoken, & still having some trouble with really thin liquids (like water), so she wants ENT to come in & take a look at him. She said that because he was intubated for so long that his vocal chords may just be a little askew, which would explain both of the problems that he's having. Even with those issues, she upped the foods that he's allowed: no more baby food mush! He can start having ground types of meats & chopped up vegetable/fruit sides. His dinner tonight should be based off of these new allowances. Ryan's napping now, but OT will be in later to work with him some.

He is literally getting better & better everyday, & we know that in no time he'll be out of here! Tomorrow I have to head back into Watertown to try & get some things taken care of, but I should have another update for all of you the day after that.