After driving to my sisters house and taking a lengthy shower we decided to get some breakfast. We drove to this little home town restaurant for breakfast (reminded me a lot of LD's in Richmond) we ate, and then I went back to the hospital. It felt so good to be clean. My clothes from that I had on the day before were caked in mud (mostly because I fell when I was running to the truck).
When I got back to the hospital, I sat with Nate and just read my book that I had in the truck because he slept most the day. He was in a lot of pain and he was starving. They wouldn't let him eat just in case he needed surgery, so he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. At about 5pm the nurse and the doctor came in saying his back and neck were fine so they could take off his neck brace and let him sit up. FINALLY! He had been flat on his back for 26 hours!!
Before the brace came off....
During...
After
After they had his neck brace off, he asked to have his hair washed. It was so greasy and dirty from camping! The aid came in with a shower cap that has a leave in shampoo/conditioner thing in it. They put the cap on him and she massaged his head. Here is the before and after shot of that. I'd heard of those caps, but I hadn't seen one before. Pretty cool.
Enos, Dallas, Doug, Twig and Sperm came up on Tuesday to see Nate. They stayed for a few hours and then left, but not without Enos leaving Nate quite the collection of DVD's to choose from. He brought his whole case and left Nate about 15 movies. Definitely better than watching daytime television! It was so nice of them to come down and see Nate. They are all so supportive and very reassuring. Doug was still wearing his arm sling from his accident a couple weeks before. (He had wrecked a dirt bike of High Creek Canyon and did lots of damage... so he knows how Nate feels).
Dallas and Doug
Twig
Gradually as time went on Nate began sitting up, and a little while later, they finally stood him up for the first time. He didn't take any steps that first time, but he stood with the walker.
The next day he was determined to walk. He took a few steps forward, and a few back. And it just got better from there.
Nate really liked the strawberry/vanilla swirl Ice Cream from the Primary Childrens cafeteria. (Deanna informed me that Primary's has way better food than U of U so I took the 2 minute walk and went there for meals.) We always brought ice cream back for Nate's room mate Perry too. I didn't get any pictures of him... but he was a funny guy. He was in his 50's i think. Him and Nate got along really well. He was in a four wheeling accident and broke all sorts of bones.
Perry got discharged a few hours before Nate and while Nate was sleeping, he created this. On the side it says "Call Perry" and had his phone number. They already started planning a camping trip together. I'm sure we'll see him again someday.
I went home Monday night and drove back Tuesday morning. Then I had to work 1/2 day on Wednesday, and came down again. Nate's parents came down on Wednesday and spent the day with him, and they stayed the night at Nate's Aunt Ann's house so they could be with him Thursday. I had to work all day Thursday because it was my Summer Citizen Orientation. When I was working, Nate texted me and told me they were transfering him to Logan Nursing and Rehab that afternoon. Luckily his parents were there and they were able to bring him to Logan so he didn't have to be transported by van. I went to see him as soon as I was off work. It was so nice to be able to just drive to the rehab and not have to leave Logan anymore. It was nice having him close to home. Not quite as good as having him home, but better.
2 comments:
I'm so glad to hear that Nate is doing better! What a scary thing to have to go through. He's in our prayers and we hope he just keeps getting better!
Is it going to be a long recovery? When does he get to go home?
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