Carmen & Wendy Gottfried
Good evening
everyone.
Ken had a visit today from some very special people, the Wamback
family.
Jonathan, 24 years of age, has had a remarkable recovery from a
severe head
injury which was inflicted by some young offenders 9 years ago.
Jonathan's
story was told in a movie a few years ago "Tagged! The Jonathan
Wamback
Story". Jonathan had some very encouraging words for Ken as well as
for
Noel, Wendy and myself. What a brave, courageous and loving young
man he is
to be able to visit with Ken. I'm sure he will be an inspiration to
Ken as
we agreed to keep in touch. Check out
www.jonathanwamback.com.
I could
feel the love and special bond between our 2 families immediately
and am
very encouraged by Jonathan and his parents, Joe and Lozanne.
Jonathan's
mom and dad started the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation (www.ccvf.net).
Please read the objectives on web site and fill out their on line
survey.
Their foundation recently had their annual gala fundraiser with
Prime Minister Stephen Harper in attendance. The Wambacks are very
impressed with
the Prime Minister's care, concern and intentions to help victims of
violence. Lozanne and Joe had some inspirational words for us such
as "keep
showering Ken with love and affection", "continue to hope" because
as Joe
said "the Doctors just don't know what the outcome will be." They
were very
encouraged by Ken's progress thus far, and they certainly should
know
because "they've been there" with Jonathan. After the Wambacks left
I was
telling Ken's nurse about the visit and Ken told her that the visit
was
"pretty special".
Earlier in the day Ken had a visit and a prayer from Chaplin Janita
who had
previously visited him in the ICU. After Janita, Ken had a visit
from 2 physio therapists. They guided him as he stood up on his own,
first for 20 seconds, and then 25 seconds, and finally for 30
seconds. When he sat down they said he had good control and they
both clapped with joy. They were also pleased with his other
exercises. I was very proud of him and could tell that it was very
hard work. Ken has been sleeping a lot and complaining that he has a
sore stomach and diarrhea Turns out he as another bug, C-difficile,
the most common infection picked up in hospitals.
In the evening, he told me that he wants syrup for his morning cream
of
wheat, "But not table syrup, maple syrup".
Ken now weighs 128 lbs. and he figures that he was about 170 lbs.
when
admitted to the hospital. They had to weigh him in his heavy-duty
wheel
chair and then weigh the chair to figure out how much he weighed. He
said
to me "The chair weighs more than me." I told him that I had to lose
as
much weight as what he weighs. That got a chuckle out of him.
Love to everyone
Carmen
We also had a visit from a lady from St. Mary's. She told me that
they had
hoped to bring him over next week, but had some staff shortages.
They are
hoping for the week of August 11th. He had Botox injections into 3
spots on
his left arm on Thursday. This will help his arm relax enough to
regain his
range of motion on that side. The effects of the Botox will wear off
in 1-2
months, at which time he will be able to work on strengthening his
left arm
and shoulder. Dr. Smith from St. Mary's did the injections - she has
been
using this treatment successfully for 15 years. Ken was informed of
the
procedure and even asked her what the risks were. He also wondered
if she
was going to give him Botox in his face! On Wednesday, I had a
conversation
with the Dietician. He was going to reduce the stomach tube feeding
from
16 hours to 12 hours. This is because he has been drinking 6 cans on
Ensure
each day. They will continue the feeds to give him extra nutrition
which he
needs for when he has the operation to re-insert the bone flap (this
could
happen in a couple of weeks) His speaking was much better earlier
this
week, pronouncing words well and talking a lot. He has not felt too
good
the last 2 days which shows in his communications - mumbling quite a
bit.
So I guess we had quite a few good steps forward with really the
only
backwards step being the C-diff.
Wendy