Troubles Come In Threes

The old folks had a saying, "Troubles come in threes." If you had a death in the community, it would soon be followed by two others, or at least by two other events of equal nature and magnitude.

Well, I just hope that Lyme disease counts as one of my three troubles, because if it doesn't, I'm in for a whopper, after the death of my grandmother and the latest problem.

And what is the latest problem? Just the day after my last post, I had a call from my mother to say that my dad had fallen and they were going over to the hospital to check it out because his hands and feet had gone numb. She followed up that call with one to tell me that the x-rays and cat-scan showed that he had broken the 7th vertebra in his neck (the "C7") and that blood pooling inside the spinal column was compressing his spinal cord at the site of the break. The local hospital airlifted him to Virginia's big trauma center, the UVA hospital, where a really top-notch team of surgeons operated on him to stabilize the broken vertebra (actually, the whole cervical spine) and release the blood from the spinal column.

He's currently got feeling and movement in his arms, some limited movement in his fingers, and no feeling or movement below the waist. The doctors say there is some hope for a good recovery, but how complete a recovery, they don't know yet. We have to wait and see. The spinal cord wasn't severed, but no one can say yet how much of the paralysis is permanent nerve damage and how much is temporary and due to swelling and inflammation, from the accident or the surgery, which will subside over time. And even if it were all temporary, no one can say yet how long the swelling will last--they've said it can be anywhere from two days to many months. At least we know there are some indications that the entire length of the spinal cord is carrying some signal--hints of awareness about his feet, for example. Even with his eyes closed (and he's in no shape to bend his neck to look down at his feet at the moment, so I don't think he's "cheating") he seems able to sense when I am massaging his feet and even which foot I'm working on.

He's been moved from surgery to recovery to ICU to the regular neurological unit, and now to rehab at one of the facilities able to provide the acute level of inpatient rehab and therapy that he requires. We are rejoicing over the little steps of improvement, but it is going to be a long road to travel.

I've spent the last several weeks praying first for his life and then for his recovery, and driving my mother back and forth to the hospital, helping to entertain him, feed him and shave him, learning to help him cough, comforting my mom, helping plan for the future, and answering phones to dispense the latest updates to family and friends. I've had to promise to teach my mother to drive on mountain roads and to merge onto the interstate (driving not being one of her favorite things, my dad has always done almost all the driving). I've been home about 4 days in the past two and a half weeks. Thank the Lord that my husband is understanding and my daughter is old enough and mature enough to be helpful. At a guess, my mother is probably saying something similar about me. I guess it does take a few difficult times like these to remind a family about pulling together.

Incidentally, I never realized what an undertaking it could be to cough when the diaphragm won't cooperate. I guess it isn't paralyzed, just doesn't have the control and force needed for a cough. The respiratory therapists taught my dad to cough using the "quad-cough" method, which looks kind of like a cross between punching him in the stomach (open handed) and doing the Heimlich maneuver. He insisted they teach me how to do it, so they did. It works but it looks bad and makes everyone else in the room anxious to leave so no one blames them for witnessing a brutal attempted murder and not trying to put a stop to it. He says it helps, and I guess it is better than having him feel like he is drowning in phlegm. Anyone remember that old children's book, "Hop on Pop"?

I'm glad he's in a good frame of mind and going at this with a positive outlook and attitude. If it had happened to me, I'm not so sure I would be able to keep the right mindset. Of course, he does have thirty more years of experience and wisdom to draw on.

Now, wouldn't it be nice to be sure that his accident was Trouble #3 instead of Trouble #2...