1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
Nope.  Not even remotely nervous about the possibility.

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
If I’m stupid enough to get on the dumb thing, then hellz yes.  I hate roller coasters.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?
Wow.  I truly don’t know.  Musta been a long long time ago.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
I like being able to reach over and touch Tom to know that he’s still there beside me.  Where would he go?  I dunno.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?
Hm.  I’m kinda 50/50 on this one.  I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered one personally.

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
Yeah.  But it helps if I have direction.

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
I have no idea.  I didn’t pay too much attention when all that crap happened… so I’m not educated enough to make a decision.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
Depends on why you’re asking, I guess.

9. Do you stay friends with your ex’s?
Not at first, but if they cycle back into my life, I try to make an effort.

10. Do you know how to play poker?
Sorta.  Not well enough to play with cash, though.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
Hm.  I don’t know if I’ve made it a true 48 hours, actually.

12. What’s your favorite commercial?
I like the ones that use real songs that you’ve never heard before, but end up having to google and download because it sounds so super awesome.

13. What are you allergic to?
Baby food, ivory soap, stress – true story

14. If you’re driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?
Hellz no – there are cameras on those things.  And, even before there were cameras, no… not in that much of a hurry anywhere.

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
Eh.  I don’t think so.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Not interested, thx.

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
Sorta.  My mom’s parents lived on a lake.  In the winter, we’d ‘skate’ on the ice.  Once or twice we tried actually using skates.  Mostly we’d just slip and slide in our shoes.

18. How often do you remember your dreams?
I normally remember that I have.  But, not so much the details.

19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
Listening to Ashlyn laughing at the Talking Tom Cat application on my phone, just last week.

20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?
I sure can.  Thanks for asking.

21. What’s the one thing on your mind now?
I should be cleaning… eh, whatever… I’ll get to it eventually.

22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass barbie is?
… no?  Who is it?

23. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Yes.  Always.  100% of the time.

24. What cell service do you use?
Verizon

25. Do you like Sushi?
Ew.  Not so much.  My siblings, though… they love it.  I’m the odd one out.

26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?
Now, if I avoided it, how would I know if it would of been fatal?

27. What do you wear to bed?
Jammies.  (Tshirt and pj pants)

28. Been caught stealing?
Stealing?  Me?  Never.

29. what shoe size do you have?
9 1/2, normally.

30. Do you truly hate anyone?
Hate is a strong word.  I have strongly disliked people before.

31. Classic Rock or Rap?
Classic Rock, all the way

32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
Myself.  LOL!

33. Favorite Song?
I like music so much its hard to narrow it down to one song…

34. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?
when I was younger

35. What food do you find disgusting?
peas and carrots.  honest.  can’t stand the texture of either of them

36. Do you sing in the shower?
nah

37. Did you ever play, “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours”?
I honestly can’t recall

38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
Really?  Uhm.  Not if they were really my friends…

39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
Yes, I have.

40. Have you ever been punched in the face?
Heck no.  Well, not on purpose… or not by someone older than 2.

Tom’s extra curly hair gets abused when he’s forced to stay in bed for any amount of time.  We all know it takes nothing for curly hair to get knotted.  We all know how not fun it is to brush out knotted hair.

After this last stint in bed, I thought we’d have to take scissors to Tom’s hair.  I wasn’t looking forward to it, but assumed it would end up being the only option.

We’ve used Suave’s detangler before, mind you.  For some reason I forget how amazing it is until we pick up the bottle again.

So, today, Tom was able to stay up in his chair long enough for us to tackle his hair.

While already feeling defeated (even though we hadn’t started yet) I grabbed the $2.00 bottle and inundated Tom’s hair.

Ten minutes later?

Tangle free.

Oh yeah, baby.  That’s some damned good stuff.

Now, if they’d only make it in a different scent than ‘Double Dutch Apple’… that would be nice.

Until then, smelling of apples is much better than having a butchered haircut… don’t you agree?

PS – This is totally not a sponsored post.  But, if Suave happened to stumble upon my little blog and wanted to send us a case of this miracle apple smelling stuff, we’d totally use it up.  LOVE IT!

Now, what good did it do?  What changes are there?  None that I see.  Must be all internal.

So glad I nearly killed myself trying to figure out how to update and not even have any pretty bells and whistles to play with afterwards.

So is life, I suppose.

His surgical site is doing great, healing faster than expected, IMO.  He was allowed to do 20 minutes up in his chair, three times a day, for the first week after he was released.  For the next 3 weeks we can increase his time up by 10 minutes, still not exceeding 3 times a day.  After that, if all continues to do well, Tom should be able to stay up in his chair much longer without too much difficulty.

Pressure sores / bed sores / pressure ulcers (or whatever other name they are called) are a huge hindrance to Tom’s life, for obvious reasons.  This is the first time Tom has had surgery to repair a wound. This is the first time Tom has had surgery that involved a long term hospital stay afterwards.  I believe that was the hardest part about this last wound – the hospital stay.

I’m glad Tom was able to make it back to our house for his birthday.  Not that we did anything, mind you.  But, its much better to stare at your own walls instead of being forced to stare at hospital walls.

Tom’s also due for a new wheelchair, since we believe that the one he has currently is worn down, especially the seating.  I don’t believe it caused the last pressure wound.  But, I definitely think it didn’t help it any at all.  He has a PT evaluation on Tuesday, and hopefully we’ll get to see some new wheels by the end of this month.

Now, we just have to make sure he’s good and ready to sit up in his chair by the middle of September.  Yanno, it would super suck if the guest of honor couldn’t attend all of Fowler Fest in mid-September.  Mind you, if his body isn’t ready to be up in his chair throughout the event, we’ll set up his air mattress in the yard.  Ain’t no way we’ll let him miss out on any of it.

And, on a completely unrelated note:  The constant spam comments that I’m getting on my blog are driving my absolutely insane.  I mark about 20 as spam a day.  Its super obnoxious.  And, secondly, I’m getting frustrated at WP’s automatic updates not automatically updating.  I mean, how convenient, huh?  Oh, right.  Not so much.

Anyway just a quick note to let you know all is well.  A little less than 2 weeks left to go here. Well here is hoping anyhow.

Okay i’m done playing with this toy now.  Well at least this part of it. 

If you want to send Tom a Get Well card let me know and i’ll get you the address.  It brightens his day and mine too!

Catch ya later.

Tom’s flap surgery went very well.  The incision is healing nicely and there has been no signs of infection.

There is no wifi at the hospital, which has been our biggest complaint.  Tom’s sister has an aircard which Tom has been able to use.  Personally, I’m out of luck.  That is, until Tom dozes off, then I sneak on his laptop and check my email and facebook.

We watched my mom’s neighborhood’s Fourth Of July fireworks via webcam, which was a lot of fun.  We weren’t able to see any fireworks out of Tom’s hospital window… I’m glad my sister thought to use the webcam.  It was nice to be able join in the fun from the hospital.  One year, though, we might actually make it over there for the Fourth.

I missed Shannon’s birthday.  I even have a card for her somewhere in this pile o’ crap on my computer desk… somewhere.

We survived Cub Scout Day Camp.  It was a rocky start, but pulled together and ended on a high note.

The hospital chair I’m sleeping in is not at all comfortable.  I’m a meaty girl, and I swear my tail bone is bruised from the concrete chair.  Of course, Tom’s sleeping on air, pretty much.  They’re using some form of sand bed, which we’re told is the closest thing to floating in mid-air that technology has developed so far.

Tom’s cellphone finally shot craps.  We’re looking into getting him a new phone, which hopefully will arrive to the house tomorrow.  Until then, if you wanna get a hold of him, try my cell or call the hospital and ask for his room number.

Uh… I guess that’s it for the quick update.  I’m super bored in the hospital.  I need some books to read.  Anyone close by that can bring me some would be great… As long as they’re not owners manuals or biology textbooks, I’ll read it.  Or at least stare at it…

Hope to update again soon.  Keep Tom’s fast recovery in your thoughts, please.  And, also pray that my back holds out from sleeping in this chair!  LOL!

First and foremost would be making sure someone is available to sit with Tom while he’s admitted.

The uneducated person would believe that since Tom is in a rehab, hospital, etc, that Tom would be supervised 24 / 7.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Any medical facility struggles with staffing.  I don’t mean that they have bad staff… I mean, they’re short handed.  Even in a small place, where there might be one nurse for 5 patients, that’s still not one on one care.

Now, Tom doesn’t need 24 / 7 monitoring.  But, he does need immediate attention when he requests it.  Coughing, for one, is miserable for him.  He needs assistance to get a full productive cough out.  If he needs a drink, or spills his coffee, it needs to be taken care of pretty damned fast… not when a nurse gets done with her 4 other patients.

Have you ever pressed a call light in a hospital?  Sometimes their reaction time is pretty impressive.  Other times, you’ve got to press the call light several times before even getting a response from someone who then says they’ll tell your nurse you need them.

And, that’s if they’ve remembered to put the call light within Tom’s reach.  There have been times that Tom has had to call me from his cell phone and have me call the front desk to send someone to his room since his call light has been just out of reach.

This terrifies me.

The next major issue comes down to numbers.

Every day that Tom is admitted into any facility, I lose $42.25.  Being paid by the State to take care of Tom is our main source of income.  It pays our mortgage.  It pays Tom’s van payment.  Losing $42.25 each day Tom is admitted greatly affects our already paycheck to paycheck living.  I don’t currently have a way to ‘make up’ this money.

There’s a possibility Tom could be admitted for a week, or two, or even a month.  We won’t know until we get in there and start the healing process.  Hopefully Tom’s body will cooperate, and things will move fairly quickly.  But, realistically, if Tom were to have surgery on this wound, we’re told to expect 6 to 12 weeks of recovery time.

That doesn’t mean Tom will necessarily be in the facility for that length of time.  But, I suppose its a possibility.

These are two huge factors that we have to deal with each time Tom gets admitted anywhere, for any amount of time.  It adds stress to both Tom and I.  We hate it.  We’d much rather he be at home; not only for the obvious reason of being at home, but because of these two problems.

I finally heard the results of the MRI that he had suffered through for two plus hours on the 14th.

Yeah, someone called us today to confirm admitting Tom into their care facility tomorrow.  Which prompted me to ask, “Huh?  What in the world are you talking about?”

To which they replied, “Uh, I dunno.  I just know I’m supposed to call you and confirm that y’all are coming tomorrow.”

Right.  Of course.

(This is where I started to recite in my head, “Don’t kill the messenger, don’t kill the messenger, don’t kill the messenger….”)

Thus began the rapid succession of phone tag, being put on hold, and talking to other ‘messengers’ that didn’t know what was going on.

Finally, I get a hold of someone with Tom’s chart which has the results of the MRI.  Which, greatly impacts our decision as to what plan of action to take, of course.

So they want to admit him tomorrow to start IV antibiotics, increase protein levels, possibly use hyperbarics and perhaps even do surgery.

Of course, we’re not thrilled that this was sprung on us so suddenly, what with the MRI being done over a week and a half ago, and us having to hunt someone down to tell us what in the world was truly going on.

Tom’s not happy.  He has no desire to be admitted tomorrow to hang out until next week before they decide on surgery or not.  Obviously, there are benefits to going in tomorrow, but I don’t blame Tom a bit for wanting to wait til Monday.

I don’t know what our definitive plan is yet, but we’ll be going into Kindred sometime soon.

And, just to make my life a little more… uhm, complicated?  Next week is our Cub Scout Day Camp.  Usually we’re staffed well enough that I’m just filling in blanks, answering questions and being an extra set of hands.

This year, of course, we’re short handed.  I was expected to fill the First Aid position.  Not teaching first aid, mind you.  Being the First Aid officer.  Gah.

I haven’t quite figured out how to be both places at once yet.

Isn’t it about time for Tom to get some good news?  Or at least some not-bad news?  Please?  We’re both starting to sink here…

Three.

One.  Two.  THREE.

The deer stand was completely and totally the reason that Tom fell, head first, the 15 feet to the ground.

The deer stand was the single reason that Tom is now, and will most likely be forever, a C-5 incomplete quadriplegic.

There is no question in my mind that if we were able to sue, Tom would be awarded damages without anyone even batting an eye at the request.

Of course we tried to go after the company that manufactured the deer stand.

But, strange enough, there wasn’t a single mark on the obviously manufactured deer stand. Not one single number. Not even a hint of a letter. Nothing. It was looked over with a fine toothed comb, literally. No markings.

Tom bought the deer stand from a garage sale the year before. So, there wasn’t even a store to sue for selling faulty equipment.

(Did you know you could possibly sue the store you bought faulty equipment from? That’s what we were told, anyhow. Not that it matters in this situation, obviously.)

So, there we were.

Or, so here we are.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

There’s no money to be had.

No one to sue.  Well, no one we can find, anyhow.

No company to be able to curse.

No way to warn anyone else against using ‘this brand’ deer stand.

Sometimes I feel that, since people know how Tom got hurt, they assume there is a settlement check attached to Tom’s name.  Sometimes I feel that people don’t realize that a monthly disability check isn’t like winning the lottery.

I know money doesn’t solve the problems of the world.  But, it sure would help to make our lives easier.

* = People translates to ‘some people’. Like doctors that prescribe you $100 rxs that insurance doesn’t cover, and would only last a half a month.  Or anyone else that forgets money doesn’t grow on trees…

Tom’s stuck in bed with a horrible pressure wound. Our neighbors helped us figure out a way to get Tom outside on an air mattress, thankfully. I call it Tom’s palace. I feel its fit for royalty!

The first day the palace was built, though, we didn’t get him out because it was too hot and Tom wasn’t feeling up to moving around. The second day, we had to take the palace down because of a storm that came through… of course, the storm lasted all of 20 minutes. And, then, the humidity and heat kicked up again. Today looked like rain all day long, which made us hesitate to put the palace back up again. We honestly can’t wait to use it… but we’d hate to get out there and get stuck in the rain!

I’ve found some photo booth software online for $40. It can be personalized per event and can be uploaded directly to the internet or printed off. I’m super stoked about this, and can’t wait to find $40 to buy it for Fowler Fest.

How much would you pay for photo booth pictures, btw?

My domain is coming up for renewal, and I can’t quite find the change to renew it yet.

The van’s licenses are due, which also means its time to pay my personal property tax. (Yes, I know they’re due at the beginning of the year… I never have the money to pay them then. And, the penalty is minimal.)

So, I guess I’m just waiting for someone to shake the money tree over us.

Past that, we’re chugging right along.