I'm Back

I feel like I've been on another planet. Well, I have. Planet Hospital. Thank God my father was released from there yesterday to a nursing home/rehabilitation center. He was on his back for so long he has to re-learn how to get his muscles moving to be able to walk. I told him he is one step closer to home. This place is almost across the street from his condo so he really is almost home.

He came through both operations, a pacemaker and very large hernia operation with flying colors. I don't think I could have done as well, really. For 91 years old, he's an amazing man. And the nurses just loved him.

Stay away from hospitals anyway you can! 's all I'm sayin! The longer you stay, the more you don't know "who's on first," and the greater your risk of getting sicker. I don't know how we will ever change things, but somehow we have to. The patient seems to fall through the cracks of the system. And when they are done with you, boy are they done. They practically throw you out!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Liberty has been doing well. He's past his second round of chelation. He has made leaps and bounds in his ability to do things for himself. He has really made huge strides in going to the potty on his own now. His constipation that was the rule rather than the exception for years is now a thing of the past. He is eating well and he loves his Glutino blueberry bars that have lots and lots of fiber in them. He is understanding more that is said to him without gesture, and he initiates signs and activities at school. His report card came home and he has met so many of his goals that I think by the end of the year, he will have met them all. This is all wonderful and I am so grateful. He is light years from where he was last year.

That being said, speech still eludes us. I do hear more and more effort at trying to speak, though. Perhaps the chelation is helping with this. We will do tests on the fourth round to see what he is actually spilling and go from there. I see progress, though, and that is the main thing. I dream of my little boy being able to talk to his granddad and I know my father does, too.

I hope soon my father can be back at his place, listening to his classical music turned up full blast on his Bose, sipping a glass of wine, watching his birds on the feeders, reading, and sending out his daily email posting to our "tribal council" which consists of my extended family and two women who are the daughters of my father's gunner on his airplane he flew during WWII. My dad is otherwise known as "Talking Bear." My son is "Little Bear." Dad, in fact, assigned us all tribal names. He is a character and loved by everyone.

So, my mind is on rehab for my dad and therapy for my son. I am looking into the horseback riding therapy for the Spring since my son had such a good reaction to a therapy horse back in the Fall. I'm looking at a new neurologist in town who is now a DAN-certified practitioner. We have two in our tiny little town now which is nothing short of amazing.

And, at the top of my list for 2009: Me. Yeah, me. I decided that I have to have time to do something for myself, but more than that, I have to pencil myself in somewhere. You hear women talk about this all of the time, we put ourselves last. But with a child with special needs, you really don't think about yourself for so long. The effects for me are striking now though, the lack of sleep for years, the lack of self care like hair appointments, keeping up my nails, exercise, eating right...the whole deal. I have to get that back for me. I've done a pretty good job, I think, considering all we have been through with the Libster.

Now, it's time for me to do a good job with myself. So, today, I'm donning my old walking shoes, bundling up, and going for my 1.5 mile trip around the neighborhood. And, who knows, maybe when I get back I'll even take a vitamin!