Get Well Clarkie!

Hey team

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with your families.  I collected Mum from the airport in Denver yesterday and arrived back into the Springs to snow.  Very pretty but hard to drive through and a little chilly to boot.  We arrived back at the hospital for Mum to see Aaron for the first time in 4 weeks which was wonderful for them both.  And I’m so happy to have the support of my Ma over here with me.

Andrew and I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving afternoon with Glenn and his ‘Mom” and Dad, Judy & Charlie, and friends Kyle and Kresta.  Glenn, thank you for everything, and for your quick actions to get to Aaron in around 20 seconds after the crash, and to start CPR so quickly, which has meant that his brain was without oxygen for too long and has lessened the effect of his brain injury.  Along with Josh and the other guys, you helped give Aaron a second chance.  And we LOVE your parents and Judy’s stunning cooking!  Her turkey stuffing and pumpkin pie are out of this world.  We were very spoilt with such a lot of food and kindness.

Aaron had had a good day yesterday and had done some really strenuous exercised with his physical therapist, Dave.  This includes building up strength and endurance, particularly in his legs which have lost so much muscle and are much to his frustration pretty frail and weak.  However in 4 days he has gone from not being able to move any muscles in his broken leg to being able to do gentle leg raises from the knee.  Very impressive.  He is also now using a walker and can hop (very gently) on one leg for a few metres.  He’s so puffed after a session on the walker that it’s like he’s sprinted 100m but his fitness is improving day by day.

One of the other effects of the smashed right pelvis is that his right foot is turning outwards and is quite immobile.  The physio is gently working to bring that back around so that when he is able to be weight bearing (2.5 months approx) his foot is in the right place.

The weather was too cold today to go out into the park for a wheel around the circuit but I’m hoping that the weather will clear over the weekend.  The outings are really important for Clarkie to be able to get used to heightened stimulation…apart from that it’s great to get him some fresh air and outside of those 4 hospital room walls.  The next step is that the rehab team are going to organise an outing to the Olive Garden restaurant with a few other patients and their families, again to see how Aaron deals with other environments.

Will keep you posted. 

Megan