Happy New Year!

Well, what I say? Many thanks to all of you. Special shout out to Bob who has been there and done more than anyone could ever have expected. Should probably also point out that I have the greatest father on the planet. His unlimited patience, kindness, and generosity has made the impossible possible. But to all of you who have visited, washed a window, wrote a card, said a prayer, sent the text or even positive vibes my way, know that it is greatly appreciated.

So what’s new with me? Well, I just got out of the hospital, again. But let’s back up a bit. So last December, 2021, I spent the month doing some rehab at Shirley Ryan downtown. Then in January of last year I moved home to focus on healing some open wounds. It has been a heck of a year. A few rides in an ambulance and hospital stays later, together with some excellent wound care from my wife, and the wounds are nearly healed.

Here is a quick list of last year’s excitement: Got a UTI in February. We let it get a little out of hand, it turned into sepsis. I was talking gibberish so we had to go to the ER. From there we had a good run. In August, a simple outpatient surgery turned into a three day extravaganza. September, got the Covid. October was great! Sometime in November I started coughing; it didn’t go away or get better. In December had to go to the ER for something that turned out to be rather trivial but nevertheless ended up getting admitted. Turns out that stuff I was coughing up in November was pasteurella. Three days in the ICU. Almost had to be put back on a ventilator, but the IV antibiotics did their thing and after nine days I was sent home.

Recovery from the lung infection has been slow. The coughing and wheezing continued. Last week we noticed a little bit of blood in the thick white balls of pus. My doctor would not have it; back to the ER. So a few days later and I am back home while we wait for test results to find out what now may be growing in the lungs. I should’ve paid more attention in sophomore biology. Mad respect to those geeks with their Gram stain’s and slide cover slips. Those kids grew up and literally saved my life.

So what now? I have been admitted into the “day rehab” program at Shirley Ryan in Glenview. Starting tomorrow I will be going there for two hours of rehab twice a week. If I make any progress –– show promise? –– I will go three days a week. It’s impossible to know what to expect. Every spinal cord injury is different. I ask if muscle twitches are a sign of progress. “Could be; could be nothing” they say. There is an old joke about a guy who asks his physical therapist, “You think I might be able to play the violin after all this therapy?” “Sure, maybe.” replies the therapist. Excitedly the guy says, “Boy that would really be something!” “Why?” asks the therapist. To which the guy replies, “I couldn’t play the violin before.”

So there you have it.

A most gracious THANK YOU to all of you. I look forward to catching up with everyone more personally. Please reach out anytime via call or text. Don’t worry if you miss me or I don’t respond immediately. It may take a couple of days but I will call or text you back. Emails also work, but I’m only on my laptop couple days a week.

Be well my friends.