Ronda Back Home

Alright already. I’m three + weeks behind, and I’d love to tell you some audacious charade accompanied Ronda’s escape from the Nielsen Rehabilitation Hospital, but she concluded two weeks of in-patient rehabilitation, and was simply discharged and sent home to Logan by private vehicle on Friday the 28 of October. It was a little like bringing a new baby home from the hospital. Now upon her admission to Nielsen, I thought she’d be in-patient for at least a month, but Medicare and the rehabbers thought all would be fine with outpatient treatment in Logan. As it turns out, there are impressive rehab therapists in Cache Valley that I’d stack up against the vaunted Nielsen Rehab gang, and even they spoke highly of our local therapists. Also, one of the Speech Language Pathology professors at USU wanted to treat Ronda, so we signed her up.

Upon arrival Ronda remembered the site plan of our home and yard, and over the ensuing 5 days she rested and waited patiently for her kitchen crew of 1 to present her meals and bus her dishes. Along with a few other items, I had constructed and installed a removable barrier for the stairwell and a grab bar in the garage to facilitate climbing up the 3 steps from that level to the main floor. As it turns out I disposed of the stairwell barrier a few days after her arrival, as I decided she was not going to be wandering the halls and passageways of our home at night without help and without her helmet. It was just the best to have her back!

Since then, her weeks have included home health therapy sessions with Occupational and Physical therapists, a home health nurse who helped with her head wound, and her internist here in Logan. We could have opted for outpatient visits, but because Ronda is homebound and has a head wound that needs intermittent attention, I thought having the therapists and the nurse in our home would be best. I think we’ll continue that plan for another week or so, and then switch to outpatient.

The next big hurdle will be getting her skull put back together. As you may remember, Ronda had a partial craniectomy to relieve pressure and allow swelling after her brain hemorrhage. The part of her skull that was removed has not yet been replaced, hence the continued need for helmet wearing. We hope this will happen this year but it depends a little on how well her head wound heals. It needs to be fully healed before they will do the next surgery. Our home health nurse is very experienced in wound care and has been instrumental in helping her healing in this regard.

I suspect most of you, including many family members, want to know “How is she?” Is she whole, is she all better, is she normal, is she really Ronda, what about her intellect, what physical changes are there, how long will it be . . . ? I just reread the second paragraph of the October 23 entry entitled “Goodbye Staples” and I will state that we will continue with occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech language therapy for the foreseeable future. Her memory and cognitive deficits have improved but have not all disappeared in a puff of vapor. And like the mountain that needs moving, it will yet take time. Some of her cognitive deficits are relatively minor, while others I would categorize as seismic. The brain is truly a weird organ. Anyway, we’re in this for the long haul; some days are joyous, some are funny like we’re in a Monty Python movie, while others are frustratingly scream worthy.

Ronda really enjoys interacting with a few people at a time, and I think most who are with her find her to be readily conversant, although some words, ideas, and expressions get hung up amid the bouquets of her cerebral neurons. But I must think that she’s coming along. As I stated, we have a very fine group of therapists we all find quite helpful. We regularly pray for them as well. We are grateful for your continued prayers and messages of support. We have read the messages and cards sent by loving family and friends to Ronda many times. They are a source of comfort and strength to us all, thank you.