Summary from 30 Oct 2008 - 4 Jan 2009 (Read from bottom of page to top)

2009-Jan-04 Sunday
Pinky is sore from the previous days PT and sleeps in. She’s up in the chair at 12:00 and stays up until 6:00. She is now able to help fold some of the smaller laundry which includes ~100 washcloths.
We have dubbed Holly and Steve’s house “Redneck Rehab”. Steve finishes construction of a wooden PT table with wheels and we bring it in the house and rearrange the furniture to accommodate it.
Today the spasms have subsided, whether it is due to the cranial sacral work or her own body recovery who cares, today was a better day.

2009-Jan-03 Saturday
Pinky is a little banged up today and thinks she might have overdone the PT on Friday. She pushes through and does PT in the morning and OT in the afternoon. She has a cranial-sacral therapy at around 6:00 PM. She is having some spasms in her legs and arms.
The family wraps up the day with another episode of “Brothers and Sisters”. Note. This television series is not recommended for the homophobic.

2009-Jan-02 Friday
Friday was a good day including an hour or so of PT in the sun. A short ride around the neighborhood in the wheelchair and several hours of OT at the table.

2009-Jan-01
Gene returns to NJ today after a month in ABQ caring for Pinky.
Rehab begins first thing New Years Day. Beth, Holly, and Steve are providing round-the-clock care for Pinky and well as performing physical therapy and occupational therapy. Steve turns out to have a great aptitude, enthusiasm and positive attitude towards the difficult tasks at hand. Everyone in the family is showing great strength and compassion under these trying circumstances.

Today was Pinky's first full day at Holly and Steve's house.

The day went well. Pinky spent a couple of hours in the New Mexico sunshine this morning where she relaxed and then did some PT with coach Steve. Highlights including throwing a rubber ball into a 5 gallon bucket.

In the afternoon Pinky did some OT and watched a slideshow of Beth, Page, and Reggie’s drive to N.M.
Dinner was mesquite smoked burgers.
We wrapped up the evening with a family viewing of the series "Brothers and Sisters"

2009 is off to a good start. Tomorrow is another day!




2008-Dec-31
Pinky leaves Rehab. The rehab center she is in is a state of the art facility but is not allowed to take in long term patients. The family has to decide whether to place Pinky in a nursing home or bring her to Holly’s house and continue rehab and care on their own. After visiting the nursing home, the decision is made that Pinky’s best chance for recovery is to bring her home to Holly’s house.
Pinky arrives at Holly’s house at around 2:00 on New Year’s Eve.

2008-Dec-30

2008-Dec-29
Beth, Page and Reggie arrive in Albuquerque. Beth notices great improvement in Pinky’s physical wellbeing, during the month that she has been away.

2008-Dec-28
2008-Dec-27
2008-Dec-26
Beth, Page and Reggie set out for Albuquerque. Pinky has requested that her beloved dog Reggie be brought out to help with her rehabilitation. Reggie, as many of you know is Beth and Page’s incredibly cute but ill-tempered Chihuahua.

2008-Dec-25
2008-Dec-24
2008-Dec-23
2008-Dec-22
2008-Dec-21
2008-Dec-20
2008-Dec-19
2008-Dec-18
2008-Dec-17
2008-Dec-16
2008-Dec-15
2008-Dec-14
2008-Dec-13
2008-Dec-12
2008-Dec-11
2008-Dec-10
2008-Dec-9
2008-Dec-8
2008-Dec-7
2008-Dec-6
2008-Dec-5
2008-Dec-4
2008-Dec-3
2008-Dec-2
2008-Dec-1
2008-Nov-31
2008-Nov-30
2008-Nov-29
Beth returns to NJ.

2008-Nov-28

2008-Nov-27
Gene travels to Albuquerque to help with the care of Pinky.

2008-Nov-26
New medicine is tried for spasms. Roboxin. In rehab, with assistance of an apparatice with counterweights draws her first 3 post-accident portraits.

2008-Nov-25
2008-Nov-24
2008-Nov-23
2008-Nov-22
2008-Nov-21

2008-Nov-20
Beth returns to Albuquerque.

2008-Nov-19
Gene returns to NJ.

2008-Nov-18
This is the first night that someone from the family doesn’t spend the night with Pinky.

2008-Nov-17
Pinky contracts an urinary tract infection from her catheter.

2008-Nov-16
Pinky’s neck brace is removed. Pinky is having some muscle spasms. Neurontin is prescribed.

2008-Nov-15

2008-Nov-14
Pinky is released from the hospital and admitted to Lovelace Rehab. Center.
Pinky finds the rehab environment much more soothing than the hospital.
Stipulation of being in this rehab facility is a minimum of 3 hrs. of rehab/day. This is very difficult for Pinky at this time. She puts in the effort because this facility is her quickest road to recovery.

2008-Nov-13
2008-Nov-12

2008-Nov-11
Gene arrives in ABQ.

2008-Nov-10
2008-Nov-9
Beth returns to NJ.

2008-Nov-8
Pinky starts taking Percocet and it is working for the pain. Dr. brings in copies of the MRI for the family.

2008-Nov-7
PT. All doctors visited today.
Current drugs: Morphine, Oxycontin, Dexamethasone, docusate sodium, famotidine, bisacodyl, Lovenox, Pepsid, colace, Coumadin.
Talked to doctor because pain medication wasn’t sufficient.

2008-Nov-6
Dr. Davis come in and switches Pinky from injected blood thinners to orally administered Coumadin. Blood tests are required for tests every 2 days initially and every week thereafter.
Pinky is fitted for compression stockings. The family is told to exercise her arms and legs passively every hour when not sleeping. She was also given a machine to blow into to exercise her lungs and prevent pneumonia.
Pinky has a neck brace put on.

2008-Nov-5
MRI’s results arrive and reveal that Pinky has suffered a neck injury. There is swelling in the neck that has caused damage to the spinal cord.
This was the first day of Physical therapy. Therapy entailed determining the ability to determine which parts of her body were being touched while she kept her eyes closed. Most of her perceptions of the places touched were incorrect at this time. Therapist says that these perceptions will get better over time.
Thoracic Support Shell (Turtle) is fitted and manufactured for Pinky. This device is basically a removable body cast that she must wear whenever she is not lying flat in bed. Once the turtle was in place the therapist attempted to bring Pinky to a 90 deg sitting position. Pinky’s heart rate dropped to 29 and she passed out.
Met with Neurosurgeon and he informed the family that the broken vertebra at T9 would not require surgery at this time. If there is still pain in the future the vertebra could be fused without major loss of motion. He stated that he would re-evaluate the neck after rehab and surgery may be necessary if blockage still remains.
Pinky is put on heavy steroids to reduce swelling in her neck.


2008-Nov-4
Pinky has surgery to install a filter in her artery to stop blood clots coming from the legs and prevent the clots from traveling to her upper body.
Pinky has low blood pressure which drops when we try to raise her to the sitting position in the bed. She also has low blood oxygen and requires external oxygen.

2008-Nov-3
Pinky is taken out of the ICU and moved to a semi-private room.

2008-Nov-2
MRI’s are taken. There is swelling in the neck that has caused damage to the spinal cord. She has very limited use of her arms and legs but has feelings in all of her extremities. The doctors are optimistic and say that there is a good chance of recovery but it will be a long road and a lot of work. Pinky is in a lot of pain; she can’t walk, sit up or move herself significantly in bed. She doesn’t have control of her bowels or bladder.

2008-Nov-1
Pinky leaves the ER and is admitted to the hospital and put in ICU.
Thus begins many long nights spent in the hospital by the family providing comfort to Pinky and getting few hours of restless sleep in stiff hospital chairs.

2008-Oct-31
Pinky continues in the ER. The Hospital is minimally staffed since it is the weekend.
Pinky’s daughter Beth immediately flies out to help.

2008-Oct-30
Pinky is spending a wonderful week visiting her daughter Holly in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Holly and her boyfriend Steve are in graduate school studying architecture at the University of New Mexico. Pinky wanted to spend more time with Holly and has been making regular visit over the past year or so. As the visit nears its end, Holly, Steve, and Pinky decide to spend a day in an area of natural hot springs near Santa Fe. They described the day as one of the most wonderful and beautiful days they have ever spent. The day was spent relaxing in various natural pools under the cloudless New Mexico sky. As the day winds down they leave the springs and start to head back to their car. At some point during the journey back Pinky loses her footing, gains momentum going downhill, veers off the trail and takes a serious fall. She is badly injured. Steve goes down to check on her and immediately tells Holly to go for help. Holly runs down the trail and eventually catches up with another person who had left the hot springs a few minutes earlier. He drives her towards town until they can get cell phone service. Eventually a rescue team arrives at the scene and determines that the severity of the injuries necessitate a helicopter rescue. By this time the day was winding down and daylight was fading. The first helicopter arrived but was unable to land due to the waning daylight. Eventually, a second helicopter arrived with night vision gear on board and Pinky was evacuated to UNM hospital. This was approximately 2 hours after the accident. There isn’t room on the helicopter for Holly and Steve so they make the 2 ½ hour drive back to the hospital in Albuquerque. Once at the hospital Pinky is evaluated. She has a deep 3” cut on her forehead, a broken nose and a cut lip. During the fall she had tumbled several times and was eventually stopped by coming face to face with a large rock. X-Rays reveal that she also has a cracked vertebra in her back. At some point in the emergency room Pinky complains about pain in her chest. The machines that are attached to her immediately alarm and she is rushed to another area of the ER to be revived. She had flat-lined. A few minutes later the doctor greets Pinky’s return to consciousness with the comment “Welcome back.”