Progressing; They Left Today

J is doing quite well. She does tire easily. Each day she gets up, I shower her, give her breakfast, and we walk down the stairs to the living room. She can sit up in a chair for 1-2 hrs at a time. Then she wants to recline or go back upstairs to rest and nap. She takes about a 2 hr nap between breakfast and lunch. Then she will awake and have lunch. Then we walk around the downstairs apartment together. I have a gait belt that I use with her to guide her and for (just in case) she loses balance. She is using the walker some, but mostly to hold herself up when I am getting her chair ready. Then she sometimes will nap again in the afternoon.

After dinner, she likes to sit up and watch a little TV with dad, and then usually by 6 or 7 she wants to go back upstairs and lay down. By then her back is hurting from sitting up so long. So I position her in bed with lots of pillows, and I shift her every hour or two. During these times she and I have been watching movies together until about midnight.

Here are a few pics from sitting up at the table at lunch! She couldn't stay there long, but it was good to see her at the table...

J enjoying a drink, and sitting up tall at our dinner table...first time since her surgery that she has sat up at a table


My niece, and my J...DO YOU SEE MY GIRL SITTING UP AT THE TABLE??? Wooohooooooo! She was able to sit there only for a short time to have her drink, but it was so good to see her at the table...


She is really so worn out from the week long hospital stay. We have only been home for 3 days, and I realize it will take she and I both time to catch up from our hospital time schedule. Also, it was recommended that she do the stairs AFTER 1 wk of being home...but she is determined to do them daily. We take it slow and I've learned how far is to far for her. She tends to really push herself, and right now she does need a lot of rest too.

Every hour or couple of hours we do breathing exercises to keep her lungs clear. She has two different devices that she does this with. One is for sucking breath in, and the other is for forcing air out of her lungs.

Well, my sister in law, niece and nephew left today. :( We are soooo sad and wish they could have stayed longer. J really enjoyed having her KK here with her. They are two peas in a pod.

Hopefully they will be back again soon!

Here is a funny photo of my niece and I being quite silly...





OK...You know the drill...WARNING! - Below are photos of J's incision for showing the healing progress. If you don't want to see them, don't scroll down. :)





Her incision is still healing nicely. Here are photos from yesterday's (Sat) dressing change. We didn't get one today, but I'll take one tomorrow. I thought every other day is good to see the healing progress.






J's upper back incision- Day Eight



J's lower back incision - Day Eight