midtoad's messages

 couple of updates this week [I’m using DragonDictate]:

I finally received the manual wheelchair I ordered. It’s a lot nicer for any of my friends or family to push around then the heavy, old loaner wheelchair I have been using for the past 4 months.

My application to the provincial government for funding assistance with the power wheelchair was approved in early January, and the chair itself should arrive in the next 6 to 10 weeks. Each  Chair is highly customized, which is why it  takes so long.

Meanwhile, the hospital consented to let me use an old power wheelchair they had in storage, primarily for medical reasons. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes a huge difference to my sense of independence.

That’s all for now–I will update this blog when I can; my time on the computer is fairly limited.

CTV News came by the hospital last week and interviewed me. This is what they decided to broadcast:
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120131/CGY_stewart_midwinter_120131/20120131/?hub=CalgaryHome

 here’s a story that appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper about the research project I am participating in:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/a-new-way-to-banish-bedsores/article2322983/

Another video about the smart-e-pants by alberta health services:

http://ahamms01.http.internapcdn.net/ahamms01/Content/AHS_Website/News/ne-feat-smart-e-pants.wmv

Here’s a video about the medical trial my dad has been in the past couple of months. He’s been testing a device called smart-e-pants. He’s the link:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Smart+Pants+aimed+preventing+patient+bedsores/6085761/story.html

Hi all, 

It’s been a really long time since I’ve made an update as school has gotten a bit crazy the past couple months. There’s also been some health issues on my mom’s side of the family, so that’s kept me quite busy. I also wanted to let my dad do some of his own updates, as he now has a neat computer set up that he can use, although not as often as he’d like.

My dad is doing well right now. He’s waiting to get into the longterm care facility that he’s applied for. He’s working on getting his condo emptied, slowly, so eventually be able to sell it. He’s still thinking about perhaps buying another condo that will suit his needs better than the one he currently owns. 

The hospital has stopped my dad’s physio, as he’s reached his 3 months mark. They have told him that they can’t spend anymore time/money on his physio if he’s no longer improving. This news was pretty hard for him to take, as I’m sure you can imagine. My dad is looking forward to getting in to a long term care facility so he can go and get physio somewhere. 

He’s recently developed a blood clot in his leg that’s been causing some problems for him. He believes it’s from the sudden stop in physio (as do I). The blood clot is causing his body to go into an autonomic dysreflexia, which basically means that the bottom half of his body is sending signals to his brain, telling him that there a pain in his leg caused by the blood clot. His brain doesn’t feel the pain in his leg, so it sends a signal back to tell the bottom half to calm down, which causes the bottom half to send more forceful signals back up to the brain.. and so on and so on. This eventually causes his blood pressure to sky rocket until they fix the pain. The sudden high blood pressure has been giving my dad massive migraines. They’re hoping to get rid of the blood clot soon, and have him on medications to help.

My dad was in the news last night, so here’s a clip from that :