The Rock Star and His Scar

Kid Rock is in the house! That’s the nickname they’ve given Karl on the third floor. Nurses and therapists and aides and administrators who aren’t even involved with his case go to Karl’s room to see how closely he resembles Robert James Ritchie, a.k.a. Kid Rock who hails from the Detroit area. (Check out the “actual” photo of him below). Of course Karl eats it up. He’s met so many wonderful people, both medical personnel and fellow patients. All the stories we’ve heard about Mayo Clinic lately are phenomenal. A good example of how the people there work together occurred yesterday. And it’s also a good example of how God is watching out over Karl.

Megan was discussing Karl’s case with her fellow therapists while he was on his stomach and she was stretching his legs. They were talking about how well he was healing. Either Karl is proud of the scars on his derrière or he’s becoming an exhibitionist because he told Megan it was okay for them all to take a look. Keep in mind that for about two months straight Karl had people looking at his “better side” several times each day. As they were checking it out, Megan said that something didn’t look right. Thinking that she was joking Karl said, “Yeah, right.” But Megan said she wasn’t kidding and summoned his nurse. The nurse then called the doctor. The doctor came and took a look and proclaimed that he wasn’t going to mess with the work of the surgeons, so he summoned Dr. Yaszemski’s team. Dr. Hannah, Dr. Redmond, and Dr. Erickson came down to look at Karl’s booty and decided that it wasn’t an infection, but was a build-up of fluid that sometimes occurs with skin grafts. They will continue to monitor it, but aren’t concerned. This just goes to show that his show-off tendencies (and divine intervention, in my opinion) may lead to saving Karl’s butt, literally.

Anyway, this type of teamwork is so typical of Mayo Clinic. We’ve heard stories over and over. It is this teamwork and consultation among medical professionals that truly make Mayo different. Not that physicians and medical professionals at other health systems don’t confer with one another in a similar manner, it’s just that Mayo has so many specialists with whom to consult.

One lady told us she lived in Washington, D.C. and went to Georgetown where they diagnosed her with colon cancer. She decided to get a second opinion at Mayo where after several tests and physicians poring over the test, they told her she didn’t have cancer, but definitely had irritable bowel syndrome. They told her to go to the drug store for Maalox and Milk of Magnesia. Yikes! That’s a bit different than the treatment for colon cancer! Another lady told us she wouldn’t be alive today if it hadn’t been for Mayo. A team of physicians decided the best course of action for her was a tricky bone marrow transplant. A fellow Gloria Dei church member struggled for years with many specialists in the area to try to figure out problems he had for 15 years. Finally he went to Mayo where a team of physicians determined his pituitary gland was out of whack (the exact medical terminology they used, I believe).

We also feel incredibly blessed that the doctors at Mayo Clinic could take on Karl’s case. But we feel equally blessed that Dr. Biermann at U-M recommended Dr. Y. The thing we didn’t know about the Mayo Clinic, unless you have a PPO insurance plan, is that you do not need to be referred. If you or someone you know has a medical condition that doctors can’t seem to figure out or if you need a second opinion, call the Mayo Clinic at 507-284-2511. Explain your medical history and current situation. The operator will then tell you what will be needed and a team of physicians/surgeons will review the information and determine the best course of action. They may need extra tests, which can be performed locally, to determine whether they can help, but they will look at your case. To me, that’s amazing service.

Now back to Kid Rock, I mean Karl. Other than the weird lesion on his back, he’s progressing well. His hospital bed now has a regular mattress and he’s able to transfer without help. He’s been standing for 30 minutes at a time on the tilt table and with the aid of the parallel bars, can go from sitting to standing for a few minutes at a time. He’s also taken a few steps!

Please keep praying…we need the lesion to go away on its own and for him to keep getting stronger so he can come home in October.

Blessings,
Kerry

Turning the corner

Last week Karl made the move to the third floor inpatient rehabilitation unit and ever since then it’s been non-stop activity for him. He surprised his nurse a couple times on the first day on the new floor. She said she needed to take his vitals and before she could get to it, he had already slapped the blood pressure cuff on and was ready to roll. She told him she’d never seen a patient do that before. But Karl wasn’t done. He told her, after a long day of being in his wheelchair, that he was ready to get back into bed. She said she’d help him after she tended to another patient. When she came back in to his room, Karl had already put himself in the harness that swings him to and from the bed. She was surprised to see that and said it was another first. Leave it to Karl!

He’s been standing with both the aid of the incline bed, or “rack” as he calls it, as well as the parallel bars. The first time on the parallel bars, Karl was assisted a bit by his physical therapist, but the next time he did it by himself while the therapist was talking to someone else. She was very surprised to see him standing by himself.

Karl is also feeling pretty independent when he’s in his wheelchair. One minute he’s there talking and the next he’s gone off to fetch himself a beverage or do a load of laundry. It must feel so good to be able to come and go as he pleases after being stuck in bed for eight weeks relying on everyone else.

This morning the therapist mentioned something about putting Karl in a regular bed…his back has healed enough to make that transition. A regular bed will help him tremendously when it comes to sliding to and from a wheelchair. He may be able to do it himself with a regular mattress instead of the puffy air mattress he’s now using.

While it changes every day, a typical schedule for Karl is:
7:00 a.m. Occupational Therapy (OT)
8:30 Physical Therapy (PT)
9:00 Social worker
9:30 Recreational Therapy (RT)
10:00 OT
10:30 OT
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Nursing education
1:30 PT
2:00 PT
3:00 RT

This week Karl’s goal in physical therapy is to sit up in bed, transfer to a wheelchair, complete his daily chores, transfer back into bed from his wheelchair and comfortably position himself in the bed. All of this will be done under the watchful eye of Megan, but the goal is for him to be able to do it all unassisted. In recreational therapy Karl will be making a sliding board so he can transfer from wheelchair to other surfaces and vice versa. Occupational therapy will have Karl focus on dressing himself without assistance and moving in and out of cars, rooms, chairs, etc. All these activities and his progress mean Karl is getting closer and closer to coming home. He’s at a pace that could have him on his way back to Tecumseh sometime in October! Now THAT’S exciting! How blessed we are that Karl is at Mayo Clinic. And how thankful we are that you are all praying for his speedy recovery. We know that combination along with God’s grace is why Karl is doing so well.

When you see what Karl has been through and how he has responded to the surgeries and therapy, I hope you’ll do what the people did after they saw Peter heal the crippled beggar at the temple gate and that you’ll believe in God’s healing power: When all the people saw him walking and praising God…they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3: 9-10. I hope you're as amazed as me!

With gratitude to you and God,

Kerry

Standing, moving, thankful

Last week a flurry of activities culminated with everyone telling him he’d make the big move to the 3rd floor inpatient rehabilitation center today. While he still hasn’t moved yet this morning, they told him to expect to be discharged from the 8th floor later today down to the third floor.

On Thursday, Karl’s physical therapist Megan got Karl ready to go to the therapy gym by coaching him to sit up in bed unassisted. He did it! Sliding onto the wheelchair proves to be a bit tricky because his bed mattress is soft and sits higher than the wheelchair. When he moves to the 3rd floor, he’ll probably get a regular mattress which means transferring will be much easier. After Karl was “loaded” onto the wheelchair, he took a trip to the gym where a harness was placed under his rear-end and he was winched up into standing position. For the first time since July 15, Karl stood! While he stood for only 3 minutes, it was a huge accomplishment but quite painful. He said his lower back hurt and if you look at the X-rays below, you’ll understand why. He was pretty tired after that so he went back up to the 8th floor where he tooled around in the wheelchair awhile, harassing the nurses. They were so happy to see him out and about.

On Friday Karl had a Doppler on his legs to make sure there are no blood clots…there aren’t. Then Karl’s occupational therapist took him down to the gym where he worked his arms with various exercises. He played Wii boxing (knocked me down three times) and tennis. What a workout! We also saw his new room on the third floor...it's huge! Later he was visited by Mayo oncologists who talked about doing concentrated radiation along with chemotherapy. We still aren’t sure how that will work, but we know Dr. Yaszemski agreed to allow him to go to inpatient rehab until the incision on his abdomen heals. He may be able to finish his chemo at home! They will be in touch with Karl’s U-M oncologists.

For the last 8 weeks he’s had wonderful care from the nurses and staff on the 8th floor. He’s gotten to know about some of their families and many of them dropped in to check on him, even when he wasn’t their patient. They’ve provided tender care when he was in pain, encouraged him when he had setbacks, and cheered for him when he made progress. And for that, we are all so grateful.

Blessings,

Kerry

Karl is STANDING with Megan, his physical therapist

These are X-rays of the rods and pins holding Karl's spine together. It's no wonder his lower back hurt when he stood!

Some of Karl's nurses. From left is Rebecca, Jeff, Bonnie, Helen and Dave.

What a week!

Karl is improving so rapidly that it’s difficult to keep up with all the things that are happening. On Monday he sat at the edge of the bed while his physical therapist Megan tested his equilibrium. She pushed him this way and that while he resisted. He is getting so much more stable. He had a hankering for fast food so I ran to Arby’s and McDonald’s. His caloric intake is much improved and you can tell it’s really helping him build strength.

Tuesday saw even more activity. Karl was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt when I arrived. His occupational therapist Katie has been working his arms and will help him to do chores that seem pretty easy for you and me. For Karl, putting on a shirt is quite a task and so getting his arms back in shape is very important. He’ll also need arm strength when it comes to getting around in a wheelchair. Around 2 p.m. Megan came in with a wheelchair and a board that allows Karl to slide from the bed to the wheelchair. After wrapping his legs with Ace bandages to help ease the pressure Karl feels when he puts them down, Megan and Anne, his nurse, slid Karl into the wheelchair. Off we went to tour the 3rd floor inpatient rehab area. Once he’s discharged from the 8th floor orthopedic med/surg wing, this will be his new habitat.

Karl met with a bunch of doctors Tuesday to plead his case to be transferred. Our thoughts are that he is ready to start the intense three-hour-a-day rehabilitation. He can’t have chemotherapy until the incision on his stomach is completely healed and they expect that to be at least two more weeks. Rather than wait on the 8th floor, why not do the rehab and then come home for the chemo? All of his doctors seem to be in agreement…except that Dr. Yaszemski likes his patients to have chemo first. Unfortunately he’s out of town. We’re hoping we’ll know something by the end of the week.

In the meantime, Karl is continuing to improve. Today he got into the wheelchair again and Katie took him to an occupational therapy gym where he worked a hand bike and boxed three rounds on a Nintendo Wii. After doing the bike, he said he felt like Lance Armstrong. Only different. He was so intense while boxing that both Katie and I got a good laugh. You’ll be happy to know that his debut bout was a draw. Even though he suffered no literal punches to the eyes, he said, “Cut me Mick.” (Referring to the scene in ROCKY), which of course made us laugh even more. Boy was he wiped out though.

We are so thankful for these improvements and for your prayers and kindnesses. God is good.

Blessings,

Kerry

Redeemer of Life and light that shines in darkness, we thank you for your renewing spirit. Receive our thanks, O God for your healing grace. Forgive, restore and empower us. Sustainer of Life and ever present comforter, we thank you for the gifts of hope and peace. Receive our thanks, O God, for all who journey with us. Receive our thanks, O God, for strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
Amen.

(A.F. Frieze)

Karl working on the hand bike with Katie, his occupational therapist. Karl said he felt like Lance Armstrong. Only different. Karl is guarding his head from punches while boxing on a Nintendo Wii.

Picking up the pace

As mentioned in the last blog entry, Karl’s progression has been slow. But I have a feeling things are about to pick up dramatically.

The day after Labor Day was very busy for Karl…doctors took out the rest of the sutures on his back which meant they could put in orders to change to a bed that would allow him to sit on its edge. A nutrition team came by and talked to Karl about taking out his nasal-gastric (NG) tube. Karl was very reluctant about that since the last time they took it out caused him a four-week setback because of a kink in his small intestine. The nutrition folks weren’t the only ones who encouraged the removal of the NG tube. Nurses who had worked with Karl would pop in and ask when the tube was coming out. Doctors encouraged its removal. Therapists teased him about removing the tube. Yet Karl wouldn’t budge and they all understood why. In the meantime, Karl was still receiving intravenous nutrition and was barely eating although he thought Hawaiian Punch he drank was an excellent source of nutrition. Doctors were very concerned about his reluctance to eat and said his nutrition markers were not good. And Karl had no energy and slept most of the time, though he managed to sit in his medi-chair at least once a day.

On Wednesday when I arrived Karl was sleeping. Something looked odd and upon closer investigation I noticed the NG tube was wrapped around Karl’s hand and was no longer in his nose. I woke him up and said, “Karl, did you decide you didn’t want the NG tube in after all?” Karl, startled from waking suddenly, was very confused and then felt his nose, looked at the tube wrapped around his hand and announced that he didn’t do it…the nurse must have. Of course I got a nice chuckle out of that and responded that she apparently wrapped it around his hand to make it look like he did it. Karl, ever the joker, had the occupational therapist (who just arrived to begin arm exercises) tape a straw to his nose to see if the nurse would notice. She walked in, looked at him and matter-of-factly asked, “Karl, why is there a straw taped to your nose.” We all had a good laugh. She was thrilled that the tube was finally out. And so was everyone else. He still received the intravenous nutrition and didn’t eat much…still a big concern for his medical team (and his family). At about 6 p.m. Karl finally got transferred to a different bed.

Oh what a work-out Karl had on Thursday. While sitting on the edge of a bed sounds like a pretty simple thing for you and me, it requires the use of many muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones Karl hasn’t used in seven weeks. Other than being dizzy for the first few minutes, Karl sat up without help for a few minutes. He was very, very tired and didn’t feel like eating much, but the IV nutrition keeps him going.

On Friday the nutrition team came again, concerned about Karl’s lack of appetite. They decided to take him off the IV nutrition to see if that was affecting his appetite. If that didn’t work, they told Karl they could insert a small tube through his nose to his small intestine and feed him while he slept. Karl didn’t like the sound of that AT ALL. He sat on the bed again (after much coaxing) and his physical therapist and I tried to encourage him. But he was pretty lethargic and a bit depressed. He had strict orders to sit in the chair one more time on Friday and twice a day during the weekend. But he just didn’t have the energy to do it on Friday.

On Saturday, Karl was an altogether different person. Without IV nutrition, Karl’s appetite came back a bit. He had meatloaf and a potato, milk and Dr. Pepper. No more Hawaiian Punch – the drink of champions! That’s the first “real” food he’s had since July 14. But he slept most of the afternoon. He did comply with the orders to sit in the chair twice – once for lunch and the next for dinner.

Sunday was a great day for Karl, although apparently the nurse jump-started his appetite with the threat that the nutrition team would be giving him a tube feeding if he didn’t take in 1,200 calories. He ate well. He sat in the chair at lunch and dinner and we had some nice conversations with the nurse. Then we spent most of the afternoon watching movies and talking about Nikki’s engagement. Holy schnikeys – my daughter is engaged!

I don’t know what this week will hold for Karl, but if the last two days are any indication, I think he’ll probably be moved to the rehab floor where the pace will be fast and furious. He will have about five hours of rehabilitation each day. He will learn how to transfer to a wheelchair, stand, walk, and receive education about various and sundry things. He will be wiped out, but the harder he works, the closer he is to coming home!

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Many blessings,

Kerry

Check out Karl's hair! Here he is in the harness that takes him from his bed to the medi-chair that's laying flat. Once he's in place, they raise up the back of the chair and lower the feet.

Bind Us Together

For the past week Karl has been slooooowly progressing. But progression is certainly better than regression. Each day nurses get him up to sit in a chair, which is quite a production. He has gone from clear liquids to full liquids to soft foods in a matter of four days. Anna, his nurse, just ordered him a fruit smoothie which apparently has a protein additive. Anna and I told him it was ground up beef liver, sardines and anchovies. I suppose that’s not the nicest thing to tell a guy with no appetite.

The doctors are pretty sure the kink is gone, but since it’s been about six weeks since his last meal, his stomach is probably pretty small and he’s not very hungry. Tomorrow a dietician will visit him to see if there are foods that sound more appetizing. As soon as he builds his appetite a bit more they will discharge him to the rehab floor where he'll spend another 6-8 weeks before finally coming home (we hope). Somewhere in the mix he'll have to start chemo again. Of course he's not looking forward to that at all. But I have a feeling this week will bring about a lot of positive changes for Karl. And I know we owe much of that to your prayers and all of it to God’s grace.

I’ve had the opportunity to reflect recently about all the wonderful things people have done for Karl – the fundraisers, the yard work, the “move,” the visits, the calls, the gifts, the cards, the blog comments, the prayers and everything else done to help Karl and the rest of us.

Then last week while at church, I opened my hymnal and from it fell a song sheet. At the top of the sheet was the song, “Bind Us Together.” I really like that song and began humming it in my head, then I started closely reading the words and I realized Karl’s experience is doing just that – it’s binding us all together. And then during the the second reading, I followed along carefully. It was Romans 12:1-8 and talked about the fact that we all have different gifts assigned to us by God and that together, we are one body. God was certainly speaking to me last Sunday and sending me the message that YOU are all a part of Karl's healing. The Hamilton/Smith family will all be eternally grateful for your gifts of love and kindness and feel bound to God with and in and through you.

Bind Us Together

Bind us together, Lord,
Bind us together with cords
That cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together in love.

There is only one God. There is only one King.
There is only one Body; That is why we can sing:
(Refrain)

You are the family of God
You are the promise divine.
You are God’s chosen desire,
You are the glorious new wine.
(Refrain)

Blessings,

Kerry