September 27, 2004
Update 13
Hello To All,

Things have moved forward since I last wrote to you. I am here in Minnesota and have been for the past week. I will return to Scottsdale tomorrow and Lisa arrives in the afternoon.

Mom had her pins removed this last week and is doing quite well. She will need to continue "hand therapy" for the remainder of time we are here in Rochester. She sees a therapist at the Mayo Clinic. Her pain is minimal.

Dad is hanging in there and fighting the good fight! He says "I will never give up!" His functional status remains about the same, however, he has regained some feeling in is arms and in specific areas of his legs and buns. He still relys on everyone else to cover his needs, but we are still early in the fight and our outlook remains positive.

We were concerned that they were not working his legs beyond just stretching and requested he be tested for bike use. They hook you up to electrodes and if there are any "muscles firing", you are a cantidate for bike use. Dads legs Fired!!! He past the test and now gets on the bike two to three days a week. It takes about 45 minutes to get him set up and ready to go, its quite a procedure! He goes for about 25 minutes...they expect him to do between 10-15...he, of course, goes longer. It's also fabulous for his circulation, cardiovascular needs and skin, all the things you have to worry about with this kind of injury. It is equally important for his future, if and when the spinal cord decides to talk to the muscles again and send messages, we are keeping those muscles alive for delivery.
HE LOVES THE BIKE!!

We had a visit from Pastor Wallace, Nazareth Lutheran Church, this week and I think he shed some light for all of us. It's in the Lords hand, we must be patient!

This Wednesday is the "Family Meeting" as they call it here at the clinic. It's where The Henry Family, as well as the Family of Physicians and Caretakers meet to discuss all the elements of moving forward to get Dad released from rehab and try to resume some sort of life. Its a scary place to be, but not by choice. They should, at this meeting, have a specific release date for Dad. It looks like they will head straight to Arizona w/out a stop in Cedar Falls. Because of Dads level of care and required neccessities, it does not allow for them to make the stop. How would he get in the house? (you need ramps) Where would he sleep? (he needs a hospital bed) How would he get around? (you need a handicap vehicle) and the list goes on...We will be providing those things for him in Arizona but it is sooooo costly to do it in both places...Insurance DOESNT work that way...in fact they dont even provide some things in ONE place! If you would like to see Dad before he departs the midwest, he'll probably be here for another 3 weeks. He has had visitors, so if you would like to come up, call and lets get it scheduled.

Yesterday we attended church in the georgous chapel here in the hospital, took Dad over to the hotel we are staying at and for those of you who have been here, we dined street side at the "HONKER". He was so happy to eat a "real" hamburger and some good ol' American fries! The weather was awesome! Last week with Lance, Glen Jr.,Jim Hall, his daughter and Mom they hit a BBQ joint. That was Dads first time outside the hospital, it was set up through the Recreational Therapy Dept.It was not the greatest experience for Dad, going down the road construction of Rochester. Perhaps the driver could have chosen a different route or purchased a new set of shocks before he showed up!!!!! I think we'll need to be a little cautious about the vehicle we purchase.

That is all for now, I will give you an update on the Wed meeting and all their Arizona information on my next posting. Until then... Thank you for the continued support, keep those messages coming to both Mom and Dad, and keep your prayers alive.

Love to all, be safe.
The Henry Dream Team