Jared was completely out of it when he came out of surgery, but not too out of it to start demanding the Oregon game be turned on. The first night was horrible, and I actually couldn't wait to leave because it was scaring me. He was really uncomfortable and wanted to lay back, but he had to sit up because he was really nauseous and kept dry-heaving. It wasn't the funnest thing to watch. We had told him that the tumor was encapsulated, but didn't know how much information he was actually retaining. I knew I had to get home to the kids. I didn't know how much they knew or understood, but Brynlee had called me crying so I knew they needed me home.
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| This is basically how he was the whole first week - tired and out of it. |
I went to the hospital first thing Sunday. That was when reality hit us. Jared had no movement at all on his right side. Luckily it didn't affect his face or speech, but he couldn't even squeeze my hand. Going into surgery, we were NOT prepared for this. They didn't know how much he would get back. His doctor said he had good "tone" (whatever that means), and that he was confident he'd get his movement back. He told us that the swelling was going to be really bad for at least 3 days, and that it would be frustrating, but we couldn't expect much until the swelling went down. Jared had to be given Zanac to calm him down. He said he felt chlosterphobic from not being able to move. (We've actually heard this is common.) When I got home Sunday night, my parents had to go home to get some things (they had come so suddenly they hadn't had a chance to pack). When they left I had my first breakdown. Everything just hit me and I was so overwhelmed!
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| Recovering in ICU |
By the second day Jared could squeeze my hand. He made really slow progress every day. The third day, I had decided to stay during the "no visiting" hours because I had planned to leave shortly after. I think it was from 6-7pm. And I was glad I did! A doctor from the physical therapy rehab came to assess him for their clinic. The doctor had him do a few different things, then told him it wasn't looking too good that he would ever walk again. He said that most of the time patients have more movement in their legs than their arms, and he had more in his arms than legs. He was definitely very negative and doubtful. And the more he talked, the more I was fuming inside. I could see the look of panic on Jared's face. After he left I told Jared how mad I was and told him not to listen to the jerk. Jared was definitely panicked by what he had said. I was determined not to let that guy have ANYTHING to do with his recovery. So we chose another facility. But I was glad to have been there for that conversation. I can't imagine what would've happened if I'd missed it!
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| Picture taken a couple days after surgery. It actually looked really good and healed nicely. After a few weeks it wasn't very noticeable. |
Jared spent a week in the ICU because they didn't have other beds available. This was bad because kids aren't allowed at all inthe ICU. We finally got him into a different room Thursday night, and I was able to bring Averie to see him. It was a weird reunion. Jared was just SO out of it for the first week or two.
The next morning he was "shipped" from Provo to the rehab center at University Hospital. We were told he would have another 2-3 weeks there. I was glad to have a change of scenery, but this place was depressing! They were so full that he was given a room that had two beds, meaning he would possibly have to share. And besides Jared and one other high school kid, the patients were all 70+! So we laughed at the thought of who he might have to share with. Luckily it never reached that point.
I was also finally able to take the kids to see him. They were so excited to see him! But the visits didn't go so well. We were warned that he wouldn't deal very well with noise. Even getting a text on his phone would shoot his nerves up. So we had to limit the time with the kids. We decided that the best thing to do would be to bring one kid each night to have their "special time" with dad. They loved the idea and looked forward to their turn. Jared was in intensive rehab most of the day and didn't get done until about 5:00, so I was able to spend more time home with the kids. I would go up nightly after rehab was over with the special kid for the day. They got to push dad in the wheel chair and thought it was fun. We would usually push him to the cafeteria to get him out of the room.
As I said before, the rehab facility was pretty depressing. Jared was coming down the hall one day and heard a lady yelling, "Am I gonna die? Am I gonna die?" He heard the nurse reply, "No maam, you're going home tomorrow."
Jared was SO frustrated with rehab. He actually made really quick progress, but for him it was frustrating. They kept assuring him that he was doing great! And he was excited to show us the progress he had made for the day. Usually it was something little, like being able to lift his arm straight up rather than just curl it. The one thing that he was getting really frustrated with is that he didn't have movement in his toes. His brother, Neil, would spend time every night working with his toes, pointing and flexing them, and trying to stretch out his foot. After about a week in rehab, he started getting a little movement in his toes.
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| The boys playing cards at the rehab center. |
He also learned to be grateful for his progress. There was a high school boy at the rehab center that had been paralyzed from the neck down from a bad hit during a football game. That kid wasn't making much progress.
During his stay in rehab he had an invitation to get out of the rehab facility for one night to go to the Utes Football game, and he turned it down! He said he had too much pride than to show up to the game in a wheelchair!
We tried to get permission for him to come home the night of Halloween, but they didn't allow it. So we took the kids up to Salt Lake in costumes right after school so he had a chance to see them for a few minutes before they went trick-or-treating. Jace was a BYU football player for Halloween, and as you can imagine, it didn't go over very well in the University of Utah Hospital! He had a few comments. This was one of the little faces that cheered him up that day!
