An Update ’cause it’s been a few days……
……and my mom is probably going nuts.
She’s gone on a Missions trip for 3 weeks, and won’t be back until July 15th.
If anyone goes in to visit Chris, please leave a comment about how your visit went, and I can put it up for all to see….that way we can keep everyone else in the loop….’cause it’s hard to have been getting almost daily updates, and then to all fo the sudden not have any news.
Jon and the kids and I went in on Saturday to see Chris. We showed up around 10ish, and he was dressed in street clothes, and was almost ready to get in his wheel chair. Once his leg was wrapped in the tensor bandage, he transferred himself to the wheelchair, and I stressed until he got in there safely. But, no worries, ’cause he was quite capable of handling it all by himself.
We toured the unit a bit, and then ended up in the TV room. The kids found a ring toss game, and Jon and Chris watched a bit of baseball while the kids perfected their toss. Chris was pretty good with keeping them on track as far as staying behind the line to throw…..it’s was all about the rules and the details with him.
Then we played dung beetle (it’s card game) and he didn’t go easy on the kids at all, but seeing as he only had one arm to play the game - we figured it was pretty fair. He won the two games that we played, and then him and Jon played a game of crib. He couldn’t remember all the rules, and I wasn’t certain if I should tell him that was because he didn’t like the game before the accident or if we should go in the moment or what…..it filled up some time, and he did actually pick up the details of the game really quickly.
His wheel chair has a really crappy seat on it, and after sitting in the chair for about 2 hours, his butt was going numb. We were going to run down to the cafeteria, and pick up something for lunch, and then come back to his room, and he could get out of his chair and sit in bed to eat, but one of the other patients informed us that the cafeteria was closed on weekends (union and all that) so we just got him back in bed, and then Jon and Xan ran to get some food.
Marja and Jurki showed up just before Jon got back, and so we let them have their turn. Jon and the kids and I ate in the TV room, and then we said goodbye to Chris and left. It was good timing as far as I was concerned ’cause the kids had been SOOOOO good, and I figured that it was better to leave when things were still going good than to wait until the kids had a melt down. That would not be good!
I talked to Dad today, and he said that he was in Saturday closer to dinner time, and also for a lot of Sunday. Him and Chris toured the UBC campus yesterday, and were up in teh chair for quite a few hours. They even ate lunch out in the main area with all the other patients. They finally got back into bed sometime in the afternoon, and Dad said that a family friend came by as well as Aunty Sherry, Uncle Dan and Alanna. Debbie came, and dad left, and then later Nina came as well. It sounds like Sunday was a busy day for Chris, and Dad figured that Chris is doing really well at adapting to his surroundings, and is become clearer and clearer in his mind every day. There are still things that are not working out 100%, but every day there is physical and mental improvement, and that’s amazing.
Please feel free to go up and see Chris - he’s in the Purdy Pavillion on the 3rd floor and his room number is 334. Also, if you have his cell phone number - you can text him. He may or may not respond, but it’s nice to get the messages when you do finally turn your phone on.
Also remember to send in your updates if you’ve been in to see him. It’s nice to hear other people’s perspectives, and we all relate to each other in different ways, and it’s nice to hear how each of you relate to him and how it differs from how we interact and relate to him.
I will be going in tomorrow, and if nothing else should have an update either late tomorrow night or even Wednesday morning.
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June 25th, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
I guess maybe I was the family friend that went up on Sunday to visit Chris. Thought he looked great!!He flexed his muscle of steel for me in his left arm.
He sure has come a long way. His spirits were up and was playing cards with his dad when I came in. Had a short and sweet visit, and was happy to see him doing so well..reminded him that he is the Dr.’s care but is in the Lord’s Hands.
Oh yea, he knew who I was. (of course I only was there at the Kennedy house everyday for about a year.)
Jeanette
June 25th, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
Thanks for the updates We are sure glad to here all is going well. I miss everyone. Grandma and Grandpa are here also and are glad to hear what’s happening. Chris get’s his rules right thing from Grandma I think. She just made me correct my spelling. Who ever sees this and goes in to see Chris say Hi for me….. pleae give our love and Grandpa and Grandma’s too. The weather is great. We will be going to some little islands starting tomorrow. Where we are part of building one of the two churches. We will cruise to the Blue lagoon to build a church in hOnor of Pastor Kama Waqa. We will check as often as we can… our love to everyone. momma, Grandma and Grandpa
June 25th, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
I went and saw Chris Sunday night.
He was doing well.
We got into the wheelchair, then him and Nina and I went to Starbucks. Chris had to go to the bathroom and we were bouncinging him up and down the pavement. We didn’t stay cause he really wanted to get back into this bed so he could go to the bathroom. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard him talking about walking around like he had at VGH. Maybe his head is clearing even more?
Love, Debbie
PS. Hi Jeanette, I’m so glad you were able to go see Chris. You are wonderful!
June 27th, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
Jyrki and I went to see Chris today. We were there about 4 hours. It was warm and sunny, and Chris wanted to be outside. He was already sitting in his wheelchair, so we went for a walk. Jyrki was pushing the wheelchair, and the next 2 hours, we walked around the hospital. There’s some little shops and coffee shops etc. just couple blocks away. We also found a christian bookstore, where we spent quite along time, just looking around. I offered to buy him a book, if he could find something that would intrest him, but he said that he probably cant yet consenrate on reading a book. But he just liked to look aroud something different than those hospital walls all the time. Isles at that store were so wide that we were able to go in with the wheelchair. He’s bad leg has to be straiht , he cant have it bended, so we needed more wider space to be able to move aroud, because his leg is sticking so far out of the chair. Then we went back to his room. I had brougt him a home cooked meal, some chicken wings and stuff, and he seemed to enjoy that. we had some good Tim Horton donuts for dessert, I enjoyed that a lot. Just after he finished eating, this horrable smell started to come from the next bed. There’s 3 other men in the same room. What ever that man leaked out, sure was smelling bad. Luckily Chris was still in his wheelchair, so that we could leave the room, and do it with speed. Chris said aloud, :That kind of smell could kill cattle. We tried to go back to the room in few minutes, but the smell was still so bad that we decided to go outside. So we went and sat close to the waterfalls on the hospital grounds. Even there, Chris was still thinking of that smell, and how good it was that it didnt happen during the night, when he was in bed, beside that man. Chris seems to be adaptig to this UBC hospital. Its not the nicest place to be. Lots of really old people, and lots of SMELLS… I just remembered a funny thing, when couple of days ago when we went to see him. He was looking at his arm, theres some metal pieces pushing his skin up, and when you touch it, you can feel the hard metal under the skin. He was thinking why that metal is under his skin, sometimes he still forgets what happened to his arm. So we told him again about the accident. Then he said that its actually really good thing to have that metal in my arm, because now I can hang notes to it with a magnet. Good thinking eh ? We pray fast healing for Chris. He’s been so brave with all the big changes around him and in his life. We love him so much. Marja