We're Finally Here!

Mike arrived at the Physical Rehab Center at Kaiser In Vallejo on Wednesday 6/20 around noon time. We got settled into our room and started meeting many doctors and nurses. They said this would be his day of rest to prepare for a full schedule starting on Thursday. We got settled into our room and he slept most of the day. I have been offered a place to stay from a lady in the Vallejo 1st ward. Her name is Carina and she has a 14 year old daughter. They are really nice and have offered me a bed each night. (saving me allot of money on a hotel room)

Thursday morning I got to the hospital by 7am to get Mike ready for his day. His first appointment was with his OTP (occupational therapist). By 9:00 we had met another doctor, his Neurophsycologist. After talking for about 20 minutes he asked to speak with me in his office to get more information about Mike before the accident. Mike's nurse came in and let me know she wold be getting Mike to Physical Therapy (PT) so I could meet with the doctor. Well after meeting with the doctor for about 20 minutes I headed back down the hall to the gym where Mike was. About half way there I heard over the load speaker "CODE BLUE, 3RD FLOOR, PHYSICAL THERAPY". I walked a little fast and when I got to the gym there was about 15 doctor, nurses and therapist around Mike. He had fainted before his therapy had even began. They got him onto a bed and back to his room and for the next hour had nurses buzzing around him running all sorts of test. Everything came back negative (this is good) and his doctor and I came to the conclusion that because Mike has lost so much weight and is hardly eating anything, he doesn't even have the energy to sit for more than 10 minutes without becoming faint. She let me know that if we can't get him to eat more he'll be bumped off the Rehab floor and back to a medical floor. I immediately talked to Mike and decided he would have to eat something every two hours whether he wanted it or not to try and get his energy up to sustain his activities, this was the only way he would get strong enough to get home to the kids. They put all of his therapy on hold for the rest of the day. He got his cast changed and they continued to run more test just to make sure everything was okay. I went to a local restaurant and got Mike some real food and he was able to eat and drink much more now that he knows it's his only was of getting his energy back.

Today (Friday) I've had better luck in getting him to eat more. They are only allowing him to do in bed therapy to make sure they aren't pushing him too fast. I've been able to run out and get a few things at the store and probably from tonight on I will be staying with Mike at the hospital. The nurses brought in a bed for me and I'm now allowed to use the shower in his room. They, we all agreed that me being there, getting him to eat and slowly get up more during the day is the fastest way to get him home. All of his nurses and doctors are so nice and this facility is much nicer than a regular hospital.

Mike still misses the kids, so I've put a calendar on the wall with important dates, like when the kids are returning and the day his cast will come off to help remind him it's really not that far away. We have access to a computer with Internet in the dining hall and will be getting Mike up to it starting on Monday so he can receive emails. He / I would love to have him read emails from anyone who would like to send a word of encouragement and of well wishes. His email address is: rpmlarsen@msn.com