26 April 2007: Home!!
I visited Mike today at the Haaser Compound in Valley View!! It was so great to see him out of the hospital and at his mother's. When I arrived, Mike's brothers Jim and Carl were there as well as his sister Marsha (who lives upstairs), his nephew Judd (who brought pizza!!), and his niece Becky and her daughter Makenna (Becky and her husband and three children live downstairs). And of course his Mom, Irma, aka "GiGi" (short for "great grandma"--she told me she has 27 great grandchildren with two on the way!!).
(Mike's sister Kathy and her husband Ed live in a separate house on the property. You can't really describe the Haaser Compound, you have to experience it.)
Anyone who has experienced Haaser hospitality at Hess Lake or Baltimore or wherever....Valley View is where it all originated. You go there and feel like you're embraced in one big warm hug. A GREAT place to convalesce. And now Bonnie G and Erin and Ruthie can come and visit and it will be so much nicer at Irma's.
GiGi's place really is "tricked out" (as Erin would say). Mike's room has a hospital bed and furniture arranged to best meet his needs. The bathroom has been adapted for him (grab bars in shower, shower seat, handheld shower head.....). They have a therapy table for him to do his exercises on. Irma has a "chair elevator (chairevator)" which will get Mike up and down the stairs that lead from the outside up to her place.
After lunch I coached Mike while he did his PT on the therapy table. I had to keep count because he was busy interjecting his comments in the family "discussion" going on at the kitchen table (some things never change....). It was determined that the table was a little too high for Mike to easily get down from so Jim cut six inches off each leg. He considered leaving one of the legs the same, but figured Mike would have noticed that, ha.
Mike sat in his wheelchair for a while, then he sat in a recliner for a while, but then got tired and wanted to go take a nap around 4:30. Erin called as he was getting settled in, and his face lit up when I handed him the phone, and told him who was on the other end.
Marsha and Jim both are constantly looking for better ways to do things and it's always fun to watch the Haaser "can do" attitude. I think Marsha plans to post and maybe talk about the fun stuff (Mike in Queen Plus pantyhose??) she's been up to, and the medical issues being addressed.
I don't think it's easy to truly understand the extent of Mike's wound or how important the nursing expertise in the Haaser family has been in allowing Mike to come home instead of to a nursing home or subacute care facility as he heals. It sounds like Marsha and Phyllis are way ahead of the in home nursing because they have been so well trained on dressing Mike's wound and this is not the garden variety wound visiting nurses usually see.
Mike seems happy and certainly in very capable hands. Marsha wants him to have some "tummy time" on his exercise table so he's not on his backside too much. So his plan is to eventually get his laptop set up on a little table so he can "work" and maybe even post something to this blog. Hopefully we will hear from the man himself very soon!!
Incredible, amazing progress.
(Mike's sister Kathy and her husband Ed live in a separate house on the property. You can't really describe the Haaser Compound, you have to experience it.)
Anyone who has experienced Haaser hospitality at Hess Lake or Baltimore or wherever....Valley View is where it all originated. You go there and feel like you're embraced in one big warm hug. A GREAT place to convalesce. And now Bonnie G and Erin and Ruthie can come and visit and it will be so much nicer at Irma's.
GiGi's place really is "tricked out" (as Erin would say). Mike's room has a hospital bed and furniture arranged to best meet his needs. The bathroom has been adapted for him (grab bars in shower, shower seat, handheld shower head.....). They have a therapy table for him to do his exercises on. Irma has a "chair elevator (chairevator)" which will get Mike up and down the stairs that lead from the outside up to her place.
After lunch I coached Mike while he did his PT on the therapy table. I had to keep count because he was busy interjecting his comments in the family "discussion" going on at the kitchen table (some things never change....). It was determined that the table was a little too high for Mike to easily get down from so Jim cut six inches off each leg. He considered leaving one of the legs the same, but figured Mike would have noticed that, ha.
Mike sat in his wheelchair for a while, then he sat in a recliner for a while, but then got tired and wanted to go take a nap around 4:30. Erin called as he was getting settled in, and his face lit up when I handed him the phone, and told him who was on the other end.
Marsha and Jim both are constantly looking for better ways to do things and it's always fun to watch the Haaser "can do" attitude. I think Marsha plans to post and maybe talk about the fun stuff (Mike in Queen Plus pantyhose??) she's been up to, and the medical issues being addressed.
I don't think it's easy to truly understand the extent of Mike's wound or how important the nursing expertise in the Haaser family has been in allowing Mike to come home instead of to a nursing home or subacute care facility as he heals. It sounds like Marsha and Phyllis are way ahead of the in home nursing because they have been so well trained on dressing Mike's wound and this is not the garden variety wound visiting nurses usually see.
Mike seems happy and certainly in very capable hands. Marsha wants him to have some "tummy time" on his exercise table so he's not on his backside too much. So his plan is to eventually get his laptop set up on a little table so he can "work" and maybe even post something to this blog. Hopefully we will hear from the man himself very soon!!
Incredible, amazing progress.
noel wrote: