There's No Place Like Home

It's been awhile since I've posted and it's been awhile since the last post and as usual things are pretty hectic - but at least we're back in Austin. The most exciting happenin thing in the Schanbaum family is the recent graduation of my beautiful Roni from University of Texas at Austin. Roni graduated from the Communications School with a Degree in Advertising. We are all so proud of her - she has done a fabulous job. The School of Communications had their ceremony on Friday and then there was an all over UT graduation on Saturday night. If you have never been to one of those you must go next year. It's held out doors in front of the UT tower and all though there was almost a rain out it went on with total fanfare. The UT drum line march in the participating graduates as well as professors. The UT band played on stage while the UT choir sang to some unbelievable music. President Powers spoke with Director Robert Rodriquez as the commencement speaker - he was awesome, as well as '09 UT graduate (it took him a little longer to graduate because he entered UT many years ago but took time off). The ceremony concluded with the lighting of the tower with a huge 09 and an amazing fireworks display. Awesome!!!!! Go Roni!!!!!!! I am so proud of you and love you so much.

Well it's official we are out of the hospital and it only took 6 month and 17 days but as with all the other adventure this new one took a lot of work before we were to go home. So here are all the details:
1.Wheelchair - Who would of thought that a wheelchair had so many parts and details to consider. The angle of the seat, 70 or 90 degree angle of the front leg rest, where the wheel actually falls in relation to Jamie's torso. We have to decide where the back support of the chair will lay on her back - preferably mid back so she can turn, look back without obstruction. The brake system had to be well thought out since Jamie's hand are still not up to applying to much pressure on anything. An additional wheel is added with a series of 12 quad knobs that protrude about 2 inches to help Jamie push and stop. The chair is a titanium rigid frame and once the removable wheels (yes that can to done, too) are removed weighs less that 20 lbs. Arm rests, footrests, side quards, cushion and of course the all too important color - all these things are decision to be made. Oh and we need a loaner until we get our final chair. One final neat add on by Jamie (who by the way could care less about all the details) will be her front caster wheels - the light up while moving. As well as this wonderful new wheels for Jamie a few other necessary items were ordered and delivered by medical supply company so that Jamie's transition would and could be as comfortable as possible.
2. Wound Care - Well your looking at her - it's Nurse Patsy doing wound care - well almost.
Jamie does have a wound care office that she will go see on occasion The day of Jamie's release from hospital we went to meet our new friends. Very nice group and we will be seeing them about once a week till all things heal up. But hey, in reality I've seen it done so often that I feel like I could do it with my eyes shut - or maybe I should do it with eyes wide open. But when we did see wound care Dr Mailman suggested we see bone and joint specialist to see about that nasty knee problem which leads me to......
3. Austin Bone and Joint Clinic - We had an appointment with Dr. Malone Friday, 6/5 to see why and what could be done to help heal the wound on her right patella(I love that word - right knee cap to us lay people). Seems that a little calcification has set and keeps wound from healing. Dr. Malone recommended we do minor surgery - debriedment, thought we would never have to do that again. So surgery is scheduled for Thursday 6/4 and we have to be there at 5:am for surgery at 7am. Now I will only say this once but this is when been in a hospital may have it's advantage - we can just roll out of the hospital bed. But "there's no place like home" and so I had to get up at 4am - the hospital is literally less than a mile from home.
4. Hands - This will be 2 different pieces of information regarding her hands. On our last day at St. David's we had a very pleasant visit with our other new friend - a hand prosthetist. Seems that Hanger (Jamie's prosthetic company)Upper Limb Division just relocated to San Antonio from Anaheim, Ca. because of a huge contract with BAMMC and they are experts in their field. We are lucky beyond belief to have them on our team. He explained all the possibilities that are out there for Jamie's fingers, often referring to Pro-digits - Oh! yes and how expensive they are. But first things first we need to have hand surgeries. Dr. Boutros is back from his extensive visit to Vietnam and is anxious as well to start the surgeries. So this Tuesday we are taking a road trip to Houston (of what I know will be many more) to discuss surgery details. We hope to stick a visit in to Dr. Smith, as well.

This is getting long and wordy and I have alot more to tell you so I'm going to split it up and I promise (cross my heart) to post the continuation by tomorrow.
TTFN - Have a fabulous day