I rushed to make Jenn scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast while in a meeting, trying to get everything done before she tried getting out of bed herself. Instead of sausage patties, I accidentally grabbed chicken nuggets and didn’t realize it until after they were cooked. When she sat down to it, she looked at it for a minute and then asked, “Which did you make first?” “Sorry Jenn,” I said, “I guess we still don’t know which came first: the chicken or the egg.” Her response, “Oh well, maybe next time we’ll know.”
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Short-form blogging on WordPress, a new feature just introduced
I really love this feature, so posting in case it’s of interest to others. It’s another way to use WordPress especially if you’re looking to produce content that falls somewhere between a long-form blog post and a short-form social media type post.
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Welcome to Golden Valley and the Regency Hospital
Jenn has been receiving fantastic care at the Mayo Clinic, but it’s always been clear that she can’t stay there forever. As such, I have been working with Mayo’s awesome social workers and care team to try and figure out the best next steps to support Jenn’s recovery. Ideally Jenn would be sent to a Long Term Acute Care hospital (LTACH) hospital which provides, well, long term acute care until such time as a patient is able to transition to a rehab setting. Because of her tracheostomy and feeding tube, Jenn can’t yet fully participate in a rehap program because she still has complex medical needs. Minnesota has two hospitals that are designated as LTACH facilities and fortunately, both of them are closer to home. Unfortunately, there are only the two — the entire state has only the two — and so the thought was that we would get her on the wait list and figure out some sort of hopefully short-term solution to bridge the gap. And so it came to pass that on Wednesday, referrals were made and I sat back waiting to hear what that timing might possibly look like. Imagine my surprise when I heard back a few hours later that one of the LTACH facilities, Regency Hospital in Golden Valley, actually had space available and could take her the following day, Thursday.
I was very nervous about how Jenn would handle being transported from one facility to the other, especially as the facilities are an hour and a half apart. We have been working hard to keep Jenn off any sort of sedation medication, and the nurse at Mayo wouldn’t let me have any either. And so it was with a bit of trepidation that two medics and a respiratory therapist, along with all their associated medical stuff, Jenn, a driver, and myself, loaded up into an ambulance for what I figured would be a challenging journey. While I tried to anticipate everything that might go wrong, Jenn fell asleep within the first five minutes and slept peacefully almost the entire way, probably preferring the relative quiet of the ambulance to the noisier hospital environment.
I’d love to say that things have only continued to improve, however, we unfortunately had a very rough start. While this seems inconceivable to me in the digital age, a lot of Jenn’s medical info apparently didn’t transfer with her which has led to a number of miscommunication, false assumptions, and, from my perspective, safety concerns. Add to that the challenges of going into a weekend — hospitals tend to staff differently over the weekend — and it’s been a challenging beginning. That said, the team has worked hard to try and reestablish normalcy in Jenn’s program, at least until we are able to come up with a more formalized care plan.
Where do we go from here? On Monday, we will come up with a more solid plan of care with the goal of getting Jenn ready for more intensive rehab therapies. In order to get there, the focus will be on doing whatever’s needed to eliminate the need for her trake and feeding tube while providing her with occupational, physical, and speech therapies in a way that cannot be done in a critical care setting. That’s the plan in extremely broad strokes, I should have more specifics after the weekend.
As I write this, Jenn is eating cinnamon applesauce and she can’t get enough of it. The funny part about this is that she used to hate cinnamon applesauce, in fact I wound up eating most of a jar of it that we once got by mistake because, as she put it at the time, “There’s no way I’m gonna eat that nasty stuff.” It’s a great start and we’re slowly trying other foods with her, but until she can consume enough calories by mouth, she needs to keep her feeding tube in place which, since it’s not comfortable, is a real challenge. While still at Mayo, she was already “liberated” from her feeding tube once which is a fancy medical way of saying, “the tube fell out.” The process of getting it placed again is one that I hope to never ever have to witness again.
Hopefully I will have more to report soon. Jenn’s road to recovery will be long, but we continue to travel it one step at a time.
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Just a quick test to see if I have social connections working 
This is just a quick test to see if I have social connections properly working again, somehow they broke with my last post. 
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An update on Jenn
These past few weeks — it’s hard to believe that it actually has been weeks — have been filled with many highs and many lows. On the plus side, I’m happy to report that Jenn has regained consciousness. While she has had a Tracheostomy to help get her off the ventilator, she is now breathing on her own. Last Friday, she got a shiny new (hopefully more reliable) implanted defibrillator. With the help of physical and occupational therapy, she has been able to sit up in a chair for short amounts of time. And finally, earlier today, she passed a swallow test meaning that they are reliably sure that she can swallow safely, hopefully she will soon be able to eat rather than being dependent on her feeding tube. This is incredible progress, especially given that most of it has been made over the past week.
Unfortunately, not all has been smooth sailing. Because her brain did not get oxygen for a long time, the extent of injury to her brain is constantly being evaluated. As things stand, she is able to answer very simple yes/no questions by shaking her head. In addition, she is able to say a few words, however, most of her speech is impossible to understand. She has rediscovered how to grab and pick up objects, however she cannot yet get her hands to reliably work together to accomplish something. As of now, she has not shown any interest in trying to communicate through writing or drawing. Our hope is that with time and the right supports, she will be able to retrain her brain to better accomplish these things, but it will definitely take time and a lot of support.
I want to again thank everyone for the incredible outpouring of food, love, and financial support. your generosity has truly been a lifeline as we work to navigate this complex situation. Jenn is still on the critical care unit, but we are hoping she will soon be stable enough to move to a less critical area of the hospital. We’re not exactly sure yet what that area might be, but as soon as we know, we will be sure to update you. For now, we are just taking things day by day, celebrating the accomplishments and doing our best to face whatever challenges come our way.
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Particularly grateful this Thanksgiving
I’m writing this on the first Thanksgiving in 29 years that I am not celebrating with my wife, Jenn. For those who are unaware, Jenn experienced what medical folks refer to as a “cardiac event” on 11/14 and has not yet regained consciousness. My intention was to be with her at the hospital today, but limited shuttle service and increased rideshare pricing makes that impractical. And so I spent time today feeling like I have somehow failed when the reality is that I’m trying my very best to deal with a very complicated situation.
After melting down for a bit, I took a deep breath and realized that while we won’t be spending Thanksgiving together, we have a lot to be very thankful for and isn’t that kind of the point of Thanksgiving anyway? Over the past two weeks, we’ve had an incredible outpouring of generosity, love, and support from family, friends, people I never knew even considered me a friend, folks I haven’t heard from in years, co-workers, even random strangers that have just taken a second to do a small thing which, at times like this, actually matters more than they will ever know. We are fortunate enough to be the recipients of an awesome Meal Train which has continued to help with on-going meals and donations, extremely helpful as we try and navigate this crisis day by day.
While I may be sad that Jenn and I are not spending our 29TH Thanksgiving together, I’m extremely grateful for the previous 28. I’m also very grateful for the medical staff who are providing Jenn with exceptional care, especially since I realize they’re not going to get to spend Thanksgiving with their friends or loved ones either. I’m grateful for all those who have reached out in whatever way they have. And of course I’m grateful to anyone who takes the time to read these words and perhaps reflect a bit on all the things for which they might be thankful today.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the rest of the day. I’ve gotten lots of kind offers to spend Thanksgiving with people and while I do love turkey and a good piece of pie, I also have a mountain of laundry that has to get done, mail and Emails that need to get sorted, bills that need to get paid, and puppies that are confused and just want attention. I know Jenn is in great hands right now, so while many have suggested that I shouldn’t be alone today for the holiday, I think it’s maybe not as bad as it felt earlier. After all, rather than being sad, maybe it’s OK for me to just be grateful that I can have a day of down time, a day away from the hospital, a day to melt down a little, regroup, and prepare for the days ahead.
I want to close this entry by wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving. Whether you spend it with friends, family, strangers, or even just yourself, I hope that you are able to take a moment to reflect on all the things for which you are grateful. And if you are enjoying some turkey or a piece of pie (especially pumpkin pie), think of us and just know that I am very grateful for the thought.
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Some lovely live piano music to bring a smile, take 2
I’ve spent way too much time at the hospital recently as my wife has been dealing with cardiac issues. One neat thing about this particular hospital though, is that they have someone who plays live piano music. Whether I’m nervous, scared, or just waiting, the live music never fails to bring me a little bit of joy. And so I thought I might record some of that music and share what I hope is at least a little joy with all of you. Apologies that this recording isn’t the best, but it’s the best I could do from my phone.
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A quick comparison and test of recording with both the Zoom H1E and Roland CS-10EM
Recently, I discovered the Roland CS-10EM, a binaural headset that can be used with a variety of recorders. I thought I’d give this a try because my previous binaural solution was reliant on equipment that is no longer being made. I received the CS-10EM just the other day, but, until yesterday, hadn’t really had the opportunity to test it. Last night though, while out having pizza with a friend, I realized that I had the perfect opportunity.
For anyone who has not experienced binaural audio, it’s best listened to through headphones. Binaural recording is a way of capturing audio in the way that a person would actually hear the audio meaning that spacially, sound can be heard in all directions, not just from the left and right like typical stereo. In the audio that follows, I record with the Zoom H1e, a fantastic stereo recorder in its own right, and also the Roland CS-10Em to make it possible to hear the difference. I should note that in the interest of keeping things simple, I have not edited the recording in any way. One thing you may notice is that when I switch over to the Roland, it’s actually easier to hear people at other tables than it is to hear me. This is because with binaural recording, the person making the recording is sort of in the center of everything and so from that perspective, sound coming from other directions is easier to capture.
I hope you enjoy. Also, a big shoutout and thank-you to Randi for letting me use some of our pizza time to geek out with some audio equipment.
