Finally Home In Trinidad

We finally made it back home to Trinidad on Friday. It was a longer drive home since we had to stop about every 50 miles so that David could get out and stretch to relieve some of the pressure on his legs and butt. It has been nice to be home again, sleeeping in our own bed.

On Saturday, I went with Elizabeth and Ben to Pueblo with the band from Trinidad High to participate in the State Fair Parade and Band shell performance. The kids did so well that they came ohome with 1st place in Division 1A-2A Marching bands and Best Drum Majors over all the divisions. It was a great day, but very hot, I am very sunburned on my face. All three of us are sore and tired, we had a hard time getting up this morning for church.

We all went to Church this morning and received a very warm welcome back. It was so great to see all our friends and Church family after the two weeks we were gone. I was so thrilled to listen to Rich during Sunday school and Brother Dave's sermon filled my soul.

This afternoon we just relaxed around the house. Tomorrow I must work then have to clean the house and get all the therapy aids set up for David in the bathroom. Life is slowly returning to normal as normal can be at this time.

Thank you all for continuing to pray for us during these difficult times. We will continue to pray for all of you and to post on our blogs to keep you up to date on the situation with David's job appeal and the next surgery.

God Bless you each and every day.

Moving Day for James

Today was another big day in our lives, James went off to college! He is now a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado. It took all day to get him moved in and settled but he is happy now. He ran into one of his friend's from Hinkley in his dorm just a couple of doors down. His roommate Ryan seems to be a great kid, they have a lot in common. Ryan's family seems to be really nice too. They live in Colorado Springs so on breaks from school the boys can share the ride home and the gas expense since James will go right by Ryan's home on the way to Trinidad.

The tough part was leaving him, but I actually got through it without any tears, I couldn't believe it myself. David rode up with me and we had a great time. He did very well navigating the stairs in the dorm on his crutches luckily James is only on the second floor.

I think the one thing that James likes about his dorm is that on his floor it is mostly girls. They had all the names of the students on their doors and from the looks of it, the ratio was 6 to 1 girls to boys. The boys were already looking for ways to get the girls attention. James has this chicken that does the chicken dance so he and Cedric were already going around asking the girls if they wanted to see the chicken dance? LOL! I guess they have to have some type of opening line! LOL!

God Bless you all! Goodnite!

Great News!

We are headed home to Trinidad!! David got his staples removed today and has been told he can put 50% weight on his left leg but must continue using the crutches. He must also continue the other restrictions to prevent any hip dislocation. We will be leaving this Saturday for Pueblo to watch our the Miner band in the State Fair parade then will travel the rest of the way home from there. We have enjoyed our time at Mom and Dad's but we are really excited about going home.

We did find out that his doctors are pushing for his next surgery date to be the end of September it will depend on the schedule for the entire department. Dr. Breaga, his surgeon, made a point of telling the scheduler that David has waited long enough for his surgeries and should not have to wait any longer and he wants the next one done 6 weeks from the first one.

Well thats all the news for now, will put more on here later when we get home. God Bless you all!!

Recovery so far

Well after almost a full week at home things are progressing very well for David. He is walking a bit more and has done so well with the home therapy that they are no longer coming out to see him. Linda, his therapist, told him on Friday that he has graduated to doing his therapy on his own. She feels confident enough to allow him to continue to do his exercises on his own which will allow us to travel home to Trinidad as soon as the doctors release him to do so.

Now all we have to hope for is the release from the doctors on the 22nd when he goes for the removal of the staples. We are also hoping for them to say that he can put more weight on his leg and that he can bend and twist more.

He and I took our first walk outside on Friday and he surprised me by walking further than I thought he would. Then today, I was to have a meeting with one of my bosses at a nearby restaurant, David asked if he could ride along. I agreed, afterall, he had not been in a car since he came home on Monday. So we carefully got him in the car and drove to the restaurant. We had a great time talking with Teresa and Shelly. We sat for three hours, after which David told me that he realized that was a bit much for him, he thinks his time limit should have been two hours. When we got back home he took his pain medication and went straight to bed. Live and learn.

Well there has not been much else to report as we are not doing much other than the therapy exercises and watching the incision heal. We are leading a pretty boring life right now, mostly watching game shows! We do hear from the kids everyday and did get a bit of good news from Beth the other day, she tried out on her piccolo for marching season and got the part for parades. She will be playing the piccolo in each parade that the band marches in including when they go to Washington, DC. We are so proud of her!

May God Bless each of you as He has blessed our lives! Take care until the next time we talk or write.

First 24 hours @ Home

Well our first 24 hours with David at Mom & Dad's is finally over. We have had a flurry of activity. Getting home yesterday was just the beginning. Getting him in the car was not so difficult but getting out was painful for him. Our car is definetly not designed for someone who cannot bend at the waist or bend their leg enough to get it out the door. We won't be taking very many trips anywhere except the doctor's office and then we will have to put him in the backseat.

Once we got him out of the car getting up the stairs in the house was a breeze. Then came the undaunting task of installing all the bathroom aids for him. The shower chair was easy and I have to say installing the toilet seat and handles wasn't too bad just a bit messy. Seems every bit of gunk that could build up on the bolts, did. So I spent part of the time cleaning the bolts and anchors before they were put back on the seat.

The afternoon was pretty uneventful, but the nighttime was a different story. Now most of you know I work online from 7 am to 11 am every morning so I am up at 6:30 am to prepare to start my shift. We went to bed at 10, but sometime about 12:30, David had to get up to go to the bathroom. I woke up and asked him if he needed help he said I don't think so, so I went back to sleep. At about 1 I heard him come back in the room, so I checked to see if he needed help, he said yes. I got up to find that he had some problems with timing and had been calling for me from the bathroom but I didn't hear him. Talk about feeling guilty! I got him back to bed and helped him get cleaned up then cleaned up things in the bathroom. From that point on about every hour I was awake to check on him, needless to say I had a had time at work in the morning.

Today, he slept most of the day which is good. I got done working and called to see about some paperwork that we believed had not been submitted in a timely fashion to the State Board of Personnel, well we are truly Blessed! They informed me that the Civil Rights Division that is investigating David's charge of discrimination in his termination, submitted the form for him on time. God does answer Prayer!!

Then this evening, Jenni and Tanya, my two youngest sisters, and their families came over to visit with us. They have not been able to get over or up to the hospital to see David since the surgery so they wanted to see him tonight. They all remarked how well he is doing. He seemed to enjoy sitting in the chair in the living room with all of us. He even got to hold our precious niece Emma for a bit, that is until she wiggled too much for him.

Once the pain got to be to much for him, I helped him back to bed which is where he is now. He will get his nighttime meds here in about an hour and will hopefully sleep all night as well as he did today. That is a big hope (prayer) on my part so I can sleep....LOL!

Hope all of you are Blessed and well. More to come! God Bless!!

Last Day in Hospital

David got out of the hospital today! We are now at my parent's home for the next few weeks until the doctors and therapists release him to travel home to Trinidad. The physical therapist will be coming to the house 3 times a week to continue the exercises they started in the hospital. We are so looking forward to his continued improvement. He is now walking with crutches and can get up stairs. We will continue our evening walks outside but now we will start to walk the neighborhood a little bit at a time.

He is scheduled to see the doctor again on August 22nd at which time they will let him know if he can put more weight on the leg and if we can travel home. Until then, if you need to reach us please contact us by email at zehrfamily@msn.com or call our cell phones if you have the number.

We Thank you very much for all your prayers and calls during this time, we are truly Blessed by all of you! We ask God to Bless each and everyone of you and your families. Until later....

Post Op Day 5

Sunday, the day of our Lord and Savior, was a quiet yet small eventful one for David and I. First, I was taken to lunch by one of my coaches from work, Teresa, and had the best three hours talking with her. We got so many things off our chests about things that happen at work and the funny situations, we laughed, griped, and laughed some more.

When I finally got to the hospital to take care of David, he had not been up at all to walk. So, after he ate dinner I watched him get up and start to walk to down the hall on his walker. I followed behind with the wheelchair so that if he got tired he would have a place to sit. I didn't expect him to walk very far only about the 20 or 30 feet to the nurse's desk but he kept going. He walked all the way to the elevators which is about 100 feet. Quite an accomplishment for someone who just had the left hip replaced. He is still taking baby steps and it took quite a bit of time for this short walk but he did so very well, I was so proud of him and told him so. Then we took our little stroll around the hospital in the wheelchair which we have done everyday. We just go out the side entrance and around to the front and back in but at least it gets him outside for a that short ride.

Well, time for bed, I need to work in the morning then have to go to downtown Denver to take some documents to the State Personnel Board for the appeal on his termination. I hate driving downtown and then I hate parking down there, but we have to get this done. Then it will be back to the hospital to walk and push him for our daily routine and see if he is coming "home" on Tuesday. God Bless you all!

Post Op Day 4

Not much to report today, Saturday is pretty slow at the Veteran's Hospital. It is a time for visits not much in the way of anything else. David did have therapy today but did not get any help with working on stairs with crutches, this will come on Monday.

Our friend, Karen, whom I know from high school, came by to visit and took me to lunch. We had a great time just yakking and laughing. Then before we went back to the hospital we ordered a great lunch with salad and dessert for David. He devored it when we got back with it, hospital food is so bland.

Then late in the afternoon, Elizabeth, Ben and Elizabeth's friend Justina, arrived to visit with us. The kids have really been missing their Dad and enjoyed the visit so much. David got up and walked with his walker for them a very short distance then we took him in the wheelchair for a stroll outside. When we came back in, we got ice cream out of the machines in the hospital lobby, it had to be 90 degrees outside.

We have made friends with one of the nurses, Stacy, she was talking with all of us this afternoon. We got on the topic of myspace and she mentioned she has a myspace account. She then said "hey let's be friends", I came home, searched for her, and added her to my friends list. When David gets home and feels up to getting on the computer, he will add her to his list.
As you can see things are going rather well, a bit slow, but well none the less. That's all for now, more later if there is anything to report. God Bless you all!

Post Op Day 3

Today was David's first really big therapy session. He and I walked down (he was in the wheelchair) to physical therapy for a two hour session. He started by having his leg length checked, seems with the new hip on the left side and the right side still in bad shape that the right side is 1/2 inch shorter now. They have placed a wedge in his shoes for now but with have an insert made for him to move from shoe to shoe when he's home. Then he walked with only 50 lbs of pressure on the left leg using the parallel bars. The therapist, Nancy, was pleased that he was able to make two trips up and back on the bars before he got to tired to do anymore. Then it was over to the table for exercises to strengthen the leg muscles. They are trying to strengthen the left leg and maintain some of the strength in the right leg. There is not much range of motion in the right leg but with these exercises now he should fly through the next surgery and therapy. As expected it was very slow going and very painful, he was thanking God for the pain medication he was given right before he went downstairs to therapy. He worked hard and the sweat on his brow and wet head were good indications of his efforts. He is pushing some as he wants to be back up and walking as quickly as he can but he says he will not push it too far as he does not want to mess anything up. One really good thing he did today was to get himself out of bed and back into bed without any help at all. This is a major accomplishment as he cannot bend at the waist more than 90 degrees and he cannot bend his left leg at all as he gets in and out of bed. He can only use the right leg to help push himself forward or backward and then he can't lift his legs together without a lot of strain. Once he gets mostly on the bed, I can help with the lifting of the legs but it is dead weight and amazing how heavy they are. Then to scoot up toward the top of the bed is a chore too, he is gaining so much upper body strength.

We got to walk around the hospital again today and he loved feeling the sunshine on his face. Then we went to the little store in the basement and got him some snacks. He says there is just not enough food on his trays...LOL! Well that's about it for now, more tomorrow if anything exciting happens. Please check out the photos of him on my profile, thought you might like to see how he looks and the kids want to see their dad, this is the best way to communicate that.

Post Op Day 2

Well it is day 2 post op, today he had physical therapy and occupational therapy. The physical therapy helps him to learn to walk, sit and stand all over again. Occupational therapy teaches him how to do the most common of everyday tasks such as putting on his pants and socks. Since he cannot bend at the waist more than 90 degrees he can't get up from a chair without scooting forward to the edge with his left leg straight then he has to push up with his arms and hold on to his walker. Then he takes baby steps to make turns and to walk all the while only applying 25% of his body weight to the left leg. He has to be helped back into bed as he can't lift his legs at all. When he gets home he will still be restricted from bending or crossing his legs so he will have these nice little lifters and grabbers to assit with the everyday things. He was trying to learn to use them today but got very tired and had to rest. It is hard work putting your socks on with a sock helper that has ropes on it and you have to creep your toes into the toe of the sock then pull the helper out as it pulls the sock up. He will also have bath aids such a special chair to get in and out of the tub and a hand held shower sprayer. They also told him that he can pick the date of his next surgery on the right hip. He can tell them when he feels like he is walking good enough on this one for them to do the next one. He thinks that will be about 6 weeks and they told him they think that sounds about right. He will probably make that decision when they take the staples out of the incision in two weeks.

I have to tell you what he has been saying about his nurses. "I haven't had an ugly one yet!" I have to watch him every minute I am up there with him, he is such a flirt...LOL! Today, two of the nursing students were giving him a sponge bath and he was flirting with them the whole time. Luckily I was sitting right beside the bed...kept him inline the whole time...LOL!! No really he has great nurses caring for him and both of us are very grateful for them.

Post Op Day 1

Well today was a big day for David and I, he took his first tentative steps. Although he can only put 25% of his weight on his leg at this time and most of the weight must be taken up by the arms he did really well. I will post some pictures of him taking these first steps as well as one of him sitting up in the wheelchair for the first time, later so that all of you can see how he is progressing. We decided to take some photos so that the kids could see their Dad's progress since they are still at home in Trinidad and only able to talk with him by phone.

Surgery is over

Well surgery is over and David is doing very well. He's been placed in the SICU for the next 3 days as they let him choose a spinal block over general anasthesia and their requirement is 3 days in SICU. He has a wedge between his legs so that he does not move his legs at all until they get him up tomorrow to walk a short distance. He is not happy that he has to lay flat on his back but he's very happy that for tonight he will probably feel no pain what so ever as it takes about 20 hours for the block to wear off completely. They have placed him a pain pump which he will begin using once the block wears off. He was getting some ice chips when I left this evening, his voice was very hoarse. The surgery took about 4 1/2 hours due to the fact that they had to replace the entire hip joint. They had planned on just replacing the femural head and not the socket but when they got in there they found it to be and I quote the doctor on this...."the worst they have seen in many years". He has been told that he will be on crutches for several weeks but will be able to drive again in two weeks. He starts therapy tomorrow when they get him up for the first time. We won't be able to even think of going home until the staples come out in two weeks. For now, he will take it slow and easy but is anxious to get the therapy started and return to a more normal walking gate as soon as possible. I will keep you all posted if anything changes and I hope to take some photos of him in therapy and his lovely hospital gown so you can all see how well he's doing.

This is just the beginning, I will update as often as I can and as often as there is something to say. God Bless you all!

Our Family Blog

In order to keep you all up to date on the Zehr Family here in Colorado...I have created this blog. I will try to keep it light and lively and I will try to get David and the kids to post when they feel up to doing so.

At this time my main reason for creating this is to keep everyone up to date on David's progress after his total hip replacement surgery on August 7, 2007. I have been posting blog messages on my myspace page but not everyone has access to it so this seemed to the best way to keep you up to date. Also, we will keep you posted on the progress of the appeal of his job termination that came on June 30, 2007. We believe it was unjust due to his medical condition and filed charges with the Civil Rights Commision for Discrimination. This is be a long drawn out fight but hopefully with lots of prayer one that we will win.

James will be leaving for the University of Northern Colorado on August 22 to start his education in Nursing. Hopefully by the time he completes the first semester of his sophomore year next year, he will be accepted into Nursing school. Beth and Ben are in the band at Trinidad High and will be going with the band to Washington, DC on July 4, 2008 to march in the National Fourth of July parade if all goes well in the fundraising department.

For now I will close this and post copies of the blogs from myspace on here for your reading pleasure to update you on David's progress. Please keep in touch when you can. God Bless you all!!