Jessie.s Wedding

As mentioned earlier, I got home about 4 PM on that Friday from the rehab hospital, so we had very little time to get to Silver Spring country club for the rehearsal. We did make it in time, and that is when I told my daughter that I would be able to walk her down the aisle. It was nice to see family and friends after being stuck in the hospital for three weeks. As usual, for rehearsal and dinner, it was very casual and lots of laughter. The wedding was on the rooftop and fortunately for me, I only had talked about 50 feet. After the rehearsal, we headed back south to our future in-laws for a Hawaiin Luau. Fortunately, they'll live a half a mile from us, so it was time to go home we would not be far from home.

Early the next morning, the entire female wedding party was at our house for hair, makeup and breakfast. I got some help from family members getting into that tuxedo, which is a real pain because of the paralysis. It was very uncomfortable, plus not conducive for quick bathroom breaks. And not only that it was very hot.

On the way to the wedding there was a major car accident, which backed up traffic for over two hours. Fortunately for me my chauffeur knew a different route, and we were the only ones who arrived on time. Most of the people were an hour or more later with my mom and sister taking last-place, so we had to wait for them.

Fortunately, it was a very short wedding, actually a little shorter than they planned. They had a friend do this ceremony and he was so nervous that he forgot about half of the wedding stuff. So the wedding lasted about 10 minutes. About five of those minutes involved me walking down the aisle. It was probably the most emotional time of my life as I cried all the way down the aisle. I was okay after that, it is just that a father should walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day, and I was not going to let anything stop me. I did have my fly open on my tuxedo as I walked down the aisle, strictly for bathroom reasons.

My wife volunteered to do the father of the bride speech for me, because I know I would not have been able to do it with all the emotion and my voice that kept disappearing. For someone who never spoke in front of a crowd before, she did wonderful. It was entertaining and she looked very comfortable doing it. She never ceases to amaze me. Lisa's speech was a combination of slide show and Lisa's sense of humor, which was hilarious.

Considering my condition, I was able to stand for photos and dance in a wheelchair along with getting to meet a lot of people. The music was good, the food was good, there were a lot of people dancing and no one got cheated at the bar. The night seemed like it was going fast, because I was dancing and mingling with the guests, though I thought it was close to midnight, it was only about 10 PM and I was getting pretty tired. I tried to make it to midnight, but I was beat and it was very hard setting in a wheelchair for that long of time, and my butt was getting pretty sore. Plus my pants kept falling off especially when I was trying to transfer into the car, which was pretty funny. We had some friends follow us nome to make sure that they could get me into the house.

The next day, was gift opening at the in-laws place, which concluded a very busy weekend for us. Despite everything it was a great time and we got a lot of complements on how nice a wedding and was and how everyone was having a good time. I made the best of it and wanted to make sure that the focus was on my daughter and not myself.

pogo

life in a rehab hospital

Waukesha Rehab Hospital came highly recommended for my situation. It is a brand-new facility, but being in Waukesha, it was anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to get there, depending on traffic. As mentioned earlier, I got there late at night on Saturday, but they did give me some food and then I hit the hay. On Sunday, one of the therapist checked me out and determined that my muscles and nerves on the left side were functioning and that we should get things back to normal. It is just a matter of time and letting the nerves find a new path to the muscles through a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy, plus a lot of hard work at home. the whole purpose for the rehab hospital is to get you out as soon as possible and get home so you can function properly at home, which is just the beginning of the journey. Like any hospital, you are a prisoner there,not being able to leave the building and dependent on the nurses and aides. During the week they would schedule two physiotherapy's and two occupational therapies plus one speech therapy session per day. They were all approximately 45 minutes long. So the weeks went by really fast. Unfortunately, on weekends they only had one therapy session for the whole weekend, which made for long weekends. The therapies is what I really look forward to because I was actually doing something. Otherwise, you're just lying in bed and watching TV, which for me is quite boring. Most of the people working there were really nice and of course we have our favorites but the communication and response time when you paged for the nurses was extremely poor. Since I was supposed to be helped for transferring, I always had to ring for the nurse and sometimes it would be over an hour before someone showed up. When dealing with bathroom issues, that is an eternity. I am also an early riser, but they wouldn't come in for several hours later to get me out of bed. An example of poor communication, I told them about the swelling in my left ankle on Monday morning and then the following Friday, they send me to a hospital for an ultrasound to see what was the cause. And that was Friday night about 10 PM. Besides those minor inconveniences, it wasn't that bad. The food was really good and since I had an unrestricted diet, I could eat pretty much what I wanted, they just wanted to make sure that I got lots of protein. Every morning I have my bacon, cheese, and ham omelette,along with my oatmeal, a variety of fruit and every once in a while some pastry. The lunches and dinners were always good, but if you didn't like anything on the menu they could grill you up something. All of the therapist were really nice and like a mentioned above, the therapies is what I really looked forward to. It is amazing how the simple things in life, like walking, become a challenge. The physical and mental part of trying to learn how to walk again can be very tiring. Thank goodness, I was in such good shape to begin with, which did help a lot as far as learning how to walk. You have to think about every little detail, where to position your hips, making sure you lock your knees before taking a step among other things. If you forget to do one of them, then chances are you'll be lying on the floor. There's a lot of exercise involved to strengthen the right side because the right side has to compensate for the left side. The physiotherapist basically works on the waist down while the occupational therapist works from the waist up, plus teach you how to get dressed, shower, and typical daily things. it was great to have family visitors but at the same time it was still very emotional for me. With my daughter's wedding coming up and missing my grandson starting to walk, I felt like I was missing out on quite a few things which again would cause me to cry. When I got to the rehab center, I had three weeks before my daughter's wedding and after one week there my goal was to make sure that I could walk my daughter down the aisle for her wedding, even though the people at the rehab clinic said I would probably have to do it in the wheelchair. Two days before my release, we had two therapists come to our home to determine what I have to do to get our house ready. My release date was the day before the wedding so it made for quite the weekend. The wedding and the timing of my release made for quite a hectic weekend. They didn't deliver my bed which is in the living room until 4PM that Friday, along with the wheelchair. Then I had to be at the rehearsal dinner by 6 PM, which was over a half hour away. So between getting home and getting ready for the wedding there was very little time, which added a little stress to the weekend. But we survived.

pogo

Road trip with the Farkel Family

We wanted to get home as soon as possible. Air transportation was expensive, plus I could not travel, being paralyzed on the left side. So the plan was to take ground transportation. On Friday, my wife checked with the social worker and was able to get information on getting us ground transportation back to Milwaukee. Again, this is where my wife came through. When the social workers contacted the transportation company, they said that we could not get out till Monday. My wife said that there was no way that we were staying here the weekend and was persistence in getting a hold of this company even though no one was answering the phone until she got them to commit to leaving Saturday morning. My wife also made the connections with a rehab center in Waukesha and made sure that there would be a bed available and they knew when to expect me. She also took care of the payment for the transportation among other things.
The next morning this large vehicle comes rolling in. It was huge, the front half was like one of those there RV,s and the back half was like an ambulance. So my wife and I were in the back part in a queen size hospital bed with one foot square windows on each side for our viewing pleasure. The front half was like a regular RV that included a full kitchen, table, bathroom, etc., which I never got to see. Now they were three people that came along, one was a nurse, one was the main driver, and one was the fix-it man, who also did some driving. This part is hard to believe, but they did have a GPS system which would seem hard to believe after I describe what happens next. Oh by the way, we find out these people were from Tennessee, very nice people, but very laid back. So how does one get lost going from Cleveland to Milwaukee with an interstate system and a GPS system in the vehicle. After about two hours, I don't think we went more than 30 miles and from what we could tell looking out our tiny windows knew something was wrong. For some reason, they were on these dead-end country roads and there were numerous times when we were stopped for 5 to 10 minutes and then tried to make a U-turn and this happened several times. Not only that, but it was an extremely bumpy ride in the back which the nurse jokingly explained that it was good for therapy because all the jostling would help wake up the nerve's. I think part of problem of being lost was that they were looking for this special truckstop for their lunch. And when they finally found this place, it was an all you can eat buffet and they loaded up for lunch and dinner. My wife went in and tried to get me something that she recognized that I might like. We ate our food and then sat there for another hour and a half while the Farkel family took their time eating their lunch. It was getting close to mid afternoon and we still were not too far from Cleveland. Eventually we started making good time and after a few more wrong turns when we got to Waukesha to the rehab hospital, our journey had ended late Saturday evening. The Farkel family didn't even want to leave when they got to the rehab hospital. So needless to say, this was a very long day. It was kind of funny at the time, but a lot more funny now. It was an experience that I will never forget and also never want to go through again.

POGO

The Cleveland Experince

I flew to Cleveland on a Tuesday by myself, not expecting any problems, based on my conversations with the people d0ing the study. I stayed in the downtown area which was a very nice place. The architecture and downtown area reminds me a lot of Milwaukee, plus they are also right along the lake. I spent Tuesday cruising the downtown area where they have all their professional sports teams stadiums which includes football, baseball, and basketball. This was during the NBA playoffs and baseball was in full swing, so it was a pretty active area. The next day, I took a bus and visited some museums. Little did I know, that these are the last two days that I would be able to walk around and do the things that everybody takes for granted. On the day before the surgery I went in for testing, and was told that I was in excellent health physically and mentally and that you are a good candidate for this new conservative procedure. Unfortunately, that is where the good part of the story ends. After going under for the surgery the next thing I remember is waking up in ICU with no movement on my left side. The neurosurgeon didn't seem overly concerned, but then again it was my left side and not his. I cannot recall a worse feeling than having someone lift your arm and just have it fall by your side. Also,not being able to move your toes. It is a very helpless feeling and very frustrating especiallywhen you're so used to being very active. And of course,there was only one of 30 people who went though the study that ended up with paralysis and I was the unlucky one. This was also a very emotional time for me, which is something new. I would just break down and start crying several times a day. Some of this was from my present condition, but most of it was when I was talking to family. My wife, who has become become' the rock', flew out within a day to be with me, which really helped. It is amazing how strong she has become and how she doesn't take no for an answer. I could not ask for a better partner and when I'm all better, we are really going to enjoy life together. While there, she was constantly on the phone with social workers, doctors, and nurses, to make sure that everything was being taken care of and like I said before, she refused to take no for an answer. If not for her, I would probably still be in Cleveland.
POGO

he is still alive and kicking

Just a short note to let everyone know that I am back to blogging my microphone had malfunctioned and now I got this really big one which actually works. So I got a lot catching up to do.In my last blog, I mentioned that I qualified for a study which was a new technique to treat the type of brain cancer I had. There were two tumors left and thet opted to go after the largest one.Being in excellent shape,they had little concerns and scheduled surgery for Thursday and expected me to head back on that Saturday and be able to play tennis by Monday. But unfortunately there was a complication. I developed paralysis on my entire left side, which was supposed to be less than 5% risk, and of course I was the only one in the study who developed paralysis.they say that everything should get back to normal, but it will take a lot of rehab. So that's why you haven't heard from me for awhile .They should be coming back a little more regularly now. Talk to you soon.

POGO

Need Your Help!

Greetings from Pogo's daughter Jessie. We are holding a fundraiser for Pogo on Sunday September 20, 2009 at The Root River Center.
7220 W Rawson Ave
Franklin, WI 53132
From 1:00-6:00
Silent Auction
Raffle
Open Bowling & More!

If you cannot attend this event and wish to make a donation to the family, please copy & paste the link below. It will take you to paypal where you can make a donation in any amount.
Thank you for your continued love & support!



https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=AMJRLXA5MPSUS&lc=US&item_name=Rich%20%22Pogo%22%20Poglitsch%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

Bad news becomes great news

As you recall from my previous blog, I had mentioned how wonderful the brain tumor was doing, which I would say was pretty bad news. I had also mentioned that I got a surprise e-mail last Monday, in which I was holding out on everybody just in case it fell through. Well, as you might have guessed by the title, something really good has happened. When I first found out about my condition in early February, I had gotten several e-mails from people who saw a new treatment on one of those CBS health channels relating to the type of brain cancer I had. Being the proactive person that I am, I immediately e-mailed and phoned the three contact people that they had listed for this study. I was fortunate that one of the three replied to me. At that time, she explained the guidelines for getting into the trial in which I did not qualify. They were looking for people who had already gone through a minimum of six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, plus after all that, the tumor must still be progressing. So obviously, I had to wait until I had an MRI done on May 5, in which I got the news that the tumor was spreading. So when I called and e-mailed after I got the results, I was informed that the clinical trials were closed as of last week and that I would have to wait until the FDA approved the procedure to get this done. That was something that I really did want to hear. But because I kept in constant contact by phone and e-mail, plus I gave her my blog info, I was one easy person to remember. So on that last Monday when I said there may be a surprise, it was because she contacted me, saying that someone dropped out so that there was one opening left so she gave me first crack at it. Oh by the way, I said yes.

From that Monday when I found out to that Friday before Memorial Day weekend, it was a long week of being on the phone and e-mailing to make sure all my records were transferred over to the other hospital. It was amazing on how difficult this was. I had two wonderful people working for me out of each hospital who really put a lot of time and effort into making sure all the information was forwarded but the world of computers were trying to sabotage me. From Tuesday through Thursday the info was e-mailed numerous times but wasn't getting through due to hospital firewalls, and data size and who else knows what. So we had to go back to using the old fax machine, but that didn't help get the MRI info over there. So we had to FedEx the MRI discs which were overnighted last Thursday so they could review them on Friday to see if I qualified based on the size and growth of the tumor. Of course I got a call about three in the afternoon saying she didn't receive the package yet and needed the routing number. They found the package about 3 PM and she rushed it to the doctor who immediately examined and measured the MRI's, and that is when I finally got the news that based off the info they had so far, that I would be an excellent candidate. Boy, when I finally got the news, I was as giddy as a young boy who accidentally saw his first boobe. It took me several hours to wind down.

I'm flying out to Cleveland on Memorial Day at about 5:30 PM and will have some preliminary testing done on Tuesday and Wednesday. The only thing that can prevent this from happening now is if the new MRI that they take on Tuesday shows that the tumor has grown beyond the scope of the study. But hopefully, since it will only be three weeks from the previous MRI that this will not be the case. If everything goes according to plan, I will have the procedure done on Thursday or Friday of this week, depending on how fast they fly in their team that does this procedure. Recovery time is minimal and hope to be back by the following Monday.

I have to admit, this is the first time that I have had a craving to visit Cleveland, but I think it will become my kind of town.

If anyone wants more information on what the procedure is all about, the website is www.monteris.com and the procedure is called autolitt.

POGO