Author Archives : Jaime Bennett

So I haven’t written a blog in awhile, so I hope my blogs can compare to Greg and Diane’s…ha..but anyways, I had the opportunity of being in the Harrisburg area for the weekend! I just love the area from Elizabethtown to Middletown to Harrisburg. And thank you to everyone for your offers for me and Tory! We feel so loved!! When I arrived to the hospital Saturday afternoon, I exchanged Tory with Greg and Gina Wood since the hospital STILL won’t let little ones up there, even though my little bugger had her vaccinations, but ok we’re dealing with it….ANYWAYS, I walked up to see Aaron with Ann and Kelly Garrett! We had a fun little Saturday afternoon while Aaron got to visit with some loved ones he hadn’t seen in awhile. He was awake for the visit, and after Ann and Kelly left Aaron and I decided to have a little date night. We ordered some amazzzzzzzing food and tried to start a few movies. The movies were dull, so I helped Aaron in bed and we turned a little TNT on. Can never fail with that. So we wrapped up the night around nine and Aaron snoozed away while his trach was completely capped off. I heard he began the capping early in the AM, so a good day to say the least….I arrived Sunday after church to see Aaron visiting with his mother’s side of the fam (Pap, Diane, Deb, and Charlie). Aaron was again capped (since 10:30 AM!) and he was handling it great. We watched football (BOOOOOO STEEELERS) and ate a lot of snacks. Aaron had a decent day, but had a lot of neck pain. So anyone that visits, remind him to do his neck stretches ; ) . What else can I tell ya…um…yeah I thought he was doing excellent given his pneumonia #2 episode earlier in the week. But Aaron just fights on through..he’s a troooper!! : )  I left tonight to a beautiful sunset…I took a picture, but lost my patience when I try to post it to the website…so I will send that to Curt, so you can see the great view  Aaron has at Speciality Select!

On behalf of Aaron and the family, thanks for all the prayers and support! : )

Sorry I didn’t get this up last night!! Lots of traffic and got home pretty late and then struggled because I forgot my user name and password to log in this website. ANYWAYS, Aaron did TEN HOURS, thats right TEN HOURS off the vent yesterday!! And remained stable the entire time. He even requested to go to sleep off the vent but they wouldn’t let him do too much at once. Go ahead Aaron! He was a rockstar! He was a little tuckered out during his therapies, but woke up a little to hang out with his visitor John Pani. It was a great day! He went to sleep pretty early and wanted to wake up today and get off the vent again.

I hope all you are doing your best at the fundraiser today, sorry to say I won’t be there. I will be with Aaron, but we’re thinking of all you and on behalf of Aaron, thank you! I’ll be at the cafe next week, so I hope I get to meet all my new friends that I’ve established through this unfortunate time.

Keep Aaron in your prayers!! They’re working!!

Other than Aunt Deb’s mishap, it was a great start of the week for the fam. First with a pleasant visit from Pastor Scott(from Greg & Gina’s church) and then the whole crew present. Greg, Gina, Diane, Deb, and I were all there as Aaron got ready for his  follow-up with the  neurosurgeon from Jefferson Hospital regarding his neck surgery. This was his second follow-up visit since the accident. One more follow-up appointment and we’re home free! So after a decent trip in the ambulance over to Jefferson Hospital (the rest of us had a great little stroll through LOVE park to get there), everything looked great!!  Aaron no longer has to wear that big thick blue and white Miami ATC neck collar thing! I was supposed to take a picture of him without it, but got too caught up in the moment of him looking good without it on. Sorry, we’ll get one up soon!

Shortly after he got back, he went off the vent for a few hours. A couple annoying mucous plugs later, they decided to put him back on. But after a weekend of quite a few mucous plugs, this was a good accomplishment for Aaron. He went through a really intense physical therapy session while he was off the vent, and his oxygen saturation levels remained really high, which is GOOD : )

OH, and we appreciate all your nice comments regarding the engagement! He is on speaker phone with Tory and I as I write this blog, so forgive me if it’s all over the place. Between a tired 4  yr old, Aaron talking over his trach, the PHILLIES winning(hope it stays that way), and my stomach screaming because it’s hungry, oh and the nurse, respiratory therapist in and out of his room…..I’m trying to write a blog that has lots of fun new information for you all! Tory is now counting to 20 and keeps skipping 15 and Aaron is trying to correct her. Quite fun. But yeah, the engagement was  crazy unexpected, but a pleasant surprise and an interesting story having it happen on Magee Rehab’s roof. Ha! Thanks again everyone!

Tuesday should be a good day for Aaron. He has the stim bike scheduled for both his arms and legs tomorrow, so we’ll be anxious for Diane’s blogs tomorrow night to let ya know how it goes!

Everyone keep Aaron in your prayers and he says hello (speaker phone)!!

Well, we were originally going to do this post together, but Aaron is just a lil wiped out to say the least. He had a great day! In therapy he did a stimulation bike that sent electical signals through electrodes that were attached to his triceps and biceps. He tolerated it better than Gina (his amazing occupational therapist) had expected! He ate lunch well and we ordered food from across the street and watched movies in bed. Love Fridays.  I get to stay over with him, and after he passes out (usually around 9ish) I hang with Rachel the RN. Her and I have become pretty close and I’m pretty sure she’ll be invited to the wedding lol. But anyways, his electrical stimulation bike only consisted of his upper body muscles, but he has an order for the lower body, which has to be done by physical therapy. Therefore, that will be taking place in the near future. This thing is fantastic. All the equipment, staff, other patients, etc. have made Aaron feel as loved as you all make him  feel. He also did another hour off the ventilator today : ) Considering where Aaron is in the situation, he’s having wonderful progress. And that’s words out of medical staff!