Good Day

Hi Everyone! Joel had another good day with lots of physio and things going on. He is sleeping lots and working hard. He wants everyone to know that we will be posting messages on here from him every two to three days, but continuing to do his updates every day. Also, if you have pictures you want included on here you can email them to jacquiswedberg@hotmail.com and she can put them on the site. Thanks!

For all the Rowers

Reunited at last!

Joel and his best bud JD are finally reunited!



Joel was moved to the fifth floor and he will soon be starting extensive physio. He is still resting a lot to get ready for the hard work in front of him...We promise visiting can begin again soon! We will let you know or you can call his cell for when would be a good time to drop in. Obviously he really wants to see people, but it just needs to be a little controlled.

The Creator xo

Hey we owe a big thanks to my cousin John who set up this site from San Francisco. Love you lots and much appreciation. xoxo

From Joel's Family

We are overwhelmed by the love and support that everyone has given to Joel and to our family. Our long hours in the waiting room were made bearable knowing so many people were thinking of Joel and sending their best. Sometimes the waiting room seemed almost like a buffet; we think by the time Joel is out of here we will all need a membership to the gym to work off many hours of sitting and nibbling.
Through all this time of worry and stress we have been able to find some light moments of relief with the visits and the smiles we have received from so many of you. Reading this blog really helps Joel as well as us appreciate our communities and our family and friends.

Your kindness will always be remembered.
Love Shane, Donna, and Jan.

p.s. At the moment Joel is snoring loudly, great!

Josh Erin Kaley and Joel

Joel's Response

From Joel:
It’s been a day since surgery and I am feeling pretty good. I have some new pain but it’s positive progression pain. I got to sit up in a special chair today and I am possibly changing wards out of Intesive Care tomorrow to a different floor. I was lookin for a new look so I shaved my head. A guy’s gotta occupy his mind with something. Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart for all your continued love and support. This journey would certainly be a lot tougher without knowing everyone is pulling for me. I want to take a chance to thank everyone here at the General Hospital SICU for all their love and kindness and gentleness. They have kick-started the first week of this episode in such a powerful recovering direction. Love you guys!

Update

Joel has lots to tell everyone which he will do later on today....so be prepared for his response!

Recovery

Hi everyone. Joel is still recovering in the SICU from the surgery. He has had his breathing tube removed from the surgery and just received a new neck brace. There will be a new post tomorrow and hopefully later today, but as he is resting we are trying not to wake him too much yet. Please keep him in your thoughts and sending all the love!

Team Blog

Kaley's idea for the pic - hence the lightbulb over her head. Now you know who to yell at if the blogs take too long (Not just Kaley all of us!). Much love - Team Blog.

PS

We will let you know when we can reopen those floodgates of visitors.

Joel is done surgery

Joel is done surgery. He is back in SICU with the halo off which he really wanted. Keep those positive thoughts coming and we will get his response when he is ready, which could be as soon as tomorrow. Thanks for all the love and positive energy. We know it will continue to help him and his family. Much love - everyone at the General SICU and his hundreds, actually thousands, of friends. Peace (Love Kaley).

Good Thoughts

Hi everyone! Joel is going into surgery. At 12 PM lets give him an extra boost of support and think of something great. Positive thoughts just for him and I know he will hear them. Please pass this message along! We will keep you updated and as Joel says he wants to update you all as well as soon as he can. Last night he smiled and laughed about all the comments and loves everyone so much. Talk to everyone again soon!

J and K

Still smiling and loving everyone's support!

Joel's Response

Joel’s Response:

I don’t know what to say. I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments but ive read most of them and I am very overwhelmed by the love and support. I feel very loved and cared for in a way that I had never really realized. It’s been a tough week, but with each day progress is made, even the most minimalist things seem like the biggest accomplishment. With surgery pending tomorrow morning I will be thinking of you all and following surgery I will post another response. I love you all and thanks again everything is appreciated.

Cheers
Joel

Thursday Update

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in update. Joel's surgery will probably happen tomorrow morning at 10 AM. We will let you know updates as they come. Again, thank you for the comments and know that we read them to him every night!

Voila

Joel just lifted his forearm and rotated his wrist! So wonderful! He said he has to concentrate and give himself instructions and voila! It was the first time he's seen his hand.

Wednesday Afternoon

It's been extremely hot in Regina all week, around 35C and greatly taxing the a.c. systems. The high humidity also poses added risks for infections. As a result, the hospital has decided to delay all surgeries until the end of the week; as soon as we have a new surgery date we'll let you know. The nurses are still requesting that visits be limited until after surgery.

Wednesday Morning

Joel had another good night. He says he’s feeling pretty good though he has a constant dull headache and his face hurts. This is a result of the daily adjustments to the halo. The swelling on his spine continues to go down which is positive and they have been able to reduce his morphine and have added Tylenol 3.

His physiotherapist came in this morning to measure his breathing. Joel was asked to blow as hard as possible and on the first try, blew the gauge to the max. The physiotherapist said he’d never seen anybody make the gauge go that high before first try and that he’d set a goal for Joel, but was sure he’d already met it.

He’s eating well - grapes, blueberries, bananas, salad. He’s had a bit of chocolate but says he only wants to eat healthy food!

More later.

He loves all your messages!

"The Englishman's Boy" movie set outside of Craven Sask.

Tuesday Evening Update

A friend of Joel’s recently sent an email which I felt was more informative than I’d previously posted and I’d like to share that: “He’s got a halo keeping his head in position and decompressing his spine. The spinal cord isn’t severed and the bone chips have moved away from the spine. These next few days are important because as the swelling near the cord goes down, hopefully feeling and movement will increase.”

As mentioned, Joel will be having surgery on Friday. It’s been a very full couple of days. Joel has been feeling quite tired last night and today and has been sleeping a lot. The nursing staff is amazed at the friends and family that have been up to see him, and know how much these visits are contributing to his spirits, are helping his healing, and helping to support his family. They’ve suggested, however, that we need to limit the visits for the next couple of days to let Joel get rested up and ready for surgery.

We’ll keep you all updated on his progress, and really love seeing all your messages and support. We promise to pass these onto Joel until he has his surgery, but agree with the nursing staff that we should limit the visits so that he can get lots of rest and be as strong as possible for the surgery. Please continue to send your love and wishes, they are extremely important to all of us. Thank you for your love, prayers, and understanding.

Daily Physiotherapy

Joel has just finished his daily physiotherapy session; when they were stretching his legs he was able to feel the stretch on his hamstring. Yeah Joel!

Hi everyone,

For those of you who don’t know what has happened, Joel had an accident early Sunday morning (July 22nd). He dove off a dock at Hippo Beach in Regina Beach and hit the bottom. Luckily his friend, Debbie was there and realized he was in trouble. She quickly got him to shore, recognized the danger of his injury and stabilized him. She immediately called his Dad and kept him calm until the ambulance arrived.

He has fractured the C4 and C5 disks in his neck and bruised his spine.

Today, Tuesday, his spirits are high. He got his first meal today, a breakfast of toast and jam, He wants a chocolate bar and a milkshake, but I think we have him psyched for a salad this afternoon.

At this time, he has some sensation to touch in his feet, legs, and abdomen but no movement - yet. The gross movement remains in his arms but not his wrist and hands. This is all very encouraging. Everyday there is focus on his breathing exercises to prevent any chest infections.

He is tentatively scheduled for surgery on Friday, at which time they will do a bone graft and put in two rods with four screws on each side to stabilize the vertebrae in his neck to prevent further injury to the spinal cord.

Joel is being an amazingly strong guy and our family is feeling very loved by all of your support..

Kaley reads him all of your messages and comments. He is very grateful and happy to hear from each of you.. Thank you so much!

Tuesday Morning Update

Is coming soon - Joel and Family are getting and loving all of your notes