Moving Day

August 2, 2018, 9:50 pm

I had to move to a new floor today.  I had to go to the rehab floor because I can’t move my left side very good.  I am going to have to work really hard to get back to myself.  I can’t believe last week I was kayaking in a kayak and this week I can’t walk.  I can’t walk by myself.  It scares the hell out of me. 

They tell me surgery went really good, if you want your head stapled up like a baseball I guess what they are saying is true.  Kemper tells me it looks like a baseball stitch.  I can’t imagine going through this without my family. 

Tonight they gave me a little party because I start my physical therapy in the morning.  My family gave me a party and I heard my 3 year old grandson shouting down the hall, “Gramma Nettie KICK SOME MASS!”.  It broke my heart and made me smile at the same time.  I hate being in here but thank you for all of the flowers and all of the cards.  It is overwhelming. 

I took my first shower today with a lot of help – a couple of wet nurses and myself included.  Towards the end of my shower I was informed I had passed out.  People were rushing to help me get up and get out, but I was informed by the nurse, “You know the first thing you did when you opened your eyes?  You SMILED”.  And I knew that the doctor could take out the mass but he couldn’t take away my smile. 

Tonight I am having my pity party.  My long overdue pity party.  Thank you everyone for thinking of me and praying for me. 

I am getting great care from a lot of great people, and I might get to see Tate this week.  The nurses said they would sneak me out so I could go pet him.  I hope he doesn’t forget me. 

Every nurse that steps in says my room looks like a florist shop.  And thank you for all of the emails, I love reading them.  Everyone has been so good to me. 

I start physical therapy tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.  Please be thinking about me.

I just thought a blog would be beneficial to see my progress – which I am excited to see.  I am going to be updating my progress here.  It will be good for me to read about my progress – lucky you guys get to read about it, too. 

I CAN'T:

1.       Walk by myself

2.      Move my left side very well

3.      Believe last week I was kayaking

I CAN:

1.      Rehab will be hard but I know I can do it

2.      Learn to walk again so I can go to school and play with the kids and my grandkids

3.      Kick some mass

By the way - here is the blurb that this website thinks you all should know:

Welcome to the Nettie Benak support family! This site is for family and friends, old and new, to organize our efforts to support this extraordinary person. This page will serve as your home base for rallying the troops, receiving updates to support Nettie Benak. Here's the plan:

Your First Step: Please take 30 seconds to click on the "Follow" button on the top right of this page. This will allow you to receive updates, read journal entries, make donations, share Nettie Benak’s story on social media, and help the family with week-to-week calendaring needs. Though not mandatory to follow Nettie Benak’s page, we encourage you to easily create an account with your name and email in order to be able to post photos, leave comments and sign up as a helping hand on the Calendar page. Feel free to upload a photo of yourself to your profile so we can get to know and recognize others on Nettie Benak’s support team. After clicking “Follow” above, read on to learn more about what you can do to help.

Journal: This tab is where you can read the latest entries posted for Nettie Benak and our support team. You may see additional authors writing updates here to help alleviate pressure for Nettie Benak and expedite information sharing. Each post is followed by a photo and name of the author of the entry. You can reply with supportive comments to any journal entry, or click on the name of its author to send a private message.

Posts: This is where you can leave an encouraging message for Nettie Benak and family, and to read thoughts left by others! If you have something pressing you'd like suggest that everyone sees (e.g. a fundraiser or upcoming event you're spearheading), please don't hesitate to contact us via private message so we can consider sharing it more widely in the Journal sections. There will undoubtedly be many coordinated efforts and events ahead, and we want to make certain they’re organized and publicized through this site to help drive the greatest possible impact.

Calendar: Please see this important section to learn what the family needs NOW. This will be an especially helpful section for locals in close proximity to Nettie Benak. This is an up-to-date calendar which will list the family's immediate needs such as child-care, rides, and meals to help most in the short term. If you see a need posted and can fill it, please sign up through the calendar page directly (i.e. not through private communication) to let us and others know that you've committed to that need. Please check back often to help out with the most recently posted needs!

Notifications: After clicking “Follow” above, you’ll then see a tab to manage “Notifications”. If you feel you’re receiving too many or too few email notifications, please check this section to tailor notifications to your areas of interest. For example, if you want to receive journal updates but not new calendar posts, or any combination of notifications from this site, you can do set them to your preference this section.

Don’t Forget! If you haven’t done so already, please click “Follow” on the top right. It’s your very next step to showing your support!

Love,

Nettie Benak