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As many of you know, our friend Todd Wiedenmeyer suffered a severe stroke on the morning of January 14. He spent over a week in the ICU followed by a week in the brain trauma ward at Research Hospital in Kansas City. He is now in the rehabilitation ward for the foreseeable future. The latest update from his CaringBridge site is below titled Patience.
Todd’s fraternity pledge father, Don Sprenger, suggested that his Theta Chi brothers wanted to do something to help and suggested creating a Go Fund Me page. Todd’s wife, Susan, was apprehensive about asking for help at first, but after discussing the financial challenges that medical expenses and loss of the ability to work for an extended time will surely create, she agreed that this would be a good idea.
Those of us that know and love Todd want to help take care of him in this time of need. The most accessible way for most of us is to help alleviate the financial burden that this type of episode creates. We are setting an initial goal of $25,000, but hope that we can far surpass that. Please consider a generous gift to help our dear friend.
Patience
Journal entry by Susan Wiedenmeyer — 4 hours ago
Every day, Todd is making progress. Inch by inch, he is regaining strength, both mentally and physically. And by the end of the week, those improvements have accumulated, and he seems much improved. He is up early each morning, has breakfast, and then an hour of physical therapy with each type: Physical, Occupational and Speech. He then has an hour to rest, along with lunch, and then back to about a half hour again with each therapy. It is exhausting, and by 3:00, he gets to crawl into bed to take a long, well deserved nap. When he lays his head down, he always makes a huge sigh of relief and exhaustion. It always gets a chuckle from the nurses, because they know he has worked hard. He is trying hard. He is eating well and sleeping well. He looks great. We are still battling his mood and low energy levels. Perhaps this is the hardest thing to watch, because it is so unlike him. But then, who in the world would feel energetic and positive after what he has been through?! We are told that this is all part of the recovery. The good news is, he has such a great support system...friends and family, both near and far. So many cheering him on, and reassuring him that through the pain of all of this, there will be rewards. Each week he is assessed by the Medical and Physical Therapy team. They will determine his length of stay here. He really has just completed his first week and a half...and the stay could be 2-4 more weeks. Then, we will move on to the next step in rehab, depending on his level of recovery at that time. It is all a matter of little victories each day. Patience, not just for today, but every day, and for ever how long it will take. Interesting, how life works...before the stroke, Todd used to lecture me on patience... perhaps even daily. I was always in a hurry...my expectations and requests probably unrealistic for those around me. Todd is still teaching me to have patience, only in a different way. Patience...patience...patience...every hour, every day. Patience for you, Todd, for however long it will take...
Todd’s fraternity pledge father, Don Sprenger, suggested that his Theta Chi brothers wanted to do something to help and suggested creating a Go Fund Me page. Todd’s wife, Susan, was apprehensive about asking for help at first, but after discussing the financial challenges that medical expenses and loss of the ability to work for an extended time will surely create, she agreed that this would be a good idea.
Those of us that know and love Todd want to help take care of him in this time of need. The most accessible way for most of us is to help alleviate the financial burden that this type of episode creates. We are setting an initial goal of $25,000, but hope that we can far surpass that. Please consider a generous gift to help our dear friend.
Patience
Journal entry by Susan Wiedenmeyer — 4 hours ago
Every day, Todd is making progress. Inch by inch, he is regaining strength, both mentally and physically. And by the end of the week, those improvements have accumulated, and he seems much improved. He is up early each morning, has breakfast, and then an hour of physical therapy with each type: Physical, Occupational and Speech. He then has an hour to rest, along with lunch, and then back to about a half hour again with each therapy. It is exhausting, and by 3:00, he gets to crawl into bed to take a long, well deserved nap. When he lays his head down, he always makes a huge sigh of relief and exhaustion. It always gets a chuckle from the nurses, because they know he has worked hard. He is trying hard. He is eating well and sleeping well. He looks great. We are still battling his mood and low energy levels. Perhaps this is the hardest thing to watch, because it is so unlike him. But then, who in the world would feel energetic and positive after what he has been through?! We are told that this is all part of the recovery. The good news is, he has such a great support system...friends and family, both near and far. So many cheering him on, and reassuring him that through the pain of all of this, there will be rewards. Each week he is assessed by the Medical and Physical Therapy team. They will determine his length of stay here. He really has just completed his first week and a half...and the stay could be 2-4 more weeks. Then, we will move on to the next step in rehab, depending on his level of recovery at that time. It is all a matter of little victories each day. Patience, not just for today, but every day, and for ever how long it will take. Interesting, how life works...before the stroke, Todd used to lecture me on patience... perhaps even daily. I was always in a hurry...my expectations and requests probably unrealistic for those around me. Todd is still teaching me to have patience, only in a different way. Patience...patience...patience...every hour, every day. Patience for you, Todd, for however long it will take...