Jordan Griffin update: setbacks on the road to Shriners rehab

"A visit with theEMS crew that responded to Jordan's accident. They were so awesome!"

By Rachel Meenach, Jordan Griffin’s mom

Jordan Griffin suffered a spinal chord injury last December while snowboarding on Orcas Island. Since then, he has been in Seattle’s Harborview and Children’s Hospitals, before coming back to Orcas Island earlier this spring.

May 15
Ugh…back to familiar settings once again!

Right now it’s early morning and I am wide awake…but that’s mainly due to the fact that we are back at Children’s Hospital! Jordan came down today to have the surgeon look at his wrist, (which is another story)…and his Rehab doctor asked us to get some lab work done to see how his calcium levels are doing.

It is very common for teenagers who are still growing (and have a spinal cord injury) to have high levels of calcium in their blood. This can prove to be a problem and it makes them really sick…which is what is going on with Jord. So, because Jordan’s levels were high,  he decided to admit  him.

They are pumping him full of some IV meds and we should be here overnight and tomorrow. Hopefully we can go home sometime tomorrow evening??

He is also having some abdominal pain (front and back) and there is a possibility that he has kidney stones…due to the high levels of calcium?? He’s not really a happy camper right now….poor guy….

Soooo…..we saw the Ortho surgeon who has done not only Jordan’s wrist surgery, but also Josh’s…the staff is VERY familiar with my boys…it’s a little comical sometimes! His opinion is….that the bone is still healing…BUT the tendon that runs down his thumb and into his wrist is what is causing all the pain. He decided to put Jord in another cast to give the tendon some support and help it heal. If that doesn’t work, he will consider another surgery…let’s pray that doesn’t happen!

Other than all of that….Jordan has been doing O.K….not great, but not bad either. His mood has been getting better and he has decided to let us take over his life a little more….=) OT and PT still come and work with him a couple times a week and I have a couple ladies coming in to help stretch him and do some strengthening exercises.

He has also agreed to letting us get him into the pool at our local gym to do some aqua-therapy. The owners have been extremely generous to allow him to come down and use their facility…we can’t thank them enough for their love and support!

Once all this calms down and his wrist is completely healed we are still planning on going down to Sacramento for more rehab…we are looking forward to seeing him up and moving around independently! Hopefully he will be down their before school starts in the fall!

There are so many people that I would love to personally thank and I haven’t had time to…my apologies! But I appreciate everyone’s continued love and support. This is still so new…and there are so many adjustments! Keep praying for him and for my family…they have sacrificed so much to help us!

Rachel reports that Jordan has been seen at Shriners’ Children’s Hospital rehabilitation program in Sacramento and is a prime candidate for their program. The plan is for Jordan to begin the program by the end of May. In April, after Jordan had been to Shriners, Rachel wrote: “This trip to Sacramento has sparked a new desire to work hard and to move forward.”