Linda Phelps Linda Phelps

Welcome to our CaringBridge site. Carol Hall created it for Linda to keep friends and family updated. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement during this time when it matters most.

Hi, this is Linda. My husband Boyd suffered a serious spinal cord injury in his neck when he fell while stepping off a bus on February 24, 2016. It caused horrible excruciating nerve pain in his upper body and paralysis in his arms and legs, among other problems. He underwent major spinal surgery to relieve pressure on the spinal cord, and now he is undergoing intensive daily rehabilitation therapy in Univ. of Washington Medical Center's inpatient rehab therapy dept. in Seattle. Surgery relieved the intense pain and allowed for rehab therapies to begin helping Boyd relearn to use his arms and legs which are extremely weak. The amount of recovery he'll achieve is unknown, as is the home care he'll need if/when he is able to return home. It's a very scary and stressful time for us. I've been with Boyd in the hospital day and night tending to his needs and facilitating communication between him and his care team because his aphasia (difficulty speaking and understanding language, and inability to read and write since previous strokes) has worsened since the accident. We appreciate the help we are receiving from friends/neighbors in tending to our home and our cats and providing Linda with food, and to acupuncture colleagues who are filling in at my clinic, which is trying to stay afloat in my absence. I am concerned about caring for Boyd in the long term because I am disabled and was already struggling to care for him, run my clinic, pay bills, and try to keep my constant back and neck pain in check. Now that we both are physically disabled, I am worried about the future. My main concern right now is for Boyd's health and safety. Please send positive healing energy his way! Picture him feeding himself, walking, playing his saxophone, and performing other basic important activities again.