It didn’t seem like Janet slept while I was away and she said she didn’t so we’ll go with that. We had a nice chat when we should have been stretching and she made me laugh a few times as I tried to convince her that going for a naked hot tub would help her shoulder. I told her she used to beg me to do that with her all the time but she just frowned and shook her head. It was good for a laugh at least and a laugh was welcome as she for the first time complained to me about her shoulder when she was just lying in bed talking to me. I went and asked her nurse about the X-ray results but she couldn’t tell me as only the Dr. is supposed to but she offered Janet some Tylenol. By the time that offer came Janet was no longer complaining about her shoulder and in fact was rolling around on it so we stayed drug free for now. Hopefully I can get some info on the X-ray tomorrow afternoon.

Janet allowed some minor stretching on her right arm and it did go nice and straight for me and as I held it down on the bed and talked to her it went really relaxed for the first time in a long time. Nice. I had her sit up after that and she did really well getting up on the right side of the bed herself. I modified the attempt to stand yourself exercise to where I am standing in front her holding her hands and she tries to get up from there. She cleared both butt cheeks very briefly a couple times. Hard work.

Once in the wheelchair I asked her if she wanted to Skype Andrew and she said “sure”. We had a good conversation with him, getting Janet’s biggest smiles of the day by far. She even whispered a couple things to him loud enough for Andrew to hear. Nice. Janet was getting a little antsy by the end of the call so we went for a spin around the rehab unit while waiting for Kiko and Joel to visit. Janet must have really wanted to go cause she had a smile on her face as she saw people out there and went faster than ever. She was doing so well I decided to see if she would use her feet at all. We tried left foot only first and even though I’m not totally sure what she’s supposed to do I think she is as she stated moving it right away. The trick to me seems to be to place it on the floor when she starts drifting to the right and the chair comes back to the left. It sort of works. We tried both feet for a little bit but Janet is not ready for Flintstone mode yet.

Kiko and Joel arrived just as we were heading back and Joel and I left the two ladies alone for a bit. Kiko said they sang some simple songs and did some alphabet practice with Janet making a good effort. She didn’t get the vocal cords going really but Kiko agrees that Janet’s voice is right there just waiting to come out. We’ll see if Music Therapy Man can help bring it out.

Janet started fading a little after five and asked to lay down in bed, so by 5:30, dinner was on, Kiko and Joel said goodbye and Janet was content to chat a little before the eyes started closing. I said I was hanging out till dinner was finished and I climbed onto the bed with her and read her a couple of emails and we watch a clip of Andrew’s segment from the Global Toronto breakfast show. Janet watched that intently and smiled a couple times. I laughed once when Andrew reminded me of Stefon from SNL. You’ll have to ask Andrew if your allowed to watch it.

Praying that Janet has a restful and healing night and a productive day tomorrow.

I was greeted with a nice smile and a “hi” followed by a “I love you too” by Janet this morning. She wasn’t too talkative after that though. I got some Klingon whispers and a few actual sentences later on but a pretty quiet day so far.

When it was time to stretch, Janet was not too excited about it and soon after I got her right arm straightened out she broke into tears. It was a prolonged crying session this time and not related to pain at all although her shoulder was sore earlier she told me. Yesterday Laurel had a talk with Janet explaining everything that had happened to her and it seemed as though she was hearing about it for the first time. Today was similar as she felt things were not going well but after I explained all that she’s been through and how much better she has gotten she calmed down. She seemed really reluctant to let me stretch her legs but I managed to them fairly straight and told her I was not happy with the results and we will try and do better this afternoon. I also felt I had to explain how we have to keep working at this or it won’t get any better.

After the stretch she couldn’t wait to get sitting up and I let her try all on her own. She managed pretty well and gave a very determined effort. I helped with her right leg and as soon as the left foot was over the bed she did the rest herself. High five! I had her practice moving to stand up and she got her left but cheek off the bed three times. Janet was very happy to stand up and I was glad we could do that a few times as it stretched out her legs nicely. Once in the wheelchair we did a cruise around the hospital with Janet driving a lot and when we returned to rehab she elected to watch football for twenty minutes rather than go back to her room.

Janet tired out right around noon so back to bed she went and I started her lunch then headed home myself with it feeling like snow is not too far away today. Praying for a brighter and more active afternoon.

I dropped Laurel and Janet off at KGH after the visit home and started Janet’s lunch feed for her. She elected to have it in her room and sitting in her wheelchair. I went home to spend some much needed time cleaning the place up.

A Skype call to Heather was first on the list for Laurel and Janet and they had a nice chat with her and Allan. Heather threatened to come out and visit Janet soon and Janet said “that’s a good idea”, and it is. After some stretching and chatting it was time to Skype Leslie and Mary Gaga. Unfortunately Janet was kinda sleepy by this time so there wasn’t a lot of interaction on her part. After Janet’s short dozing session it was back to brain exercises with Laurel who lay beside Janet on her bed and at one point pretty much fell off. That had them both laughing and tonight when I asked Janet what she had done today the first thing she said was “Laurel fell”. She patted Laurel on the shoulder as she said it implying she wasn’t trying to make fun of her but she did think it was funny.

The rest of their visit was spent reading and chatting and when I arrived after church Janet was still quite awake and able to answer most of the name the family questions and even managed an out loud growl when I asked her to growl like a bear. Sounds silly maybe and she thought some of what I asked her was silly but I’m just trying to find ways for her to use her vocal cords. That one worked.

Wishing Laurel a safe flight home and thanking her for spending so much quality time with her mom. Janet has not smiled this much in a long time.

Praying for full and complete healing and thankful to God for the amazing progress Janet is making.

Laurel went in first this morning and Janet was awake when she arrived and was dressed but in some goofy hospital pants instead of the ones Laurel had left out for her. After a little morning chat Laurel asked Janet if she could do a little stretching with her and she said no. Laurel asked why and Janet said “because Larry always makes me”. Not sure how to interpret that one.

I arrived around 9:30 and got Janet ready for a big adventure. Laurel and I had been planning on taking her home for a visit today if she was feeling up to it. I had cleared it with the nursing team a couple days ago so it was just a matter of if Janet was bright enough and wanting to. She most definitely was. We got her loaded into the car and headed out. Janet seemed content to watch the scenery pass by as we drove along and I think a few things were recognizable along the way. I felt like she knew where we were as we approached the house and she immediately undid her seat belt as we backed into the driveway. Janet had a smile on her face the entire hour and a half we were home. I carried her up the stairs and plunked her in a family room chair. Nash was going crazy and Janet was totally focused on him for the first half hour or so, throwing his ball and watching him run up and down the hall. Seems to me that the connection with Nash is coming back stronger for Janet, Nash is happy as long as she is doing something for him. We took Janet for a tour of the house in her wheelchair and I was pleased to find that there is just enough room to maneuver it throughout the living space. I wasn’t sure how Janet would react to seeing our bedroom but when I asked her if she knew what this place was she said “this is a happy place”. That choked me up a little. We went outside onto our balcony so she could see the back yard, she said “it looks pretty good”.

Back inside we invited Barb and Gary to come and say hi to Janet. They are the best neighbors anyone could have and Janet’s smile got even bigger when she saw them.

Janet seemed to want to just hang out in the house but I thought we should take advantage of the opportunity to go for a walk so I carried her down the stairs and Laurel quickly followed with the wheelchair and with Janet driving Nash, off we went for a loop around the neighborhood. Janet was very focused on Nash again and did a pretty good job of keeping him in line. Laurel and I teased her a little by giving her a poo bag for Nash and she actually started getting it ready to pick some up. I don’t think Janet really wanted to go back to KGH yet but she understood she had to for lunch and we promised she could come home for visits more often now. I think on rainy afternoons when she has no therapy sessions or anything I’ll bring her home for a few hours.

I left Janet with Laurel for the afternoon and they plan on Skyping Heather and also Leslie and Gavin who are at Mary/Gaga’s and Keith’s so they will get to see Janet instead of just talking at her.

Thankful for the incredible progress that has been made so far and still excited to have had Janet at home.

From Laurel

Mom was sleeping when Larry and I arrived just before 8am, although she woke up as we made some noise. She seemed pretty groggy but I did get a nice little smile from her. Larry kept asking her who I was, but she was making no attempt to answer. We took a walk around the ward to give her some time to wake up, and the nurses got her cleaned up. She had a little crying spell at first, but eventually calmed herself down. Larry left a little later and Mom and I had a little visit before heading off to physio. Rob was subbing in for Moira today. He got Mom standing again using the same apparatus as yesterday (although apparently the foot block was turned the wrong way yesterday), and from my perspective she did a great job. He then worked on stretching her lower right arm out a bit more, being careful not to bother her shoulder. Rob said he would encourage us to work on extending her range with her left arm (e.g., lifting it up high to grab something), to preserve/increase its function. He often reminded Mom that she is very “elegant” so he never wants to see her start slouching. I thought elegant was a great word choice, and Mom really seemed to respond to it. Physio ended a little early so Mom and I had time for a little “chat” together before speech therapy. I asked her if she liked Rob or Moira better, and Mom said “Rob.” I was teasing her for jumping ship on Moira so quickly, and Mom responded with what I think was “I just like Rob more.” Her speech is a lot softer than I was expecting and the minimal movement of her mouth as she speaks really makes it hard to decipher her at times, but it is so nice to hear her communicating.
We went to speech therapy and Connie asked Mom who I was. She whispered “my daughter,” and when Connie asked for my name she said “Laurel.” Yay! Connie had Mom count to ten, say/whisper the days of the week and the months of the year, all without any modeling. She also went through a worksheet with some illustrations, where Connie would begin a sentence that matched the illustration and Mom had to finish the sentence off. Mom could always finish the sentence but it didn’t always match the illustration, despite making sense. She had some tears at one point, but again was able to calm down with some time.
In OT, Mom received a new wheelchair that is much lower to the ground so that she can use her leg to motor herself a round. Afterwards, she was put back in bed for lunch and her and I looked through a magazine together. I left her very yawn-y and likely in need of some rest. Looking forward for her reunion with Nash this afternoon!

When I got back this afternoon I tried once again to get Janet’s attention through the window. No go. She was awake and just finishing lunch and seemed a little out of it. I chatted with her a bit to try and get her going and she did brighten up whispering some really legible words and using some Klingon as well. She didn’t do nearly as well with family names and such mostly I think because she was just worn out.

I stretched her a little and did well with the right arm as far as straightening it but she motioned with her left arm and shook her head no way when I suggested raising it up. Legs and hips were good, then I let her try and get up herself. She did well with her upper body but couldn’t get the legs to move over so I assisted and once she was up she was a little brighter. She just landed in the wheelchair when Janet F. arrived for a visit and Janet gave her a little smile of recognition and seemed pleased to have a visitor.

The timing was great as I headed off to chat with Dr. McCann and Cathryn. I told them my first priority right now is Janet’s right shoulder and the pain she is experiencing. Dr. McCann has a couple of theories and ordered an X-ray which hopefully will show what’s really going on and then he can make a treatment decision. I said I was please with Janet’s lower body improvements but have not seen the same range of movement in the right leg that I did the first time she moved it. I asked if there was some way of improving that or is it all up to Janet. Dr. McCann says the best thing is the standing and “walking” routines she is doing in physio. Janet really does enjoy those so that’s good. Next on my list was Janet’s cognitive improvements and I listed some of the things she has said lately and how the Klingon is diminishing. Both Cathryn and Dr. McCann were pleased to hear that and it was evident that that was news to them. Glad we were chatting. I also asked for clarification on Janet’s tenure at KGH rehab. Dr. McCann gave his best educated guess that Janet will continue to recover for another four to seven months. There is no way to tell at what pace she will continue to recover or to what end she will recover. Her stay at KGH rehab depends on her rate of recovery. Once that shows a trend of slowing then the team will look at appropriate alternatives. The next serious assessment on that will be in three or four weeks. One of those alternatives could be Connect. Cathryn was downplaying Ponoka as she was seeing that more as an instead of KGH rehab option as opposed to a next step option. She explained that Connect is more of a transitional facility that works on preparing the patient for home or long term care or where ever they are going to be long term. Whereas Ponoka is an intensive rehab facility like KGH and is geared toward maximizing recovery. She feels that as long as there is potential to maximize Janet’s recovery she will remain at KGH. Connect would come into play when recovery is pretty much maxed out. She also thought Connect would be easier for me and the family and I explained this is not about me or the family and we need to be doing whatever is best for Janet and if at some point that is Ponoka then let’s take a serious look at that. It was a good discussion and I appreciate Dr. McCann taking time to sit down with me.

As I was giving Janet and Janet a little more visiting time I noticed a Porter go into Janet’s room. I followed and was told she was going for an X-ray. Wow! Forty five minutes after writing the order she was on her way. Cool. Hopefully tomorrow Dr. McCann will look at the results and decide on a treatment plan. I took advantage of the time to install some lights on my bike as I just couldn’t bare driving to and fro anymore. So boring and the parking game is ridiculous. Even if I bought a monthly pass I would not be guaranteed a spot in the afternoon. That’s dumb, so back on two wheels I go. Feels good.

Janet was not her usual chatty self the rest of the day and said she wanted to “stay here” when given the option of going for an inside walk or staying in bed. I read some of Anne 2 to her and she had her eyes closed most of the time. She was still listening though and would check with me every once in a while. I got her dinner started and since she was already dressed for bed I told her I was heading home. She patted me on the shoulder and smiled, gave me a kiss and closed her eyes at 5:30 which meant I didn’t need my new lights for my ride home. Figures. I’m pretty sure she is resting up so she can have a good day with Laurel tomorrow.

Praying for a restful and healing night, answers and solutions to the pain in her right shoulder and continued improvement in her ability to talk. Also praying for a safe flight for Laurel in the morning.

Janet was flying through the air on her way back to bed after showering this morning. She seemed to not really care what was going on which is good and means she is used to the sling transfer. I didn’t get any Klingon from her this morning but she did tell me she was tired. They get her up pretty early on shower day so that may be part of it.

The stretching routine went well with her right arm straightening out nicely. She would not let me lift it up at the shoulder at all though. Both legs and her hips seem fine to me today. After she got her meds I got her up and into the wheelchair and off to physio where she gave her first smile of the day. It came after doing ten bicep curls with a seven pound weight. High five! She brightened up even more when Moira came over and asked her if she wanted to stand up. I stayed and watched for a bit this time and am really impressed by how much Janet enjoys working with Moira and by how much she wants to stand up. This video shows one attempt to stand so you all can get an idea of what’s going on. That’s Moira in front of Janet pulling her up.

I took off after that and am looking forward to a good conversation with Cathryn and Dr. McCann this afternoon.

Janet was in her wheelchair having lunch in her room when I returned and had obviously been wheeling about a little bit as she was right at the end of her tube feed line. She had released the left side brake and managed to manoeuver the chair around quite a bit. I asked her how she was and she shook her head, I asked if she wanted to lay down and she nodded and said “yes, I want to lay down now”. I plunked her into bed and asked her if she wanted some music on, she said “you put on whatever you like”. Awesome answer. I asked her to name a bunch of people and she did fairly well but was having trouble with some so I got out the iBlackboard and wrote the names on it and asked her to say them for me. I was quite surprised that she actually did. I went through the entire family and the only ones she had trouble with are those that start or end with sounds she can’t make yet without prompting like K and G. I was really impressed she could read the names though. High five. Janet started to shut her eyes soon after that as she had not had her chance for her regular rest time earlier.

With Janet napping I went lurking to see who I could run into. Moira gave me a report on the morning physio session and she was really pleased with Janet’s performance. She had Janet standing at the end of a set of parallel bars with a belt around her pelvis attached to the bars out in front of her. Getting Janet into position was kind of like a water skiing start and then Janet would hold onto the left bar when she was up. She was also standing on a wedge that put more of her weight on the front of her feet than the heels. Janet stood up very straight, was very bright and relaxed and seemed to enjoy it. One of the other therapists was being a bit grumpy so Moira instructed Janet to give him a smile. She looked at Moira like “really” then flashed the guy the cheesiest fake smile Moira had ever seen and they both laughed out loud. Moira thinks the other therapist laughed too but it doesn’t matter. Moira will continue to focus on standing and walking with Janet and let Dr. McCann and Jessica work on her right arm and shoulder. I wasn’t able to see anyone else this time but will try and get updates in the morning.

Before Janet woke from her nap, I managed to get a message to Leah, Janet’s student nurse from 4B that had the dream about Janet talking. She was very excited to hear the news and thinks Janet is “incredible”. I told Janet and she smiled. Not sure if she remembers Leah by name but I’m sure she would if she saw her again. After a little stretch we went out for a walk. Kinda cool at the beach so we kept moving and didn’t stay out too long. Janet drove the long hallway and continues to battle The Bump. Good effort again today but not enough momentum to make it. We had a meeting with a Notary to see if we could get a Representation Agreement done as opposed to a Committeeship. No go on the first attempt but she will come back next week and thinks we can get there then. She did recommend pursuing the Committeeship as well as it allows for a broader range of authority which I could need way down the road.

After the meeting I asked Janet what she wanted to do, lay down in bed or read The Hallow-wiener. She said “I want to read The Hallow-wiener”. This is an awesome book that I had left out for Janet while I went to move the car and since it is close to Halloween I thought it appropriate. Janet enjoyed it and so did I. A little later Janet voted to “watch something” so we watched Wayne’s message on Next Gen and Janet listened intently until the interview with Sid Koop was done then she started closing her eyes. I got her ready for bed and made sure the night crew knew about the NO STOOL SOFTENER and said goodnight to a content and beautiful Janet.

Praying for a restful night and total healing of Janet’s right shoulder.