Month: November 2013

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #fall

Renovation Day 44. I spent the day moving stuff around and getting the TVs up and running. Randy continued building closets and we now have two that are ready to be filled up. Yeah!

Connect called me this morning to say that Janet had fallen out of bed. She is fine, has a few small marks on her face and was able to tell me this afternoon that she remembered falling but not why. Only that she was rolling over in bed. It is very unlike Janet to toss and turn a lot in bed so I’m really not sure how this happened other than she does tend to sleep really close to the left side of the bed and that could have been part of it. Jess suggested to Janet that she just take it easy today and Janet was all over that. When I arrived in the afternoon she was in good spirits and showing to real signs of damage other than a bruised left cheek. We were going to leave right away to work at the house but I convinced her to try and have a nap first and she did so for about an hour.

Janet commented on seeing the house that “it really looks like a home”. As it should after all this time. We didn’t have much time to spend there before SHElife so we made some decisions on what will go where in the kitchen so Randy knows how to build the shelves in the cupboards then we went for a quick dinner before SHElife. Janet chose Urban Fare and had the same curried mango chicken wrap and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

A very bubbly Janet met me in the church lobby after her session with the ladies and she had that really bright look in her eyes again. She was pleased she “got to say stuff” and answer questions and was prayed for. An excellent evening for Janet.

After asking Curtis for her drugs, Janet wound down by watching a little TV then hit the bed promising not to fall out. I had her get as far into the middle of the bed as she could to start the night in hopes that helps keep her in. Falling out was funny when she was doing her Houdieno act but not now. Praying for a safe and sleep filled night and complete and rapid healing.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #Smart

Renovation Day 43. Plumbing is done. Painting is done. Still waiting for the electrician. Randy installed drawer glides in the kitchen and built one closet in the master bedroom. That means Janet can come home tomorrow afternoon to help put things away and more importantly to help figure out where things will go in the kitchen. With a decision made there, Randy can install shelves that will be adjustable but not have a hundred holes up the sides of the cabinet.

Janet had been napping for a while when I got to Connect so I went right into her room and we had a good talk about her day so far. I need to find out more but a couple of times now, Janet has attended a group meeting with a guy named Ed Mitchell. She says they talk about what happened to them and how they are dealing with it. When I asked Janet what happened to her she said, “I just woke up and was like this”. When asked for clarification on “like this”, she said, “not a good walker or anything”. I gave her a chance to talk more about but she didn’t want to so I got her up and down to the gym for a bike ride. She’s doing so well at this slightly more difficult level that I’m going to increase it more next time.

Brian sent out his semi annual progress report on Janet today and it confirmed how well Janet is doing especially cognitively. A number of times since this all started Janet has been tested using the Western Aphasia Battery, a standardized Speech Therapy test. Her score out of one hundred back in her hospital days was less than 3, her score in December 2012 was 43.7 and her score from a few days ago was 85.9. Even Janet was impressed and believed the scores as I read the report to her. “Normal” is considered to be a score of 93.8 so Janet is almost there. High five!

I took Janet for a Shuttle session after dinner for the first time in a while and was impressed. The distance she is able to extend her legs has increased noticeably and her right leg is stronger as this time I could really feel her pushing using her quadricep. Thank you bike riding. Curtis was there for part of the session and noted Janet’s feet were in the lowest possible position and she was pushing farther than ever. A sure sign of increased strength.

We finished reading Not a Fan tonight as tomorrow’s SHElife session is the last one discussing the book. Overall it’s been an interesting read and discussion with Janet and it’s resulted in her thinking about and figuring out herself quite a bit. I think we will choose something lighter for the next book and it will be on the iPad so Janet can read easier.

Janet asked if I would re paint her finger nails before we went to the living room to watch The Voice. Once again, both of our contestants made it through to the next round. Janet is looking forward to next week’s show as we will be able to PVR it and watch it without commercials when we want to. That will be nice.

Praying for a restful and healing night that provides lots of energy for a busy day tomorrow.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #stronger

Renovation Day 42. Move in day! Sort of.

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Our stuff was delivered this morning with the unloading beginning just before nine thirty with the last box going into the house at eleven. Pretty impressive. That gave me plenty of time to make sure things were in the right general area and also to put things in the crawl space that aren’t going to be used for a long time. Thankfully there isn’t much of that sort of thing anymore. I was shocked at how many bins of Christmas stuff we have and can’t wait to see how much of it we use.

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Frank the plumber was here for quite a while and is almost finished his work. Randy worked from home today knowing there would be a lot of clutter here for most of it and as soon as the closets and kitchen drawers are installed the move in can continue.
I did manage a little bit of decorating though.

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#gohawks !

Janet was watching Ellen with Wes when I got to Connect this afternoon and right away asked, “how’d it go with all our stuff?” I thought that was very good of her to remember that’s what was happening today and a sign of just how excited she is about getting the new house livable. She very demonstrably told me about her day, using a lot of hand gestures as she was having a little trouble naming some of things she wanted to tell me about. We then headed off for a bike ride and under protest she allowed me to check her out on some more difficult pedaling settings. We settled on level 1.5 for twenty five minutes and Janet almost made two miles keeping a steady pace right around thirty rpm. I think she can handle level two and will try that tomorrow. Wanting to get her “work” done, Janet agreed to the Standing Frame knowing she’d be late for dinner. To me, this was a really good session with a fair bit of weight going through her right leg and a really good stretch on both.

The rest of the evening was quiet and relaxed as we read, visited with some of the other residents and staff, watched the last quarter of an exciting football game and closed the night with a little of The Voice. Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep that provides lots of energy for tomorrow’s activities, especially Singing With John.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #Seahawks

Renovation Day 41. Today was get ready for tomorrow day, cleaning up as much as possible and moving appliances to their permanent locations so they are out of the way for all the other stuff arriving tomorrow. Randy and his wife Claudette continued work on the baseboards and did a final clean so that when I got home tonight I could take one last look at the “empty” house.

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Janet and Suzanne were visiting at the kitchen table when I got to Connect and I had to shoo them into the living room so we could watch the football game. Janet’s morning was fairly quiet as Curtis said they gave her a chance to sleep in and make sure her tummy was ok after last night. Janet said all is well and she had a good sleep. It was an enjoyable visit with Suzanne made more so by the Seahawks domination of Minnesota and that made it easy to break from the game to Skype Mary/Gaga. Janet said after the chat that she always has good conversations with her mom and that is mostly true. I feel Janet continues to improve her recall and general conversation abilities. I intentionally said very little and tried not to coach her to see how she’d manage and she did just fine. Now to get her more confident in using the iPad so she can be more independent.

The bike is Janet’s favorite exercise activity and she said so herself three times today so there was no argument about riding before dinner. No records broken today but a strong effort from Janet who ate very well at dinner then had a good Skype chat with Andrew. Janet was not interested in the Standing Frame tonight and I didn’t force the issue but did want her to do something. She finally agreed to do some free standing in her room. She still heavily favors her left leg but made improvements in her ability to lift her left foot completely off the ground. Walking is still done by holding onto me for dear life but there is a visible desire to do it so I think she’ll get there.

Our discussion of what we read in Not a Fan tonight was excellent as Janet continues to get smarter. I was so impressed with her I asked who the president of the United States is and at first she said “Ford” which would be correct forty years ago so I gave her Barack and she quickly added the Obama as she did with Stephen Harper. I didn’t expect her to know anything about that stuff but she does. At bedtime she confirmed with me that “we’re getting our stuff tomorrow right?” She’s very excited to complete the renovations so she can spend a weekend at home. Me too.

Praying for a good sleep tonight and the ability and willingness to work hard tomorrow.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #citylightkelowna

Renovation Day 40. Another busy and productive day, lots of baseboards on, painting almost finished, closets designed and the place cleaned up a little in preparation for our stuff arriving Monday. #excited.

It was later than I wanted by the time I got to Connect today and Janet was in bed again, awake and chatty. It was time to leave for church though so the chatting with me would have to wait. That didn’t stop Janet from chatting with Kieran who ended up coming to church with us. Not sure if Janet invited him or if he invited himself, but I figured it was cool if he came along and it was. Kieran had never been to a church before and was a little nervous going in but when I asked afterwards how it was, he said he felt at peace and thought it was interesting and he liked the music. It was not what he expected. Scott delivered a strong message tonight highlighting the #citylightkelowna initiative where our church hopes to have everyone doing random acts of kindness throughout the community. Kieran was in the spirit of that yesterday as he had everyone sign a card for the injured and off work Karl. Janet enjoyed having him there and everyone we met made Kieran feel welcome. Janet stood for the first couple of songs again then once more during the service. She wasn’t quite as strong today and she was doing the flamingo a lot. We gave Kieran the choice of dinner type and he chose Chinese which meant we got to try a new to us place called Asian Pear Buffet. It’s an all you can eat buffet and we did and it was surprisingly good. Their dessert selection was poor though and since it was snowing a little outside we all figured it was a good night for a Blizzard so we bravely ventured off into Rutland to the closest DQ.

Dessert may have been the tipping point for Janet, I’m not sure, but twenty minutes after arriving back at Connect she started complaining of a sore tummy. She said the pain was on her lower left side and was sharp. This has happened before and I almost took Janet to the hospital, but that time she hadn’t gone to the bathroom for a while so I was concerned about that. She is much closer to regular now so I figured we could ride this one out longer as she wasn’t feverish or responsive to pain stimuli. Almost an hour later she was still saying it hurt so I told her we were going to KGH. That got her really upset and may have motivated her to stretch out on her bed which I believe started her recovery. She was soon asleep for twenty minutes and when she woke she was feeling ok, tired but ok. I helped her get her PJ’s on then into bed where she finally seemed comfortable. It was late enough that I had to ring the night staff to let me out of the building but that was good as I was able to give Chelsea an update from what Tiffany told her and suggest she check on Janet in a couple hours. I’m confident that whatever it was is over and Janet will have a good night of rest. Praying for complete healing and thanking Jesus for the ability to experience his grace, love and mercy.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #UBCO

Renovation Day 39. I’m writing this from our new bed, or at least the unpacked mattress. I’m very excited as this is the first time I’ve slept on a bed in forty one days.

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This was a crazy busy day as expected. The blinds are installed, the appliances are all here and Randy and plumber Frank worked hard all day to keep things on schedule. I tried getting things ready for them as they moved through the various areas and all was going well until I moved the fridge into place and discovered we used an incorrect measurement for the height of it. Disappointing, but nothing a sledge hammer can’t fix. That was the easy part, now Randy has to rebuild the bottom of that cupboard. Oops.

To my surprise Janet was in bed when I finally got to Connect at five o’clock. She was awake of course and Brent informed me she’d been nodding off around three so he got her to lay down. She had done the sling walking and Shuttle and stretching so no surprise she was tired. Janet took a little ribbing at the dinner table tonight as she fussed about being served a tuna melt at lunchtime. Sydney capitulated and made Janet a grilled cheese instead, something that typically isn’t supposed to happen so the words princess and queen were being thrown around tonight in jest. There were lots of laughs.

I convinced Janet to go to the basketball game at UBCO after dinner and I’m really glad we went. The last time I took Janet to a game was February and compared to tonight she didn’t have a clue what was going on then. Tonight she followed the play well, reacted to things happening appropriately and could tell me the score each time I asked her. Not only that but she stood up and sang along to O Canada before the men’s game started. A few times during the action she made comments about certain players. and noticed that the UVIC team all had the same “yucky” blue shoes. Janet couldn’t stop talking about the between game chat with Simon, a family friend and the Simon that worked with Janet at Connect during a practicum this summer. He is now a licensed kinesiologist and is moving to Vancouver soon to start two new jobs there. Simon has been around our family for ten years now and his politeness and kindness has always garnered praise from Janet and he topped that tonight in giving her a hug that is really what she couldn’t stop talking about.

Our time together today was short but fun and a real indicator of how much progress Janet has made. Praying for a solid night’s sleep and a productive day tomorrow.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #torpedo

Renovation Day 38. The floors are done! Very happy with the look and the install. There’s one little patch of vinyl tile to be done over the trap door access to the crawl space and that’s it. I got all the old switches and plugs changed out and just have a few new ones to do when Randy gives the all clear. I actually had a couple hours of just me in the house this afternoon and I quite enjoyed that. Good thing, as tomorrow will be the complete opposite as the appliances arrive along with the blinds and the plumber and the electrician. Fun!

I met Janet as she was getting off the bus at the pool this morning and she was a little grumpy, saying, “I don’t like getting ready for all this stuff”. By the time we were getting changed she was happier but dreading the cold water. Thankfully the pool was the warmest it’s been for us and Janet was comfortable after just a few minutes. She swam really well today, faster than ever a couple of times. So fast she blew right by me like a torpedo and I just let her go this time as she is able to grab the edge of the pool and stand herself up. Her walking was decent today too. Her right leg wasn’t totally cooperating but as she walked half the width of the pool and up a couple stairs I thought her mechanics were quite good with minimal hopping. Every time we go there is improvement. Janet still isn’t totally buying into her accomplishments but had lots of smiles and laughs as people commented on her speed of swimming and her ability to roll from back to tummy and swim under the lane dividers. She went into the pool grumpy and came out relaxed and quite happy.

Janet was about to get into the Standing Frame and help make pizzas when I got to Connect later in the afternoon. She was not thrilled with the idea but did it and got a good workout in the process. Her positioning in the Standing Frame is different in this situation and she is forced to stand on her own more with the machine there to help keep balance. Fifteen minutes is about her maximum and the busier she is the better. Chopping peppers was not much fun but decorating everyone’s pizzas was. Eating them of course was better yet.

Just before dinner Janet called her brother Mike to wish him a happy birthday and had a pretty good conversation with him. There were lots of laughs, as usual, and some long term memory recall but thankfully no singing. Janet very willingly climbed onto the bike this evening and tied her personal best. That ride and the swim this morning along with the Standing Frame session took a toll on Janet and she faded quickly as we watched X Factor tonight. She was a almost asleep as I stretched her legs before lights out. Praying for a night of uninterrupted sleep that brings complete healing and lots of energy for tomorrow.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #independent

Renovation Day 37. Flooring guys are making huge progress and have only the Den/second bedroom left to do. I’m sleeping on the new floor in the master bedroom and have been able to ditch the tarp I had under me to protect the mats from being punctured. The plumber was here today as well and will return Friday to finish his part of the job. Randy was busy off site building vanities and shelves while I was able to do more electrical stuff.

Janet had an early appointment at KGH with Julie to adjust her splint so I went out to Connect to get her for that. Jess had her ready and Janet was bright and cheery and knew what we were doing. Julie was impressed by the effect the Botox has had on Janet’s right wrist and fingers. They are very relaxed and easily stretched so she was able to reshape the splint to a fairly flat profile which happens to fit in the sleeve of Janet’s new jacket. As planned.

We stopped by the house quickly so Janet could see the new floor. She’s very happy. I returned her to Connect so her and Jess could make Apple Danish for SHElife tonight. When I returned at four Janet was still in bed, she said she’d been there a long time but hadn’t slept. According to the staff notes, she went to lay down at one and Janet said she didn’t ring for help as she didn’t want to bother anyone. Gotta work on changing that. She very excitedly told me about a little test Mary Lou gave her today during Speech. It sounded a lot like the one Connie gave her way back when she first went to Rehab. Mary Lou had given the same test when Janet arrived at Connect almost eleven months ago and she failed it miserably. Janet was very proud to tell me she “got them all right today” and patted herself on the back. High five!

Before leaving for the evening Janet managed to squeeze in a short and outstanding bike ride, again patting herself on the back. The successes continued over dinner as Janet had excellent control of her chop sticks tonight. All reports are that SHElife was good and Janet felt she contributed fine and enjoyed the discussion. So ends another busy and successful day. Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and for Janet to gain complete control of her right leg.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #walking

Renovation Day 36. Great change in the house today as the flooring install has begun. The crew were late arriving after their truck broke down but they managed to get more done than I anticipated and expect to be completely finished Friday. Randy spent the day building drawers and shelves out if his home and I continued changing out plugs and switches. Probably more of the same tomorrow.

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A sleepy looking Janet was waiting for me in the living room at Connect when I finally rolled in. She was not interested in a nap and started to perk up as we discussed her day and how we’d spend the rest of it. The first smile came when I asked her about singing with John. She lit right up and said “that was fun” and John was pleased with the lyrics I had printed off for them. Janet said she sang pretty well and they both enjoyed the new material.

Talking about singing got Janet in a good enough mood to go for a bike ride during which she sang along to Carly Simon’s, Your So Vain, impressing Bob who was in the gym working with Willie. I elected to keep the degree of difficulty the same on the bike today since Janet seemed a little too tired to be pushed. She tied her distance record today but did it in a faster time and I had her try the balance board again after her ride. There was the initial reluctance to do it but once on the board Janet actually insisted I let go of her so she could try on her own. I was unable to totally let go but did to the point where she was in complete control. After a few good shifts of weight I think she started thinking about it too much and she stalled.

In the Standing Frame after dinner Janet was able to put weight through her right leg and kept it there at east each time I checked. She didn’t argue with me about doing any of her exercises today and that made for a more fun time together. In fact I would say Janet was rather cooperative today. I hope it continues. We read some Not a Fan in preparation for SHElife tomorrow and Janet grasped some good talking points from what we read. The day caught up to her as we relaxed with the last of the leftover Halloween candy. Janet barely made it through The Voice however both of our contestants made it through to the top ten.

Praying for a restful and healing night and more control of her right leg.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #Team Save Janet #Remember

Renovation Day 35. No long weekend for Randy as he was at the house painting kitchen cabinets today. I took another full day with Janet but plan on working the majority of the day tomorrow as the floor guys are due to start. One week from today our stuff gets moved in!

I met Janet early at Connect again, this time so we could get downtown to the Remembrance Day ceremony. I wasn’t sure if Janet wanted to go as its outside right by the lake and can be quite cold but she was up for it realizing the importance of honoring those that served and are serving “so that we can be free”. I was truly impressed by her remembering what Remembrance Day is about. Janet also impressed me by singing along to the hymns, especially Nearer My God to Thee, which she sang with a big smile even though she said she didn’t know it.

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Janet survived being outside for an hour just fine and after a quick stop at the house and another big lunch at Urban Fare we drove back to Connect so Janet could get some exercise. First up was the Shuttle, which I haven’t had her on for a while and was curious to see how she’d do. I noticed maybe a slight improvement in strength and similar results for extension with Janet trying hard even as Curtis and I attempted to push her limits a little. Curtis then ran her through a good stretching routine including a few new ones designed to improve the lateral movement in Janet’s legs.

While we waited for a Skype chat with Heather I quizzed Janet on some family geography and she did quite well except she still is getting Heather and Leslie mixed up. There was no confusion during the Skype chat, in fact it was one of the better ones with Heather for sure.

Back in the gym it was bike ride time and Janet set another personal best, reaching the two mile mark for the first time ever. I’m thrilled with her progress on the bike and tomorrow will up the difficulty of pedaling and see how she does with that. Dinner was early and quiet leading into a good Standing Frame session with Janet putting weight through her right leg for most of the time she was up.

Having all of her exercises crammed into the last part of the day was a challenge and Janet performed very well. We enjoyed watching most of The Voice but Janet couldn’t last through the whole thing and willingly was lights out at ten ending a very diversely busy day. Praying for a deep and healing sleep providing lots of energy for tomorrow’s activities.