Aneurysm

Fabulous Friday #TSJ

Janet was surprised to see me this afternoon, she didn’t realize it was almost three o’clock. She’d had a busy day so far and had just started chilling in the living room. Lorne said he had taken her to the gym after breakfast and did a good stretching routine with her. He also got her on the Shuttle and Janet did really well including ten reps with four bands of tension. I made sure to remind her that’s proof she’s getting stronger. Janet had a speech session with Mary Lou’s practicum student then asked to go to the bathroom. Success and progress!

She thought “it would be a good idea” to go to the bathroom before we left for home and it was. She’s really catching on to this. After a sing along drive, our weekend at home started with the usual play time with Nash then we started making our pizzas for dinner. Janet did a great job decorating hers, I only had to push a few things back from the edge and it was good to go. In a very un Janet like move she chose chips over fresh vegetables to accompany the pizzas. Yes! And in another rare move she ate one and a quarter pizzas! We had made an extra one in case Heather is starving when she gets in late tonight and Janet surprised me by asking for more after finishing hers. We are still trying to gain a little weight so it’s all good.

I figured it was time to see if Janet can handle watching an entire movie so I gave her a choice of four familiar titles and she chose the always hilarious Zoolander. We started it during dinner and with one bio break part way though Janet watched the whole thing. There were no out loud laughs but lots of smiles and giggles. She really enjoyed it.

It’s awesome to have her home and she is quite happy to be here and looking forward to seeing Heather in the morning. Her conversation skills continue to get stronger as does her ability to do things herself around the house. Praying for a restful night and a fun day tomorrow.

Thorough Thursday #TSJ

Janet was hard at work in the gym when I arrived this afternoon. This was Simon’s first day working with her and he was getting some good results. Garrett had Janet in the gym in the morning to do a good stretching routine and now she was back for a more active workout session. Simon had her doing some leg exercises then Tez came in and helped get Janet onto her tummy for a hamstring stretch and some more on command leg movements. Then came the big test. Yesterday Tez had Janet kneeling on her own a little bit so he was going to try that again. With Garrett watching her back, Tez lifted Janet to a sort of push up position on her way to kneeling. We noticed how strongly Janet was pushing with her left arm so Tez decided to try and have her do a push up. The tears started immediately and Tez let her down a little and Janet responded by pushing part way up. You couldn’t call it a push up but there was an effort there for sure. On her knees the tears were still flowing as they would for the rest of the workout. Undeterred and knowing the tears were a lack of confidence rather than pain, Tez and Garrett gradually let go of Janet until she was kneeling completely on her own. She was able to lift her head and straighten her back so she was up nice and tall. Very impressive and according to Tez, much improved over yesterday. Simon held out some colored pieces of paper an arms length away from Janet and she was able to reach out, grab them and pass them off to me on her left side. Major high five! She cried each time she did it but again, not from pain. At least that’s what she told us. Finally sitting on the edge of the table mat, Janet could relax a little. But not for long. I had told Tez I was doing mainly standing transfers with Janet and he wanted to see her stand as he was surprised to hear she was “stepping” with her left leg. Considering how tired Janet was she stood really well with me, impressing Tez enough that he pulled out a couple of scales and placed them under each of her feet and asked her to stand again to see how much weight she was carrying herself. The left leg registered about forty five pounds and the right leg not quite half that. Pretty darn good and more than Tez thought she could do. One final task for Janet was to transfer herself from the table mat to her wheelchair using the sliding board. Janet didn’t understand how to get onto the board but once she was there it was an easy slide onto the chair. Visibly relieved, her gym day was over and she wheeled her way out and left me chatting with Simon and Tez.

I found Janet in her room ready for a bio break. Success. Our before dinner activity was reading a card and looking at some photos that Gillian had sent us as a thank you from her wedding. Janet surprised me by reading a fair number of the hand written words in the card and a little of the inscriptions on the backs of the photos. When she first started reading I noticed she was only reading the first two or three words on each line so I had her follow along with her finger and she was able to go seven or eight words before losing focus. She did a good job of identifying people in the photos, even Gillian’s husband Josh, whom she’s never met. There’s that improved short term memory again.

Dinner was a fail tonight. Beef stew which I knew would be a challenge and I tried to convince her she liked all the ingredients. No go. I rescued her with half a peanut butter sandwich and a bowl of pears. She is looking forward to making pizza at home tomorrow.

Back in her room it was time for a birthday Skype with Laurel. Janet very loudly and clearly sang Happy Birthday to her right off the top of the call and carried on a good conversation for almost half an hour. Janet is no longer rambling on about nothing. When she does ramble it’s because she is stuck on a word and she is clearly trying really hard to say something constructive. She is even getting mad at herself a little now when she can’t find the right word. So far it is all with a smile on her face. Speaking of smiles, there was another noticeable improvement today. Since very near the beginning of all this I have been randomly trying to tickle Janet, notably at her armpits where she used to be quite sensitive. Up until this evening I had gotten no response. Someone taught Janet to raise her left arm when she is coughing to help her cough bigger. She was doing that tonight and I tried to tickle her and got an immediate pull away reaction with her telling me “stop that, it…” she couldn’t find the word but agreed with tickles. Not sure of the significance but I’m taking it as a positive.

Janet did most of her bedtime prep herself and before I was half way through our prayer I felt her hand relax and she was asleep. Quite the day. Janet is showing signs of improvement in a lot of areas and I think gained some confidence the last couple of days. Praying for a restful and healing night and a fun day of learning before heading home for the weekend tomorrow.

Good to See You #TSJ

Janet was very bright and cheery this morning when I arrived before taking her to the eye doctor. The dietician had already been and gone and Garrett reported that she had a little conversation with Janet and reviewed her chart and said all looked good, carry on. I was hoping to speak with her but maybe next time. Janet said she slept well and had a good breakfast. She knew we were going somewhere this morning but couldn’t remember where. I was encouraged by her responsiveness.

We had a good appointment with the eye doctor, spending an hour examining and chatting about Janet’s condition and he will prepare a detailed report for Connect over the next couple of days. From what I saw and from what he told me, Janet’s eyes are healthy, they are aligned almost perfectly with the left one maybe very slightly deviated but not nearly what it was a few months ago. There is a large floater in the right eye. This likely occurred at the time of the rupture or soon after and there is no treatment needed for it. Janet’s vision may or may not be affected by it and she may not even know it’s there. Janet is displaying some right side neglect and just how much will be determined when we do a vision field test next week. There was not enough time to do one today and the doctor wants Janet at her best and brightest to give the highest probability of success. Janet’s prescription is fine for now and her glasses are still good for distance as prescribed and she should not wear them for reading. With her glasses on Janet tested at 20/20 or close to it and she was able to read impressively well. As we have known for some time, she often gets stuck and repeats a word or number, she did that today a number of times during the exams and it was interesting to see the visual cues the doctor gave her to erase what she was stuck on and start fresh. Covering an eye briefly, looking up at the ceiling briefly or closing both eyes then re focusing. He would like us all to start teaching Janet some of these cues and feels she can regain a strong ability to read one day. She currently can go four to five words before stalling and that is impressive considering.

Home for a wintertime lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup was next on the agenda followed by an afternoon nap. Yes, Janet slept for over thirty minutes this afternoon and quite deeply too. I had to wake her up so we could get back to Connect in time for a workout before dinner. We managed to Skype with Mary/Gaga before leaving and enjoyed a good conversation with her. Janet was pretty loud and was able to answer some questions about what she had been doing. I’ve noticed a real improvement in that area lately. Earlier in the day I had read an email to Janet sent to me from an elementary school friend of hers who found this blog and wanted to get in touch. Her name didn’t register with Janet when I first read it to her then when I told Mary/Gaga who very clearly remembered her, Janet’s memory kicked in as well. Her and Karen were close friends in grades five through eight and we look forward to at least virtually reinstating that friendship.

In the gym today we had only a small battle about working on the Shuttle. Janet gave in a worked hard with some good results. It helped to have Phil getting his first workout at the same time as the therapists encouraging him could be heard easily by Janet. Phil was with us at KGH Rehab and is doing really well. Glad to have him at Connect. Janet’s legs are quite tight, maybe tighter than the last time I worked with her but I still managed some pretty good range and she was able to do lots of movement in both herself. She gave two strong attempts at the stripper pole but was pretty tired so was not that successful. All of the transfers I did with her today were standing, except for the car, and she did very well with most of them.

Dinner was another beautiful Rikki creation followed by a nice warm shower, some reading of Slow Dance and a Janet initiated prayer. She was very tired and only managed “thank God for Andrew and his…” The rest was Klingon but I’m sure God understood. We prayed as always for rest, healing, restoration of the ability to walk, use of her right arm and hand, complete restoration of her vision and ability to talk loud all the time. Looking forward to a fun day of recovery tomorrow and a nice sushi dinner at home with Joel and Kiko. Thanking God for them and all the other cool people in our life.

Loud #TSJ

Update from Laurel:

I was very anxious to see Mom this morning, and was happy to see her working away in the gym when I arrived at Connect with Larry. She spent a lot of time on the shuttle and on the mats, and I noticed significantly more movement out of her right leg than the last time I was here. A much looser looking right arm, as well, and a few attempts by her to use it later in the day (e.g., her left hand pulling her right hand up towards her food at lunch). After the workout I spent some time catching up with Mom in her room, and was really happy to hear a pretty loud voice and some nice involvement in conversation. According to Larry, Mom’s voice is noticeably different (in a good way) today.

After a nice lunch together and a game of Sesame Street Memory, Mom decided it would be a good time to use the recliner that had been set up in the living room for her afternoon “rest.” She wheeled out of her room and asked a staff member, “Do you have chairs for us?” – a nice attempt at trying to spontaneously communicate what she was wanting. Mom at first appeared extremely tense as she lay back in the chair (which is pretty much how she would have looked even before this all happened), but she quickly settled in and really seemed to enjoy the chair, with her eyes almost closing at times. Really nice to see the staff tailoring things so that the “rest” can be achieved despite Mom’s resistance to being in bed during the day.

Larry returned at the end of the afternoon and we all headed out for an early dinner of Thai food and a trip to UBC-O for the women’s basketball game. Mom seemed to enjoy the game, but admitted to being tired by the end of it and ready to head back to begin her weekend at home. Despite being tired, she was up for playing with Nash and enjoying some weekend junkfood and a Fresca once back at home. She continued to be chatty and had both Larry and I laughing numerous times, not heading to bed until 10pm. It continues to be amazing to watch her progress forward, and I am very excited to see what a weekend at home has in store for her.

Swallowing #TSJ

Janet and I are home for the evening and I’m sure a lot of you are interested to hear the results of her swallow X-ray so here is an update on the day so far.

Lorne took Janet to the gym after breakfast and got her on the Shuttle after some stretching. He reports that she did very well, doing thirty reps with one band and sixteen with two. She only had one melt down during the entire session and it was minor. When I arrived at 11:30 Janet was finishing making her bed and “looking for some after school type work to do”. Since we had to go soon I got her what I hoped would be her last mushy meal for lunch and she ate that quickly while we had a brief chat with Tez. I asked him about Janet being home on weekends and missing a day in the gym. He feels the different therapy experienced being away from Connect is just as valuable as being in the gym and having the weekend off would not be detrimental to her treatment. In light of that Janet will be home Friday and Saturday nights from now on. As to my concern about Janet’s leg work being done in the mornings we agreed to leave it up to the staff as to which workout they could do best with the time available. Tez feels there is no measurable difference between working the legs in the morning as opposed to the afternoon.

We raced off to KGH and despite the expected parking challenges arrived on time for Janet’s swallow X-Ray. She was in and out in twenty minutes with the Speech Pathologist (not Connie) seeming to make a real effort at qualifying Janet for as unrestricted a diet as possible. After the test she couldn’t tell me anything specific as she wanted to review the video recording and as it turns out Connie would review it as well. Janet and I visited the old gang at Rehab which brought out lots of big smiles from Janet and everyone who saw her including Moira, Cathryn, Dr. Miller, lots familiar nurses and especially our long time table mate Barb who is now walking with a cane! The visit there was very good therapy for Janet as she was reminded of how many people love and care for her.

As soon as we got home Connie called with her results from the swallow X-ray. Janet’s diet has officially been elevated to “Easy Chew, Thin Liquids”. Translated that means pretty much anything Janet wants to eat with the exception of tough meats or hard vegetables and fruit. Raw carrots was mentioned as a no no but when I told Connie how much Janet loves baby carrots she agreed to allow those and anything similar including sliced apples. The main precaution with Janet’s eating now is to ensure someone is always with her and to monitor the pace with which she eats. There is still a little bit of residue in Janet’s throat when she swallows but it’s not nearly what it was during the last X-ray and clears with a second swallow. One thing she failed at was using a straw but that’s no big deal. Connie will go to Connect tonight and give them the written instructions so that Janet can start eating real food there tomorrow. For her first authorized meal she has chosen steak fajitas which we are going to start making now.

Praising God for all the good people in our life and for the success of today so far.

Back to Business #TSJ

According to Garrett, Janet had a great first half of the day eating a good breakfast then going with him to the gym for a workout on her right arm and shoulder. Garrett says that went really well with good range of motion from her arm and shoulder. Carl did some Speech with Janet and he says that went well for about twenty minutes then Janet seemed to get stuck repeating a couple of words and seeming tired. She did tell him she’s married to Larry and has daughters named Heather and Laurel and a son that starts with S. Two out of three ain’t bad. When I arrived this afternoon Janet had just fallen asleep in the living room watching tv with the staff. She woke up five minutes later, smiled and laughed that she was sleeping but agreed to go lay down in bed for a rest. By the time I got her to her room she was denying she agreed to rest and being quite defiant about it. I laid her down anyways and joined her, ten minutes later she was snoring and slept for an hour and a half. I think the busy weekend took a bit of a toll on her.

When Janet finally woke up we went to the gym and had a strong leg workout. Her tone in some ways seemed less today so maybe the day off yesterday helped? I spent a lot of time stretching and am using all standing transfers now so I didn’t have her stand at the stripper pole today. I did get her on the Shuttle and she did her best yet. Sixteen reps at two bands, five reps at three and ten reps with one band using her right leg only. She still got all upset at the end but seemed to quickly realize the good that machine is doing once I explained it to her.

We were late for dinner on account of the workout and had the table to ourselves. Janet ate well and was happy to head back to her room afterward to play the Sesame Street matching game. I put the cars on the easel Brian had brought for her and that seemed to improve Janet’s ability to see them. She did very well, getting through about two thirds of the deck before tiring out. We then listened to a Stuart McLean story which brought us to bedtime.

A solid day for Janet and good for her to get back to a little routine around Connect. Praying for an active day of learning tomorrow and restful and healing night tonight.

Sleepover #TSJ

My day with Janet began with a good workout in the gym. At least the first part was good with lots of good stretching. When it came time to pole dance Janet started getting all emotional and lacking confidence again. I talked her into trying to stand three times and each time she gave a good effort and by the end of the third try I think there was a glimmer of belief in her eyes. I got her over to the Shuttle after that and she strongly did thirty reps with one band of tension. No emotion. Yet. She managed four reps at two bands then broke down completely. The loudest cries I’ve heard from her. All based I believe on a lack of confidence. One band is really quite easy for her and two requires some effort but not what should be an overwhelming amount. Next time we’ll try fewer reps with one band and see if that helps and maybe we’ll start on the Shuttle so she’s not as tired.

In chatting with Christa on the way out of the gym I told her I was taking Janet home for the rest of the day. She asked why not overnight. I didn’t think we were allowed to do that yet but Lorne confirmed we are so as I write this at 11:08 pm, Janet is sleeping in our bed right beside me. First time in over eight months!

We arrived home to an overexcited Nash then had a nice Skype chat with Heather and Allan. An unauthorized lunch followed as we watched a little tv before Skypeing Leslie. Janet was showing signs of tiring so with no pressure to do anything or be anywhere she agreed to lay down for a bit. That helped a lot as she had a nice burst of energy for the evening and ate two servings of a delicious manicotti that Kiko made for us. Instead of desert Janet elected to have chips and pop while we watched some Aussie Open tennis. I saw a lot of old Janet tonight as she very stubbornly stayed up until just after ten. She helped me in the kitchen before we went to bed and I saw some signs of confusion as she tried putting some things away. I can’t blame it on the drugs though as I think she was like this before and I’m just hoping for more improvement.

Janet is very happy to be home tonight and actually found it a little surprising that we were going to sleep in the same bed. Looking forward to waking up with her in the morning and praying for rest and healing. Thanking Jesus for my beautiful wife. Even as she snores.