Brain Injury

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.

Eating #TSJ

Our steak fajita dinner went well with Janet eating two fajitas in a surprisingly neat fashion. She didn’t hurry through the meal at all and with the exception of trying to dip her tater tot into the bowl of shredded cheese she displayed some very nice table etiquette. Overall she seemed very bright and with it tonight, asking really good questions, helping to get ready for dinner and to clean up as well as keeping our annoying dog entertained and out of my way. Janet chose ice cream for dessert and when I asked her why she keeps choosing pralines and cream all the time she said ” I like the flavor and it tastes good and I like the name”. Solid answer.

There really wasn’t much time for anything other than dinner so once it was cleaned up we made our way back to Connect. Connie was there and congratulated Janet on the success of her swallow X- ray. She wanted to explain to Janet what had happened and what it all means but Janet kinda wasn’t tuned in as she had heard it all from me already and it was approaching nine o’clock which is past her usual bedtime. Once tucked in I could tell she was very much ready for sleep so I said goodnight with the promise of seeing her in the morning with Laurel. That brought a smile to her face as she closed her eyes.

Today was a milestone day for sure. We are grateful to Connie for pushing things along so well at KGH. The next target is the peg tube and I’ve set a goal of two weeks to get rid of that thing. Praying that Janet has a restful night that brings a day of learning, recovery and fun.

Planning #TSJ

Janet was happily eating a bowl of what looked like soup to me when I arrived at Connect this afternoon. Turns out it was actually chicken pot pie, or at least it used to be. Hopefully we are nearing the end of the pureed diet. Mary Lou dropped by the table and gave a very positive report on Janet’s Speech session for the day. They have been working towards getting Janet to turn up the volume and part of that process is being able to string at least five words together on one breath. Janet is now doing that and Mary Lou is quite happy with her progress. Mary Lou was standing and talking to us on Janet’s right and I noticed a couple of times that Janet turned her head way to the right to look at Mary Lou. I have noticed Janet more aware of things on the right side lately but have not seen that extreme of a turn before and asked Mary Lou if she is noticing more right side awareness and she said yes. Good news. Janet seems to be responding well to Mary Lou and I think she’s got a good program in place for her. Once Janet was finished her “soup” I took her for a bathroom break before our meeting with Brian and team. The bathroom breaks have been going well lately, Lorne even took her for a successful one this morning.

Brian led us through the first of what will hopefully be a bimonthly team meeting. Janet’s ABI Coordinator, Terri was there along with Lorne and Jen, the house manager. It was a good chance to get to know each other a little, especially for Terri as we had only spoken on the phone previously. She won’t be as directly involved as Cathryn was during Janet’s stay at KGH but once we get closer to Janet moving home then Terri will become the key player. One priority for this meeting was to come up with a rough schedule for Janet’s day. That schedule will be built around meal times and a quiet time in the afternoon. We know that Janet likely will not sleep and will not want to go to bed during that time so Jen came up with a good idea of putting a lazy boy type chair in the living room and having Janet chill in it from two ish to three ish each day. Worth a try. We also agreed to let Janet try and sleep at night with no rails on her bed. Connect will procure a couple of fall mats and once in place the experiment will begin. I’m confident HouDieno will exit the bed at least once but I believe she is more aware of her surroundings now and will learn from any such fall. Janet says she doesn’t remember any of her previous escapes but accepts her nickname for what it’s worth. I can understand Connect being nervous about doing this but I really don’t see how else Janet will progress if we don’t give her the chance. There are a few things to discuss with Tez before finalizing Janet’s schedule and hopefully we can do that before the weekend. Brian says he has feelers out for a music therapist for Janet and has a couple nibbles. I’m really hopeful we can get something going that way as I believe Janet will respond very well to it. Today’s meeting was a good foundation builder and I am confident Janet has a good team looking after her.

After another successful bathroom break I took Janet to the gym for a good leg stretch and some work on the Shuttle. She set a personal best today going for thirty two reps at two bands of tension, then six reps with three bands and thirteen reps with one band using her right leg only. High five! She required a fair bit of encouragement during the routine as she keeps saying things like “it doesn’t matter” and “so what” when given the reason for doing something. I’m confident these responses are coming from a lack of confidence place rather than an unwillingness to get better place. She managed a big smile after doing the thirty two reps as I reminded her she only did sixteen the last time.

Dinner was fun tonight as Janet reluctantly chowed down on pureed Spaghetti and all the guys were BBQ’ing steaks and Leanne was making baked potatoes for them. The chatter was good and that helped Janet plow through her mush. We played a game of Chutes and Ladders before bed and Janet won easily. She had a lot of trouble spinning for her turn no matter where I placed the spinner. She said she could see it fine but couldn’t make her hand do it. I noticed a few times today that she was trying to get her right hand involved in things and she did try and lift it to spin a couple times. I want to think this is a sign of something coming back to her right arm but won’t go there yet. She asked if I would read some Slow Dance to her in bed and four pages into it she was snoring. It really is an interesting book, she was just played out from a busy day.

Praying for rest and healing tonight, a good workout in the morning and a bright and ready to swallow strong Janet for the afternoon.

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.