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

A bright sunny morning helped Janet and I get up and at em today albeit with no set agenda. After breakfast while watching Canada win gold and silver in Women’s Moguls we cleaned up from our wine club gathering last night with Janet able to empty the dishwasher full of wine glasses and also help me shrink the dining table back to every day size. We scanned a whole bunch more old photos into the computer with Janet manning the scanner again and doing what I believe has been a good job of identifying people and approximate dates of photos. We had some laughs and got a lot done before nap time that was spent more in reading than napping.

Janet executed a very nice transfer from her wheelchair to her seat in church tonight especially the side stepping part. She was very confident and well balanced, in fact all of her transfers were like that today with her only challenge remaining control of her right leg. I sense a little more muscle activity there but that doesn’t seem to be equating to an increase in control yet.

It has been a while since we brought home sushi for dinner and watched a movie and Janet was happy to do so tonight. We watched Captain Phillips and although it is not a Janet movie she enjoyed it and didn’t find it to be too scary or violent. A little wound up afterwards it was good the Olympics were on and we stayed up too late watching the Men’s Downhill partly so Janet could “forget” the movie.

Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and for a productive day tomorrow.

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

Garrett took Janet, Wes and Umberto to Vernon this morning in hopes of seeing the hot air balloon launch for the Winter Carnival. We haven’t had much winter here this year except for today of course so the balloon launch was cancelled. Janet said she really enjoyed the outing “with the guys” and they stopped at a local coffee shop to make the trip worth while.

The down side of an outing like that means no gym for Janet today but she was in such a good mood I wasn’t about to risk ruining it. Once we got home she agreed to a nap in order to be rested for the inaugural meeting of our wine club tonight. Janet was very excited about this gathering and therefore only slept for twenty minutes or so as she kept thinking people were coming over any minute. She was a big help in making dinner and getting ready for the wine club. By the time people arrived I think Janet started to feel a little overwhelmed as she was kind of quiet most of the time. She did speak up a few times though and told me afterward that she really enjoyed the evening and thought it went well.

Praying for a night of uninterrupted sleep and lots of energy for tomorrow.

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

For quite some time now Janet has been getting increasingly resistant to the idea of going swimming each Thursday morning. She “hates” being cold and also doesn’t like all the preparation needed to get ready followed by the big production when finished. She was one of three residents that went to the pool this morning and only one of those went near the water so Garrett could spend the whole session with us. He got to see first hand how good of a swimmer Janet is and how quickly she gets cold, even with the wet suit. More importantly he saw how the cold affects Janet’s ability to control her legs. He agreed that other than “the outing” there isn’t much therapeutic value to the swimming if Janet isn’t really enjoying it. We asked Janet to suggest an alternative to swimming rather than just complaining about it and she wisely said she could do exercises in the gym. This is what she’s chosen to do Tuesdays instead of attending the group therapy session and I fully support that choice. That gave me justification to talk to Brian later today to suggest Janet no longer go to the pool as long as there is staff available to take her to the gym. He agreed, I told Tez and he’s onboard so Janet has been released from that “terrible” thing. The countless visits to various pools truly helped Janet’s recovery and we are blessed to have had the opportunity to work in the water as much as we did. Janet loves to swim and I’m confident she’ll be back in the water as soon as its warm enough.

After lunch and a nap Janet responded to some emails, this time electing to type them herself and she did really well, even hitting the space bar at the appropriate time a few times. She gave up a little quickly on her reading today and I had to really push her to follow through to the end. Her confidence level seemed quite low this afternoon and evening. Perhaps because of that she was very resistant to doing any exercise and we had a long and somewhat heated discussion about her situation. There hasn’t been a meltdown of this magnitude for a long time and I’m not sure what triggered this one other than lack of confidence. Janet has a hard time accepting that she’s doing well and making progress because it isn’t happening fast enough for her. At the end of our discussion she did her best one legged bike ride ever and got a great stretch in the Standing Frame.

Bedtime each night involves us praying together and we share lines of the Lord’s Prayer followed by a heart prayer that has always been at least 99% me talking. I often encourage Janet to start that prayer and up until tonight she’s only managed a few words before giving up in frustration at not being able to get the words she wants out. Tonight she said the sweetest most “honest”(her word) prayer yet, most of which centred around our earlier discussion. It was very moving and I pray she is now able to express herself that way not only to God but to me and everyone else who loves her too.

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

My time with Janet was short today as I completed bottling at CedarCreek until next week and when I got to Connect it was time to take off for dinner and SheLife. Janet was in good spirits waiting for me in the living room and feeling proud of herself for spending “over and hour” in the gym this morning. Sounds like she’s making a real effort to get her exercises done in the AM which is when Janet says she does better. For the most part that’s true and I’m encouraged by her willingness to them at all.

Janet was pretty quiet during dinner and told me she did have a rest but it was early and she didn’t think she slept at all. That was a bad sign heading into SheLife as the topic this time is a little deep and Janet is finding it a challenge to understand. She came away from tonight’s session a little upset that she doesn’t get it and was hinting at not going back but I offered to help her with the materiel this weekend and she accepted, remembering how it helped to read about the last sessions topic the night before each meeting. Worth a try.

As always on SheLife night it’s bedtime by the time we get back to Connect. I read to Janet who was in and out of sleep but quite awake as I finished and wanted me to read more. I had to say no as, if I stay too late at Connect I get locked in to the place. Not a bad thing to have happen and if it wasn’t for our dog at home I would let it happen once in a while. Not tonight though.

Praying for full and complete healing and for a productive day tomorrow.

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

A smiling Janet greeted me as I arrived at Connect late this afternoon. She had just gotten up from a nap where she actually slept and I could tell. She was very bright and spoke well as she excitedly told me she had done a big workout in the gym this morning. There was no arguing with me when I suggested she was only telling me that so I wouldn’t make her do more tonight. Janet truly did have a good session with Curtis and Garrett this morning doing everything except the Standing Frame. Curtis worked on free standing with Janet in an area no where near a transfer pole and Janet did very well. A couple of times lately I’ve noticed her free standing while pulling her pants up or down but I haven’t said anything to her as I don’t want her to be thinking about it. I love that she’s doing it and I feel she’s getting closer to taking an unassisted step. It may be using an undesirable technique but I sense it coming.

After a lively dinner Janet wanted to get the Standing Frame over with and stood for an hour quite comfortably. The rest of the night was hers and after checking her emails which gave her some reading practice she counted out some pennies to be rolled. Her math skills are excellent and as long as she takes her time she can count accurately as well. For each roll she laid out stacks of two pennies in a five by five grid confidently answering that there were fifty pennies there. She has rolled eleven rolls of pennies so far and quickly calculated that is $5.50. Sounds like enough for that Blizzard she owes me.

Last night as we were reading Janet complained that the light in her room was too bright for her while she’s laying there listening to me so I asked her to remind me next time and I’ll turn it off, to my surprise, tonight she did. She also knew right away that SheLife is tomorrow and there were a number of other intelligent comments and strong displays of short term memory tonight too. Fun times.

Praying for full and complete healing and a positive day tomorrow.

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

I’m spending the first few days of this week bottling wine at CedarCreek Estate Winery so my time with Janet will start later in the day than usual. Today I got to Connect just as everyone was sitting down to dinner. Janet was excited to see me but I could tell wasn’t really missing me either, nor did I expect her to. I missed her though.

According to Janet she was in the gym “for a long time this morning”. As we talked it became apparent she had done the Shuttle and her mat exercises with Karl so that left the bike and standing frame for tonight. Something she was not pleased to hear. I was more concerned with what Janet had done in the afternoon and she exceeded my expectations greatly. I’ve often suggested to her that instead of watching daytime television she could work on her speech exercises or something like that. After lunch today she wheeled up to her desk and answered the questions on six or seven pages of work that Mary Lou had left in a binder for her to do as she pleased. I marked them for her, reading each question out loud and having her confirm her answer and found she scored as high as 100% and only as low as 80%. Nice work! She even did some very accurate underlining and some decent printing too.

Janet agreed to some one legged bike riding and I found her to be ineffective in trying to pull up using her right leg. Partly attitude and partly a result of the weekend maybe. Still good that she did it though. After a good session in the Standing Frame it was time to get ready for bed and to read Open which had Janet laughing out loud and listening intently for a good forty five minutes tonight. Fun.

Thanks to those of you that played the Where’s Janet game in her class photo yesterday. The consensus is third from the right, second row, but Janet still thinks she’s first on the left, front row. She is wavering a bit on that now and loved that people actually bothered to guess.

Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep that gives Janet lots of energy and a positive attitude and willingness to fully participate in whatever she’s asked to do tomorrow.

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

Today ended up being Janet’s sleep in day and good thing. She never would have made it through the Superbowl without a nap otherwise. She managed to make her coffee and toast by herself before having a good Skype chat with Leslie. I noticed Janet correcting herself a little more now, saying no in answer to a question by default then switching to the correct answer seconds later. Good to see.

We continued our scrapbooking type work and finished off the one with all the greeting cards in it. The big project now is photographs and to start we are going to digitize them all and Janet was quite happy to sit by the scanner and place photos on it while I operated things on the computer end. The photos we did today were of school age Janet and it was fun trying to figure out how old she was in each picture as most are not dated. I think she guessed fairly accurately. One photo puzzled us more than others. Can you find her in this one? We have different opinions.Janet Pre School Class

Our strata had an information meeting in regards to a large landscaping project facing us and I wanted to go but Janet didn’t so I risked leaving her alone for forty five minutes and she was quite happy to do so. When I got back she was watching the Superbowl Pre-game show and had really enjoyed the interview with Denver head coach John Fox. She said he seems like a nice guy. I’m glad she was that tuned in while I was gone not just staring blankly. Apparently she even went to the bathroom on her own. I know she is capable of that so I believe she did. High five!

After a quick chat with the Calgary gang (plus Ottawa and Costa Mesa) it was time for some football. Janet had never been upset we weren’t going to a party or having anyone over to watch the game so she was ready but neither of us was ready for what we witnessed. Janet stayed interested throughout and made lots of intelligent comments along the way. It was nice to watch quietly with her.
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The return to Connect keeps getting more and more difficult, for both of us I think. Janet was a little crabby and just wanted to get ready for bed and read even though it was only 8:30. I didn’t expect going to the gym or anything but thought she could at least help set her calendar for the week. Nope, bed it was, and ten minutes into the read she was sleeping. It’s like she willed her way through the football game then crashed. It was a good day all around and I think she’ll have a solid week. Praying for full and complete healing and thanking Jesus for every minute I get to spend with my beautiful wife.
Janet School Gr12

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

Most Saturdays at home with Janet start late as she takes a well deserved sleep in, not today. Awake at her normal Connect get up time, 7:45, our day started. Turned out to be a good thing as we got a lot done. Janet made herself toast and coffee and we mapped out our day before the weekly Skype chat with Mary/Gaga. Janet carried this chat really well and seemed quite on the ball.

Today was finally time to put Janet’s memorabilia into scrapbook type things and we both enjoyed looking through some of the stuff and remembering things from early on in our relationship. It was a little emotional at times and a good exercise for Janet to go through. It also validated my policy of getting all this stuff into a useful medium as opposed to stuffed in a box in a place no one goes. I don’t want Janet or anyone living in the past but boy there are some powerful things to be learned there like what an awesome mother she is, what a talented drawer and story teller she was. Hopefully some confidence was built today.

We worked steadily until well past lunchtime when I helped Janet make her grilled cheese sandwich. I need to have her practice operating the cooktop more as when she gains that skill she’ll be able to make lunch completely on her own.

There was no arguing about nap time today as it was a busy first part of the day for Janet that even included some free standing. Janet awoke in time for us to meet Suzanne at church and enjoy an excellent worship experience. Janet propelled herself, transferred, stood and sang well tonight. The only thing she didn’t really do well at was using her chopsticks while out for sushi dinner. Maybe it was the sake she finally agreed to try, I don’t know but this was a messy one. Still a very enjoyable evening, thanks for making it so, Suzanne.

Janet and I enjoyed fresh baked cookies from our neighbour, Betty, when we got home and were able to read a lot of Open before Janet went to bed. I’m glad we chose to read while Janet was awake enough to understand what I was reading as it was pretty deep and interesting stuff tonight. Fun to read and discuss with her.

Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and lots of energy for a fun tomorrow. Go ‘hawks!

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

Janet had just laid down for her afternoon nap and was not yet sleeping when I got to Connect this afternoon so I scooped her up and took her home so she could nap there before our dinner date tonight. She had done a decent amount of exercise during the morning and seemed quite bright and excited about going out for dinner. For a few months now our realtor, Les, has been trying to get us out for dinner with him and his wife, Dianne, as a closing present for us. The hook was that another couple would join us, his boss, Cliff, and his wife Barb who was in rehab at KGH with Janet almost the entire time Janet was there. Tonight was finally the night we could all connect at Bouchons. Janet was concerned with what she could wear as the shoes she needs to wear with her AFO are rather ugly and unfortunately I never thought of just using the ankle brace until it was too late. That meant no dress for Janet and both pairs of dress pants are too small for her now so she had to settle for regular pants and a nice shirt with a little bling. She looked fabulous of course as we headed out with Janet saying “I hope these people like me”. She knows Les of course but was having a hard time remembering Cliff and Barb and I assured her they remember her and always liked her a lot. As soon as Barb walked into the restaurant Janet’s face lit up as she remembered Barb from the countless unpleasant hospital meals they shared. Tonight was the polar opposite of that with both ladies demonstrating amazing recoveries. It was a very very enjoyable evening that tuckered Janet out to the point that when we got home she just wanted to get ready for bed and have me read to her. I did and she fell asleep within ten minutes then woke up and begged me to read more, I did and she fell asleep within three minutes then woke again saying read more. I did until she fell asleep for what I pray will be a night of re-energizing sleep so we can enjoy a productive Saturday.

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

A cold but smiling Janet was waiting for me at the pool this morning just wanting to get “this swimming thing over with”. She was in a good mood in spite of not wanting to be there and as usual broke into a big smile and actual laughter as she started to swim her first length. She said she was laughing because it was cold and it was a little on the chill side today for sure. I kept her moving as much as possible and Janet swam strong today with nice rolls from tummy to back and a few fun attempts at treading water. Instead of being all frustrated, she laughed about spinning around in a circle because of her one arm. The kiddie pool was a welcome relief from the cold and Janet did some good knee bends and balancing before getting a really good stretch in the hot tub, the place she would like to start and finish and probably stay at forever.

Janet had another fun appointment to look forward to this afternoon, the dentist. She needed one small cavity filled and afterwards said it was an interesting visit. The folks there are very friendly and fun and Janet felt at ease and welcome and said it didn’t hurt at all. She couldn’t wait to get into bed for a nap as soon as we got home though and had a good little rest before the next event.

We met Suzanne for dinner tonight at Routes Grill which is near Connect. Janet and I had been once before and Suzanne never before so it was a good place to catch up with her. Janet says “its always fun with her” and it was. The menu is a little limited so Janet ended up with a seafood linguine that I try and have her avoid when we are out as its a messy eat. She did OK though and conversed well with Suzanne.

Today was a very full day for Janet and she held up very well. I found her memory to be slightly improved and her transfers excellent. I had her try and answer some emails before bed but she only managed a couple as I think she had just had enough for the day by then. Andre Agassi managed to get a few belly laughs from her as we read Open before saying goodnight. Praying for a solid night of sleep and a great Friday.