Physio Therapy

Janet, A Success Story. June 23. #TSJ Back to Work

The transition back to “work” for Janet seemed to go real well as when I got to Connect late this afternoon Janet gave me one of her best daily run downs ever. She seemed very bright and her memory was working almost shockingly well. According to her, all her exercises were done and the report she gave me was so good I didn’t feel a need to verify it.

By the time we were done talking and Janet was up and dressed it was dinner time. We ate outside in the beautiful 28 degree sunshine while the rest of the house sat in the freezing cold air conditioning. They think we are crazy. I think Janet may come home sooner if Connect is going to be so ridiculously cold.

In keeping with her increased brightness, Janet, on a number of occasions started walking around her room unassisted and without being asked. Her confidence level has never been higher I don’t think and it translated into me sometimes not even watching as she moved about her room. Considering she barely freestyle walked at all in Ottawa I was really surprised she attempted and did it so much today. Near the end of the night she relied on me more, even to the point of refusing to go to the kitchen from the living room for a cookie. Because I wouldn’t hold her hand she turned around in the middle of the floor and walked back to the couch, turned and sat all by herself. She thought she was depriving me of something I wanted her to do when in fact she practiced turning and sitting without hanging onto anything. I could not have gotten her to do that voluntarily and may have discovered a new strategy.

We spent some time reading and catching up on emails. Janet did a good job on all fronts especially typing where once she got warmed up was even hitting the space bar without prompting. A new thing for her.

The wedding of course is top of everyone’s discussion list with Janet and she was thrilled to sit and share some pictures with Chelsea and Karl tonight. She gets a little excited when doing things like that and sometimes skips over some detail she ought to point out and forgets names but all in all she did a good job describing each pic. She very smoothly recounted the great job Courtney did with her hair and laughed along with the rest of us at the pig tails that were put in to hold some hair out of the way for a bit. It’s nice to hear Janet laugh at things like that instead of commenting on how “awful” she thinks she looks.

The process begins

The process begins

Funny but cute too

Funny but cute too

Final touches

Final touches

Ready!

Ready!

Praying for another outstanding day tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. June 12. #TSJ Home for a holiday.

And so it begins. Janet is home for the next ten nights, five here then five in Ottawa, and she is very excited. It was a good day of transition for her as she did an express version of her gym routine this morning then went with the rest of the house to a park in Vernon for a picnic lunch. She has a little trouble in figuring out what to wear for outings like that and ended up over dressed for what was a warm day even though it looked cool.

The "ducky" weather is coming.

The “ducky” weather is coming.

Getting a head start on nap time.

Getting a head start on nap time.

We packed Janet up after a brief nap and drove to her doctor’s for one last round of power washing her ears. Our car went through a power wash on the way as we hit a massive thunderstorm with some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen. Janet was actually a little nervous about it but by the time we hit Kelowna proper it was like it hadn’t rained at all. That’s why we live here folks.

Janet was very brave at the doctor’s and her ears are now squeaky clean. My plan for her at home and on the trip to Ottawa is to do as much walking as possible and use the wheelchair only when necessary. That began nicely as soon as we got home. Janet walked in from the car to the bathroom then out to the kitchen where she chopped veggies on her own for dinner. She seems to be at a perfect height sitting in a real chair at the island for chopping and stirring. Janet did an awesome job tonight and rewarded herself with a glass of wine with dinner.

I thought if we went for an after dinner walk we might see some of the neighbours but our after dinner is closer to a lot of folk’s bedtime around here so no one was out. It was nice to get some air before watching So You Think You Can Dance. Janet made some really intelligent remarks during the show and overall is showing more improvement in the memory and awareness department. Her walking tonight was solid and she did all of her nighttime stuff in the bathroom unassisted, with no wheelchair.

Praying for a great night of sleep and a productive Friday.

Janet, A Success Story. June 4. #TSJ

Today was team meeting day at Connect and Janet was waiting for everyone in the Den and feeling pretty good about it all. Mary Lou had arranged for Janet to be the first Connect Resident to start their own meeting and Janet read a list of her goals, challenges and strategies right at the top of the meeting. Janet read the typed notes as Mary Lou uncovered each line one by one and prompted Janet now and then. She was very confident in addressing the group and is slowly getting better with reading.

Improved reading is one of Janet’s goals and Mary Lou is confident Janet will get to the level she wants to get to. Reading the children’s stories has been great even to the point of Janet giving voices to the different characters. That level of reading will continue as it’s fun and is building Janet’s confidence.

Janet listed walking as another of her goals and the thought there is to continue walking at every opportunity and use the wheelchair as little as possible. Janet used it twice today, once to go to the bathroom after her nap and once when the house went for an evening walk to the beach. She did ask for her chair a few times during the day but is starting to get used to hearing no for an answer.

Doing more at home was another Janet goal and it lead perfectly into a discussion of a graduated return to home. Starting after the July long weekend, Janet will be home Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the balance of the summer. The team will come up with ideas for activities Janet can do on her own while at home including domestic chores, she mentioned laundry, reading and even listening to an audio book. The focus of that extra day at home will be to try and familiarize Janet with things she can do around the house for when I’m not there. Possibly come September, Janet would be home Mondays as well, up until the last few weeks before coming home full time, then we might try something like staying at home each night and driving out for therapies each morning for a half day. Once home full time Janet may get to participate in an outpatient program at KGH to take advantage of the fact she is still making significant gains on all fronts. That idea needs the approval of Dr. McCann and Brian will get that ball rolling soon.

Team meetings have always been productive for us even though they wear on Janet a bit. She had another meeting right afterwards with a lady doing research on the cognitive therapies Janet receives. That made lunch late but we enjoyed it together outside in the sunshine. Janet of course hadn’t had any exercise other than walking all day but that and the meeting wore her out enough that she had a good long nap late this afternoon waking up in time to get a bike ride in before dinner.

The evening was nice and sunny so Curtis and Chelsea offered everyone a chance to walk to the beach. Janet was surprisingly reluctant but went and really enjoyed it, especially the pine cone fight with Wes.

Happily in bed early, Janet read a little before I read a lot of Unbreak My Heart, a book Janet says she is really enjoying a lot now. Praying for a lot of sleep tonight and a positive attitude tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. June 3. #TSJ

Janet was all done with her exercises by the time I got to Connect this afternoon. Jess told me the wheelchair was hardly used so Janet had done a lot of walking again. She slept like it, right until 4 o’clock! This does seem to be a better routine for her and if it can continue then I may delay my arrival as there’s no point to me being there while she’s sleeping.

We did get to sit in the sun for a while before dinner after a good walk from Janet’s room. There was no protesting Games Night tonight, possibly because Janet was too busy complaining about walking there. I had her walk freestyle from her room to the elevator, about 80 feet then helped her the first 50 feet to the Pool Room in hopes she would do the last bit herself. No way. She did participate very well in the various thinking games played and even volunteered to do the guessing on the Guess the Famous Person game. Hers was Superman and she got it pretty quick.

After a good walk back to her room Chelsea informed us there was a rainbow outside so Janet got even more walking in to see that. There’s something about rainbows that seems to get everyone excites no matter their age.

Enjoying the view.

Enjoying the view.


Janet practiced some reading before I read to her tonight. She’s seeing words better but still needs a lot of coaching to move her head to the right to make sure she sees the entire line. The good news about all that is Janet really wants to read well so is quite willing to practice.

Praying for a restful night and an energetic Wednesday.

Janet, A Success Story. June 2. #TSJ

Janet was back to “work” in a hurry today. She had all of her physical therapies completed by lunchtime and seemed OK with it all. Usually when that happens I’ll hear some complaint about how “terrible” or “hard” it all was but when I called her today she was all giggly sitting out in the sunshine after lunch.

It was obvious to me when I got out to Connect that Janet had worked hard her first part of the day as she never woke when I went into her room and stayed sleeping for another twenty minutes. Still no complaining when she woke up and with a hint of eagerness she walked down to the dining area to set the table. The complaining started soon after. I’ve been having Janet do as much without her wheelchair as possible and there is a lot of walking involved in setting a table. As she got tired, the whining started, but she persevered and was rewarded with a bit of Happy Hour in the sun that included a Skype chat with Heather. The conversation went well considering all Janet wants to talk about is the wedding.

We hung out in Janet’s room most of the rest of the night with Janet practicing reading, writing an email and listening to some music. Heather had shared the song she will be walking down the aisle to and Janet asked if I remembered what songs we used at our wedding. I was confident I knew the walk in song, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, but not the first dance one, Only Know I Do. Thankfully Laurel was on the ball and gave us that one. Janet still likes them both and sang along knowing a lot of the words.

The walking Janet did tonight was of mixed quality with the really good stuff happening at the end, which is a relief as some of her earlier stuff was not pretty. I think maybe she was a little tired from the morning and took a while to warm up. Wearing her sandals, I can see her toes and am a little concerned how the right ones curl up when she’s walking. Janet can’t move them herself much so we may need to find a way of keeping them stretched out if Tez thinks its a problem.

Janet’s speech and memory were outstanding tonight and she gave me probably her best summary of her day ever, nailing everything up to and including dinner. Interesting how the most recent stuff she couldn’t come up with. Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and a bright Tuesday.

Janet, A Success Story. May 30. #TSJ

Friday is Janet’s favourite day of the week. She was excited about it Thursday night and after a brief greeting this afternoon at Connect, her first words to me were “can we go now?” Since all her therapies were done for the day it was only a matter of packing a few things and we were gone.

Tonight was another meeting of our wine club and Janet helped me start to get ready for that when we got home then went for a good long nap. She took a while to fully wake up afterwards and I left her home alone while I went to pick up sushi for dinner. When I got back fifteen minutes later she was sipping on her water and singing along to the music I left on for her. Janet enjoyed what I think was her cleanest sushi dinner ever. That can be a messy meal but not tonight. By the time our guests arrived Janet seemed ready for a fun night.

I don’t spend much time with Janet at these gatherings. It’s a nice chance for her to talk with other people. I did notice she got a little quiet after a hour or so as there was a large group tonight which can be a little overwhelming but in the end Janet really enjoyed the evening.

Knowing Janet would want ice cream before bed I asked, and she quickly agreed and also asked if we could watch So You Think You Can Dance. We did, and stayed up too late but isn’t that what Fridays are for? Because of the party atmosphere there wasn’t a lot of walking going on but what Janet did was good and I noticed her memory was very sharp tonight as was her overall awareness, she knew the day, date and year without hesitation twice tonight.

Praying Janet sleeps well tonight and is ready for some fun in the sun tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. May 29. #TSJ

Janet is getting too smart for me. As we returned from an evening walk outside she remembered it was time for her meds and as we passed the med room, Chelsea was in it, and got her meds for her, so Janet got out of her last freestyle walking trip of the day. I’m happy she remembered the meds without prompting and am OK without the walk as she had done a lot today as it was.

Earlier in the day Janet had worked with a student, Sara, whom she obviously liked because she introduced me as we walked down the hall to go do dinner prep. Janet rarely remembers to introduce me to anyone and almost always forgets their name, not this time. Lasagne was on the menu tonight and Janet did a great job helping Chelsea with it. By far her best cheese grating and veggie chopping she’s done yet. Getting stronger.

In the spirit of getting stronger Janet agreed to a Shuttle session before dinner to complete her daily physio work. I wasn’t expecting much after walking her all the way to the gym but to finish off her session she pushed a set with the most weight ever for her. High five!

Since the physical part of her day was done we spent the evening on cognitive stuff again. Counting and rolling quarters first, which showed me that Janet’s math skills and her dexterity are not lacking in any way. I wanted her to practice some writing and we looked at the daily schedule she had written out this morning. It was definitely not her best effort and she couldn’t even read most of it tonight. Her explanation was that she was eating breakfast and was called away to go and write it out so she didn’t want to do it. Looked like it too.

The book we are reading, Unbreak My Heart, is much more Janet’s style and she is enjoying it so far, even giving me a good summary before reading tonight. Its nice to hear her laugh and comment as I read instead of snore. Praying for a solid night of sleep for Janet that prepares her well for a fun weekend.

Janet, A Success Story. May 28. #TSJ

Another wheelchair free night for Janet even though she was pretty tired. I woke her up when I arrived then she went right back to sleep for twenty minutes before I had to wake her so we could get ready for a chat with Brian. She was sleeping really warm as for some strange reason, she was in bed with all her clothes on. Of course she was then cold once she got up. Silly.

Brian hasn’t been in the picture much lately and I wanted to touch base with him on a few things ahead of next week’s team meeting. The better Janet gets the less involved Brian is. That’s good but we miss having him around more. He covertly watched Janet walk from her room to the Den freestyle and was genuinely impressed. We had a good talk and I’ll fill you in on details after the team meeting.

In order to help plan out the rest of the evening Janet walked to the kitchen area to see what house chore she was to perform today. It was her turn to empty the sanitizer and put the dishes from it away. She bravely started doing so without even asking for her wheelchair and confidently used the counters to support herself as she manoeuvred around the kitchen. I stood by in case she misjudged a turn or a step but I was not needed. High five!

That task took a lot of energy out of Janet and she was happy to sit in the living room for a few minutes waiting for dinner to be ready. She got there completely on her own and I sense a real spike in her confidence and there seems to be an expectation on her part to do things like walk to a chair and sit down without help. Awesome.

Janet’s day of exercises was heavy on stretching and light on strength and conditioning but with her feeling tired tonight I let her pick one of the three things she should have done and she chose bike. When I suggested the Standing Frame would be easier she stuck with the bike as she at least likes it a little bit. Her ride was solid as was all of her walking tonight especially the trip to get her meds. She was stepping nice and straight and I noticed for the first time her right footed steps were sometimes heel first as opposed to the ball of her foot. I think that is a significant sign of improvement and I’ll watch for it more.

To complete her wheelchair free night Janet performed her night routine walking and standing on her own. It’s really cool to see her standing at the sink brushing her teeth after so many months of her sitting in her wheelchair like a little kid. Love it.

Praying for a long night of restful sleep and lots of energy tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. May 26. #TSJ

I considered having Janet attempt a wheelchair free night tonight and she was off to a great start until I suggested we go for a walk in the sun to watch some soccer. She’s not ready to actually walk long distances like that and is a little uncomfortable with uneven surfaces still. It was nice to sit in the sun with her for a bit after she put in a hard days work. JanetSoccer

Walking was the theme of the day today and Jess had Janet walk to the gym and back this morning. Janet is less resistant to longer walks like that as long as somebody is helping her and her conditioning has improved to the point where a walk that far no longer exhausts her. For me this afternoon and evening, Janet walked everywhere except the soccer field and that included two trips to the gym as well as back and forth to dinner. All those were with assistance because of the frequency and the fact she was going to workout in the gym but her trip to get her meds at the end of the night was done freestyle and in record time.

Her cognitive work of the day came in the form of reading an email then counting out and rolling up two rolls of nickels. I am enjoying reading One Hundred Years of Solitude but Janet just isn’t getting it so we are switching books again. We are going to try the newly released memoir of Toni Braxton called Unbreak My Heart. Janet really likes Toni Braxton’s music and is excited to read her story.

Praying for a night of rejuvenating sleep and a productive Tuesday.

Janet, A Success Story. May 22. #TSJ

A rare thing occurred today. I snuck into Janet’s room this afternoon and for once she was sound asleep and she never even woke up as I entered so I snuck back out to let her rest. She rang her pendant about twenty minutes later as she needed to go to the bathroom. Apparently she called for help a short while after I left last night for the same reason and that is an encouraging sign.

The day up to that point was once again busy for Janet as she completed all her therapy sessions with the exception of the Shuttle. After a freestyle walk to the patio for some sunshine and then setting the dinner table it was off to the gym to complete that task. I intentionally made it quite hard for Janet wanting to really workout her right leg. She did well but happily pedalled away when done.

Our evening together was quiet with Janet checking emails, reading in preparation for our Small Group session tomorrow night and standing on one leg for as long as she could. I’m looking for ways to get her to trust her right leg more and figured if she stands on it alone she’ll recognize more what it can do. Janet surprised herself in begin able to lift it high to stand on her left leg and also to stand on the right one for a few seconds. She was hanging onto the transfer pole for support while doing this so not all her weight is going through her legs but some confidence was definitely gained. More was built near the end of the night when she walked from the bed to the bathroom without me hovering over her. She also never once argued about walking today.

Praying for continued strengthening physically and mentally.