Physio Therapy

Janet, A Success Story. April 24. #TSJ

As part of the development of a homecoming plan for Janet, Interior Health is required to determine her eligibility for home care services. Part of that process is a series of minor tests that Janet was first given in hospital almost two years ago. Actually, she wasn’t really given them then as she was unable to respond in any coherent way the first time, which was July 2012, then in September 2012 she scored super low and wasn’t able to complete the test. Today was much different. Nurse Jill met us at Connect this morning and spent an hour chatting and conducting the tests. Janet did very well and I wasn’t at all surprised but for sure pleased. The next step will likely involve a lot of paperwork so I’ll wait for instructions from the ABI Coordinator before spending too much time on it.

Since I was spending the day at Connect I brought Janet her favourite wrap from Urban Fare and we enjoyed a lively lunch with a few other residents. Janet then walked from the kitchen to her bathroom, a little slower than previous but still pretty good and she made really good turns into her room and especially the bathroom as that one was better than ninety degrees but she nailed it. There was an attempt at a nap next but my best guess says Janet was out for maybe twenty minutes. I can’t fault her as it was quite noisy out in the hallway and the adjoining room for a large part of the time. When she got up she bravely walked to the bathroom and back to the bed. I’m trying to get her to walk every short distance opportunity now and also to try a few steps unassisted. Janet remains scared of that idea.

There are two groups that Connect works with to provide some outdoor adventure to residents and today Janet and I filled out registration forms for both. One will allow her to try sailing and the other does small hikes, bike rides and kayaking, all with special equipment that makes it possible for Janet to do. She of course is not excited about any of it but I’m hoping to convince her to try once the weather gets better.

Chelsea had everyone build their own pizzas for dinner tonight so Janet was right at home with that. She did say later that it wasn’t as good as we make at home but it was OK. The energy it gave her was certainly good as she set a personal best on the bike tonight. I think it’s now time to make the ride a little harder and I’ll have to do that without her knowing as she still says it’s hard. We decided to read a little early tonight so Janet could have her dessert in hopes she would sleep better. It may have worked as she was snoring at 9:20! Praying for a long night of healing sleep and a productive tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. April 22. #TSJ #firstrealsteps

This is one of those days where I could just post a video and let it speak for itself but there is more to today than that. Janet continues to amaze.

The first part of her day seemed routine and she was giggly and doing fine when I called at lunchtime. She was awake in bed when I arrived a few hours later and was happy to open a package from her mom while I did some light maintenance on her wheelchair. In addition to some Easter treats, the package contained info on a lecture Mary Gaga and Keith had attended given by Dr. Jessica Grahn, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies music. Check out her talk at TEDx Waterloo, it’s fascinating and we’ll be checking into her studies more as we all know Janet has benefitted hugely from music during her recovery.

We spent our pre dinner time talking and learning and after a good dinner I challenged Janet to walk back to her room. Her acceptance was reluctant of course but for once there was no real complaining during the walk. She asked a few times to stop at the Den and complained once of feeling a little dizzy. I asked her to stop and stand tall and stretch a little then she was able to power on, reaching her bed in a record smashing thirty five minutes! Her technique has improved for sure, larger steps, much larger steps with her right leg, and managing to stay on a better angle. Janet was visibly pleased when it was over, both that it was over and that she had done it. Chelsea and Curtis stopped by and encouraged her a little and when Janet stood up for a reason I can’t remember, I felt prompted to ask her to step to me without hanging onto anything. Without hesitation she made three steps toward me in succession. Chelsea agreed to be camera operator and here’s what happened next.


So exciting!

Janet repeatedly said she was not going to Games Night but she did and she participated well and said it was OK afterwards. Willie stopped by to tell us he was able to share his story at his church this weekend. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately. Good stuff.

After Janet shared and ate more Easter chocolate it was reading time and we shared a lot of chuckles from Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. Feeling very blessed for the gains Janet is making and praying for Janet to be a willing participant in everything she’s asked to do tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. April 21. #TSJ

Back to “work/school” for Janet today. She calls Connect by both names depending on her mood. Negative is work, positive is school. When I called at lunchtime today she was very positive and sounded confident. Her gym session was “OK” as opposed to the more frequent “terrible” and her voice just had a real nice tone to it that wasn’t diminished when I got to Connect later in the day. Janet excitedly told me she did some walking and it was “fine” but the nap thing didn’t work at all. She was pretty alert so we got on with the most important activity of the day. Her new Mother of the Bride dress arrived and she couldn’t wait to try it on. It took me a while to figure out how to get all the material over her head but we managed without much stress and here is the result.

Saying Yes to the Dress.

Saying Yes to the Dress.

To make sure all was well with the dress I asked Chelsea for her opinion and she raved about it. Later we showed Tiffany who also thought Janet looked great in it. Janet agrees but still needs reassurance from her peers (other women) before completely accepting any compliments.

Janet’s mood shifted a little downward after dinner as she realized she had some work to do. There was a bright moment before that though as she was able to have a nice Skype chat with Andrew. Janet excitedly reported on her SheLife speech and carried a good conversation. I think that chat improved her mood enough to where she actually enjoyed her bike ride. She sang a lot during it and didn’t complain once about the hard parts. Janet wasn’t up for any walking tonight so we did some Speech type work by filling out some customer feedback forms that Connect has going around. It was an opportunity for Janet to think about a few staff members and how they differ in their job strengths and to create comments on each of them as to how she feels they work for her. Good brain exercise.

To close out the night we got Janet onto the Tilt Table again and she was not pleased about it. Chelsea and I didn’t have her set up exactly like she was the first time and I think it was too late for Janet to get comfortable after we corrected her position. It was still a good stretch and weight bearing time.

As Janet got into bed tonight she ended up laying on her back with her right arm stretched out at her side. I’ve never seen that before and am not sure how she got it there but it is cool that she can do that with no pain.
JanetRightArmStraight
Praying for a productive Tuesday.

Janet, A Success Story. April 15. #TSJ

A nice bounce back by Janet today. No accidents, good workouts, good reading practice on her SheLife speech and even a little participation in Games Night.

Janet seemed in a good mood when I called her at lunch time. Jess had taken her to the lab for another blood test in preparation for her doctor appointment tomorrow and she had gone for a bike ride and some stretching. When I arrived at Connect I was surprised to find Janet in the living room “supervising” Brian and a wheelchair tech working on Big Country’s new wheelchair. She had napped a little bit and was eager to practice her SheLife speech so that’s what we did first. The more she read it the better she got and as long as she doesn’t over rehearse and has a good nap tomorrow afternoon she should do well.

Chelsea joined us in the gym to learn Janet’s Shuttle routine. I hadn’t seen Janet on the Shuttle for a while and was impressed with her effort. I’d say there is some improvement since last time. After dinner Janet managed a decent walk from her room to the lobby, which is about fifty feet away. I hope to talk to Tez about helping Janet to walk straight ahead instead of angling to the right as she mostly does. She doesn’t quite understand that she’s doing it even after I tried to show her how much shorter she’d have to go if she went straight. Anyways, it took a lot of convincing to get her to practice walking tonight but when she did she did well. I had her take a few steps holding onto me so I could gage how much she’s using the cane and there was hardly any pushing down on my arm leading me to think she could take a step completely free but she’s scared to try. The idea of practicing that in the pool crossed my mind but I didn’t mention it to Janet yet.

It was a struggle again to get Janet to go to Games Night and this time she didn’t participate much except for singing the Barney theme song during a guessing game. There was one more reading of her speech, which was too much that late in the day, then some email replying to do before bed. Praying that Janet is well rested, confident and focussed for all that she’s asked to do tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. April 14. #TSJ

Today started off great with Janet waking at a decent hour after a good sleep and easily taking a bath before breakfast. She was bright and alert and seemed ready for a good day. I left her and Heather for a little bit to attend to an appointment I had and when I returned they were sharing the couch watching Ellen. I asked Janet if she needed to go to the bathroom and got what I felt was a confident no. Minutes later it was like the flood in Noah and I was not in the least bit impressed. I got quite angry with Janet and I know she didn’t intentionally do this but she’s been doing so well and this is such a sudden and inconsistent change that I get really mad when it happens and take it out on her. We had a good talk with nurse Jen at Connect this afternoon and have an appointment with Janet’s doctor Wednesday and I think with an understanding of what’s happening I will be better able to handle it. There are two likely scenarios, one physiological and treatable the other neurological and not treatable. Pray it’s the former please.

In spite of my grumpiness the rest of the day was pretty good. Janet really enjoyed her time with Heather and is very grateful for her taking the time to come all this way to visit. Janet is very aware that the next time she sees her will be at her wedding and “that’s a big deal”. After we dropped Heather at the airport we went back to Connect and worked on Janet’s speech for SheLife. It’s been hard for me not to put words in her mouth and Janet has done a great job of constructing what she wants to say. We wrote it up on her iPad and found she was having a lot of trouble reading it as the page was too busy so I transferred it to a presentation app with one or two sentences on each slide that Janet can see clearly, read then tap to see the next slide. Should work.

After an early and quiet dinner Janet agreed to a bike ride. I wasn’t expecting much from her as she had no nap at all today but she put in a very solid performance with no complaining. Her next choice was more mine than hers and that was a walk. Again, I didn’t expect much but started her out at the kitchen table with the goal of making it to her bed and I was willing to let her bail at the Den. No need, as forty five minutes later she plunked herself down on her bed. She was exhausted but somewhat happy with what she’d done, I certainly was.

There wasn’t much to the rest of the evening other than some well deserved chocolate and once in bed, Janet was sleeping ten minutes later. Praying for a complete and immediate resolution to Janet’s incontinence issue, a deep and healing sleep tonight and a great Tuesday.

Janet, A Success Story. April 11. #TSJ

Friday was a pretty quiet day for Janet, only a stretching routine in the gym this morning, then home with me after lunch with a stop to pick up her new glasses along the way. The anticipation of Heather visiting had Janet pretty wound up the last couple of days and knowing today was the day seemed to overwhelm her a little. Janet had a couple hours of quiet time this afternoon and wasn’t ready to get up when it was time to go get Heather because I think very little of that time involved sleep. Janet was standing while we waited for Heather to deplane and was able to greet her with a nice hug. I was surprised at Janet not seeing Heather until she was twenty feet directly in front of us but I guess the angle she was standing at put Heather on her right more than I thought.

One of Heather’s goals for this visit is to find her mom a dress for the wedding. In a very un woman like way, Janet is almost complaining about going shopping. I’m hopeful that will change once she’s out in the field.

Janet managed a short walk from the dining table to the couch to watch The Voice after dinner. She complained that she was “out of it” on account of the three sips of wine she had. More like the lack of sleep which she is now catching up on.

Praying for a fun Saturday.

Janet, A Success Story. April 10. #TSJ

I’m not sure how to start this post as Janet and I along with a few other Connect folks saw the movie Noah tonight and I’m still rather consumed by it. I didn’t meet up with Janet today until she and the others got to the movie theatre but I did call her at lunch time and she was quite excited to be outside at Beasley Park having a picnic with a bunch of Connect people. She also was excited to tell me she had done some walking from the breakfast table to somewhere she couldn’t name, I’m thinking the Den but it may have been further. Point is, she was excited to have done it.

Janet expressed all emotions except laughter during Noah and overall thought it was a good movie with a lot of parts she didn’t understand. I would concur and Janet and I had a good talk about it in the car and right up until bedtime and would love to hear from any of you as to what you thought of it. It was exciting to be able to take Janet to a movie and for her to sit through a long one like that. Her sitting was made more comfortable in that she was able to sit in a theatre seat after a difficult transfer that included negotiating a three inch step down to get to her seat. Popcorn and pop helped too of course.

Praying for a restful night of sleep tonight and for an energetic Janet tomorrow and also for Heather to arrive safely and on time.

Janet, A Success Story. April 9. #TSJ

I was a little concerned as I arrived at Connect this afternoon and saw a tired looking Janet sitting in the Standing Frame. We had planned on leaving early for SheLife so we could run an errand and not be rushed through dinner. Turns out Janet was just getting out of the Standing Frame, not into it, and she had tried to nap but just couldn’t do it so off we went and my concern was all for not as Janet had an excellent evening.

The first part of her day was pretty routine from what I could gather as she had done all the requisite exercises and worked on Speech with Mary Lou. When I asked about walking, Janet was quick to say she had not done any yet but was going to at SheLife. I was pleasantly surprised she remembered that and that she still wanted to do it. We arrived at the church a half hour early so Janet could have a bathroom break before attempting to walk to her table for the evening’s session. She thought I was going to make her walk from the bathroom but that’s probably in the 150 foot range and even I am not that mean to have her try that yet. Janet happily suggested starting from a set of doors about 80 feet from her table. It was still early so no one was around as she started out which gave her time to really get going without the distraction of people watching. Twenty minutes later Janet sat down at her table to loud applause and cheering from the whole room and Janet was visibly happy with herself. Along the way, she took some really good steps, corrected her direction well with lots of coaching from me, and only once let people distract her from what she was doing. It was an excellent public walking debut and Janet is truly excited about having done it as she even reported it to Chelsea upon our return to Connect. I think I’m more excited about Janet feeling great about accomplishing such a thing than I am about the feat itself. Exciting times.

Praying that Janet sleeps well tonight and has a productive Thursday.

Janet, A Success Story. April 8. #TSJ

I arrived at Connect this afternoon to a very tired looking Janet hanging out in the living room. She said she slept but it sure didn’t look like it. That didn’t stop her from making a nice salad and setting the dinner table at Chelsea’s request. You think she knew I was lining up some exercise for her?

At my suggestion earlier in the day Janet did some walking in addition to her regular gym stuff and after dinner tonight I was able to get her to walk farther than I anticipated. She made it from her room to the Den very nicely and didn’t complain once the whole way. Despite a lot of resistance we went to Games Night following the walk. Janet feared not knowing any of the answers to the “stupid” games played and said she would only go to watch. On the very first question, Janet piped up quickly with the correct answer and did so a number of times during the evening. According to her, even with that success, “it was not fun”.

The last few days have been great for Janet both physically and cognitively. Her walking, in my opinion is improving, her short term memory is getting better too and she almost always can tell me the day, date, month and year, a skill Dr. Miller was encouraging a few months ago and I think we can now say has been achieved. Janet had another blood test today checking her Dilantin levels and they came back fine. All these positives are helping to grow Janet’s confidence to the point where she says she’s going to try and walk the last part of the way to her table at SheLife tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Praying for a solid night of sleep and a positive Wednesday.

Janet, A Success Story. April 7. #TSJ

Janet went right back to work today at Connect with a morning walk from the dining area to her room. That’s the longest walk she’s been on, close to 80 feet, and she was, dare I say, excited about it when I called at lunch time. She repeated that distance this afternoon with me, going the other direction, and showing improvement in her balance and confidence. Very exciting.

That was for sure the highlight of the day but Janet was in a good mood and quite bright the whole time I was with her. She practiced some hand writing using a workbook Mary Lou gave her and is producing more consistent letters than before. After reading The Artisan Soul, which talks a lot about artistic freedom, it is hard for me to tell Janet to stay between the lines, but I think it’s best she does. Janet reluctantly agreed to a Standing Frame session after dinner. It had been a while since her last session partly because of the pain she was complaining of in her right leg. That seems to be diminishing as Jess was able to stretch Janet well this morning and I got no mentions of pain tonight. Fortunately the NCAA basketball championship was on while Janet was standing and that provided a nice distraction and a fun way for Janet to end a very hard working day.

Praying for lots of strength and a positive attitude for tomorrow.