Recovery

Janet, A Success Story. June 5. #TSJ

Always able to surprise, Janet surprised again this morning by agreeing to go kayaking. She is registered with the CHRIS program who do adaptive hiking, biking and kayaking around the Okanagan. Janet was pressured into trying this somewhat and I’m glad she followed through. No surprise at all that she didn’t like it and doesn’t want to go again. I wasn’t able to be there and am awaiting pictures so you will have to settle for one of us and Big Country at the beach last night just before the pine cone fight.

Beasley Park, Wood Lake

Beasley Park, Wood Lake

Because of a number of appointments today and tomorrow Janet got to start her weekend today and instead of crossing off one appointment, another one was created. Janet has been complaining for a few weeks of a “plugged” left ear so we went to the doctor today. She has a lot of wax buildup in both ears and now has to go back Monday to get them flushed out. Good thing she mentioned it so we can remedy it before Ottawa.

I waited all day to get Janet home so we could watch the semi final tennis match between Genie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova. It was well worth the wait and Janet showed a much better awareness of what was happening than ever before. She could read the score easily each time I asked and she reacted appropriately to big plays as they happened. Fun to watch, Janet and the match.

The way the day was scheduled left no time for a nap so Janet was in bed asking me to read by 9:30 ish and was sleeping soundly by ten. Praying for a solid 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. June 1. #TSJ

This morning was more mellow than Saturday morning and Janet was able to get through breakfast well before the weekly Skype chat with her mom. In fact, we were able to watch Genie Bouchard win her fourth round match at the French Open before the mom call and Janet was pleased to be able to do so. She’s a fan.

From what I heard of the conversation with Mary/Gaga it went well and Janet even ended the call properly on her iPad, something I’ve been trying to teach her for a long time. After some suntanning time we drove out to see John and go for a walk with him. Janet noted he seemed a little down compared to last time so we left him with a promise to take him for lunch next Saturday in hopes that gives him something to look forward to. We were then able to eat our lunch outside before Janet’s nap time. Have to get her tanned up for the wedding you know.

After her nap we walked up to check out the pool. I wasn’t able to convince Janet to swim but she was all over going for a hot tub. As you can see in the picture the first step in is a doozy with the four others not much better. Janet made it in OK but getting out was no fun at all. I was over confident in what Janet is able to do and attempted to assist her in walking out. She just doesn’t have the strength to tackle large steps like that and if one of our neighbours wasn’t there to help me get Janet out, we might still be there. I’ll be carrying her out from now on. The pool steps are not as large so hopefully Janet can manage those ones better.
Janet Hot Tub

Janet’s conversation skills are certainly improving as evidenced by her striking up a chat with the lady in the hot tub (the one that ended up helping us) and then by having an excellent Skype chat with Andrew. Her speech and recall were outstanding today. There weren’t too many walking opportunities but she did make it up and down our ramp a few times.

Our arrival back at Connect tonight was later than usual as we lingered over dinner, America’s Got Talent, and ice cream before making the trek. Janet says she doesn’t mind it when she gets there its more the thought of having to go back that bugs her. This is a short week for her though as she gets to come home Thursday and stay for the weekend on account of a few appointments Thursday and Friday. She’s happy about that.

Praying for a restful night of sleep, lots of energy all week and a willingness to work hard.

LarryJanet Hot Tub

Janet, A Success Story. May 31. #TSJ

Being up late last night didn’t deter Janet from getting up early this morning which was surprising to me but I’m glad she did. Mostly because the landscaping committee rang the doorbell at 9:30 and Janet got a say in where some new plants went. Shortly after that we got a call about something we are selling then we walked over to the pool to help clean and set up the furniture and stuff for it as today was opening day. Janet helped me put some stuff away from Wine Club when we got home and by the time noon rolled around it had been a very productive day which meant we could spend the afternoon in the sun.

I tried to convince Janet to go for a swim but she wasn’t buying it despite the air and water temps being right in her range. Hopefully tomorrow. She did do good work on her tan before nap time though.

Our outing to church this evening was Janet’s first without her wheelchair which meant she even walked down the ramp in our garage for the first time. She was a little scared at first but handled it very well. Guess its time for a hand rail.

Pizza, a movie and ice cream rounded out the night and Janet was in bed snoring at a much more reasonable hour. Praying for a long night of sleep that gives Janet lots of energy for a fun Sunday.

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 27. #TSJ

More history was made today! Janet achieved a wheelchair free afternoon and evening! I’m more excited than she is of course and had to take time to explain the significance of it to her. I don’t anticipate ever being totally without the wheelchair but hope Janet can now see her way to being able to get around the house on her own without it. The amount of walking she did today was comparable to yesterday and Janet was quite worn out by bedtime, physically at least. The only complaining she did was towards the amount of freestyle walking she was asked to do. There were a few “tantrums” which she quickly passed off and got on with the walking and actually did some of her strongest yet.

There was more good news. Janet’s doctor called to say her Dilantin level is right where we want it to be and she therefore doesn’t need a blood test next week. Janet is relieved by that and I think if we can keep her hydrated her levels should stay good.

Dare I say there’s even more good news? Janet admitted that Games Night was “alright” tonight! There was the usual protest leading up to it then for some reason Janet participated her most ever, giving good answers to Family Feud questions, correctly guessing Spiderman in a name the celebrity questioning game then getting right into the Heads Up version of Act It Out. Janet always liked Charades and this was a simple version of that. She even smiled while playing.

Today, like most days, was full of good news. Janet told me that a student took her to the gym this morning and “used” her to practice some physio therapy techniques he is learning. They worked on stretching Janet’s right arm then had her do some step up exercises which she was quite excited about. Tez is hopeful this will increase Janet’s use of her right leg with which I’ve noticed an improvement this week.

This all sounds pretty rosy and that’s the way it was today. Praying for more of the same tomorrow.