therapy

Angry Janet. The fighting spirit returns. #TSJ

Janet was laying in bed listening to music and starting to nod off when I arrived this afternoon. Jess and Lorne excitedly reported that she produced a “massive” bowel movement earlier in the day and she found it both relieving and humorous. I share this only in light of how good for Janet it is that she finally is getting things moving out of there. She smiled large when I asked her about it.

After her nap we picked out what to wear to the pool tomorrow. She wanted no part of her actual bathing suits as they’re all bikini style and Janet has retained her modesty throughout this journey. I found my favorite pair of shorts she used to wear and we settled on those with a t shirt overtop of a bathing suit top. Not the most styling but easy for me to put on her and she seems fine with it. I checked with Leanne and Jen who were upstairs at the time just to make sure.

Chris made a yummy pasta dish for dinner tonight that was served quite early and judging by the speed with which Janet ate I’d say it was good he served it then. I had picked up some macaron from Sandrine in honor of Macaron Day and shared them with everyone for dessert. They were a huge hit. As expected. Janet had laundry duty after dinner then Garrett would take her to the gym and while she was wheeling to the laundry room she started to tell me how angry she was about all this. This apparently is how she has to do all these different things and everyone telling her to do them. She seemed to understand that she is actually given choices whenever she’s asked to do anything and all the things she’s asked to do are geared towards making her better. This is the first time in a while I’ve seen that fight and anger in her. It’s good I think and this was a much brighter Janet than I’ve seen in a few weeks.

She did a good job putting her laundry away only needing a few gentle reminders to read the labels on the drawers. Her workout with Garrett went well. He had Janet and Fred in there at the same time and doesn’t know why but they both broke out into laughter at him at the same time at one point. As they were all coming back down the hall I could hear Janet very loudly saying “Larry Dieno is my husband”. Garrett was getting her to talk about her family but not sure why she was so loud all of a sudden. Hopefully that continues.

Our before bed activity tonight was to work on the script for our little video to be shown during the Easter service at Trinity. It is a very brief snap shot of our story and for the first time I didn’t hesitate at all in talking to Janet about the details of what she’s been through. I’ve previously been cautious about it but this time just went right into it and she was fine. As we went deeper into each item she did get some tears going but overall I am pleased with how she is relating to her situation. She still has no memory of any of it but knows there was a big change in her life and that she is getting better. That part we need to keep reinforcing but its there.

I finally said goodnight to a Janet anticipating a busy and exciting day tomorrow. Praying for a restful night so she has lots of energy to enjoy and learn.

Thirsty? Not Janet. #TSJ

Just to see how things were going and to make sure Janet was OK to sing with John today I called in to Connect this morning. Jess reported Janet seemed brighter and was talking well right from when she got up. Everything seemed like it was a go.

I intentionally stayed away to let Janet have her sing along time then a nap and she was sound asleep when I arrived and stayed that way till around four. She was a little bit out of it when she woke up but came around fairly quickly and well enough to have a decent Skype chat with Leslie. The first one with her in three weeks and I could tell Janet had stepped up her game as soon as the connection was made. She still has difficulty lasting more than twenty minutes but that increased focus is good for her.

As usual this was Janet’s night to help prep dinner and her first task was shredding cabbage. Really hard for me to do never mind her so she moved on to measuring and adding spices then Garrett took her down to help with some laundry and said she did really well, measuring detergent and loading the machines. One of those crazy things she loves to do. We had time to Skype with Mary/Gaga before dinner was ready and Janet managed to talk fairly well and blew her mom and Keith lots of kisses at the end. Janet ate a good dinner and has shown no signs of a diminished appetite at all but the battle continues in the drinking department. She took a few good gulps right after she got up from her nap but I had to nag her constantly after that and got limited results. Jess said it was the same way the first half of the day with her and Lorne. They would ask, remind and insist, each time getting a mostly negative response. When it’s explained to her how important it is she seems to listen and understand but won’t follow through.

Garrett took Janet to the gym after dinner and had a really good workout with her saying she did really well getting herself onto her tummy and back again. There was no indication of pain anywhere and no tears. Yay. I was surprised how long she lasted in the gym as her workout ended when she is usually tucked into bed. Still having some energy she snacked on an apple with Fred and me as he savored his big win at poker tonight. I’m trying to convince Janet to play sometime but the gym is better for her.

Quite a nice improvement in Janet today again. She is no longer arguing about the afternoon nap, she didn’t complain of any unusual pain today, she ate well and talked well at times but there were still frequent moments of Klingon. Both John and Jess reported that the sing along session was a lot of fun. Janet was not any louder but was very smiley as she sang away. Jess caught her singing Who Let the Dogs Out on the toilet afterwards. I finally spoke to her doctor and she will send a referral to see Dr. Adams the neurologist as soon as possible and I’ll take Janet in to the GP Thursday after swimming. Hopefully we can get some solid answers to the Dilantin questions and Janet’s overall condition soon. With her improving so much now I fear we won’t know what was wrong on the weekend but I’m glad to see her brightening up.

Praying for a night of deep rest and healing that brings lots of energy for tomorrow.

A Moving Monday. Janet rebounds a little. #TSJ

Hoping to get answers to Janet’s lethargy and pain I called her doctor’s office first thing this morning and got the impression I wasn’t going to be able to speak to her as she was booked solid. The lab results had arrived and were just faxed to Connect before I called so that was my next call. Jess reported Janet was OK, oddly complaining about sitting up whereas yesterday the complaints came about laying down. She was slowly drinking a smoothy and seemed relatively fine but Jess had no intention of taking her to the gym or anything like that. Nurse Jen and I talked about the lab results which indicate that Janet’s Dilantin levels are within the therapeutic range but at the low end of it. I’m surprised by that and even more concerned now about Janet’s tolerance for that drug. There are a number of things that could be affecting her though, bladder infection and dehydration primarily. Jess just missed a chance at a urine sample before I got in this afternoon and will try again in the morning and as far as the dehydration goes I don’t think Janet is but she can certainly drink more and maybe needs to do so to overcome the effects of the Dilantin.

Jess had just put Janet to bed when I arrived about 1:30 this afternoon saying the first part of the day had gone fairly well and Janet ate a decent lunch before nap time. She was awake when I went into her room and we had a brief chat before nurse Jen came in to examine her a little. Janet’s vitals are normal and there is no evidence of anything wrong other than she’s a little pale and complains of pain from time to time. The problem is she indicates the pain is in a different part of her body every time you ask her. One area that does get mentioned a little more than others is her left butt cheek. I can’t trigger a pain response there but she does touch it sometimes when asked to show where the pain is.

Jen left just after two and Janet was snoring minutes later and continued till 3:30 when Bob stuck his head in the door on his start of shift rounds. Janet fell back to sleep quickly and save for one more brief eye opening slept loudly till 4:50. It took a little while for her to get her speech going but once up in a sitting position started to come around a little quicker. By the time we were in the kitchen for dinner she was pretty bright and happily started drinking her water then ate a large dinner complete with one of Sandrine’s macaron for dessert. Thanks Kiko and Brenda!

I tried getting Janet to make her March Madness picks the way she used to, by choosing the team with the nicest uniforms, but I couldn’t find a website that made it easy to do that so I just had her pick the name of the team she liked best for each match up and she ended up picking Indiana as her winner. A pretty good choice I think. It was movie night in the neighboring house and Janet agreed to go over there with me to watch for a while. Unfortunately the movie was one of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels which Janet found to be very uninteresting but she enjoyed being there with the other residents and hung in for about an hour. I gave her a bio break once we got to her room and she thankfully and surprisingly had a bowel movement. I was way more happy about it than she was and she says she wasn’t feeling any better because of it. Still a really good sign and hopefully Janet will realize some benefit by the morning. We read some news articles on the iPad for a while after that. I asked her to read and she would get two or three words at a time but no more and was starting to lose her speech and agreed to go to bed at 8:45. I was pleasantly surprised at how long she lasted tonight and by her increased brightness and I must credit the long nap for that. To me Janet is still showing signs of an intolerance to Dilantin and there probably is something else going on but today was much better than yesterday.

Janet’s doctor never returned my call but I’m confident she will tomorrow and I plan on taking Janet in to see her Thursday after swimming as long as she doesn’t get any worse. It certainly appears she’s getting better but we still don’t know the cause of all this. Praying for another restful night and an even brighter day tomorrow.

Energizer Janet. Party all night long? # TSJ

When I arrived at Connect early this afternoon Janet was working on a bowl of chili for lunch. I had to help her speed up the process a little as we had an appointment downtown and I wanted to stop at the lab first for her Dilantin test. While she was slurping away, Karl’s puppy, Charlie, came to the table for a visit. I picked him up so Janet could pet him and I’ve not seen such a happy face on her for a while. She had a huge smile while Charlie kissed her and ate the bits of spilled chili off of her shirt saver. Apparently they have developed quite a relationship as a couple days ago Janet was sleeping in her comfy living room chair and Charlie was sleeping on her lap. Karl says he’s pretty hyper with everyone but Janet, he loves snuggling with her.

Our afternoon appointments went well and we even had time for a nice walk through City Park before going home. Janet didn’t remember being there before until we got right out to the lake where you can see the bridge. That was familiar to her. It was a beautiful day here and I’m glad we got out to enjoy some of it because when we got home it was nap time.

Janet didn’t resist the nap at all today and would have had a great one if she wasn’t woken up twice by Nash barking stupidly. I wasn’t sure how long she’d last tonight based on the sporadic sleep but it didn’t seem to phase her at all. In fact she set a record for staying up tonight and was very much engaged the whole evening.

Wayne and Brenda had invited us for dinner with Joel and Kiko and Ramona and Felis. I was confident Janet would enjoy the company but had no idea she would do as well as she did. She was smiling pretty much the whole time we were there and laughed loudly a few times and engaged in conversation a couple times too. She ate well and hardly spilled anything, she drank water, wine and coffee and gobbled up a delicious dessert. Brenda had kindly agreed to start the evening early for Janet’s benefit so we were all there by 6:30. I thought Janet would be good till maybe nine or so, it was 10:35 when we got in the car and we’d only done that because I didn’t bring her Dilantin thinking we wouldn’t be out that late. Janet was very chatty during the drive home, was in no hurry to go to sleep once we got there and in fact didn’t start snoring until about 12:30 which is why this post is so late. It was a really fun night with everyone and especially fun watching Janet enjoy herself so much.

Praying for a restful night of healing and a fun day tomorrow.

Green Lights. Janet moving forward. #TSJ

According to Janet I “got here just in time” today. She said it with such a big smile on her face I thought I was in for some big news but it was just her way of saying she was glad I was there. Jess said they’d had a busy day so far. Shower, breakfast, gym, clean room, laundry, label drawers and cupboards, lunch. I know that pace is good for Janet and she was happy to hear all those things listed off and recanted her comment that she was having “a weird day”.

Brian met us in her room and we had Janet transferring from wheelchair to bed and back a number of different ways as well as laying down then getting back up again. Tez even dropped by and offered a few pointers. Janet worked really hard and did a great job with everything. We even tried a transfer disc that she stands on then you spin her to line up with wherever she’s going and plunk her down. She’s not ready to do that routinely but Brian will procure some better discs then have that incorporated into Janet’s gym workouts. The standing transfer I’ve been using is not very good for my back and has no therapeutic value for Janet so I will use it only for toileting. Janet does really well with the sliding board and the focus is on that now as its something she’s close to doing completely on her own.

Nurse Jen stopped by as we finished with the transfers to have a look at Janet’s former peg site and without hesitation gave Janet the green light to go “swimming”! I think I’m more excited about this than Janet is but am confident she’ll enjoy it and it also means she can have a bath instead of the showers she’s complained about.

After a lot of ups and downs and rolling around it was time for a nap. Janet welcomed that opportunity and was snoring within minutes. I used that time to call Jim the KGH pool guy. He was very open to times that Janet could go there and suggested Thursdays at noon as that is a fairly quiet session which is probably good for Janet to start with. He mentioned a routine that made it clear to me he didn’t know any details about Janet’s condition so I filled him in and we agreed that the first session would be just floating and familiarizing with future sessions leading towards leg and arm exercises. Tez agreed and suggested trying to get Janet to float on her back and kick her legs. We’ll see how it goes next Thursday and Tez will try and drop by.

In a further conversation with nurse Jen I told her Janet’s Dilantin levels still seem high and her next blood test isn’t until Wednesday. She looked at the requisition for that test and noted there is no date on it so I’m taking Janet tomorrow. Hopefully her doctor will have the results Monday and we can chat about the situation. I will also ask for a referral to the neurologist as there are too many unknowns out there for me to keep going like this. Janet has lost learning opportunities because of the overdose and its time to get this straight.

Janet’s across the hall neighbor, Clint, is moving out tomorrow so I had Janet present him with a happy face lollipop. She started giving it to Karl first then clued in and said some nice words to Clint. Good to see her talking to others. Curtis took a brave Janet to the gym after dinner and had a good workout with her after I assured her it would not be a big one as she’d already worked hard today. She came back pleased with herself and seemingly realizing some benefits to all this. We sat on the couch in the living room watching TV while she munched on an apple before bed.

The afternoon nap was Janet’s last sleep in a hospital bed, he writes with confidence. Brian found a regular bed and frame for Janet and with some modifications from Ray she is sleeping tonight in a real bed which she says is very comfy. It is also the perfect height for transferring her to and from her wheelchair. Another step forward.

Today was a good one and I think Janet gained some confidence through all the activity. Praying for a good rest in her new bed and a fun day tomorrow.

Permission to Sleep Through a Meeting. Janet does what most of us want to. # TSJ

Janet is really catching onto this napping idea. I encouraged her and the staff yesterday to have her nap right after lunch today so she would be awake for the two o’clock team meeting. I arrived at 1:30, Janet was sleeping after Jess put her down a little before one. I quietly went into her room at 1:55 and she was very deeply asleep. So much so that she didn’t wake up until I came back in after the meeting at 3:20. I can remember many meetings in the past I would have loved to sleep through, not this one though but I’m glad she did. With over two hours of nap time I was expecting a very bright Janet. That’s not exactly what I got but there were some bright moments.

Heather requested a Skype chat and I thought Janet would be raring to go like she said she was. We connected with Heather about twenty minutes after Janet woke up and I think she could’ve used another twenty as she was very quiet and not focused in the conversation at all. She kept playing with the game boxes and other things on her desk and just wasn’t participating so we ended the call sooner than anticipated.

We made our way down to the kitchen to see if Janet could help with dinner. Her laundry was there for some reason so we took that back to her room and she very diligently put it all away. Strange how she enjoys that task so much.

Chris made a nice BBQ chicken dinner for everyone and we had an enjoyable time at the table. Janet wasn’t talkative at all but I could sense she was enjoying the chatter and she certainly ate well including ice cream for dessert.

Janet accepted Garrett’ s offer to go to the gym tonight and I made sure to praise her for that decision. She came back with a little more energy than when she left and Garrett was pleased with how things went, more so than Janet was. She chose to use her energy to watch some YouTube before bed and really enjoyed that and had some good comments about what we watched.

The team meeting today was a good sharing of information and planning for the next couple of months. Overall the team feels Janet is progressing as expected, slowly but surely. We talked in depth about the Dilantin overdose and all agreed they saw signs of its affect on Janet. I still think her levels are high but we won’t know until her next blood test which is next week. There is still concern about the spasticity in her legs and Tez is motivated to throw every available treatment at her to try and gain some improvement. I expect Janet to be cleared for the pool tomorrow and hopefully start some hydrotherapy next week. There may be a way to bump up her Botox appointment but I need some cooperation from CPP and the good folks at Pharmacare first. It was mentioned that Janet is transferring using the sliding board quite well and Garrett reiterated that tonight saying she did her best one from wheelchair to table mat yet. Jess agreed that Janet loves to be involved in household activities and will try and get her doing more. The other big issue of course is the afternoon nap and all agree that Janet needs one and I think finally Janet is acknowledging that as well. Brian will start to transition Janet out of the hospital bed and that might help Janet feel better about napping if its in a real bed. I’m very pleased with the people that are caring for Janet and I think she is too. Yes, she’s progressing slowly but she’s come a long way her three months at Connect.

Praying for a restful night that provides healing and lots of energy for an active day tomorrow.

Surprise Ending. Janet finishes strong. #TSJ

By the time I was half way through my visit with Janet today I was prepared to write about another day where she took a step back. Our visit started off with her eating pieces of cantaloupe while watching TV in the living room. Lorne told me she didn’t want any lunch today hence the fruit snack. Janet told me she didn’t have time for a nap yet and reluctantly went to her room with me to try. No dice, as there was a lot of noise outside her room with Derrick moving in and Clint getting ready to move out. Every time I felt like Janet was nodding off she would open her eyes and smile at me like she was playing a game. Her day had been busy but not too busy for a nap. Jess had her in the gym and said it wasn’t Janet’s best effort ever. The singing session with John was cancelled again as he is still sick so actually Janet had lots of time to nap. It was very obvious the rest of the day that she felt the effects.

I got her up and ready for the scheduled Skype chat with her mom. Janet was talking much better than a couple weeks ago but not as good as yesterday with Cam. She still demonstrated an increased ability to recall short term memory stuff and relate to the topic of the conversation. We called Laurel right afterwards, Janet’s volume was turned down a notch and she wasn’t quite as engaged but still came up with good answers to questions and enjoyed the chat.

Tuesday is Janet’s day to help prep dinner for everyone. Tonight’s menu was salmon, quinoa and asparagus. Garrett coached Janet through opening the packages of salmon and placing them on baking sheets. Janet poured and spread teriyaki sauce on them then chopped some peppers and cucumber to add to the quinoa she had measured into a pot. Despite being visibly tired Janet did a good job with everything needing help with the peppers but not the cucumber. She thought it was fun to chop and measure things. She ate a relatively small portion for dinner and I attribute that to her tiredness.

The plan after dinner was for Janet to go to the gym with Curtis once he’d had his dinner. While we waited we looked at Nancy’s pictures from Africa on Facebook and Janet put away her laundry. Another task Janet strangely gets pleasure from. She got more and more tired as time passed saying she’d rather just go to bed early tonight. Curtis came in and I asked Janet one more time if she wanted to try the gym for half an hour. To my shock and awe she said yes and off she went. I’ve been speaking to Janet a lot about the need to keep working at getting better and so have others and I think it’s starting to sink in a little. There is no other explanation for her decision to go to the gym tonight. It would have been so easy to give into the tiredness and go to bed. I was really happy with her choice and we had a good talk about it when she got back forty five minutes later. She didn’t have the big smile on her face like last night but was able to understand she had done some good for herself.

So ended a decent day for Janet, not a full step back from yesterday, just a notch down and with a good strong finish. Praying for a good night of rest that provides lots of energy for tomorrow.

Road trip. Disaster Averted. #TSJ

Friday night I got Janet into bed a little late because of the nail painting but not too late, about 9:40 and she fell asleep almost instantly so you would think she’d wake up at her usual eight or eight thirty at the latest. Right? Wrong. I had to wake her at 9:30 so we could start getting ready for our road trip. She actually sprung into action quite quickly and I was glad for that because I felt bad about having to wake her and the only reason I had to get her going was we had an appointment to drop off the dog before we could hit the road. We had plenty of time to get to Vancouver otherwise. We thought we were empty nesters. Hah.

It was a glorious day for a drive, bright and sunny the whole way, sparkly lake, snow on the mountains. Stunning. Janet did well, sleeping for a couple of short bursts on the first leg which was a little over two hours. That got us to Hope for our scheduled lunch and gas stop. Janet shocked me by ordering a Beef Philly Dip Sandwich, something she would never have done prior to getting sick and she ate all but one tiny piece. She surprised me even more by turning down a chocolate milkshake for the road. She regretted that decision after tasting mine but I was nice and shared.

I guess that pit stop took a little longer than anticipated as we didn’t get into our hotel room until five. Fortunately we were late enough to have avoided the Second Narrows Bridge being closed due to a police incident. They opened it over an hour before we got there so most of the mess had been cleared up. That left forty minutes or so for Janet to have a nap before dinner. That was enough though and we met Jim and Nancy at our favorite sushi place, Genji Sushi, and enjoyed a really nice meal and visit with them. Janet carried on her trend of eating completely different things than she used to by enjoying some tempura to start the meal. Never would have gone near that before. The sushi was very good and remains one of the few things we miss about the coast.

I got Janet into bed after nagging her some more about drinking water. If anyone has suggestions as to how to get her to drink more without being nagged I’m listening. Also if anyone is campaigning against daylight savings time, I’m in. It’s a ridiculous and outdated practice, especially as I write this at eleven o’clock knowing its actually midnight. Goodnight.

Thanking God for all His creation and praying for a restful night that brings energy and brightness tomorrow.

Coming Down. Janet’s overdose wearing off. #TSJ

To my surprise, Janet was asleep in her bed when I arrived at Connect this afternoon. Garrett had put her down for a nap around two saying she was starting to fade and didn’t protest the idea for once. I was more than happy to snuggle up beside her after having enjoyed an awesome first half of the day skiing. Of course she woke up as I approached but only enough to show me that beautiful smile, have a little chat then go back to sleep.

Being comparatively bright afterwards Janet agreed to Skype Heather. The conversation generated a few giggles, lots of smiles and some of the loudest talking Janet has done since her OD. She tired quickly though and agreed to end the talk for today and try again next week.

We made our way down to the kitchen where Rebecca and Humberto were prepping dinner. Janet set the table with a little help from me and proceeded to eat everything in sight including the house’s first attempt at quinoa. She loved it as did most everyone else.

Tonight was ladies night upstairs and I think Janet would have gone had there been something going on other than sit and have a cup of tea. Maybe next week. She opted to play a game on the iPad and did very well naming pictures of places, some of which I had to think about. First time I’ve noticed a weakness in that app as some of the clues and pictures were really obscure.

Bedtime came a little early as Janet has not yet fully “come down” from her OD although she is noticeably improved today. Garrett and Tez had her in the gym for an hour this morning saying she worked hard and did well. Tez tried pushing her to do some standing work with him but she’d had enough by that time. I’m glad he’s considering it at least.

Praying for a good night of rest and healing, a productive morning and some fun in the afternoon.

Getting Better. Janet improves tonight. #TSJ

When I called Connect this morning Lorne was in the process of getting Janet up. Jess told me they decided to let Janet sleep in till nine and that she seemed fine, having slept through the night. When I arrived to take her to the lab she was having a late lunch and seemed pretty chipper. She wasn’t doing too well with feeding herself but she managed and after a pee break we went to the lab. No crying this time as I guess she’s finally getting used to being stabbed.

Upon our return to Connect Janet seemed relatively bright still and agreed to play a game on the iPad. She chose math and did surprisingly well lasting about fifteen minutes with that game then I switched her to a naming game that she succeeded at as well. I took a chance at asking her if she wanted to lay down for a rest after half an hour and she quickly agreed. Two hours later and a little past her dinner time she was recharged and ready to go. It was her night to help with dinner but rest is far more important right now so Humberto took her spot and everything was dished out and ready when Janet got to the table. She was clearly doing much better than yesterday, smiling at the conversation and eating well.

Curtis took Janet to the gym for a late night stretch which I thought would be short considering the time but Janet came back grinning and feeling proud of herself after eight o’clock and had enough energy to watch some of the hockey game with Chris and Humberto before going to bed.

I’m very impressed by the improvement in Janet today and especially with her interactions with others. For the last while she’s not shown any interest in the other residents but that flipped around completely today. She’s still not conversing with them but she really enjoyed listening to the chatter and reacted with smiles when appropriate. Janet’s talking to me was much clearer today with no major occurrences of Klingon but her volume level was really low. Her toileting routine was very good and I’m feeling a little like nurse Jen may be right about Janet adjusting to the Dilantin. Anxiously awaiting the test results and answers to my many questions.

Praying for another good night of rest and healing and a day of learning and progress tomorrow.