I was all excited heading in to see Janet this morning after yesterday’s events and expecting to find a bright and smiley Janet. Less than a minute after I greeted her she started crying. For sure not from pain as she was all dressed and I had yet to start stretching her. She stopped after a few minutes of encouraging words and I asked her what she’d like to do. She said “take off socks”. Strange but true. She got her left leg pulled up close to her and got eighty percent of her sock off, I help with the last bit. She moved her right leg closer to her next but kind of got tangled with the left one so wasn’t able to reach her sock very well. I took that one off and gave them both to her and she tried folding them together to put them away. Going barefoot is not an option so I pulled all her socks out and asked her which ones she wanted to wear. She chose a pair and did a pretty good job putting the left one on with my help, I did the right and she seemed happy after that.

It seemed best to give Janet a rest from stretching today so I did the bare minimum on her legs and left her arm alone completely. We went across the hall to practice talking using the Articulation Station app. She did very well! Nailing Pizza, Pickle, Dog (puppy), Pen, bear (panda) and Purse. We then had a Skype call with Leslie and Janet smiled and chuckled throughout.

Next up was a little exercise time and Janet went none stop for a good forty minutes wheeling through the various hallways around KGH. By far her best distance ever and she kept a pretty steady pace as well. That left arm is getting pretty strong.

Looking forward to an active and happy afternoon.

Suzanne visited Janet this afternoon and was there when I arrived playing basketball with Janet. They had a good visit that included some reading and chatting and playing catch with a mini basketball Suzanne brought in. Janet also spent time trying to sit up and take her sock off her left foot, something she has been doing a lot of lately. She seemed pleased that a friend dropped by and I think the basketball thing was fun for her and when I was there she only tried putting the ball in her right hand once. A definite improvement over the rock throwing.

After Suzanne left I gave Janet a quick stretch then got her in the chair to go across the hall where we could practice some picture matching and eat some Fresca. The picture matching was interesting as she clearly recognizes some things and repeats the words easily but has trouble putting the same pictures together. Seems to be not only a vision thing but a conceptual thing too. Or maybe it was just an off day for that today. We moved onto eating some Fresca and I thought this was by far the best tasting goo she has been given but Janet still made a funny face and took around eight seconds to swallow each time. Getting back to talking I tried her on the Articulation Station app and she did very well repeating H words that I gave her and nailed “house” all on her own. We then tried a few tongue exercises with a two toned lollypop and she wasn’t interested at all. I tried really hard and ended up saying “I’ll have to eat all the lollypops then”. She smiled and said “eat them”. Later on when I went to actually have a fruity one I gave her one last chance to have some and she was all over it. Apparently she likes the fruity ones. Who would have thought?

I read a little of Anne 2 to her then headed off to church after starting her dinner feed. It didn’t seem like she was tiring out so when I returned I wasn’t surprised to find her wide awake and very chatty. She had all her covers off and her left leg bent up and crossing over her right one. I asked her what she was doing and she said “taking my socks off”. I told her OK take them off. She got the left one most of the way but couldn’t reach her toes so I helped then I asked her to get the right one. I thought I would get a blank stare to that but she gave it a real effort but she was still moving her left leg. I held her left leg and told her to forget it and try and move her right leg. SHE DID! It was laying with the knee out towards the right side of the bed and she bent it more than half way towards her. She did have her left hand on her right thigh as it moved so I asked her to do it again in case she had just pulled it. I held her left leg and arm this time and waited. I could see the concentration on her face and within a few seconds her right leg moved up towards her some more. I went and got two of her nurses, Jacquie and Caitlin to witness this feat but I think Janet was tuckered out or nervous about the audience as she only managed a slight move this time. It was a move none the less and both nurses were thrilled. Janet wasn’t as excited as I was as I think she’s been trying to do this for quite some time now. Every time I sit her up on the edge of the bed I ask her to move her left leg then her right closer to the edge. She of course moved the left and I thought tried to move the right and tonight she was successful! As I was congratulating her she started crying and not happy tears. She is still frustrated and I think sad about everything that’s happened to her.

Janet calmed down soon enough then I started her bedtime stretch. Her right arm was tight and I had to go real slow to get it up to ninety degrees but we managed and as I was letting it down the third time she started crying again. This time it was a sore right shoulder as she showed me when I asked her. The crying continued long after the soreness should have worn off and it took a lot of positive reinforcement to calm her down. We got there and after Jacquie changed her and I dressed her for bed she brushed her teeth and we said a prayer that she thought was quite funny. After I said all the mushy goodnight stuff I said “now I get to go home and do laundry”. She smiled and waved at me. Thanks.

Praying for a restful night and one that heals Janet’s right shoulder. Praising God for the healing he has already brought.

When I arrived this morning Janet had just been washed down and dressed and was letting loose with the Klingon. Whatever she was saying was good because she had a smile on her face. Still mostly a whisper but there are more frequent vocalizations. Her nurse, Diane, said Janet got quite emotional for a bit this morning and as Diane was telling me this Janet started crying again. It didn’t last long and I was able to stretch her out quite well. I went really slow with the right shoulder and eventually got to ninety degrees. Her left leg was pretty tight but we eventually got a good stretch on that as well.

Since there are no therapy sessions on the weekend we went right from the stretch into some sitting and standing exercises. Janet is so good at leaning to either side and pushing herself back up again that I wonder if it’s worth doing anymore. I think she needs a bigger challenge and will ask Moira on Monday. Leaning back and using her abs to sit back up is still a good one though and Janet managed about five of those. Whenever I sit Janet on the edge of the bed now she immediately begins trying to stand up. I feel bad for her knowing she can’t do that on her own and it takes a bit of set up before I can help her. She’s not happy about that. The first stand today was not good as her legs just would not straighten then on the second attempt we were up pretty good for about thirty seconds and Janet started crying. I asked her if she wanted to sit and she nodded. I asked if something hurt, she nodded. I asked her to show me where and she rubbed her left knee. I asked to confirm that it was her knee and she nodded. Another thing to talk to Moira about.

Kiko arrived shortly after ten to do a little music therapy with Janet. Emma let us use the multi purpose room across the hall and I left the two of them there to sing away. When they returned thirty minutes later I could tell Janet had fun. Kiko said Janet mostly sang in whispers and got the ABC Song up to around K then it gets a little too fast. When I asked Janet if she wanted Kiko to come back and do that again she gave a very enthusiastic nod and smile. Kiko has been doing some research on Aphasia. This article is quite useful for those of you planning to visit with Janet, in fact I would say it’s required reading.

To keep Janet busy until lunch we went for an inside drive and her left arm just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Hard for me to keep her wheelchair straight she pushes so hard now. We stopped by 4B to see who we could see and Carolyn and Kim had a nice little chat with Janet. I then plugged her in for lunch and rode up to retrieve her car and go home for a bit. Looking forward to a good afternoon of learning.

Janet was wide awake and quite chatty when I returned. I asked her nurses if she slept at all and the consensus is that she is not really sleeping during the day. Lunchtime is mostly just relaxing, maybe reading a magazine or something like that but no sleep. That would explain her nodding off around 6:30 or 7:00 the last few nights.

To my surprise when I asked her what she wanted to do this afternoon she responded with “go outside”. In English, not Klingon. A little stretch and out we went. Too windy for the beach we walked around the neighborhood a bit and Janet collected a nice bouquet of colorful leaves. I chose them of course but she happily held onto them the whole time we were out. I had to coax her into driving down the long hallway again but she did fine once she started and only needed help staying straight going over The Bump.

Back at rehab it was a little too early for dinner and Janet wanted to lay down for a bit so I climbed onto the bed with her and read a chapter of Anne 2. Janet held the book with me and when I ran out to move my car I asked her to hang onto it and I’d continue reading when I got back. She hardly moved while I was gone and didn’t even turn a page. She seemed to be reading the book herself. Before we could finish, roommate #4 arrived with her entourage. They were quite loud while they moved in and I was disappointed in the staff that brought her in as they paid no attention to Janet and I at all. Not sure where they were from but glad Janet is not there. The lady who is now sharing Janet’s room is quite demanding but I guess you can be that way when you don’t have any legs.

I took Janet out to sit near the men to have dinner and we chatted for a while and once when I asked her to repeat what she said she burped. There was no reaction from her at all until I said, “you burped in my ear”, she laughed out loud. Thanks. She got tired and uncomfortable by a little after six so I put her into bed for the rest of dinner. I knelt beside her practicing speech but the more Klingon she spoke the more frustrated she got even bursting into tears at not being understood. If any of you have suggestions as to how to help with this, I’m open.

With eyes closing at 6:45 I stretched her legs out, got her dressed for bed and prayed with her then said goodnight at 7:10 and she smiled and closed her eyes. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Good thing Janet is a sports fan as this morning she was sitting with the guys watching some World Cup Qualifying soccer as I arrived. She seemed pretty content, much more so than when she was with the old ladies. The nurse that got her up this morning said she got an out loud NO in response to some question I can’t remember. She got a bunch of whispers as well. Cool.

Our stretching routine went well with Janet’s left leg being a little tight but nothing serious. I wheeled her off to physio but couldn’t stay as I had arranged to take Janet’s car in for servicing and to go get my Big White ski pass. Ready for snow!

After my errands were complete I was able to stop by as Janet was finishing Speech. Connie gave a very positive report on Janet and seems genuinely please with Janet’s progress. Today she was able to count from two to five without modelling, touch her nose, eyes, hair, eye brows, chin, ears, and a few others. She had trouble with shoulder and elbow but showed a big improvement. The swallowing was around the four to six second mark and Connie is please that it is consistent with no more fifteen plus instances. She will try Janet on some pudding Monday as it is a thicker consistency and more like food. Janet is not a pudding fan but maybe the taste of chocolate will inspire her. Janet said a very audible bye and gave Connie a nice wave as we left.

After a little break in the sun window I left Janet with Nathan who is subbing for Jessica again today. He was looking for ideas so I suggested they work on hair brushing as Janet only does a couple strokes right along her left ear and also kicking with the left leg. I’d like to see more action there to try and loosen it up some.

Praying for an active afternoon.

Janet greeted me with a nice smile when I returned this afternoon and was very chatty, actually initiating conversation. Unfortunately I think she speaks Klingon now as I can’t understand one word. She is very deliberate and purposeful even knocking it back to one or two words when asked, but still Klingon. I went to find Connie to see if she could decipher or tell me how I might understand Janet better but she had a patient with her so we’ll have to wait for another time.

I got a debrief from Moira who said Janet did well standing in the sling and was “walked” around the gym twice. The way that worked was Janet was suspended in the sling with it taking ninety five percent of her weight and Rachel standing in front of her moving her legs in a walking motion with Moira operating the ceiling lift. I’ll try and get some video next time. Sounds like fun.

After a long chat I finally got Janet into the wheelchair and out into the sunshine. It was quite a bit cooler today and Janet handed me her zip up right away but we did find a spot at the beach that was worthy of fifteen minutes for our final tanning session of the year. I had to move my car again so took Janet for a ride. It was very tempting to take her to the house but she didn’t seem too interested in riding anywhere far so we turned around after a couple blocks then parked at the beach. After a quick walk around to the KGH main entrance it was Janet’s time to drive the long hallway. She was reluctant to start but once she got going she did very well and gave a good effort at “the bump”.

We sat out in the dining area for twenty minutes or so to give Janet a little taste of the busyness that goes on there. She started looking stressed and I asked her if she was tired and she gave a very demonstrative nod yes accompanied by a little crying as if it was a bad thing to be tired. She settled into bed quickly and I figured she had enough energy to video Skype her sister Leslie. Janet smiled a few times and was happy to see and hear her sister and Gavin. She gave a nice wave goodbye on cue and we look forward to seeing them again.

I tried a few chewing exercises using some fruit gummy type things that Nicole gave us. Janet chewed and swallowed well I thought but still seems to be making funny faces to taste. The lolly pop was a big hit again and her tongue got a good workout. I noticed throughout the day that Janet is licking her lips more and moving her tongue around a lot more and that is a really good thing. She had no interest in doing any talking after that and I asked her if she was tired and she gave an even more demonstrative nod yes than before. She was eyes closed before I could finish getting her ready for bed and was pretty much asleep when I left at 6:30. An early night for me and the end of a strong day for Janet.

Praying for continued healing of Janet’s right shoulder and arm and legs and for my ability to understand her talking.

Janet was showered and dressed and sitting out in the dining area this morning when I arrived. She seemed quite happy sitting with a guy and his caregiver and looking at trashy magazines. The nurse that showered her mentioned Janet had started to cry as they were heading for the shower and calmed down once the shower started. We sat at the table together till 8:40 then I told Janet it was time to get ready for Physio, she pushed her chair away from the table and off we went to stretch. Her right hand, wrist and forearm were quite tight but I got good results there then I tried raising her right arm to see how that shoulder was. I went really slow and watching for the least sign of pain from Janet. I got none but could only get to about eighty degrees that first time. Second time I got to ninety and was holding her arm as straight as it would go then there was a sudden jolt from her right shoulder that pushed her upper arm out towards me. It startled me but it felt like she deliberately did it and that’s what I asked her. She looked at me a little surprised then started crying. I think there was some pain there but the cry was more of a frustrated one as she was really trying to talk during it. I told her we would talk to Moira about it and she would help.

Janet was quite chatty this morning with a few vocalizations, unfortunately I can’t understand what she is saying but am really glad she is trying. She did repeat a lot of words I gave and laughed at a few silly ones. When we arrived at Physio, Moira said hi to Janet and Janet said hi and something else with some vocalization but neither of us could understand what it was. Moira was excited anyways. I told her about the jolting shoulder and she wondered if something was displaced yesterday and that’s what was causing the pain. She noted it seems much looser today and she’ll have a closer look during the session.

I made the difficult decision to leave Janet on her own this morning and told all the therapists my plan. Moira was going to use a sling to get Janet to stand, Connie was going to have Janet try some thickened Ginger Ale and Jessica couldn’t stop talking about her trip to Canmore so I have no idea what she has planned but I’m sure it will be good.

Looking forward to another afternoon of tanning and learning.

As Nicole and I were getting Janet changed after lunch some tall dude from the east barged into her room without knocking and pretty much caught Janet with her pants down. Luckily he’s blind as a bat and when he realized he was in BC and we aren’t that rude here he disappeared. I got Janet’s shoes on and then put her into her wheelchair and we quietly headed out to see if that weirdo was still about. Sure enough he was sitting just around the corner from her room and we had a good shot at scaring him but I forgot Janet’s right foot sits over the edge of her footrest and it hit the chair beside the guy before we could try anything. Janet greeted her brother with a nice smile and almost a tear. She even leaned over to give him a kiss. I could tell she was very pleased to see Mike. As expected he generated some serious laughs from Janet including a krinkled nose that I haven’t seen since forever and some genuine belly laughs to go along with some whispers. It was really nice to see her feeling so good.

We took Mike down to the beach and the walk down there was a little shady so Janet held up her zip up as a cue for me to put it on for her. She wouldn’t let me put her right arm into it though. Apparently it’s still sore. We then went for a long walk in the sun and Mike even admitted he now understands why we moved here.

Janet enjoyed another day of tanning and the wise cracks and loudness of her “little brother” and we got back in time for a little more visiting before Mike had to leave and I had to go to the dentist.

As we left I asked Nicole to keep and eye on Janet as I thought it was too early for her to go back to bed. When I got back an hour and a half later I was pleasantly surprised to see Janet still in the dining area all plugged in and having dinner. She apparently wasn’t too happy about it though as she started crying almost as soon as I sat down beside her. I’m not sure why but am going to go with the fact the table we left her at ended up with some of the more elderly patients sitting there for dinner and Janet maybe thought she was in a LTC facility instead of rehab. She kept looking around during her cry like, “you left me sitting hear with these old people”. After a lot of reassurance and encouragement she agreed to move down to where we more often sit for the rest of dinner and to wait for a visit from Brenda.

Brenda arrived and had a nice chat with Janet and read a little of Anne 2 to her. Dinner was done about a half hour later and so was Janet. You could see her fading although she did manage to drive her wheelchair back to her room and wave goodbye to Brenda. I think the driving was more a determination to get into bed as before I even finished a quick stretch on her the eyes were closing. This is the second day in a row where I don’t think Janet slept more than an hour during the day. Glad she is busy and awake.

Praying for a restful night that brings healing to Janet’s right shoulder and arm.

It’s always nice to be greeted with a smile and that’s exactly what I got when I walked into Janet’s room this morning. Unfortunately I managed to change that smile into a cry as her right arm was very stiff at the shoulder this morning and she was obviously in pain as soon as I got it raised to about forty five degrees. To make sure there was pain I asked her to show me where it hurt and she immediately moved her left hand over to her right shoulder. I stopped and told her we would talk to Moira about it this morning. The rest of her stretching went well and I even got a few whispers and a nice moment of prayer before we headed off to physio.

Moira and I tried getting Janet on her tummy a few different ways but she was just too sore in that right shoulder so we flipped her over and Moira put a heating pad on Janet’s shoulder for the remainder of the session in hopes that would loosen things up. Janet did well with some leg work and the chance to relax with that heating pad. Moira decided to leave the arm and shoulder alone for the rest of the day and see what it’s like tomorrow.

We were a few minutes late for Speech so Connie and Nicole were raring to go as soon as we arrived. Nicole had some dried apricot wrapped in some material and had Janet chew on it to get the taste and trigger a swallow. Both Nicole and Connie were very pleased with Janet’s performance! We tried getting Janet to whisper right after that but I think she was a little overwhelmed with the busy morning so far. Connie had her do the swallowing thing with some apple flavored goo and Janet’s scores were similar to yesterday with her taking control of the spoon for the last three attempts. Janet did very well showing fingers using Connie as a model but still isn’t getting it without the model. She did touch her nose, ears, chin, cheek and hair on command and had to be shown her eye brow, shoulder and thumb. The best part came right at the end when Connie asked her to say some M words. Janet got on a real roll and was quite audible for some. Connie seemed real excited about that.

We had a short break in the sun window then Janet drove off to OT. Nathan informed me he was going to range Janet’s arm but I told him no as it was too sore today. I’m sure Janet would have made it obvious soon enough that it was sore but shouldn’t there be some communication between departments here? What if I wasn’t there to tell him? I left Janet with Nathan and she seemed very happy to be folding towels with him. I asked Amy to put her to bed for lunch afterwards. Janet fought hard this morning and hopefully she is well rested and ready to laugh when Uncle Monkey arrives this afternoon.

Praying for healing in that right arm and shoulder and a fun afternoon.

It sure does pay to get second and third opinions on major projects. Steve from Advanced Mobility Products came by the house this afternoon and knew exactly what he was talking about and also what I was talking about. How about that? He’s so good he even came up with a third option that may actually be the best. He will make a repeat visit soon with a contractor so he can give me the low down on all three possible methods of creating access to the house for Janet. Steve is living this as well as knowing it. His wife has MS and he installed a porch lift at their house for her. Seems like the guy to work with.

Janet was wide awake when I got back around 2:30 and greeted me with a big smile. After a quick stretch we headed out into the sunshine. First stop was my car as I had left my phone in it so I put Janet in the passenger seat and we called Mary/Gaga from there. Janet had a smile on her face pretty much the whole time her mom was talking and whispered hi and bye but too soft to really be heard on the phone. It was a nice start to our outing. We walked in the sunshine long enough that when we got back it was time for me to move my car out of the two hour parking area and since Janet seemed so comfy sitting in the car earlier I decided to take her for a ride. We only went a couple hundred meters to the beach but she was noticeably entertained by riding in a car for the first time in five months. As I opened her door to start getting her out Sandrine appeared. She had seen us driving off from the two hour zone and was concerned that we were really going somewhere as she had arranged for a visit with me. She ran down to where we parked at the beach and Janet has never been so excited to see anyone since this all started. She was like a little kid with a huge smile on her face and eyes lit up like the sun. Her posture changed and everything. Very cool. The smile never left her face as we walked up to the rehab area where I left the two of them to visit. Sandrine brought Janet in to the dining area about twenty minutes later and got a very audible whisper “bye” as she left.

It was not quite dinner time so I had Janet drive around the rehab unit for a bit of exercise. Her driving ability is increasing steadily and once she gets going she no longer seems to need the constant encouragement to keep going. I elected to serve dinner in bed as Janet had been in the wheelchair quite a while and I wanted to have some Speech lessons with her during that time. I attempted the swallowing test but did a horrible job making the tea as I let it steep way too long and Janet let me know it showing a face of disgust for about ten minutes after tasting it. I did much better leading her through some imitating as she whispered a lot of M, N and P words. I was able to finally use an app I had downloaded a long time ago that shows you a picture of something that starts with the letter P and you have to say what it is. I would ask Janet what it was, wait for a response, say what it was then listen for her to repeat that word. She did very well but shocked me when she actually answered correctly for Pizza, Pencil, Popsicle and Dog (the word was Puppy). Huge high five! Connie wants her to practice saying the vowels as a way to kick start her vocal cords. Apparently you use your vocal cords to make vowel sounds but you don’t for most consonants. First up was A and Janet practically sung the letter out loud! I couldn’t get her to repeat it but wow. She got E pretty good maybe with a little voice but only whispers on the others. I asked her about another vocal exercise and she really started trying to speak to me. I couldn’t understand her at all but asked her if she wanted to stop. She gave me the most animated head nod yet. She was tired out.

We read a chapter of Anne 2 after Janet had agreed to my suggestion to do so, then I stretched her out before Kiko arrived to paint her nails and hang out for a bit. Great day!

Praying for a restful night and God’s continued blessing.