I feel like we have started a new phase in Janet’s recovery. She opened her eyes when I greeted her this morning and was bright right away, smiling and raising her brow. The first task of the day was teeth brushing and after that I asked her to say something. She was a little slow to start and not as clear as last night but eventually I was getting good imitating from her. It was then on to stretching. Janet got very emotional as I was working on her right leg, maybe triggered by pain but most likely the frustration of not being able to move it and needing me to stretch it like that. It was quite a prolonged cry and I ended up agreeing to stop the stretch session there.

Janet drove down to physio and was extremely bright and responsive for Moira, smiling as I started to tell the story of last night as if she totally knew what I was going to say and was pleased about it. I wasn’t going to stay at all this morning but because of Janet’s emotional outburst I decided to linger and see how things went. After our five minute chat to start things off with Moira I was confident Janet would do well on the tilt table, especially after she whispered hi to Moira, so I left to go spread the whispering word. First person I saw was Chantelle from OT and she was so excited for Janet. She asked permission to spread the word on 4B and I said go for it. I also saw Dr. McCann. His reaction wasn’t as enthusiastic as I had hoped but I think it was mostly due to his busyness. He did seem pleased and is looking forward to a good week. I went back to check on Janet and she was hanging out at sixty five degrees quite comfortably. She did some left arm reaching for Moira and allowed her to work her right arm pretty good. Her feet were nice and flat on the deck so it was a good stretch despite the shortened warm up this morning. Janet had a little emotional outburst near the end of the session and was for sure trying to tell us something but we couldn’t figure out what.

Still in bright mode I had Janet drive over to Speech and Connie was pleasantly surprised to hear the news. She got right to it trying to get Janet to say a bunch of different words. Janet was a little slow to respond but when I put my ear up to her mouth she went for it all out going right through a list of six or seven M words that Connie gave her. Even though Janet was whispering into my ear Connie could hear her and see the mouth movements. She didn’t want to overwork Janet on that so we moved on to swallowing. Connie mentioned that whispering is great but does not involve the vocal cords so she gave me some suggestions of sounds to have Janet try and make to encourage the vocal cords to come into play. Janet had her best swallowing effort to date with consistent scores of 4-6 seconds. I now have permission to have Janet try swallowing each day on my own to see if we can speed the progress. While Connie and I were talking Janet reached out and grabbed my water bottle and took a drink. Connie motioned to stop her then saw I wasn’t trying to stop her so we watched Janet take a nice sip of water and swallow it immediately. Connie is still nervous about Janet drinking thin fluids as we don’t know if she is silently aspirating or not. I bet on not. I talked to Nicole from Speech (she gave us the lip exercises to do earlier) and she is going to test Janet on chewing this week. Exciting stuff. Connie asked Janet to show her one thru five fingers and she did with modelling but not without so that is another homework assignment. She also had her touch her nose, ear and chin but Janet only got the nose. It was clear she was getting a little worn out by this time so off to the “sun window” we went for a break.

After the short drive to OT, I left Janet with Nathan and came home to meet with another mobility equipment guy in regards to getting Janet in and out of the house. Hopefully this guy knows more than the last one.

Praying for a fun afternoon of progress.

I could not wait to write this update but found it very difficult to pull myself away from Janet tonight but I finally did and before I do anything else, here goes.

When I got back from lunch she was sleeping peacefully and not even a Prince Charming kiss could wake her this time. Finally at 3:30 she stirred. I stretched her a little then got her into the wheelchair to head to the beach. The spectacular weather continues and we enjoyed some nice minutes in the sun. Because it was late we headed for the Centennial Building as I wanted Janet to conquer that long hallway, it had been a while. Apparently the break from there did her well as she set a speed record and went farther than I asked her too as well. High five! It was also her best effort at the infamous bump, clearing the front wheels without assistance and needing me only to keep her straight to get the rear wheels over. She gave a herculean effort and if I had done a better job of keeping her straight she would have made it.

Dinner was held in the dining area with Molly and Bea. They were not impressed with their mac and cheese and were a little jealous that Janet’s meal tasted as good as it always does. We tried some matching exercises while Janet dined and she did ok at it. I tried getting her to draw on various media but she wasn’t into that at all. She burst into tears at one point and calmed down five minutes later. No doubt in my mind she was frustrated at the time as she kept looking at me with a “I’m trying to tell you” look on her face. With about twenty minutes left she was getting restless and I had to really work at convincing her to stay till dinner was done. She did and I got her into bed right away and she was instantly happy.

I read Tim’s Thanksgiving Day column to her and asked her afterwards if he had made some good points. She quickly pointed to the paper with her pointing finger. I laughed and said “you just pointed”, she pointed again. This is new as it has always taken a fair bit of coaching to get her to do anything resembling pointing and it’s never been as deliberate as this. High five!

As a joke I asked her to whisper in my ear “I love you Larry”. I put my right ear to her mouth and waited. To my shock SHE WHISPERED “I LOVE YOU LARRY”. Not kidding and no I wasn’t hearing things. I thought I might be so I asked her to say some other stuff that I can’t remember right now but everything I asked her to say she did in a soft but understandable whisper. I went and got her nurse, Amy, to try it in case I was hearing things and she heard and saw Janet repeat “I love you”. I also asked her to say “Janet” with Amy there and she did. She will note it in her chart and leave a note for Connie as well. I should note that Janet is not initiating the speech but whispering what I ask her to say or answering very obvious questions like “is your name Janet?”, “what’s your favorite color”, “is your dog’s name Nash?”. One interesting question I asked her was “how long have you been able to whisper?” She said nothing, then I asked “could you whisper yesterday?” and she said “yes”. Janet and I had tears, and smiles and hugs and kisses and I did not know what to do with myself but I finally pulled myself together and gave her the bedtime stretch and had her brush her teeth then I tried to say goodnight. She was still all smiles and laughter and knew I was having trouble leaving but at about 8:10 I finally got a sense that I could go.

Still flying high and praising my Lord and Savior for everything I have been blessed with. There is nothing I am more thankful for today than His grace and Janet’s love.

A short visit for me this morning as Laurel went in early for one last visit with her mom before heading back to Cowtown. She said Janet was awake when she arrived at 7:30 and seemed sad in knowing Laurel was leaving. They had a few crying sessions which would happen regardless of Janet’s condition so no surprise there. Laurel did give Janet a stretch but didn’t want to be too rough on her and then leave.

I saw the “kids” off then headed in to find Janet doing her Sleeping Beauty impression complete with an eye opening upon my kiss to the cheek. We had a little chat to kind of get caught up then I set about to start stretching her a little. I had to rearrange the bed and some other things before I could position Janet for stretching and after I had moved her I apologized for having to shift her around so much. She started to cry I’m sure out of frustration at being in her mind, helpless. As I comforted her and reassured her she initiated a hug and some kisses that were very appreciated and made me confident she is really starting to understand her situation.

The stretching went well and I am actually quite pleased with how much range is being maintained. I laid her on her tummy for a little over twenty minutes and got a real good stretch on her left hamstring and was even able to massage her legs really well. You could feel everything loosen up quite nicely. Janet managed some left leg lifts before I flipped her back over to get her standing a little bit. That went well with Janet standing real nice and tall even for her. I couldn’t see any evidence of Janet being given her Nystatin so far today so I asked her to stick out her tongue so I could see, she did so, farther than I’ve seen ever before. Laurel’s lolly pop exercises are working! A little while later a nurse came by and I asked her about the Nystatin and she said Pharmacy won’t give her anymore as she has been on it for so long. There is still evidence of thrush on her tongue and Janet stuck her tongue out for the nurse to see as well. We will consult the Hospitalist about this and see if there is some other way of getting rid of the thrush.

Before I knew it it was lunch time for Janet so I got her in the chair and out into the dining area then plugged in for lunch and she fell asleep. There was only about thirty minutes worth of formula in the bottle so I decided to wait it out and see if she woke up, she did twenty minutes later. I asked her if she wanted to go back to bed and she nodded yes. I got her all settled in and her feed restarted then took off for my lunch. Looking forward to a longer visit this afternoon.

Update from Laurel:

Another emotional rollercoaster with Mom, but an exciting ride to be on with her. Cam got Mom settled in bed after I left and she quickly fell asleep for a well deserved nap. She appeared to be asleep when Raj and I returned a couple of hours later, but quickly opened her eyes as she heard us start to make noise. We did some more sitting exercises, and then headed to the beach. Mom seemed to perk up once we got into the sun, and again attracted an overly friendly duck. Once back inside, she was smiley when greeted by the return of Larry. He left to prepare dinner for everyone, and it was just me and Mom and the emotional rollercoaster that began. For some reason I got a little teary, which seemed to spur the waterworks from Mom. She settled down and we headed out into the dining hall for dinner, but by that time most of the patients had already ate and left and Mom didn’t seem too interested in being there, so we headed back to the room and waited for the nurse to start her feed. At one point I started talking about the wedding to Mom and went to show her some photos, and she immediately broke into tears. It seemed that this was one of the first times that she was realizing some of the things that she had missed out on…or at least her first time she was able to express her emotion about it. Of course a very difficult moment, but we are all reminding ourselves that the emotion is a sign of an increased level of awareness. Indeed, during Mom’s tears she seems very able to respond to questions and just overall extremely aware of everything. Mom calmed down and we read, watched a bit of a movie on a laptop, and waited for the night staff to put her back in bed. Unfortunately, the staff was slow to materialize, so I eventually decided I would pick her up and put her in bed myself. I could sense a little fear in Mom as I got ready to do this (I admit, very reasonable fear) but everything went smoothly and she settled back into bed nicely. Had a good stretch, listened to some music, and I had some nice peaceful time lying beside her in bed as I tried to wait for her to fall asleep. I eventually left her looking very comfy and hoping that she gets a nice and peaceful night’s sleep.

From somewhere near Chilliwack here’s Laurel’s update.

Mom’s mood seems a little lower today, with what seems to be a little agitation or something. However, I did get a few smiles and outloud laughs, particularly when remembering some funny memories with her. She was sleepy when I first arrived, but woke up fairly quickly. Had a good stretch and then she did really well when I had her sitting on the side of the bed and doing some exercises. Tried to get her to reach for one of two objects I held up, and I found it to be helpful to first draw her attention to each item being held up, as she seemed almost surprised when her attention was drawn to her right and she saw an object there. I used a lollipop to get her to stick her tongue out in various directions, and when I explained that this would help with her speech coming back she seemed quite willing to do it. We did some wheeling through the halls and stopped for a bit in the cafeteria. Tried to get her to match some of her flashcards, but she wasn’t seeming to get/do it. Spent some time with a magazine in front of a window, then returned to her room. I went through a few “mouth exercises” the speech therapist had left, which involved her using her finger to put pressure around her mouth. I again explained that this was good for her speech, and she seemed to think it was very weird but did follow what I was asking her to do. Cam arrived and is now having a good chat with her while she finishes her lunch in her room. Throughout the morning she has seemed increasingly uncomfortable in her chair, and has done a few yawns, so we have asked the nurse to get her back in bed for a rest as soon as they are able. Planning for a trip to the beach when we’re back this afternoon.

From Laurel

An emotional afternoon. But a good one. We returned to find Mom awake. Got her up sitting on the side of the bed for some more physio, which she seemed to do pretty well at. I even asked her to close her eyes for a few of the exercises and she did. At one point, Raj made a joke and before I started laughing myself, Mom actually laughed out loud. I don’t know when her laughing out loud first started, but it was the first time I saw it and it happened several times throughout the afternoon, for various reasons. So cool. Even involved some eye-rolling and head movement typical of Mom’s pre-incident laughs.

We spent a long time at the beach and had a good walk around the neighbourhood. Raj patiently got Mom to throw some rocks relatively far, and we were entertained by an overly friendly duck. Mom was smiling often. We returned to the ward and it was dinner time, so we had her in the dining room with the others. She was starting to look very uncomfortable and no longer smiling, so we headed back to her room about an hour later. Raj got her back into bed and for some reason she started crying, for a reason neither of us could understand. Later on, I was talking with her and telling her how much I’d missed her and she looked at me and full-on cried, sniffing and everything. It was a really sad, difficult moment, but I am also guessing that it was a great sign of her progress. And, a sign of “real” Mom, as I know she would be upset under these circumstances. So, good and bad, but probably a good thing in the longterm.

Cam stopped by during a less alert time, but he got quite a few good smiles and even a very sarcastic eyebrow raise when he told Mom he was thinking about getting a mohawk again and said “I know how much you loved it last time.” We all laughed at her and she seemed to enjoy our response, doing a second eyebrow raise even bigger.

Overall, an awesome day with Mom. Clearly, Larry and The Team have been doing an awesome job this past month!

The Calgarians have taken over. Here is Laurel’s morning update.

My favourite visit already. I arrived with Larry this morning and we both almost walked right past Mom. She was sitting at a table in the dining hall with a bunch of other ladies, and she looked like she just fit right in. We went over to her and I was quickly feeling a little upset, as after Larry said hello and I went to say my good morning she looked completely stunned and out of it. As I had felt on previous trips, I really didn’t think she knew who I was. But, not for long. She seemed to be in a momentary “daze” (no blinking, staring straight ahead) as within seconds she snapped right out of it and looked at me with the biggest, greatest smile I have seen in a very, very long time. A completely new expression I had seen nothing close to on my previous trips. It was the first time I felt that there was no question as to whether or not she knew me, and she seemed so truly happy Larry and I were there. Got lots of hand holding and a continued smile. She looked so great. When Raj arrived a few hours later, he got a similar huge smile of recognition and clear happiness. It was really so cool.

Larry ran me through the basics of the new place, and then he was off for a weekend trip to Nanaimo. I stretched Mom out, and was happy to see she was much looser than I’d seen in the past few months. She was weighed and the nurse was very happy and surprised to see that she had gained a considerable amount. We then went for a “wheel” through the halls. Mom wheeled without stopping from the rehab ward through the cafeteria and all the way down to the entrance by Admitting. I think my hand providing direction gave her a bit of a push at times, but nonetheless she kept at it. At one point I asked her if she wanted to keep going, and she didn’t give me a nod but gave me a eye brow raise and tilt of the head, as if to say “duh, come on.” I got an interesting “i dunno” expression later on, as well.

Back in the room, I used her flashcards from the speech therapist and tried to have her point to the right one of two options. She got the first one right, but then proceeded to either not do anything or just grab the whichever one was on her left. I don’t think she always realized there was a picture on the right. She seemed distracted by discomfort from being in the chair, so Raj got her back in bed and we then tried to get her to choose the right coloured fish from two fishes being held up, and to then give the fish to Raj. She was always able to give the fish to Raj, but she kept grabbing to the left of the fish and missing (and only grabbing the fish on her left). One of the nurses stopped and watched, appearing very interested, and noted that her vision seemed very off. She wondered if it was affected by her getting tired and losing concentration, and suggested giving her a break when that starts. So we put the fish away and just chatted. Mom gave a laughing smile to several of Raj’s jokes, and smiled at a horrible dance move of mine. Was really fun to see.

She began a bit of a late lunch around 12:30, and is enjoying it in bed as she seemed quite tired and had been in her chair since early that morning. Looking forward to more visiting this afternoon!

Janet was sound asleep when I got back this afternoon and that gave me time to seek out her therapists for an update on today’s sessions.

Moira had Janet lay on her tummy for about twenty five minutes and said she tolerated it well and got good stretches out of both legs. Connie had Janet swallowing the thickened tea again and her times varied from four to eight seconds. An improvement. She also worked on matching images but not a lot of success there. Connie gave me a bunch of pictures to work with over the weekend. Janet did touch her nose then ear then chin on command sequentially. That’s big if she can do it consistently and build to more body parts. Nathan was a little unsure of himself with Janet in their OT session. He doesn’t know her and felt like she was blowing him off as getting her to do pointless silly things. I told him he was right and Janet needs a reason to do something or she is far less likely to do it. I give him points for recognizing that and he will think over the weekend of some more meaningful activities to do with Janet on Tuesday.

Janet opened her eyes a little when I was done talking to her people but I could tell she was still pretty groggy so I lay down beside her and we had a twenty minute power nap. She put her arm around me and closed her eyes and went to sleep right away and I closed mine but just kinda relaxed and waited for her to wake up. Nice moment.

After a little stretch we headed out to the beach and Janet made me laugh out loud as she put her hood up and zipped her jacket up tight as if it was the middle of winter. She looked so cute and even she had a big smile on her face. I had my car parked at the beach so I decided to see if I could get Janet into it in case I’m allowed to take her somewhere soon. It was pretty easy and she seemed pretty comfy. Not a huge reaction like I imagined but I think she knew where she was.

We tried throwing rocks again but this time all Janet would do is put the rock in her right hand. I discussed this with a few people today and all thought it was great she is aware of that hand and arm. We sat in the sun for a bit then headed in for dinner. Once again we sat with the guys and there was CFL football on and Janet was not the least bit interested so I went and got a lolly pop to see if I could get her to stick her tongue out. I wish I could have recorded this because I couldn’t believe her enthusiasm over a lolly pop. She wanted to devour the whole thing in one chomp. I can’t let it into her mouth in case she bites some off so I felt bad for her cause she really wanted it. She did get her tongue out for a few tastes with no funny faces at all. We’ll keep doing this as will Connie. I read a little of the second Anne to her as dinner wound down and she started to look uncomfortable. I asked her if she was and she nodded the biggest nod yet. I then asked her if she wanted to lay down and she nodded strong again so off to bed she went.

With Janet all relaxed in bed I decided to try some of the matching pictures with her. She was doing really well till I asked her to take the picture of the cat from me. The picture is of a cat sitting and facing you head on. No cat really sits or looks like that so I’m ok with her missing that one and told her so and reminded her we don’t like cats anyways and she smiled. Throughout this game I got lots of facial expressions from her that seem to be yeses and no’s. This is new and I’m interested to see if it continues.

After a good bedtime stretch I said goodnight to a relaxed and content seeming Janet. Praying for a restful night and an awake tomorrow with Laurel, Cam and Raj.

Janet was wide awake, dressed and had been looking at one of Molly`s magazines when I arrived this morning. She gave me a nice smile and seemed ready for the day. As I got started on stretching her Emma came in with her meds and reported that Janet had a rough morning. Emma found her crying just after seven this morning, actual tears flowing crying not the usual welling up but a full on release of tears. She felt bad for Janet but I think it`s kinda good and speaks to a heightened awareness. I got a smaller outburst near the end of the stretching session and Janet was seriously trying hard to say something. Earlier on she was pushing down on her pants at the hip as if trying to communicate a need to be changed or something. We couldn`t see anything wrong so I carried on with the stretching. Janet is definitely trying more and more to communicate.

I let her drive part way to physio as we had some time to spare and she drove fast and very determined about half the way there then I took over. I left her with Moria who was going to have Janet lay on her tummy. I left to run some errands in trust that the porter would get Janet to Speech and OT.

One of my errands was a meeting Kiko and I had with a music therapist. We were curious to see what he could bring to the table as far as enhancing Janet`s recovery and I liked what he had to say especially the part about wanting to work with the Speach Language Pathologist to make sure they are working towards the same goals. Kiko and I agreed to leave this idea for now and approach Connie with it when Janet has been given the all clear to stay in rehab for an extended time.

My other errand was to pick Nash up from the groomer and Emma had given the all clear to bring him in to see Janet. We arrived right at noon so the dining area was full and Nash played therapy dog to at least a dozen people before we got to Janet`s room. She was just getting changed and her lunch feed started so I held Nash back for a few minutes then let him loose to jump up on the bed. There wasn`t a huge reaction from Janet and Nash was too excited about the new surroundings to pay much attention to Janet but after a few seconds there was a smile of recognition as I brought Nash closer to her.

After he settled down Janet patted him for a good fifteen minutes or more and I could tell she knew it was him and not some random dog. As long as the staff is ok I will make an effort to get Nash in to see Janet on a regular basis.

I am very grateful for the progress being made and look forward to an active afternoon.

When I got back to the rehab ward I was told by one of the staff Janet had slept some and was likely still sleeping. I didn`t think so and sure enough she was in a little Houdieno mode playing with the release button on the right side bed rail. She smiled right away and we hung out for a bit as it just seemed nice to chill with her. Turns out she did snooze for maybe half an hour then her room mate got shipped out to Penticton so that created enough of a disturbance to prevent further sleep. Didn`t seem to bother Janet though and she stretched out really nice before we headed to the beach.

The sun felt really nice and despite the coolness Janet seemed to like being there. I threw a rock in the water and decided to see if she would do the same. The first rock I gave her she looked at for a bit and when I suggested she throw it in the water I could see the wheels turning and then she tried putting the rock in her right hand. My heart sank immediately but at the same time I was happy for her thinking of doing that. I didn`t tell her she couldn`t use that hand, I just let her try and get the rock in there which she couldn`t really do and that gave me a chance to explain the rules of the game and she could only use her left hand and so would I. She made a few good attempts but all her shots ended about a meter away. I then asked her to pass the rock to me and held out my hands a step or two in front of her. Her first shot went off my pinky and the second was right down the middle. High five! She made more attempts to put the rock in her right hand and I refrained from saying anything other than we have to use our left hands. In some ways I think it is great she knew she should be throwing with her right hand but I wonder what`s going on in her head about that right hand and arm. She had been playing with it a number of times the last couple days. I will discuss it with Moira and others tomorrow.

I got her set up for dinner in the dining area and we sat with the guys to watch a little of the football game. When things quietened down we video Skyped Andrew. It was a little hard to hear him as there was still a fair bit of ambient noise in the room and I can`t hold the iPad up to her ear and still get a shot of her for Andrew to see. Next call will have to be from her room.

By the time dinner was done it was get ready for bedtime. Once again I got a really good stretch out of Janet and she did well brushing her teeth and swabbing with the Nystatin. No sign of her new room mate by the time I left but I was told she was on her way down from 6 West. Praying for a restful night and an awake day tomorrow.

I thought you all should know that you can get your Christmas lights at Superstore now so you better hurry as it`s only EIGHTY ONE DAYS AWAY. WTWCT