During a typical Skype call Janet will listen about ninety percent of the time and talk ten. Most of her talking used to be in a whisper and the level of loud voice talking has grown steadily the last couple of weeks. After her little rest period this afternoon we Skyped with Leslie and it was by far Janet’s loudest and most conversational. I wish I could have recorded it so y’all could hear her but trust me it was spectacular. She was not able to last more than twenty five minutes before her voice faded and she started losing focus though. After a short break we Skyped Laure and Raj who couldn’t wait to praise Janet on her coffee drinking exploit. Janet had some loud moments and participated well but definitely a step down from Leslie’s call.

All that took us pretty much to dinner time. I asked Janet to try some two footed wheelchair driving but she couldn’t get it going at all. Maybe in the morning. Chili and soup were her dinner tonight and she did very well eating both. Can’t wait to discuss all this with Connie.

After dinner we had some nice chat time, some Facebook time, where I showed her more pictures of Allan’s trip to Puerto Rico, and then a light stretch before bed.

Praying for a restful night that brings healing to her legs, right arm, vision and ability to communicate.

Janet’s rebellious side continues to grow as this morning, not only was she not in her room, she was sitting at the breakfast table with Jean, Mary and Jacqueline having a cup of coffee. Seriously. She had a big mischievous grin on her face and quickly took a sip as soon as she saw me. Maybe to prove she could do it or maybe to have one last sip before I took it away from her. She was quite proud that she had that cup and was holding onto it for dear life. I asked her why she had it and she said, “I wanted it”. The story goes that her table mates encouraged the food services person to give her a cup and being the casual employee that she is she complied. I let Janet take a few sips and saw she was doing just fine swallowing so I let her enjoy it until breakfast arrived. The food services person came by to check Janet’s menu and I asked to have a look at it before she built the tray. I told her no applesauce, no Ensure. Minutes later she brought a tray for Janet with applesauce and Ensure. She graciously replaced the applesauce with puréed apricots and I have decided my health is more important than letting the constant gaffes from that department get to me so now I laugh. Ha ha.

I asked Janet who got her up this morning and she said “a girl named Jen”. She was right! On the way back to her room I noticed the right footrest was off the wheelchair but Janet was managing to move her right foot forward a little. I wasn’t sure if it was springing forward on its own or if she was doing it herself but as we went on it became clear she was doing it herself. That’s the first time I’ve seen that and it is a really encouraging sign. We had time for a good stretch before going to church and I’m happy with the results on Janet’s legs. They are very tight to begin with and then soon afterwards as well but I was able to get them reasonable flexed out.

Church was good. We were able to have a nice chat with Kiko and Greg’s website before the service and it was really cool to watch Janet sing along to a few of the songs. We had communion today and I wasn’t sure if Janet should partake but she really wanted to and since she had already had coffee I figured some fake wine couldn’t hurt. I gave her just a bit of the bread and a sip of my juice and that made for a nice moment. Overall Janet said she liked the service and it is really special to have her there with me. Cam joined us and Janet was surprised he sat still for so long. I don’t think she realizes how grown up Cam is now. In the car she thought Cam was Mike again and then changed his name to Greg. Interesting to see how overwhelmed she can become.

Mary was still at the lunch table when we got back and Amy had hidden Janet’s tray away for safe keeping. She ate all the macaroni and cheese and the soup. She tagged along with me afterward so I could find something to eat and asked to sit in the real chair bedside me while I ate. It was fun having her at the table with no wheelchair. Janet was getting a little tired so I got her into bed for a rest time while I write this update.

Thankful for the day so far and looking forward to an active afternoon.

Our visit home ended too soon as we had to get back to Rehab for dinner. It was really nice hanging out here with no agenda and Janet just being content that she was home. She was even happy to watch from the window as I shoveled snow before we left and thanked me for doing it. Dinner was a surprise because Janet just had soup for lunch and I was thinking the new diet wasn’t in effect on the weekends but she got soup and pureed Shepherd’s Pie tonight. I wasn’t sure how she would react to the pie but she enjoyed the meat part of it and said the potato part was “yucky”. Dinner is for sure her best meal of the day as it always was and she cleaned up everything that was nutritious or close to it.

Not ready to go back to her room Janet chose to go for a walk and did really well Bam Bam’ing to the cafeteria where she snuck up and said hi to Dr. Jones. He had a big smile and some very kind words for her so despite her initial reluctance to approach him she felt pretty good afterwards. When we got to the Royal building elevators I asked her if she wanted to go up and say hi to the nurses on 4B. She said no and drove right by. Minutes later she turned around and went right up to the button and was looking like she wanted to go up. She did and we saw quite a few familiar faces all of which were excited to see her and Janet finally used her loud voice for them.

We walked around a little more then headed back to her room to watch some YouTube as Janet still had quite a bit of energy but was starting to look tired. The best video we watched was a clip from the Charlie Brown Christmas which Janet sang along to a couple of the songs and had a big smile on her face for the really familiar scenes. It was approaching eight o’clock by the time Jason got her on the toilet then into bed and that’s when she really started to fade quickly. Considering she had no nap, went home for the afternoon and had two visitors today she lasted a long time and was quite with it right up until she was laying down in bed. This was a great way to spend the seven month anniversary of her aneurysm with lots of reminders as to just how far she has come in her recovery. Even Dr. Jones said she is surprising a lot of people.

Praying for a restful night and a fun day tomorrow. Also praying for Janet’s table mate, Edna who is not feeling well tonight and will be having some tests to make sure there’s nothing seriously wrong. Thanking Jesus for all that we have been blessed with!

Janet was in a deep peaceful sleep when I arrived this morning and I decided to leave her that way for as long as she wanted. Her nurses had made the same decision earlier as apparently she did not sleep well last night. She woke up around 8:20 with a smile on her face and we had a really nice chat. RJ came in to see how things were and he agreed to Arjo Janet so we could start getting her up. Janet is getting really good at going to the bathroom.

Breakfast was ridiculous again as on Janet’s tray was a yogurt, apple sauce and strawberry Ensure. When I tried to switch the apple sauce and Ensure a very stressed out food services person repeatedly used the excuse that if it’s on the menu that’s what she gets, I can’t change it. Despite the collection of previous menus where it clearly says NO APPLE SAUCE, I was getting no where so offered to go to the kitchen myself to resolve it but Janet said she didn’t really want anything else anyways so that was that. If any of you reading this have any interest in running a large food services operation I know where there’s an opportunity. I may even do it myself when Janet is better.

I gave Janet a good stretch after breakfast and am happy with her right arm and hand. Not so happy with the legs. In fact before finishing the legs I decided just to lay down with her and watch the snow fall. We listened to another Stuart McLean story and just chilled. That’s what weekends are for right?

As we were readying for lunch Kiko arrived for a visit. Janet was happy to see her and it was nice having the extra company at lunch time. Brenda dropped by after lunch and gave Janet an early Christmas present of some new warm socks. We had a nice visit with the two of them and I thank them for their continued love and support.

Janet and I are home for the afternoon enjoying watching the snow while sitting by the fire.

PS: I read this to Janet prior to publishing it and she said “it’s perfect”.

Cam surprised his mom with a visit at lunch time and reports that Janet took a few seconds to realize who he was then reacted very happily. Cam was pleasantly surprised that he could have a conversation with his mom now and she even asked him some questions, especially about his girlfriend.

As I walked up to the rehab unit this afternoon I could see Janet sitting near her window and she saw me before I got to the grassy area in front. That’s a record. Inside, she greeted me with a big smile and a loud hi and as we were talking I noticed an unwrapped lollypop lying on the little table beside her. I questioned her on it and she calmly told me she got it from the “bottle over there”. She pointed to the candy dish on top of her dresser where previously there was one last Halloween lollypop. While we talked about how she got it she picked it up and started eating it like a pro. It was so cute and funny I just let her enjoy it as she really wasn’t showing any signs of biting it or choking or anything and it was a good workout for her oral motor skills. After a while she rested it between her thumb and pointer finger on her right hand and kept it there for quite a while. During our chat about the day so far I asked her if anyone had come to visit her. Often her answer would be no but this time she remembered yes. When I asked who, she very confidently and loudly said “my brother Mike”. She remained confident with that answer until I corrected her that it was Cam, she looked a little puzzled then shrugged it off.

We talked some more then noticed Cliff getting ready to take Barb home for the weekend so I had Janet go out to tell Barb to have a good weekend. We got up to the door of Barb’s room and I cued Janet who then said what she was supposed to say in a nice loud voice that Barb could hear all the way from where she was sitting in the sun window of her room (Janet’s old room). Barb was so impressed that her and Cliff came by Janet’s room on their way out to say how nice it was to hear Janet’s voice. That gave Janet a massive smile and she used her loud voice a little more to say “have a good time”. It was then time to read a Christmas card from Nancy and Jim. Janet opened the envelope and pulled out the card completely unassisted and managed to read the first couple lines of the inscription. She enjoyed the pictures and letter that were enclosed and was able to name everyone in each photograph except the one person she’s never met, Josh, but she knew that was Gillian’s boyfriend (now husband). Pretty impressive. Connie stopped by as we were looking at the pictures and Janet gave her good loud answers to her questions. Connie still seems concerned about Janet’s swallowing and I think I’m going to stay for lunch next time Connie does as I’m getting different results at dinner than she says she’s getting at lunch. She is focusing on Janet’s gurgly throat but she is like that most of the time not just at meal times and tonight she ate very well again. I think she’s ready for the full on pureed diet. I guess it’s Connie’s reputation if she advances Janet too soon and something goes wrong so I understand the caution and overall she is pleased. Janet chose to play a game on the iPad next and with some guidance she was much better at tapping and swiping than previous and scored 17/21 on a flash card test of the letter P. That brought us to dinner time and Janet fed herself 99% of the Oriental Chicken and the soup but of course was not interested in the Ensure or apple sauce. First time she’s had two entres and she gobbled them both up with no coughing or swallowing issues that I noticed.

After dinner I let her cruise around a bit and she headed for the magazine rack. A nurse had a little chat with her and helped her pick two magazines which she proudly brought over to me. One had Jessica Simpson on the cover and the other had Shania Twain. Janet agreed that Shania is prettier. She seemed to be inviting me to her room to look at them so I told her to lead the way. I sat and watched her Bam Bam away and stop at the nurses station window to have a chat with the assistant. I could hear most of it and Janet was answering her questions well then asked “where’s my husband”? She gave me a laughing smile when she turned around and saw me and off we went to read some trash. I asked her to identify some of the celebs in the photos but she only remembered some of them after I told her their names. The rest of our night was kind of like a date night without going anywhere. We had some funny conversation and at one point I had to go move the car and when I came back she had wheeled herself into the bathroom, undid her seatbelt and was trying to get onto the toilet. She said she was doing it “in case she had to go”. RJ put her on using the Arjo and she went. To finish the evening I layed in bed with her to listen to a Stuart McLean story which she listened to with her eyes shut. She was listening though as every now and then she would smile at an appropriate time.

Janet continues to noticeably advance with her ability to converse and understand things and her mood today was very positive. She did not have one meltdown with me today at all. Praying for continued healing especially for her legs and right arm.

Janet was in the process of getting washed and dressed as I arrived this morning and was having quite the chuckle with RJ and Caitlyn who were struggling to get her pants on. They told me Janet’s legs were too tight to use the Arjo this morning. I didn’t notice them any tighter than they have been recently but there was no time to try again so I made sure they watched Janet use the sliding board to get into the wheelchair herself. That she can do, tight legs or not. Janet was in a really good mood but hadn’t found her loud voice yet.

I sent Janet off to the breakfast table while Connie and I had a chat. She was please with Janet’s lunchtime eating performance yesterday saying the swallowing was anywhere from four to fourteen seconds and when feeding herself she’d take quarter to half teaspoons at a time. That sounds very accurate and I mentioned how much Janet loved the lentil curry last night. Connie gave me a print out of the menu choices for the next two weeks and as I sat with Janet for breakfast I had her choose each day’s lunch and dinner entre. A bit of a marathon but good that she got to choose. It will be interesting to see what actually shows up and what she likes. Some days only had one choice on the pureed side and it would be something Janet would not like at all so we are sticking with soup on those days. Connie also mentioned she tested Janet the other day using the same test as when she first arrived on rehab. That first time Janet barely scored 1 out of 100. This week, 47.5 out of 100! Gold star! Connie was very pleased and is happy to have a baseline to work from and will obviously pass that on to Connect.

Janet fed herself 90% of breakfast when it finally came at 9:05. I had to send back the Ensure and the thickened milk and ask for a yogurt to go with the pureed fruit. One item that was on her menu but not the tray was butterscotch pudding. Breakfast of champions. Good thing she was in a good mood for eating as we made it to Physio on time and Janet found her loud voice for Moira. I talked to Moira about the tone in Janet’s legs and what nursing had said this morning. She highly doubted Janet would be too tight to Arjo and downplayed the severity of Janet’s tone. That made me feel better. I left them plotting a prank on Rob which Janet was all gung ho for.

Looking forward to a fun afternoon.

Coming back to KGH this afternoon I did not even half expect to find Janet in her room and I was right. She was sitting with Mary in front of the TV in the dining area watching curling. She must really hate the idea of having a rest after lunch. Mary was not really watching the curling, she was looking after Janet. She has a little bit of a motherly thing for Janet. Janet’s nurse told me they had left her in her room for a bit and Janet made her own way down to the dining area. She was impressed. I am not surprised at all.

I gave Janet a few choices of things to do and she chose to go to the mall. Thankfully it was not all that busy and I managed to get what I had been trying to find the last couple times plus I helped Janet pick out a calendar for herself as Dr. Miller really wants her to get to know the current day, date and year and she is used to the old school paper calendars so we’ll give that a try. I had Janet participate in the purchases as much as possible and was please she could reach the counters to place items on them to be scanned. She’s not ready to operate the debt machines yet.

Back at Rehab we had time before dinner to open a Christmas card that came in the mail today. Janet is getting better at opening envelopes and enjoyed the greeting from Nash’s groomer. Her name is Janet too. The dinner table was crowded again tonight and the new guy at the table, Todd, is the son of one of our neighbors. She was there visiting him tonight and we had a nice chat about Connect as Dr. Miller is suggesting Todd go there as well. It was reported that Janet did OK at lunch with the pureed quiche but didn’t eat a lot of it. She told me she didn’t like it but I don’t trust that answer so will talk to Connie tomorrow. On her tray tonight was the pureed Lentil Curry. It looked like refried beans which Janet detested before but I made sure to get excited about trying some “real” food and she almost literally inhaled it. She fed herself all but the last couple of bites that I scraped from the edges and I’m sure if she was given another serving she would have eaten that too. It wasnt’ that bad tasting just looked bad. Janet had no problem swallowing or anything and fed herself most of the pureed apricots as well. She didn’t like the chocolate pudding that everyone else was raving about but Janet is a bit of a chocolate snob. A good dinner with a good bunch of people.

I just finished watering Janet in her room when Cathryn popped in to talk about goals for Connect. She spent a lot of time having a conversation with Janet and was further impressed with how Janet’s communication has improved. The goals she has outlined are pretty basic and are all things that are being worked on now in Rehab. I won’t go into specifics here as these goals are fluid and will be reviewed and revised each month at Connect so its not really a big deal now but nice that she discussed them with me. I was concerned that we would have to develop long term goals now but I can see how unrealistic that would be. I told Cathryn I am on board as far as OT and Speech go but want to discuss with her and Dr. McCann the PT side of things. She will try and arrange something for next week. Janet participated well in her part of the discussion and even interrupted to say she had to go to the bathroom. We put her into bed after that and could see her fading as I wrapped up the meeting with Cathryn. She lasted a little longer tonight than previous but I’m still trying to convince her to have that post lunch rest time.

Praying for a restful night and a fun day tomorrow.

Today was shower day for Janet and she had just returned to her room when I arrived. She gave me a nice smile as she flew through the air to get back into her wheelchair after getting dressed. For the first time she actually said her shower was fine, usually her response has been “terrible”. We made our way out for breakfast and sat at a very crowded table with Barb, Sharon, Edna, Bev, Jean, and a new lady and a new guy. I had to sit away from the table with Cliff while we waited for the food to arrive and Janet seemed quite happy without me. She kept looking over every once in a while with a smile but was looking at the others as they talked and I want to say maybe would have liked to join in a couple times. Seemed like it anyways. The food took for ever to get out this morning. I don’t see how one person can be expected to build and serve breakfast to the forty or so people there every morning. Because I wasn’t sitting right with her Janet had to feed herself and did very well with the yogurt and fruit and even tried some of the thickened OJ.

After watering her and brushing teeth we had time to give Marlene her happy face lolly pop. Janet really impressed me by reaching out to give it to Marlene as soon as she rolled into her office and after Marlene excitedly took it from her she reached out even further and volunteered a hug. Janet has always been a giver and that was a very special moment that was not rehearsed at all. Marlene said some very meaningful and kind things to Janet and we wished her well in her retirement.

We got down to the gym and I pitched the pool idea to Moira and Robyn but apparently the peg tube has to go before Janet can use the pool at all. I think we are reasonably close to that happening and maybe Janet can come back as an outpatient to do some hydrotherapy. I think she would enjoy that.

Looking forward to an active afternoon.

The Rebel struck again this afternoon. Janet was not in her room when I got back and I found her in the dining area near the kitchen “waiting for you to come back”. She was all smiles and tried explaining to me that “they never gave me a rest time”. Trina explained that Janet ate a good lunch went to the toilet then insisted she go back in her wheelchair instead of bed. Fearing a repeat of yesterday and noting it was 1:15 already, they put her in her chair and set her free. The upside to it all is we were able to get to Connect sooner than anticipated and Janet really did seem to be in a good mood.

We wandered around Connect on our own for the first ten minutes and I showed Janet the gym, workshop and two of the houses. Jen found us after that and took us through the third house and up to the second floor of each. We met some of the staff and residents including Humberto from 4B and Rehab. He seems quite happy at Connect and that is saying a lot as he actually escaped from KGH twice. Jen spent more than half an hour with us and Janet got a really good look at the place including one of the empty rooms. I re-emphasized the desire for a sunny and bright room and Jen says she has already started working on that and if Janet moves there she will do everything possible to make sure that happens. We met the Occupational Therapist, Brian, who seems very enthusiastic and full of positive energy. I got a quick sense that Janet liked him and will work well with him. We met one resident dog that was a little cautious and grumpy, some kind of little white mutt, and one really nice golden retriever that loved Janet and she seemed to like him a lot too. In front of Jen, Janet said she thought the place was pretty nice. I asked her again in the privacy of the car and she repeated that but broke down when she really thought about moving there. I tried calming her by trying to validate the place but then I remembered Dr. Miller’s advise and changed the subject completely. That worked.

A retirement party for Marlene was wrapping up in the dining area as we got back to Rehab. Quite the nice little shin dig with some good treats. Marlene’s last day is tomorrow and I think she deserves a happy face lolly pop. Dinner was served after we helped put the dining area back together and Janet ate all of her nice warm thick soup and all her fruit as well. She was starting to fade after dinner and did not want to linger too long so we went back to her room where I had her open a Christmas card from Todd the landscaper. Janet was able to read who the card was addressed to and opened the envelope with a minimum of help. I had to read the card to her but she impressed me by remembering who Todd was after I mentioned he was the guy who cut down our cedar hedge. She always liked Todd and he is a very kind guy to send a card.

Janet asked to go to the bathroom which earned her another high five from me and impressed her nurses some more. I gave her ankles, back and right arm a good stretch before getting her dressed for bed then read some of Anne 2 to her and after four pages she was eyes shut. She did last a little longer than yesterday despite the lack of a nap but I’m still telling her she needs that rest time. Nicole is on with her again tonight and is still excited about the conversation she had with Janet last night. Janet asked her why she needs to be turned in bed, why does she have the peg tube and why does she need Heparin (blood thinner). She ended up telling Nicole she wasn’t going to take the Heparin but they also talked about our trip to the mall. Strong signs of improvement. She certainly seems to be connecting more dots together now.

Praying for a restful night that brings full healing to Janet’s legs and right arm, her vision and communication.

As I walked up to rehab this morning I could see Janet sitting in her wheelchair at the window and for the first time she saw me. So nice to see her big smile! She told me she was waiting for me and she was ready for breakfast so off we went. It was a very full table this morning so I had to stand behind Janet for most of breakfast but that was good as it forced her to feed herself more. There was a new type of yogurt on the tray, Vanilla Activa, which Janet did not like so only ate half. She did eat all the pureed fruit and the prune whip but wanted nothing to do with the strawberry Ensure. I think that stuff is a lost cause now and I told Connie that when she stopped by to discuss the menu options for tomorrow and Friday as Janet gets to try some pureed “real” food. The options were quiche, chili, fish or lentil curry. I chose the quiche and curry and hope Janet tolerates them. I also told Connie about the thin soup last night and she said she’d follow up on that with the kitchen. She is still concerned about Janet’s swallowing but I think it has improved and am really hoping for positive results tomorrow.

Janet and I had a nice chat in her room while I gave her water and stretched her right hand before going to Physio. She was using her loud voice very well and drove her wheelchair much better than yesterday. I reminded her that she had a hard time yesterday because she was so tired. We had a good discussion about the afternoon nap and I can’t wait to see what happens today. Nurse Robyn said that Janet talked a lot to Nicole last night and Nicole was very excited about it as she had not heard Janet talk that much and in complete sentences before. Moira gave Janet some options as to what to do in Physio this morning and she chose to stand at the parallel bars. Good call.

Looking forward to taking a rested and bright Janet to Connect this afternoon.