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Oops #TSJ

Mary Lou was quite pleased with Janet’s speech abilities and participation level in their session this morning. I was surprised as Janet seemed to be quiet and talking a lot of Klingon with me. I came back to her room just as they were wrapping up and Mary Lou had Janet sing Row Row Row Your Boat for me and she did so nice and loud and clear.

Lunch was a bowl of vegetable soup and some med laced fruit lax. I was impressed with Janet’s ability to eat after the shape she was in yesterday. We then headed back to her room to wait for a visit from Brian the OT. Garret brought Janet’s laundry in while we were waiting so I had Janet try and put it away. She was definitely more confused than normal but was very willing to try and put things in the right places. Brian arrived in the middle of all this and watched Janet finish the job. We decided it would be good to label the drawers and cupboards to help Janet remember where things are. Brian then spent about twenty minutes with Janet trying to assess what her understanding of her situation is. He found it difficult to comprehend Janet today and I attribute that to still being in recovery mode from yesterday and hoping its not the anti seizure med. One of the side effects is confusion so we’ll have to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. Brian also commented on Janet’s vision challenges. I had planned on meeting with our eye doctor yesterday but that appointment got preempted so as long as Janet remains stable I will try and meet with him next week to discuss a vision test. I actual left to do some work around the house before Brian did his thing with Janet and before I left we agreed that he would put her into nap mode when he was done. We discussed getting rid of the hospital bed and decided that we would start eliminating bed rails to see if Janet can safely be in bed without them. Brian tucked her in and left the two lower rails down. He left the room at 2:10, Garret checked on Janet at 2:45, she was in bed but not asleep. Garret walked past ten minutes later and Janet was on the floor. Houdieno returns! She was fine, just a little scared and we had a good talk about it when I returned and Janet seems to think she can get out of bed whenever she wants to. She later demonstrated a similar feeling towards her wheelchair as she made two good efforts at getting out of it after dinner. Apparently our idea of a regular bed is a little premature. Oops.

Janet was getting up from her nap, she eventually did have one, when I returned at 4:30. She was being helped by Curtis who used a straight on pivot move to get Janet from bed to chair. I didn’t think it would work as it requires Janet to take a lot of the weight, she did it really well! She was also talking much clearer and I was able to get her to agree it was because she had a rest. One day that will really sink in. Dinner was a bowl of Clint’s chili that he made for everyone today. Clint is in his late twenties and has been a resident at Connect for seven months. He is very mobile and loves to cook so he runs the kitchen apparently. The chili was good. Suzanne stopped by for a visit and brought another care package with her. Thanks! Janet and her and a nice chat with Janet talking reasonably well considering the time of day and what she has been through. We said goodnight to Suzanne, made Janet’s bed and did all the other bedtime prep stuff before climbing in to start reading a book the Dr. Miller lent to us. Slow Dance by Bonnie Sher Klein, a stroke survivor who was just named to The Order of Canada. Interesting read so far.

Praying for more good rest and healing tonight and an active day of learning tomorrow.

Rebounding #TSJ

A quick update to say that Janet had a restful night with some obvious healing. She got up at her regular time and ate a good breakfast of scrambled eggs after setting the table for herself. She was sitting by the fire having her water when I came in and greeted me with a “how’s it going with you?” So nice to hear real words coming out of her mouth.

Janet looks much better today, still feeling the effects a little and is not fully back to where she was prior to the seizures but is rebounding quite nicely. Garret has her in the gym now for some stretching and Mary Lou is coming in for some Speech therapy after that.

Thanking Jesus for the rest and healing and praying for more.

Coming Back #TSJ

Janet woke up just after six tonight and slowly started to brighten up. I got a few verbal responses from her but her voice was very quiet and the words she was saying were mostly Klingon. I did get a whispered “yes” and some facial expressions to a few questions. After ten minutes of her eyes being open I sat her up on the side of the bed to see if she could tolerate that and she did well considering how groggy she was still. Janet didn’t outright say so but I got a strong indication she wanted to go back to Connect so I asked the nurses to change her and we got her dressed. Janet put up with the tossing and turning required for all that to happen and before you knew it her I V was unhooked and I lifted her into a wheelchair. The nurses kept an eye on her while I retrieved the car then wheeled Janet out to it. She helped me get into and out of the wheelchair by putting her left arm over my shoulder. That’s a good sign to me.

The car ride back to Connect was slow and steady as the roads were a little slippery but not as bad as yesterday. Janet was visibly happy to be back and gave the gang a little smile when we walked in on their poker night. I wheeled her straight to her room and Dani got a tube feed going for her. Hopefully that’s just for tonight. With Janet tucked in, I laid beside her for an hour till she fell asleep and I expect a good nights rest and a strong day of recovery tomorrow.

I’m very appreciative of the staff at KGH and Connect as their response and action today could not have been better. Janet’s nurse most of the day was a young guy named Chris who was working his first day in the hospital. After a bit of a nervous start he did a great job. Thanks again to Kiko! So nice to come home to a fed dog and a shoveled driveway. You are amazing!

Praying for rest and healing tonight and strong recovery tomorrow. Thanking Jesus for continuing to place the right people into our lives at the right time.

KGH 3 #TSJ

As I write this I’m sitting beside a sleeping Janet at KGH ER. She suffered two mild seizures this morning. The first was just after eight at Connect as she was getting dressed. It lasted about three minutes and was described as mild. The second one occurred at KGH an hour and half later and lasted just over a minute and was milder. Dr Eppler was the ER doctor who saw her and he played it all down and was quite positive the whole day. Dr. Adams, the neurologist said the CT scan showed only the old damage from last May and said Janet should bounce back from this quite quickly. He put her on Dilatin and she may be on that for life now. He said there will not be long term complications from this and it is quite common for ABI patients to have seizures.

Garret from Connect followed the ambulance to KGH and stayed with us until Dr. Adams said Janet could leave. The staff at KGH have been good as usual. Thanks Kiko for all your help!

Praying for rest and healing.

Seahawks

Today started off with the usual recap of the previous day. Janet remembered going to Toys R Us and house hunting but she really could only talk about the pizzas we made last night. She smiled every time she mentioned it. All dressed in blue for Seahawks game day we headed off to church. Janet really enjoyed the music and I let her have the communion bread this time.

Janet played with Nash while I made lunch once we got home then we made a quick Skype call to Heather before donning our Seahawks jerseys and Skypeing almost all the rest of the family who were gathered at Leslie and Gavin’s for Ukrainian Christmas dinner. Nice to see Rick, Mike and Karen, Karleigh and Madeline make their Skype debut.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet for once. We kicked back and watched a really entertaining football game and Janet even closed her eyes for a couple of twenty minute rest sessions. It was nice to have her just chilling so I gave her the day off from stretching and let her relax. Once again that seemed to really spur her appetite as she ate a large bowl of pasta for dinner and two bowls of fresh fruit and a couple of Christmas squares for dessert. Even she knew she was eating a lot as she laughed when she ordered the second bowl of fruit and the second square.

Before getting ready to head back to Connect we looked at the homes that the realtor thought might suit us. None jump out as ones we would buy but I did request a look at one just to set a base line for future reference. Janet seems a little indifferent to the idea of moving and is enjoying looking at the various potential properties. I expected her attachment to this house to be greater than it is but I guess her memory is rather incomplete and she does find it a challenge to move around the place. As long as she is part of the moving process I think she will be happy.

Praying for a restful and healing night and an informative visit to the doctor tomorrow.

Pole Dancing

These once a day blog updates are shaping up to be the norm as it appears the majority of my time with Janet will be mid afternoon through to bedtime. From what I can tell so far most of her heavy duty activities will be in the morning and early afternoon with things getting quieter by three o’clock. It’ll be a few weeks yet before the true pattern emerges but that’s what it looks like now.

Today started off busy as Sara had Janet in the shower when I arrived and it was after 9:30 by the time she was sitting at the breakfast table. Janet was offered two scrambled eggs for breakfast but chose to have only one. She gobbled it up and I know would have eaten more and I wish she would have as that’s one breakfast she enjoys. It was her call though.

Back in her room I was about to have her put away her laundry when Mary Lou hauled her away for a half hour Speech session. I declined attending as I want Janet to build a relationship with Mary Lou. Janet reported the session was boring but Mary Lou said it went well. She tried an app on her iPad that pops balloons every time you talk loud enough. She thinks this will be a good tool to get Janet’s volume raised and Janet was successful a few times. Mary Lou is concerned about the excessive saliva Janet has and I know Connie is too. We will be helping Janet become more aware of it. Not only did Janet put away her laundry, she also helped rearrange her clothes so it is easier for her to find them. That was a really good exercise to go through and she seemed to enjoy the challenge of remembering where things were and thinking about how to group them in a way that makes sense.

By the time we finished rearranging her stuff it was lunchtime. Garrett was all excited about his beef barley soup but it was a complete fail. I tried saving it by adding some carrot and broccoli and Janet ate a little of it then but I think I’ve spoiled her eating at home so much.

We made our way down to the gym after lunch with Brian and Rebecca promising to meet with Janet there a little later. I had time to give Janet a good stretch on the table mat and was finishing off a stretch of her hand when Brian and Rebecca came in. They spent over an hour with us talking wheelchair, accessible homes, Janet’s vision, the various equipment Janet can use in the gym and how daily activities will be incorporated into Janet’s workout plan. All this will come into better focus over the next couple of weeks. When asked about goals, Brian is confident Janet will become independent transferring from wheelchair to bed etc. and is hopeful she will be able to walk short distances, i.e. around the house. To gauge that possibility he had Janet sit on the edge of the table mat and hold onto a stripper’s (or fireman’s, depending on your gender) pole in front of her. On command Janet attempted to stand up and Brian acted as the muscle for her right leg. She managed to get up a fair ways both times she tried and was clearly frustrated each time that she couldn’t get all the way up. We all praised her effort and Brian was truly happy with her first attempt at that and hopeful he can get her standing relatively soon.

That was a busy day so far and being unsure of dinner I decided to take Janet home for a few hours for a change of pace and some food I knew she would eat. She played with Nash a lot, ate a good dinner followed by a bowl of fresh fruit and a relaxing conversation time. We headed back to Connect for bedtime in anticipation of a busy morning as Tez the PT has promised an early session with Janet.

Thankful for the productive day and praying for restoration of Janet’s ability to walk, use her right arm and hand, total restoration of her vision and the ability to talk loud all the time.

Only the Beginning

Still in holiday mode Janet and I had a very relaxing afternoon. Lunch was a bowl of pasta and cheese that Janet gobbled up after helping to set the table. When she is eating food she likes I no longer need to prompt her to eat like I did before, now I have to tell her to slow down.

The only way I could convince her to have some rest time was to offer her the chance at laying on the sofa bed downstairs to watch some of the Rose Bowl. With the fire on it was nice and cozy and she at least got an hours quiet time even though she never closed her eyes and was quite chatty the whole time. We Skyped Mary/Gaga and had a brief but loud chat with her and got to see David and his family who are visiting and attempting to do some skiing. A bonus opportunity for a rest arose when Janet agreed to a little stretching action. No change in the spasticity but Janet did have another hour of quiet time and it seemed to give her a nice burst of energy for the rest of the day. It also gave her an appetite as she totally cleaned her dinner plate of chicken strips, fries and baby carrots followed by ice cream. She was heavier for sure as I carried her to the car to go back to Connect.

Once in bed we finished off Anne 2 and agreed it was a good book with an abrupt end. Clearly a set up for the next one. I said goodnight with the promise of seeing her after breakfast and plans to spend the day at Connect tomorrow. I’m hoping the coaches (therapists) are around tomorrow and we can start developing Janet’s program. Praying for a restful night and a day of learning tomorrow.