exercise

Janet, A Success Story. March 31. #TSJ

When I checked in with Janet around lunchtime she answered her phone on the second attempt and was very bright in talking to me. She reported that Humberto’s brother was visiting and everyone had enjoyed meeting and talking to him this morning. Janet said her bike ride was OK and that was all she had done and she knew that meant work when I arrived. She’s catching on.

Curtis did a little walking with Janet before nap time and when I got to Connect she was ready to get up and enjoy the sunshine before “going to work”. She chose the Shuttle first and did an admirable job with some slight improvement in keeping her right knee close to the left one. Janet of course hated every minute of it but persevered. That was the theme for walking today as well. She finished counting and rolling our jar of pennies before attempting a walk to the living room. That idea turned out to be too ambitious as fifteen feet into the walk Janet was complaining of being exhausted and wanted to quit. Perseverance prevailed however and she made it to the Den which is a little more than half way to the living room and about fifty feet from her bedside starting point. Her sit down onto the couch manoeuvre was one of the most controlled sit downs I’ve ever seen her do. High five!

After another big dinner and a little digestion time it was into the Standing Frame for Janet. I can sure tell when she’s done this exercise when I stretch her legs at the end of the night. They are so much more flexible after getting that good stretch that only the Standing Frame can provide. Another thing that is so good for Janet that she dislikes. She persevered.

When I left Janet last night she was sleeping and I thought headed for a good night. She said she woke up around four and was awake most of the time until Jess got her up. Nap time this afternoon didn’t include much sleep so Janet faded rapidly tonight and I’m actually impressed with what she accomplished considering that lack of rest. Praying for a solid night of sleep tonight and lots of strength and energy for tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. March 11. #TSJ

Tuesday seems to be the most intensive day of the week for Janet. By the time I arrived at Connect late in the afternoon she had been on the Shuttle, done her stretching exercises, walked a lot at the parallel bars, worked with Wendy her memory coach, had a shower, completed about ten Speech Therapy worksheets and had a nap. It’s all working too!

By the time she was up and ready it was too close to dinner time to do anything so Janet accepted that she would ride the bike and do the Standing Frame after. Not thrilled with the meal she was a little grumpy and confused about the bike ride until she saw the bike. I think she equated it to the Shuttle initially. Under protest she started to pedal, complaining for the first five minutes that it was too hard. By the end she had gone almost three miles at level four and sang for most of it. Too hard?

Wendy and Curtis have developed a “game night” for some of the residents designed to promote cognitive rehab. Janet was invited tonight and after the usual resistance she headed off upstairs to the pool room on her own. I was not invited. She returned an hour and a half later laughing loudly and saying “it was fun”. Curtis said Janet did well playing Family Feud and a look at the pictures, name the commonality game. She answered about a third of the questions correctly and often knew the answer but just couldn’t get the word out. That will come. It was so fun to hear her laugh and to see how an activity like that can get her all fired up. Her brain was really working well after that as we discussed tomorrow’s SheLife session. The group was asked to be prepared to share something a little abstract that we were having trouble with until Janet blurted out the perfect example taken from her life before she got sick. I’m not sharing it with you as it is personal but I am telling you this part because I think it’s amazing she thought of it. More improvement and as a little reward Janet was excused from the Standing Frame tonight.

Before starting her night routine we checked over some of the worksheets Janet had done today and her scores were very high this time on questions where she had to identify the category the examples belonged to. Also, her accuracy in circling the answers was much improved too.

We took another suggestion from the audience and started reading “Let’s pretend this never happened“, so far a humorous memoir with a lot of swearing. We’ll see how it goes and are still welcoming suggestions.

Praying for a restful night and lots of enthusiasm for tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. March 10. #TSJ

As I walked into the Connect dining area Janet looked up from her dinner plate and loudly said, “You’re late!”. I was later than usual but had told her that was likely today as I was bottling wine at CedarCreek. She remembered the bottling part and forgot the late part. Janet described her day as “OK so far” and we deduced that she still had the Shuttle and Standing Frame to do and Janet wanted to get them done as soon as possible. That didn’t mean she was happy about doing them.

The gym was busy and that gave Janet a chance to cheer Big Country on as he worked on the Shuttle. The machine is just barely big enough for him and it’s pretty cool to see him all stretched out on it. When Janet got her turn I think she was motivated by Big Country’s efforts and put in an excellent performance pushing the most weight ever with me. Outwardly she was kind of mad about it all but inside I think she knows she did well and is getting stronger.

The Standing Frame was met with grumbling and fortunately requires no real effort once she’s up and standing so even with a negative attitude she gets an awesome hamstring stretch.

With the dirty work over the rest of the night was Janet’s and it started with watching a little bit of The Voice then turned into reading as the commercials were just too annoying. We’ll watch at home on the weekend. The Bill Cosby book we are reading is turning into nothing but a rant by Bill so we’ve shelved that one and are on the lookout for something entertaining. Suggestions? One good bit of reading tonight was an email from Heidi in regards to the upcoming SheLife meeting. When I told Janet about the email she immediately brightened up and asked “is it about Wednesday?” That may not seem too important to you but I can’t recall another instance of her connecting a future event with the present like that. I was very impressed by her correct association of the message and the enthusiasm with which she responded to the content. I think she will be well prepared for this meeting. Another example of Janet putting two and two together came when I asked her what she’s going to do tomorrow. We had gone over her calendar a few hours earlier and she remembered the event we added which was to work on her Speech Therapy worksheets. High five!

Praying for a Tuesday of progress.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #OldTimes

Curtis put Janet through an intense workout this morning in which he says Janet did well. Her version of the story is a little different of course but overall I think she feels better about it than usual. Wendy helped Janet with using her iPhone and found Janet to be a little nervous about doing things fast enough. I called Janet a few times today and she said she saw and heard the phone ringing but couldn’t answer in time and didn’t totally remember how. We practiced tonight and I think with a lot more repetition she’ll get there.

Having done all her exercises except the Standing Frame it was a pretty relaxing evening for Janet and that worked out well as one of the staff members tonight was a nurse who cared for Janet back in the 4B days. Amanda remembered us right away. Not unexpectedly, Janet has no recollection of her. I vaguely remember Amanda but it took me a while and I’m a little disappointed in myself for that as from what Amanda said she was right there from the beginning in 4B and fairly often even though she’s a Casual. We had a very long and interesting chat with her after dinner that Janet really enjoyed and contributed to. Still no recall of those days for her though.

Janet did her Standing Frame routine while we visited with Willie’s wife Val. It is their 44th wedding anniversary today! Impressive! After responding to a few emails and listening to me read for over half an hour Janet agreed it was sleep time. Praying for a fast recovery for John and a solid night of sleep for Janet that allows her a productive Friday.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #SheLife

My time with Janet was short today as I completed bottling at CedarCreek until next week and when I got to Connect it was time to take off for dinner and SheLife. Janet was in good spirits waiting for me in the living room and feeling proud of herself for spending “over and hour” in the gym this morning. Sounds like she’s making a real effort to get her exercises done in the AM which is when Janet says she does better. For the most part that’s true and I’m encouraged by her willingness to them at all.

Janet was pretty quiet during dinner and told me she did have a rest but it was early and she didn’t think she slept at all. That was a bad sign heading into SheLife as the topic this time is a little deep and Janet is finding it a challenge to understand. She came away from tonight’s session a little upset that she doesn’t get it and was hinting at not going back but I offered to help her with the materiel this weekend and she accepted, remembering how it helped to read about the last sessions topic the night before each meeting. Worth a try.

As always on SheLife night it’s bedtime by the time we get back to Connect. I read to Janet who was in and out of sleep but quite awake as I finished and wanted me to read more. I had to say no as, if I stay too late at Connect I get locked in to the place. Not a bad thing to have happen and if it wasn’t for our dog at home I would let it happen once in a while. Not tonight though.

Praying for full and complete healing and for a productive day tomorrow.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #nolongerhomeless #Connect #purging

Another good night of sleep for Janet and a decent start to the day eating breakfast in the sun. The day was made even brighter when we received a text from our realtor that the sellers had finally accepted our offer! Janet was relieved and excited and the news definitely gave her a lift as it did me. If you are curious about where we may be moving to (not a done deal until we have the keys) here’s a link to the MLS listing. Possession day is October 6 which means I need a place to live for at least five days, maybe more, depending on how much work we decide to do on the new place before moving in. If any Kelowna types have suggestions as to where is a good place for me and a little dog, let me know.

Before starting the purge of Cam’s room Janet had a brief Skype chat with Laurel. That one went better than yesterday’s but still not nearly as good as Saturday with Mary/Gaga. Wish we could capture that energy and keep it in her. We got a really good start on Cam’s room today and Janet helped a lot with the bagging of stuff once it was identified. She got lots of good laughs looking at the clothes that used to fit Cam eighty pounds ago.

There was no arguing about nap time after lunch today and Janet slept well for an hour and a half. For only the second time in my memory Janet asked to sit inside after we’d been out on our deck for a while. Too hot she said. Surprising, but it was warm today. That made for a nice time on the patio at Joey Kelowna for dinner with Cam. A little thunder shower rolled through during our meal and for a minute or so Janet got dripped on. She had the presence of mind to hold a napkin over her head until our server came over with a tray to cover her while another server closed the awning. Pretty funny.

Janet was resigned to doing the Shuttle and Standing Frame once we got back to Connect tonight and she did very well with both. Usually in the Standing Fame we have to watch something really lame on TV but tonight there was a James Bond movie on, Die Another Day, and Janet surprisingly liked it. I think she enjoyed the fast pace, really fake fighting scenes and Halle Berry Ok that last part might have been me.

Praying for lots of energy for a busy day tomorrow and thanking Jesus for the great weekend together.