games

Janet, A Success Story. June 10. #TSJ

Thankfully, Janet slept well last night and is no longer experiencing any ear pain. Her gym activities went well this morning and she was in good spirits when she called me while in the Standing Frame.

I tried to go to Connect a little later than usual but find it hard to do that and got there with Janet still napping. I lay down beside her and twenty minutes later she woke up looking at me and said “that was a nice idea”, followed by a bunch of mumbled words. When she really woke up a few seconds later she acknowledged she had been dreaming. I’ve asked Janet a few times during her recovery if she had dreamt at all and her answer has always been no. I’ve heard her talking in her sleep and am not sure if that’s connected so today will be noted as Janet’s first dream and I’m thrilled to report that it involved the entire family on a cruise somewhere sunny and warm, possibly Hawaii. There’s hope yet!

As soon as Janet was up she walked freestyle down to the kitchen to ask what her house chore was to be today. Chelsea assigned her dusting duties and Janet walked a lap of the living room with a feather duster as I coached her on where to stand in order to reach everything. She did a great job and was justifiably tired when she got back to her room. I’d say she was on her feet with no assistance for a good half hour. In light of that I helped her walk down to dinner going as fast as she could without tripping over herself. If I have to help her I’m going to make sure she’s going fast each time so she gets that rhythm going better. One negative about her freestyle walking right now is she pauses between steps too long sometimes and doesn’t believe me she’s wasting energy that way. It wouldn’t be so bad if she was putting equal weight on both legs but Janet still favours her left one significantly.

We practiced some reading before walking up to Games Night. Janet put in her best performance yet and actually said “it was kinda fun” after. Her Dilantin levels are in a really good range now and I credit that with some of her cognitive improvements.

Janet enjoyed the chapter of Unbreak My Heart that we read tonight and understood it very clearly and that makes it fun for me to read to her. Praying for another good night of rest and an active Wednesday.

Janet, A Success Story. June 3. #TSJ

Janet was all done with her exercises by the time I got to Connect this afternoon. Jess told me the wheelchair was hardly used so Janet had done a lot of walking again. She slept like it, right until 4 o’clock! This does seem to be a better routine for her and if it can continue then I may delay my arrival as there’s no point to me being there while she’s sleeping.

We did get to sit in the sun for a while before dinner after a good walk from Janet’s room. There was no protesting Games Night tonight, possibly because Janet was too busy complaining about walking there. I had her walk freestyle from her room to the elevator, about 80 feet then helped her the first 50 feet to the Pool Room in hopes she would do the last bit herself. No way. She did participate very well in the various thinking games played and even volunteered to do the guessing on the Guess the Famous Person game. Hers was Superman and she got it pretty quick.

After a good walk back to her room Chelsea informed us there was a rainbow outside so Janet got even more walking in to see that. There’s something about rainbows that seems to get everyone excites no matter their age.

Enjoying the view.

Enjoying the view.


Janet practiced some reading before I read to her tonight. She’s seeing words better but still needs a lot of coaching to move her head to the right to make sure she sees the entire line. The good news about all that is Janet really wants to read well so is quite willing to practice.

Praying for a restful night and an energetic Wednesday.

Janet, A Success Story. May 20. #TSJ

Janet was busy doing laundry when I got to Connect this afternoon. She told me she had a little trouble getting to the bathroom on time this morning but she was OK now and remained so the rest of the day. She didn’t seem all that tired and agreed to a Shuttle session before dinner. Slowly but surely she’s getting stronger as evidenced in this picture modelling a pair of jeans Jess gave her. Notice she’s standing alone with no AFO or shoes on and looking pretty good. Thumbs up!

Standing strong

Standing strong

Jess had Janet walking everywhere again today including from the car into the lab this morning so Janet never argued about walking from here room to dinner. She didn’t even argue about walking freestyle and made it all the way! There were a couple of pauses and she grabbed my shirt a couple of times but that was it. A new record that she tied going back to her room after dinner. That was enough though and the only way I could get her up to Games Night was by letting her hold my hand. There had been no mention of a sore right foot until the end of the trip upstairs and Janet said it seemed to be getting better.

Games night was quite challenging tonight but Janet managed to contribute and I’ll keep taking her in hopes she gets better at some of the games which should make it more fun. Janet did not think it was fun freestyle walking down to get her meds and it was late in the day especially not having had a nap so the effort she made was commendable even if her performance wasn’t her best. There is obvious improvement every day.

Tonight we started to read One Hundred Years of Solitude and wow what a difference from the last book we read. I know I’m going to enjoy it and so far Janet is keeping pace. Praying for rest and healing tonight and another day of progress tomorrow.

What she does when I'm not around.

What she does when I’m not around.

Janet, A Success Story. May 19. #TSJ

Since this was a holiday Monday a lot of residents were still away for the weekend so Jess and Curtis were able to spend a lot of time with Janet. Almost all of her physical therapy stuff was done by the time I arrived in the afternoon and she had also done some reading practice and gotten her nails painted. Janet felt good about it all saying her right foot was not as sore as before even after Jess had her walking everywhere she went today.

The walking continued with me this evening and one interesting thing came out of that. I constantly need to remind Janet to walk straight ahead as she tends to skew her body to the right easily. Today she said she does that so her foot doesn’t hurt as much. Good information I told her to mention to Tez tomorrow. Twice I had Janet freestyle walk tonight and both times she was going so fast it was difficult for me to keep up in a way that I felt I was ready to help her if needed. One of those fast walks was from the Den to her room, a Connect distance record.

We had a lot of time to work on cognitive skills tonight since the physical stuff had been done. Janet reluctantly played Four Pics One Word with me and I found she was more willing if we alternated guesses. She is quiet good at figuring out the word if she really tries. Janet’s reading skills are slowly improving as evidenced by her reading to me a half a page without missing a word. She didn’t think it was that great but it was a definite improvement from going six or seven words then skipping down to the next line. Janet is unhappy she can’t remember or clearly understand what she’s read but that will come once she gets to a level where she’s not trying so hard to see each word. Reading provided the most excitement of the night as we read a chapter from Lets Pretend This Never Happened about a lady getting bitten by a couple of dogs. Seconds after reading that story I felt something touching the back of my shirt. I turned to see a large black dog staring at me! She was wondering around looking for attention and was not nearly as startled as I was. We found out it belonged to a staff member working in one of the other houses and Janet and I had a good visit with her and a laugh.

Janet seemed very bright today with good memory recall and she was physically strong too. Praying that doesn’t mean her Dilantin levels are too low now.

Janet, A Success Story. May 6. #TSJ

I think I’ve figured out how to get Janet to sleep earlier, work her butt off. Today was a marathon of walking for Janet starting with Tez in the sling this morning. He took her up there right after breakfast so there wasn’t time for me to get there but all reports, even from Janet, are that it was a good session. Besides walking the laid out course Tez pushed Janet from behind at times and had Jess pull Janet quickly from in front at times as well. Both techniques designed to help Janet with momentum. She even did a little free walking with them.

When I arrived this afternoon Janet had just gone to bed but needed the bathroom and after that disruption really never got to sleep. As we talked about the day I realized I had forgotten to request a trip to the lab for her this morning so we decided to go before dinner. I challenged Janet to make the trip without her wheelchair and she walked from her room to the car, from the car down a switchback ramp then down a long corridor to the lab entrance. The tech saw her coming in walking and cheered her on. Janet repeated the course after getting stabbed, thereby completing her first wheelchair free outing!

After a rest in the sun Janet agreed to get her bike ride in before dinner and walked from the patio to her room. I let her wheel to the gym but set the bike to level five instead of four and she set a new distance record of 3.4 miles in 30 minutes that included three hills. High five!

Dinner got devoured, no surprise, while we practiced Spanish with Big Country. Janet even pulled out some German she learned in high school and a little French. Janet had walked to the dining area and therefore had to walk back to her room afterwards. She started to complain a little of a sore right foot on the way to her room so I took her shoe and AFO off for a bit to have a look and give her a rest. There are no pressure points that I can see and she walked well up to the Pool Room for Games Night following that brief breather. The feature game of the evening was Heads Up which once everyone got the hang of being able to shout out clues when they wanted, was a lot of fun. Even Janet enjoyed.

The walk back to her room was clearly pushing the limits but before she was done for the night Janet walked free style from her bed to the bathroom door! She kept saying she couldn’t do it after each couple of steps then low and behold she was there. Awesome!

Janet really wanted me to read to her but after all that walking she fell asleep within a few minutes of me starting. Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep.

Janet, A Success Story. April 22. #TSJ #firstrealsteps

This is one of those days where I could just post a video and let it speak for itself but there is more to today than that. Janet continues to amaze.

The first part of her day seemed routine and she was giggly and doing fine when I called at lunchtime. She was awake in bed when I arrived a few hours later and was happy to open a package from her mom while I did some light maintenance on her wheelchair. In addition to some Easter treats, the package contained info on a lecture Mary Gaga and Keith had attended given by Dr. Jessica Grahn, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies music. Check out her talk at TEDx Waterloo, it’s fascinating and we’ll be checking into her studies more as we all know Janet has benefitted hugely from music during her recovery.

We spent our pre dinner time talking and learning and after a good dinner I challenged Janet to walk back to her room. Her acceptance was reluctant of course but for once there was no real complaining during the walk. She asked a few times to stop at the Den and complained once of feeling a little dizzy. I asked her to stop and stand tall and stretch a little then she was able to power on, reaching her bed in a record smashing thirty five minutes! Her technique has improved for sure, larger steps, much larger steps with her right leg, and managing to stay on a better angle. Janet was visibly pleased when it was over, both that it was over and that she had done it. Chelsea and Curtis stopped by and encouraged her a little and when Janet stood up for a reason I can’t remember, I felt prompted to ask her to step to me without hanging onto anything. Without hesitation she made three steps toward me in succession. Chelsea agreed to be camera operator and here’s what happened next.


So exciting!

Janet repeatedly said she was not going to Games Night but she did and she participated well and said it was OK afterwards. Willie stopped by to tell us he was able to share his story at his church this weekend. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately. Good stuff.

After Janet shared and ate more Easter chocolate it was reading time and we shared a lot of chuckles from Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. Feeling very blessed for the gains Janet is making and praying for Janet to be a willing participant in everything she’s asked to do tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. April 15. #TSJ

A nice bounce back by Janet today. No accidents, good workouts, good reading practice on her SheLife speech and even a little participation in Games Night.

Janet seemed in a good mood when I called her at lunch time. Jess had taken her to the lab for another blood test in preparation for her doctor appointment tomorrow and she had gone for a bike ride and some stretching. When I arrived at Connect I was surprised to find Janet in the living room “supervising” Brian and a wheelchair tech working on Big Country’s new wheelchair. She had napped a little bit and was eager to practice her SheLife speech so that’s what we did first. The more she read it the better she got and as long as she doesn’t over rehearse and has a good nap tomorrow afternoon she should do well.

Chelsea joined us in the gym to learn Janet’s Shuttle routine. I hadn’t seen Janet on the Shuttle for a while and was impressed with her effort. I’d say there is some improvement since last time. After dinner Janet managed a decent walk from her room to the lobby, which is about fifty feet away. I hope to talk to Tez about helping Janet to walk straight ahead instead of angling to the right as she mostly does. She doesn’t quite understand that she’s doing it even after I tried to show her how much shorter she’d have to go if she went straight. Anyways, it took a lot of convincing to get her to practice walking tonight but when she did she did well. I had her take a few steps holding onto me so I could gage how much she’s using the cane and there was hardly any pushing down on my arm leading me to think she could take a step completely free but she’s scared to try. The idea of practicing that in the pool crossed my mind but I didn’t mention it to Janet yet.

It was a struggle again to get Janet to go to Games Night and this time she didn’t participate much except for singing the Barney theme song during a guessing game. There was one more reading of her speech, which was too much that late in the day, then some email replying to do before bed. Praying that Janet is well rested, confident and focussed for all that she’s asked to do tomorrow.

Janet, A Success Story. April 8. #TSJ

I arrived at Connect this afternoon to a very tired looking Janet hanging out in the living room. She said she slept but it sure didn’t look like it. That didn’t stop her from making a nice salad and setting the dinner table at Chelsea’s request. You think she knew I was lining up some exercise for her?

At my suggestion earlier in the day Janet did some walking in addition to her regular gym stuff and after dinner tonight I was able to get her to walk farther than I anticipated. She made it from her room to the Den very nicely and didn’t complain once the whole way. Despite a lot of resistance we went to Games Night following the walk. Janet feared not knowing any of the answers to the “stupid” games played and said she would only go to watch. On the very first question, Janet piped up quickly with the correct answer and did so a number of times during the evening. According to her, even with that success, “it was not fun”.

The last few days have been great for Janet both physically and cognitively. Her walking, in my opinion is improving, her short term memory is getting better too and she almost always can tell me the day, date, month and year, a skill Dr. Miller was encouraging a few months ago and I think we can now say has been achieved. Janet had another blood test today checking her Dilantin levels and they came back fine. All these positives are helping to grow Janet’s confidence to the point where she says she’s going to try and walk the last part of the way to her table at SheLife tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Praying for a solid night of sleep and a positive Wednesday.

Janet, A Success Story. March 25. #TSJ

Those of you who have been on this journey with us from the beginning will be familiar with the name Houdieno. It was coined by our soon to be son in law Allan when Janet was doing everything in her power to escape from her hospital bed. She of course was physically unable to do so but was determined to try. This blog site is named in honour of that fighting spirit. Janet continues to work hard and desires to be better in every way. She hasn’t displayed Houdieno like behaviour in quite some time, until today.

I called Janet a couple of times during the day and each time she reported she was not feeling that great and wasn’t doing much. When I arrived at Connect I was seriously considering taking her home until she is rid of this stomach bug. As I discussed things with Jess, Chelsea arrived saying she had just helped Janet get her shoes on and that she was going to go to the bathroom. Janet routinely gets herself from bed to bathroom and out again using her wheelchair. You regular readers will remember I’ve mentioned feeling as though Janet is close to taking an unassisted step but has so far chickened out when asked. I guess she just didn’t want anyone watching because that’s exactly what she tried to do in getting to the bathroom. Janet stood up using the transfer pole, let go of the pole, took what must’ve been a couple of unassisted steps, grabbed the bathroom door for support and lost her balance as it swung open on her. I came into the room and found her laying on her back on the floor kind of upset and kind of laughing saying she hurt herself but not really. Chelsea and Jess responded and we helped Janet up and she confirmed she felt fine. Once sitting in her wheelchair I couldn’t help but high five her! Yes it was dangerous and she could have been hurt but as I asked her later, “how do babies learn to walk?” She said “they try and then fall down”. I had to remind her that they then try again and keep trying but hopefully with a little supervision.

That was an exciting start to my time with Janet today and her willingness to try other things earned her the right to stay at Connect. I didn’t mention the home idea to her. She was still feeling a little sick and had only eaten a piece of toast all day so I was surprised when she accepted the idea of a popsicle. Janet had always given her kids banana popsicles when they were sick and Laurel had suggested it over the weekend. When we got to the store the first thing we saw were banana flavoured popsicles and Janet laughed at the irony. She enjoyed it immensely and it got her started on a reasonably active evening.

Just what Dr. Laurel ordered.

Just what Dr. Laurel ordered.


Exercise has been out of the picture for four days now so I worked Janet pretty hard to get her on the bike for a bit. She agreed to five minutes, I programmed it for twenty and she went fifteen. Well done! That took a lot out of her and she lay down on her bed for half an hour until dinner was ready. I had to kick start her a little bit and once at the table she enjoyed a small portion of pasta and participated in the conversation nicely. She was also showing signs of grumpiness towards me so I know she’s getting better.

After a post dinner rest Janet went upstairs to participate in games night but wasn’t very focused and only answered one question. I did get to watch this time and think its a great concept that needs a little tweaking and with some coaching Janet can do quite well at it. Good for her for going tonight.

That was all the energy she had though and was sound asleep by 9:30 after we read for a little bit. Praying for the end of this stomach virus and continued determination to walk.

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.