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Janet, A Success Story. March 27. #TSJ

Thank you to all of you that sent words of encouragement and praise to Janet after watching the video of her walking yesterday. I read them all to her and can’t overstate the importance of having her hear from others how well she’s doing. Janet is quite nervous about walking with her cane and that makes her less than enthusiastic about doing it so any encouragement thrown her way is valuable.

Jess put her through her paces this morning with the first full workout since getting that stomach flu last weekend. Included in the routine was a walk from the gym to the front desk using only her cane, a distance of about a hundred feet. Because of her nervousness Janet expends a lot more energy doing that than needed so to go that far is really good.

I arrived at Connect just as Janet was finishing lunch and we took off for the day with the first event being a little haircut. Janet is trying to grow her hair out a little so this was a quick trim to keep things in shape. No before and after pictures needed this time. I tried to get Janet to walk from the waiting area to where she’d get her hair cut but she was too chicken to try in public. The need for a nap once at home was not debated but Janet only slept for about a half hour and I was concerned she wouldn’t be at the top of her game for the evening. She managed to walk from our bed to the dining table quite nicely though. She’s doing well enough that my main concern is not of her falling but in trying to help her get her right leg forward enough each step. There still isn’t a huge amount of control over that thing but there is improvement. Janet walked to the bathroom after dinner despite “not feeling well” and was pleased she got to be in her wheelchair as we headed out after that.

The featured activity tonight was a trip to the Kelowna Community Theatre for a screening of a film called The Crash Reel. It is the story of U.S. snowboarder Kevin Pearce who crashed and suffered a brain injury just prior to the 2010 Olympics. It chronicles his life all the way through his remarkable recovery and is designed to give hope to others facing similar challenges. The event started with a talk given by Kelowna’s silver medalist, Kelsey Serwa, and we both found her to be interesting and a well spoken young lady. The film was a little long but very interesting, brought back a lot of memories for me, and Janet’s big take away was “to accept what has happened and make the most of it”. Awesome.

Janet worked hard today especially at walking. She gets quite emotional about it all, thinking she should be doing better. The film we saw tonight helped her visualize how far she’s come and I think it had a real impact on her. Praying for a big night of sleep that allows Janet to fully participate in whatever she’s asked to do tomorrow.

Endurance. Janet gets through a busy day. #TSJ

Jess had Janet all set to go this morning and Janet seemed quite enthusiastic about the day ahead. We arrived at the KGH pool in plenty of time, in fact while we were waiting after getting changed Janet complained that we were “doing nothing”. She agreed it was better to be early than scrambling around at the last minute and I reminded her the pool won’t wait for us. Right on time, Jim arrived and into the water we went.

The sensation of floating still brings a smile to Janet’s face and a calm feeling to her in general. She’s happy to try all the exercises I’ve been given for her although I think she’d be OK with just floating around in the warm water for as long as she wanted. We started on her back trying to get the legs kicking with me supporting her instead of the inner tube. Janet started slow but got it going alright after a few minutes. With the inner tube she really got her left leg going crazy. The most range and fastest movement I’ve seen from it ever. Unfortunately the right leg was nowhere close to keeping up but I could see and feel her trying. We tried a couple variations of standing exercises and Janet did well intermittently with both. I need more coaching on those for sure. For something new, I had Janet try floating on her tummy. She didn’t mind being in that position but I found it hard to keep her face out of the water while keeping her legs in a place where she could try kicking or straightening them. Again, more coaching needed or at least a pool noodle. Overall today’s session was better than last week but the thirty minutes seemed like five. Very glad we are going twice a week starting Monday.

On our way out of KGH we did our now usual lap through rehab saying hi to a couple of familiar nurses and having a nice chat with Connie. Janet is trying really hard to have meaningful conversations with people but still echoes and has trouble remembering short term things. The effort to converse is way better though and that played well into being ready for Music Therapy with Stephani. Conveniently she lives only a few blocks from the hospital so we arrived there in plenty of time as well and Janet and her got started right away. I sat out of the room they were working in but I could hear everything and could tell Janet was enjoying it. There is a little more purpose to Stephani’s session than with John and I think today was a good first go at it. I was concerned Janet would be tired or hungry but she was just fine and sounded pretty good at times.

First day music therapy

First day music therapy


Next up was a much needed haircut with Chelsea after a quick stop at the dentist to make an appointment for Janet. She had not been to that office since the day of her aneurysm and thankfully does not remember the place at all. She was warmly welcomed by Collette and Colin, both of whom make it as much fun as possible to go to the dentist. By the time we arrived at the salon Chelsea was ready for Janet who gave her a nice big smile after I carried her into the shop. Apparently Janet has a history of falling asleep during haircuts and today was no exception. About ten minutes in with Chelsea working on the back of Janet’s head, I noticed her eyes closed, only for a minute or so until the blow drier came out, but she was nodding off. Janet powered through and allowed Chelsea to set her up for a pretty nice look in the future as her hair grows in just a little more. Janet was pleased with the results and we headed home for a late lunch.

It was well past nap time and we were just eating lunch but Janet was doing fine. She even had a reasonable Skype chat with her mom afterwards, talking fairly loud at times. Before we knew it it was time to get back to Connect and when we arrived Janet elected to put away laundry and make her bed instead of eat like everyone else was. She did a good job helping make the bed but needed a fair amount of cuing to find the right drawers for her clothes. I’ll put that down to the long day without a nap. She managed a good dinner and a little chat with Bob and Dwight then at 7:30 said she was ready for bed. Her nighttime routine went better than this morning as she knew not to brush her hair with the toothbrush and got the toothpaste open herself and did a really good job rinsing her mouth and taking her meds.

Lights out came early after a busy but fun day. Janet seemed pleased with her day, questioning how well she did but acknowledging she did a lot. Praying for a good rest tonight and a strong workout in the gym tomorrow and fun at Fred’s going away party.