reading

Janet, A Success Story. June 4. #TSJ

Today was team meeting day at Connect and Janet was waiting for everyone in the Den and feeling pretty good about it all. Mary Lou had arranged for Janet to be the first Connect Resident to start their own meeting and Janet read a list of her goals, challenges and strategies right at the top of the meeting. Janet read the typed notes as Mary Lou uncovered each line one by one and prompted Janet now and then. She was very confident in addressing the group and is slowly getting better with reading.

Improved reading is one of Janet’s goals and Mary Lou is confident Janet will get to the level she wants to get to. Reading the children’s stories has been great even to the point of Janet giving voices to the different characters. That level of reading will continue as it’s fun and is building Janet’s confidence.

Janet listed walking as another of her goals and the thought there is to continue walking at every opportunity and use the wheelchair as little as possible. Janet used it twice today, once to go to the bathroom after her nap and once when the house went for an evening walk to the beach. She did ask for her chair a few times during the day but is starting to get used to hearing no for an answer.

Doing more at home was another Janet goal and it lead perfectly into a discussion of a graduated return to home. Starting after the July long weekend, Janet will be home Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the balance of the summer. The team will come up with ideas for activities Janet can do on her own while at home including domestic chores, she mentioned laundry, reading and even listening to an audio book. The focus of that extra day at home will be to try and familiarize Janet with things she can do around the house for when I’m not there. Possibly come September, Janet would be home Mondays as well, up until the last few weeks before coming home full time, then we might try something like staying at home each night and driving out for therapies each morning for a half day. Once home full time Janet may get to participate in an outpatient program at KGH to take advantage of the fact she is still making significant gains on all fronts. That idea needs the approval of Dr. McCann and Brian will get that ball rolling soon.

Team meetings have always been productive for us even though they wear on Janet a bit. She had another meeting right afterwards with a lady doing research on the cognitive therapies Janet receives. That made lunch late but we enjoyed it together outside in the sunshine. Janet of course hadn’t had any exercise other than walking all day but that and the meeting wore her out enough that she had a good long nap late this afternoon waking up in time to get a bike ride in before dinner.

The evening was nice and sunny so Curtis and Chelsea offered everyone a chance to walk to the beach. Janet was surprisingly reluctant but went and really enjoyed it, especially the pine cone fight with Wes.

Happily in bed early, Janet read a little before I read a lot of Unbreak My Heart, a book Janet says she is really enjoying a lot now. Praying for a lot of sleep tonight and a positive attitude tomorrow.

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 29. #TSJ

Janet is getting too smart for me. As we returned from an evening walk outside she remembered it was time for her meds and as we passed the med room, Chelsea was in it, and got her meds for her, so Janet got out of her last freestyle walking trip of the day. I’m happy she remembered the meds without prompting and am OK without the walk as she had done a lot today as it was.

Earlier in the day Janet had worked with a student, Sara, whom she obviously liked because she introduced me as we walked down the hall to go do dinner prep. Janet rarely remembers to introduce me to anyone and almost always forgets their name, not this time. Lasagne was on the menu tonight and Janet did a great job helping Chelsea with it. By far her best cheese grating and veggie chopping she’s done yet. Getting stronger.

In the spirit of getting stronger Janet agreed to a Shuttle session before dinner to complete her daily physio work. I wasn’t expecting much after walking her all the way to the gym but to finish off her session she pushed a set with the most weight ever for her. High five!

Since the physical part of her day was done we spent the evening on cognitive stuff again. Counting and rolling quarters first, which showed me that Janet’s math skills and her dexterity are not lacking in any way. I wanted her to practice some writing and we looked at the daily schedule she had written out this morning. It was definitely not her best effort and she couldn’t even read most of it tonight. Her explanation was that she was eating breakfast and was called away to go and write it out so she didn’t want to do it. Looked like it too.

The book we are reading, Unbreak My Heart, is much more Janet’s style and she is enjoying it so far, even giving me a good summary before reading tonight. Its nice to hear her laugh and comment as I read instead of snore. Praying for a solid night of sleep for Janet that prepares her well for a fun weekend.

Janet, A Success Story. May 26. #TSJ

I considered having Janet attempt a wheelchair free night tonight and she was off to a great start until I suggested we go for a walk in the sun to watch some soccer. She’s not ready to actually walk long distances like that and is a little uncomfortable with uneven surfaces still. It was nice to sit in the sun with her for a bit after she put in a hard days work. JanetSoccer

Walking was the theme of the day today and Jess had Janet walk to the gym and back this morning. Janet is less resistant to longer walks like that as long as somebody is helping her and her conditioning has improved to the point where a walk that far no longer exhausts her. For me this afternoon and evening, Janet walked everywhere except the soccer field and that included two trips to the gym as well as back and forth to dinner. All those were with assistance because of the frequency and the fact she was going to workout in the gym but her trip to get her meds at the end of the night was done freestyle and in record time.

Her cognitive work of the day came in the form of reading an email then counting out and rolling up two rolls of nickels. I am enjoying reading One Hundred Years of Solitude but Janet just isn’t getting it so we are switching books again. We are going to try the newly released memoir of Toni Braxton called Unbreak My Heart. Janet really likes Toni Braxton’s music and is excited to read her story.

Praying for a night of rejuvenating sleep and a productive Tuesday.

Janet, A Success Story. May 25. #TSJ

Mornings are becoming pretty routine around the house as Janet gets more familiar with things. She’s doing more of her dressing and personal grooming and I didn’t have to coach her on breakfast at all today. At lunch she turned the oven on with no assistance. The cooktop is still a challenge as its hard for Janet to see the controls while sitting in her wheelchair so as soon as she’s more confident with standing and walking we’ll get her working that more.

Janet eagerly practiced her reading this morning and read out loud to me using a bit of expression. Nice to hear! The Skype chat with Mary/Gaga seemed fine and brought the good news that Keith is home from the hospital and “doing well”. We seem to have sent our nice weather out to them for the day so Janet and I had to come up with inside activities today and she chose scanning old photos. That was a good call on her part as we are a long ways from being done and hadn’t worked on it for a while. Its not a lot of fun but we are both glad we are making progress and can see it will be cool when we are finished.

After a long and late nap Janet re hydrated herself while I made dinner. She was in no mood to return to Connect and took me up on every offer that kept her home a little while longer. Including watching the second half of a basketball game and then a little French Open tennis. I made sure the music was playing as we drove to Connect so at least the ride was happy and by freestyle walking all the way to her room Janet was too tired to be sad at being back.

Walking attempts were few today but of high quality and there was no mention of the sore right foot. Praying Janet gets lots of sleep tonight and is willing and able to fully participate in tomorrow’s activities.

Janet, A Success Story. May 24. #TSJ

During breakfast this morning Janet remembered that Mary Lou had asked her to bring in a children’s book to practice reading with. Janet was excited to look through our collection and wasn’t at all upset by the thought of reading a kids book, until she tried reading one. She is still figuring out how to compensate for her right side impairment so when she reads a long line of text she misses the last three or four words. Being able to read a children’s book well enough to present it to a Pre School class is Janet’s goal and the book she has chosen is The Hallo-wiener. We will try and find a Pre School that will let Janet come in and read and with five months before Halloween she should have enough time to get to that level. I love that she set that goal.

Not wanting to hog all the sun to ourselves today we drove out to see John and as soon as he saw us he asked if we were going outside, even before he said hello. He seems much more with it today and we enjoyed a long leisurely stroll where he was able to tell us a bit of his life story. John has always been a great talker and he got on a roll with us today.

We arrived at church with enough time to allow Janet to walk freestyle most of the way through the lobby. She tired out close to the door we enter the auditorium by and that’s where I was going to start helping her anyways as the floor slopes from there. I noticed Janet’s pace was slower during this walk partly because she was distracted by the other people milling about. Solid effort though.

Planning seemed to be the theme of the day as we set tentative dates for a number of activities we hope to do this summer. Janet agreed that there’s no point in having an idea if you don’t take any action on it, so we did and the calendar is filling up fast.

Praying for a happy Sunday.

Janet, A Success Story. May 21. #TSJ

Tez put Janet through her paces this morning and when I called her at lunchtime Janet was feeling good that Tez praised her for how well she was doing. I’m not sure what all they did but Janet described it as “a lot of walking”. She did a lot with me this afternoon as well, the first trip being freestyle from her room to the patio to enjoy some sun. There was a little protesting along the way but each time I do this with Janet the need for me to be right there to catch her is lessened, in fact her last walk of the day was from her bed about four feet to her wheelchair and I let her do that with me still sitting on the bed. I had to help her with the very difficult pivot move before sitting down but the whole point was to give that feeling of independence. I think I saw in her face some satisfaction in getting there on her own.

The only other exercise activity Janet needed to do tonight was the bike and again I had her sitting farther back than what was usual and kept the degree of difficulty high. She did well and felt the difference in both legs. I tested her in pedalling with just her right leg after her ride and noticed some improvement but really shouldn’t compare as I left her in the new riding position which she’s never done a one legged pedal from. Maybe tomorrow we’ll test for real.

After dinner we tried our first neighbourhood walk in the sun of the year but some high cloud and wind made it a little too cool for Janet. We did get a little ways along our route and Janet remembered it from last year which is a good sign. Janet did a great job counting out pennies to be rolled up tonight. It had been a while since she’s done any of this and I noticed her stacks of five more often actually had five pennies in them this time and she was better at counting in general. Curtis mentioned he noticed an improvement in Janet’s cognition and that goes along well with today’s report that her Dilantin levels are back into therapeutic range. They are still a little higher than I would like but nice to see some correction taking place.

We read quite a bit of One Hundred Years of Solitude tonight and Janet had a little difficulty figuring out what is happening. Fortunately not a lot is happening yet as we are still reading the set up parts. Janet is enjoying the language and has answered all my questions correctly as we read along so at least she’s paying attention.

Praying that Janet sleeps well tonight and continues to get stronger and smarter.

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. March 17. #TSJ

Another roller coaster type of day from Janet. She had just rung for help in getting out of bed when I got to Connect. The sun was streaming through her window and the smile on her face matched that brightness. Even she said, “I’m in a better mood today”. We enjoyed talking to each other for over half an hour before going to the gym for a Shuttle session. Janet continues to get stronger, not necessarily with how much weight she can push but more along the lines of being able to push using a proper technique. I even caught her a few times bringing her right knee up towards her left one without prompting. High five!

It was Janet’s turn to set the dinner table tonight and she did so quickly without assistance giving herself time to sit in the sun for our first happy hour of the year. Faced with the prospect of some walking practice Janet’s mood shifted to that negative space she was in yesterday. Big Country heard her say she didn’t want to practice walking and chimed in right away with words of encouragement that Janet gave back to him with “what does it mean to you”. His response was perfect, “we are friends”. Janet didn’t have a comeback for that. She remained negative for almost an hour but our discussion was good in that she was talking instead of ranting and she was thinking things through. In the end she agreed to practice and we went up to the parallel bars where she could stand on the two scales. With minimum effort Janet was able to put pretty much equal weight on both legs and get a feel for what it is like to stand in a position that does that. She said she felt like she was falling and she was scared. Good feedback, and hopefully we can find a way of easing her fears. Walking down the hall from her room to the living room was really good with some strong moves from the right leg. After twenty minutes of rest I had her walk back and she did equally well. The break in between and realizing her exercises were done for the day snapped her out of her funk too.

While Janet was getting her meds one of the other residents asked if they could talk and pray with us as they were having some faith issues. Janet of course said yes and we spent forty five minutes talking, listing to music and praying with this person. Janet encouraged them as much as she could and enjoyed the experience saying “it was good we came back here when we did”. She is still a very caring person in spite of the things she says sometimes.

We had a good long reading session and by lights out time Janet was still wide awake. Well maybe not wide but awake enough to be a little upset that I was leaving. Tonight she expressed some sadness at her situation and I’m praying that doesn’t permeate her mind too much and she can focus on how much she has improved and keep working hard to improve more.