reading

Janet, A Success Story. March 16. #TSJ

For a brief moment I thought today was going to be spectacular. Janet woke up at a reasonable time after a solid night of sleep and seemed quite happy. Before breakfast was done a real negative attitude started to take over her and I found myself considering taking her back to Connect early. I contributed somewhat to her attitude by getting quite mad at her for misjudging the need to go to the bathroom. Her lapses in this area have really frustrated me lately because she was doing so well for so long. To help rectify the situation I told (not asked) Janet we were walking to KGH to visit John. I knew if I asked the answer would be no and figured the fresh air would do us both good as would doing something for someone else.

The walk was pleasant with Janet mildly complaining it was cold, I think more out of habit than really feeling cold. Thirty minutes after leaving our house Janet was wheeling down the long hallway at KGH that served as her wheelchair training ground during her 4B and Rehab days. What used to take her more than fifteen minutes took her maybe one and the large threshold at the end that always used to beat her was conquered today with a strong effort. Janet didn’t remember any of it of course but I sure do. As would happen, John was sound asleep when we peaked into his room so we left him a note and a happy face lollypop. Janet called her own successful bathroom break before we left the building and I felt things were getting better.

Our walk home took us a more pleasant way, close to the lake and Janet says some of it was familiar to her. She remembered the house she went to for some singing lessons last summer and knew where we were in relation to our house most of the time. Overall it was a very pleasant outing and Janet’s attitude improved a hundred percent. Mine too.

I read some of The Artisan Soul to her during lunch then insisted on a nap so she could be alert for the St. Patrick’s Day potluck dinner in our clubhouse this evening. We enjoyed the conversation and food and were happy to have the chance to get to know some neighbours better. There are some good cooks in our neighbourhood!

Janet declined the chance to wear green finger nails for St. Patrick’s Day and just wanted to read before sleep time. She lasted a good forty five minutes and answered my questions well as we read. Nice to be reading something she is tuned into again. Praying for lots of energy and a positive attitude 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 #CitizenCane

Talking on the phone with Janet at lunch time today she mentioned she had been up at the parallel bars. I asked her how that went, expecting the usual, “terrible”. Instead she surprised me with “fairly well”. In fact, according to Jess and Tez, it went “quite well”. Janet said she was in the sling and walked around the bars a few times while holding onto the bar. In fact, she did eight laps of the parallel bars using a cane! Why she didn’t tell me that I don’t know and when I congratulated her she was her usual self in saying, “it’s no big deal”. Yes it is.

The only exercise Janet hadn’t done prior to nap time was the Standing Frame and she chose to get in it soon after I arrived. She is standing straighter than ever these days and putting a little more weight through her right leg.

Dinner time was a little quiet with Kieran not around but still fun and Janet had a decent Skype chat with Andrew afterwards. The big event of the evening was baking granola bars with Chelsea. Janet’s table is responsible for bringing snacks to SheLife tomorrow so Chelsea offered to help Janet bake something. Janet seemed a little tired half way into it but contributed well and had the whole house wondering what the yummy smell was. We’ll find out tomorrow if they taste any good.

After some YouTube and reading Janet fell asleep earlier than usual closing out a successful day for her. Praying for a night of deep and restorative sleep allowing for a productive tomorrow.

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

I called Janet at noon today mostly to get her some practice answering the phone but also to see how her morning had gone and to offer some positive feedback. Her morning was still happening as she was up at the parallel bars with Tez and not exactly thrilled about it. She was laughing to Garrett as she hung up from talking to me so maybe the call lifted her spirits a little. Jess informed me later that Janet had done well up there and for the first time had put an equal amount of weight on both legs when standing on the scales. That’s a significant achievement that I praised Janet about all night.

After a short nap I helped Janet get up so she could do the Standing Frame at the same time as Big Country. This was his second day using a custom built frame and its pretty cool seeing a seven foot guy standing up. Janet was sufficiently distracted by Big Country and with me cleaning and trimming her finger nails that she stood for over an hour before realizing she was allowed to get down.
StandingFramewithBC

StandingFramewithBC2
There was a little arguing about having to do the Shuttle after dinner but Janet caved relatively quickly and had a good workout. We spent a lot of the evening reading and responding to emails before watching a couple of I Love Lucy episodes to wind down the night. Janet remembered Lucy, Ethel and Ricky but needed some help with Fred. She laughed a few times and got a real kick out of the clothes they wore and the old fashioned telephone they used.

Praying for complete healing and a massive increase in confidence.

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

Janet rang her pendant for help just as I arrived at Connect this afternoon. She had been lying down for a while so I figured she was wanting to get up and she was but she was a little confused in thinking it was Tuesday and that I hadn’t been to visit her Monday. I think she had a moment of really deep sleep that caused that disorientation as I didn’t sense anything the matter with her. The daily report I got from her was typical in that she said she went to the gym for a long time but couldn’t remember what she had done. Once she was up, the first thing she wanted to do was figure that out. Chelsea looked in her chart and it was noted that Janet had done everything except the Shuttle so she readily agreed to go and do that straight away to get it over with.

The encouragement I’ve been giving Janet lately has been to do her best at anything she’s asked to do and she did just that on the Shuttle. I was especially impressed with her use of her right leg. She was able to push out a good distance on her own then slowly let it go back but not all the way before pushing out again. That kept tension on her leg the entire time and I have to believe is a more efficient and effective technique. High five!

With a little bit of time before dinner Janet checked emails then asked me to read a bit while she was awake enough to pay attention. For the first time with this book I got some laughter from her along with some good comments on what was taking place.

The house had a movie night tonight and everyone gathered in the living room to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Janet has seen it before but until she saw the “bring out your dead” scene she didn’t remember it. She vaguely remembers giving coconut shells to her preschool classes and having them pretend to be horses but I remember her telling me how much the kids loved doing that not knowing the idea came from that movie. Janet laughed a few times but overall thought it quite the silly movie and it is.

Reading at bedtime went better than usual as Janet was more awake than usual after that good afternoon nap. We had a good talk about the positives from today and how she needs to try her hardest when working with Tez tomorrow. Praying that she follows through.

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

Janet’s day started off with a bath, something she says “is almost fun here” as opposed to at Connect. Since she was a little cold afterwards I got her breakfast for her as she readied herself for the weekly chat with her mom. I thought Janet was quiet during their Skype time but she felt good about it afterwards and said “it’s always good talking to my mom”.

I find myself allowing Janet to set the agenda a lot while she’s at home and lately there’s been a lot of “let’s watch the Olympics”. That’s fine, but it means a lot of sitting around so today I decided to have Janet do some athletics herself whenever there was an opportunity. First chance was right after the chat with mom and with no hesitation at all Janet walked from her spot at the table to the couch, almost twenty five feet. I held her hand and acted as a cane of course and I notice she’s not using me quite as much as she was a few weeks ago. Her steps with her left foot are much improved and she knows she needs to put more weight through her right leg. For a few steps I actually pushed her upper body back to the right so she was more centred. Janet felt like she was going to fall when I did that which is interesting because she was actually standing very straight then. We did similar walking trips throughout the day and I noticed that the longer Janet went the less she was able to control her right leg, especially moving it backwards before sitting down. Overall I was pleased with her efforts today.

We have now watched all the figure skating events to date and agree that the Pairs competition was by far the best so far. Janet was very excited watching that today and it was fun seeing her so into it.

Even after a short nap this afternoon Janet faded quite rapidly tonight, partly I think caused by the dread of going back to Connect. She was eager to read when we got there but fell asleep within minutes then woke up and wanted me to keep reading. We carried on like that for half an hour before she was clearly out for the night. Praying for a night of uninterrupted sleep that provides Janet with lots of energy and a positive attitude for tomorrow.

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

Janet woke up at a good time this morning and with lots of energy. She got her own breakfast and I helped her check her emails during that time. Janet is getting less resistant towards replying to emails provided she can dictate rather than type. As soon as breakfast was done it was time for a Skype chat with Janet’s dad and Joan. Janet was quite animated during the conversation and carried it quite well, laughing lots and talking clearly. That’s the most fun I’ve seen her have chatting with anyone in a long time and it really showed a connection between dad and daughter.

During that call it was mentioned that Janet’s dad had started making notes on his life story a few years ago. Joan kindly sent them to us and we spent the rest of the afternoon reading about the childhood of Janet’s dad up until his first year of university. It was a lot of reading and except for a lunch break Janet insisted I keep going as she wanted to know what happens. She says she learned a lot about her dad and hopes he finds a way to write more, especially about when her and her siblings were born.

All that reading took us through nap time and right up to church time. Janet asked me to help her push her wheelchair more which I refused to do of course. She says she wants me doing more of that for her because it isn’t fair that she has to because it’s hard. No sympathy from me and she wheeled herself from the car to her seat at church in record time. The service was great and brought out a lot of “why me” questions from Janet which we discussed during the car ride home. She was not getting upset at all and asked legitimate questions that I tried my best to answer. There is no absolute answer to those questions but it was good to have the conversation, it had been awhile.

Janet helped make dinner and we watched more recorded figure skating before a tired Janet went to bed early for begin at home. Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and a productive tomorrow.

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

Since I was working at CedarCreek again today, Garrett took Janet to KGH this morning for an appointment with Julie the splint lady. Janet’s right arm and hand have maintained an impressive range of motion and with the Botox in full effect it was time to modify her splint. Julie was able to flatten the hand portion out considerably and narrow the whole splint so that it fits easier into Janet’s jacket. When I asked Janet how that appointment went she got all excited about how pleased Julie was with how she’s doing but mostly with how her and Garrett went for coffee after then she had another coffee when they got back to Connect. That explains why she was sleeping when I showed up at 4:15. She had put herself to bed again around 3:30 and asked Curtis to remove her AFO and flip the blankets over her, otherwise she did it all herself. Pretty cool.

Janet got up in time for dinner then we went to the last basketball game of the season at UBCO. Transferring to her seat was a little challenging tonight as Janet was still kind of tired but with help from an innocent bystander she made it. We watched the second half of the women’s game and the first half of the men’s with Janet commenting she finds the guys difficult to follow as its so much faster. Her scoreboard reading was solid and she thought it was pretty cool that I caught a ball that came out of bounds and threw it back to the ref. I did feel pretty special.

Back to Connect late again, Janet was determined to start reading Long Walk to Freedom so she sped through her nighttime routine. Unfortunately what we read was all set up for the main part of the book and Janet did not find it very interesting. I’m sure it will improve soon.

Praying for a night of deep and healing sleep and a great weekend at home.

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

I got a wake up call this morning. I always get nervous when I see Connect on my call display and Janet is not with me. This time is was her, sigh of relief, and she wanted to know if we were going to see her Dad for his birthday today. Hmmm. Dad lives in Ontario and his birthday is in June. Not sure why Janet thought that was happening but she was so certain of it the Jess let her call me. She never did figure out why but wasn’t really bothered by it either. Janet did mention she did not sleep well and she rang her pendant to get up at 5:45. By noon she was asking to have a nap. No kidding.

When I got to Connect this afternoon Janet was still sleeping, she woke briefly and wanted to get up but something told me to let her sleep a little more. I told her ten minutes and she slept for twenty then had good energy the rest of the day. Her gym session this morning went well and I got to take her on the Shuttle for the first time in a while before dinner. She showed a little more control of her right leg and without knowing it, pushed her heaviest weight with two legs yet. Speaking of heavy, Janet excitedly announced that she gained weight again last month and now thinks she’s really getting to be too big. No chance.

After a quiet dinner Janet did some of her Speech Therapy worksheets while I watched. She completed three pages of grouping things in categories and only got two questions wrong. High five! Her Skype conversation with Andrew was animated and happy. It had been a while since they’ve connected and even though Janet had trouble thinking of what to talk about a couple times, the conversation flowed well and Janet really enjoyed it.

While waiting to use the Standing Frame we finished reading Open. Janet and I both got a little emotional was we read the final pages and consider it to be one of the best biographies we’ve ever read. We were even able to watch a YouTube clip of Andre Agassi’s speech after his last match so Janet could see and hear the emotion from him and the crowd lucky enough to be there. A very fun reading experience. Next up is Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom.

Janet tolerated a good session with the Standing Frame while watching some Olympics then called her own bedtime. Praying for a long night of uninterrupted deep and healing sleep and a productive tomorrow.