speech

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

From a secret location very close to Janet.

The first major event of today was this morning’s team meeting. These are held every couple of months to ensure we are all up to date on how Janet is progressing and to evaluate her goals in each area of her rehab. Janet has been present at all of these meetings to date with today being the first time she really spoke out and lead the discussion in part. Her voice was loud and clear and the comments she made were appropriate and allowed for feedback from the group. It was really encouraging to witness. Our time with Tez yesterday took care of a large chunk of the agenda and allowed for more time spent on topics that usually don’t get much time. Mary Lou continues to be impressed with Janet’s Speech improvements and will be retesting Janet very soon to see if a different approach to Speech is warranted. The thought is that one to one therapy may no longer be the best method and some sort of group situation may be better. When I informed the team that Janet is starting the She Life program at Trinity tonight they were thrilled to hear that and thought that would be a perfect next step. Overall the meeting was a big success especially with Janet participating so much.

Jess took Janet to the gym then she chose to get the Standing Frame done as well. She spent forty five minutes standing nice and straight with no table to lean on and weight going through both legs. Her right arm relaxed enough to almost completely straighten out too. I think that’s a good thing but will check with Tez to make sure its not too hard on her shoulder. A light lunch signaled the end to a busy first part of the day and with a busy evening looming Janet agreed to a nap.

To make the most of the outing to church we left early to do some shopping for the new house at the mall and were very successful in our efforts. There was time for a stir fry dinner before going to the church and Janet was well fed and ready for the evening when we got there. Janet was greeted by lots of friendly ladies as we wheeled in and she was made to feel very comfortable. Heidi escorted her to her table and promised to “take over” from me for the evening. Almost two hours later I got a text from Heidi saying they were done and found Janet still smiling and in a good mood at her table. She said “it was fine” and “I’m glad I went and met all those ladies”. That’s more than the best feedback I could have hoped for from Janet and she is looking forward to returning next week. I am too as I get to serve with the Tech Team again, not that I need anymore projects but I’ve really missed hanging with Dave, Joel and the rest of a very talented and inspirational team of people.

I sensed Janet needed a little time to wind down when we got back to Connect so we watched X Factor before getting ready for bed. Turned out to be a good call as Janet enjoyed the show then fell asleep almost as we finished our prayers. Once again I was able to list a lot of successes for Janet today and she gave very little resistance to my list. Either she was too tired to argue or she’s starting to believe me a little more. Praying for a night of uninterrupted sleep and lots of energy for tomorrow’s activities and thanking Jesus for continuing to place the right people and right opportunities in our lives at the right time.

Finally, most of you figured out which car Janet and I bought. It is a 2012 Subaru Outback that was taken on trade only thirty minutes before we showed up at Anthony’s Subaru to look at an older model they had. The car only has 15,000 kilometers on it and so far seems to be a really good choice. Janet can get in and out easily. She can fasten her seatbelt without assistance and her wheelchair fits in the back no problem. The dual zone climate control actually works so her side of the car can be ridiculously warm as she likes it and mine can be comfortable. As soon as I figure out the Bluetooth function for my iPhone I’ll be really happy.

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The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #joke #son #yoga

For once when I snuck into Janet’s room she didn’t wake up so I snuck right back out again and let her sleep. She’d had an active day so far starting with a shower which for most of us is a quick simple routine thing but for Janet its about an hour long procedure that does take some energy from her. After breakfast Jess took her to the gym and to a yoga session. Janet wasn’t able to tell me much about the yoga but was trying really hard to tell me about something different she’d done today. I got in too late for a report from Jess so will have to get the details in the morning. Janet’s chart shows that she went and thought it was ok and may go back. She was under the impression that since she’d done this extra thing that she wouldn’t have to go to the gym with me tonight. Wrong but I promised her a chat with Jess to clear that up.

Cam brought his mom some lunch and they had a nice visit before nap time. Janet is quite surprised at how much Cam has matured and laughs out loud when she thinks about how well he did with his summer job and the fact he’s about to start his last year of college. There’s a little sadness in the laugh as she realizes all her kids are grown up but there’s a healthy amount of pride as well.

Janet and I started our time together today with happy hour out on the patio. The sun had reappeared after a couple of good thunder storms and helped clear our heads. Tonight’s dinner was much improved over last night’s and Janet gobbled it up. On her request, we then headed for the gym. It’s still a struggle to get her to believe how much she’s improving and tonight she even was arguing just for the sake of arguing. Once she started on the Shuttle she gave a solid effort and did the same with the Standing Frame.

I used our YouTube time as some bonus Speech Therapy and asked her questions about each clip after we watched it. She impressed me with her comprehension especially one that proved she totally understood a joke. Really nice to know she isn’t just laughing along with a crowd.

Janet was very strong with her transfers tonight and overall was quite bright and fun to be around. Praying for lots of rest tonight and for a productive day tomorrow.

It’s late and I can’t think of a title. Hope you’ll read anyways. #TSJ

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Even though Janet will complain sometimes of having to do the same things over and over again there are a lot of new things in her repertoire and this past week was full of them.

On the cognitive side Janet continues to become more aware of the moment she’s in as well as her overall situation. This past Monday while on our way back to Connect Janet took a big step by saying “I want to be a regular person”. The day had been very successful for her and included Janet doing a lot of “regular person” things and when I pointed all those out to her she seemed to accept that. I discussed this with Brian and he said that Janet accepting her situation is a big step towards continuing the recovery process. It’s only after someone acknowledges where they are at that they can really start to do something about it. Janet has done well so far so I see this as a positive sign of her maybe being able to work even harder as in not complaining about the gym or drinking water. That of course remains to be seen but maybe with everyone trying to get her living in the moment and pointing out her accomplishments she’ll start to believe in herself more. Her confidence is growing in her singing for sure and this week was her loudest by far. John called me into the room just five minutes after starting with Janet on Tuesday and she wowed me with a very loud rendition of Do a Deer. I asked Leslie and Gavin to come in after that and Janet sang loudly for them too. A couple of times this week Janet started singing along to performances on The Voice, most notably The Swon Brothers rendition of Danny’s Song. She sang it again for us with John and was very confident in doing so. Her Skype conversations this week were solid but she’s getting bored with the whole thing and often feels she has nothing to say. I can help her with that part but am going to stop scheduling calls so they are more spontaneous and less of a chore. One night I worked with Janet from her Speech Therapy booklet and was impressed at how well she did naming opposites and matching categories. She continues to express her opinion more and more, unfortunately its more when she’s angry about something that she’s at her most demonstrative. Still, I see more and more of the former Janet coming out.

Physically Janet is really impressing me and some of the staff at Connect as well. The Botox really should be worn off now but we continue to get good flexibility from both legs and tonight Janet stood in the Standing Frame for one hour at ninety degrees and complained very little. The lack of complaining can only mean it didn’t hurt that much and that is cool. Garrett worked with Janet in the gym tonight for the first time since he got back from his vacation and he had all great things to say about Janet’s performance especially with the extension she was getting on The Shuttle. That’s a key one as the more she can extend the more strength she can build. She’s very confident in her pole transfers now and has no problem standing and holding onto the pole for a minute or two and can shuffle her left leg around pretty well. There’s still not a lot of control on that right leg but I still have hope for the future. On Monday Janet reached another swimming milestone by making her first unassisted 180 degree turn while swimming on her back. She smiled the entire time and of all the physical activities Janet does, swimming is by far her favorite. As much as she likes it though, Friday afternoons aren’t working well for her as she’s too tired so for now I’m canceling those sessions. We will use our pool at home on the weekends to compensate and continue with Mondays at KGH. As we were leaving KGH one day we snuck up on Rob the PT and I asked Janet to kick him. She happily obliged but did so with her right leg. First time I’ve seen her try that move. It was all from the hip but a very deliberate attempt to use that right leg. High five. Tez had Janet try walking in the sling at the parallel bars and said that went well enough to continue doing it. Janet found it very hard and I think until she gets more control of her right leg it will be a very difficult exercise for her.

Janet was scheduled to go sailing this morning with the Disabled Sailing Association but the weather was kind of iffy so the outing was cancelled. Janet isn’t really excited about it but I think it would be good for her to try so maybe next week. In lieu of sailing Jess took Janet to a pottery class today and reported that Janet enjoyed it and has started making a bowl. Janet says she didn’t like it and it was boring so we’ll have to see who wins out next week. I hope she continues to go as these activities will help get her mind off of the trips to the gym she dislikes so much.

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We spent Sunday afternoon at City Park in the sunshine cheering on those getting baptized in the lake. Janet really enjoyed the outing and was fascinated by all the support each person getting baptized had. Sunday also marked the first conversation Janet’s had with her dad in a couple of years and thanks to Skype it went quite well. Not a lot was said as neither have great conversational skills right now but it was great to make that connection again. The weekend ahead promises more adventure as Leslie and Gavin are here until Sunday meaning we get to do fun things we wouldn’t get to do otherwise like winery touring, and the weather is supposed to be Okanagan hot finally.

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Praying for Janet to continue getting stronger, louder and more confident.

Math. Janet smartens up. #TSJ

Jess was just putting Janet to bed when I arrived this afternoon. They had been in the gym with Tez and Janet was nodding off so they called the session short and Janet wasn’t complaining at all. The day had been a full one to that point. That was her third trip to the gym already, having gone with Jess after breakfast for the usual stretching then with Garrett just before lunch for some good Shuttle work then with Tez so he could get her on her tummy to stretch those hamstrings. They also tried the transfer belt but that’s when Janet started nodding off. More work on that next week. Mary Lou spent time with Janet this morning as well, working out of the new Speech workbook. Apparently Janet was a little tired during that session as well but overall had a good first part of the day.

Since she was headed for bed just after two I anticipated a nice long nap in hopes she would recover for a good evening session. I got my wish this time as she slept for a good two hours and was noticeably refreshed afterwards. I really think she’s not sleeping well at night for some reason and hopefully she’ll snap out of it soon as she normally does.

It took Janet the better part of an hour to come fully awake after her nap and she made a good effort at getting up from bed and “stood” really well for me transferring to the toilet. While she waited for dinner I gave her the med book and asked her to get Bob to get her meds for her. She thought about it way too much and by the time Bob came asking if she was ready for her meds she was a little confused and needed quite a bit of coaching to get through the process. Janet really enjoyed the dinner prepared by Chris especially the asparagus in cheese sauce but as expected was more excited about the Tootsie Roll for dessert. Unfortunately there was no Ladies Night tonight as this would have been a good time for Janet to try it out as she was pretty bright still. She was denying she wanted to go but I think would have a good time once there. Maybe next week. Surprisingly she agreed to play the math game on the iPad and she did remarkably well, the best she’s ever done with me at both answering the questions and tapping and swiping her way through the various levels of the game. She still neglects the right side of the screen a little but not as much it seems. It was fun watching her and only having to help occasionally and it was especially nice to see a little confidence showing in her.

Praying for a solid nights sleep that brings healing and lots of positive energy for tomorrow.

Uneventful. Janet tired today. #TSJ

Today was one of those days where I feel incredibly blessed to live in Kelowna. I woke up to sunshine, went skiing for a few hours in powdery snow and sunshine and on my way to Connect saw the first golfer of the season and a kid riding his bike in shorts and t-shirt. Spring has sprung and it’s awesome. Janet was really happy to see me and we had a good talk for about forty-five minutes with her sitting on the couch with me in the living room. She tried real hard to tell me about her day and managed to get the basics right with some prompting. Brian joined us for a brief chat prior to his week away in Cabo San Lucas starting tomorrow. We wish him a well deserved relaxing vacation. When he returns we will start looking to upgrade Janet’s bed, the falls mats are gone now, using a transfer belt for transferring Janet to the toilet and Shuttle etc., and getting started at the KGH pool. Tez spoke to pool guy Jim and it was agreed to wait two weeks for Janet’s former peg site to heal completely and then she can go “swimming”.

Brian exited around four and Janet said she had not had a nap so I suggested she have one even though it was kind of late. I was hoping for a more energetic Janet at dinner time and through the evening and she agreed. I had to wake her at 5:30 and she didn’t really want to get up then but it was dinner time and I was worried she’d be up really late then too. Quite the opposite. Her energy level was quite low all evening. She ate a good dinner cooked by Chris and monitored by Connie who was checking Janet’s swallowing and chewing abilities. No real change from the last time Connie saw Janet and she recommends we watch the Chipmunking Janet is doing on the right side and encourage her to chew on the left. Also, Connie wants us to monitor Janet’s coughing to see if it only happens when her head is lifted up or if it also happens with her head down. So far I’ve only associated the coughing with tiredness so it will be interesting to watch for the other trends. Apparently head down is a safer position to swallow in as the airway is restricted and Connie would be concerned if Janet were coughing then. The conversation at dinner was really good tonight but Janet was too tired to participate or maybe overwhelmed by it all. Often the table is on the quiet side so maybe tonight was hard to process for her. It was fun though.

Garrett weighed Janet after dinner and recorded another small gain. I asked her to put away her laundry which she happily did but needed a lot of coaching as she was very tired. I even had to rebrush her teeth tonight as she seemed unable to master the needed motion for that task. I had asked for her bedtime med to be switched to pills from liquid and tonight was the first go at that. Should maybe have stayed with the liquid. Hopefully she’ll do better when not so tired.

A rather uneventful day for Janet. She did have Speech and used her new workbook but could not remember doing so. I saw it on her desk after getting her into bed and asked her a couple questions from it and she answered correctly with a smile. Tired but not out of it. Praying for a restful and healing night and for a good day of rehab tomorrow.

Back to Business #TSJ

According to Garrett, Janet had a great first half of the day eating a good breakfast then going with him to the gym for a workout on her right arm and shoulder. Garrett says that went really well with good range of motion from her arm and shoulder. Carl did some Speech with Janet and he says that went well for about twenty minutes then Janet seemed to get stuck repeating a couple of words and seeming tired. She did tell him she’s married to Larry and has daughters named Heather and Laurel and a son that starts with S. Two out of three ain’t bad. When I arrived this afternoon Janet had just fallen asleep in the living room watching tv with the staff. She woke up five minutes later, smiled and laughed that she was sleeping but agreed to go lay down in bed for a rest. By the time I got her to her room she was denying she agreed to rest and being quite defiant about it. I laid her down anyways and joined her, ten minutes later she was snoring and slept for an hour and a half. I think the busy weekend took a bit of a toll on her.

When Janet finally woke up we went to the gym and had a strong leg workout. Her tone in some ways seemed less today so maybe the day off yesterday helped? I spent a lot of time stretching and am using all standing transfers now so I didn’t have her stand at the stripper pole today. I did get her on the Shuttle and she did her best yet. Sixteen reps at two bands, five reps at three and ten reps with one band using her right leg only. She still got all upset at the end but seemed to quickly realize the good that machine is doing once I explained it to her.

We were late for dinner on account of the workout and had the table to ourselves. Janet ate well and was happy to head back to her room afterward to play the Sesame Street matching game. I put the cars on the easel Brian had brought for her and that seemed to improve Janet’s ability to see them. She did very well, getting through about two thirds of the deck before tiring out. We then listened to a Stuart McLean story which brought us to bedtime.

A solid day for Janet and good for her to get back to a little routine around Connect. Praying for an active day of learning tomorrow and restful and healing night tonight.

Rebounding #TSJ

A quick update to say that Janet had a restful night with some obvious healing. She got up at her regular time and ate a good breakfast of scrambled eggs after setting the table for herself. She was sitting by the fire having her water when I came in and greeted me with a “how’s it going with you?” So nice to hear real words coming out of her mouth.

Janet looks much better today, still feeling the effects a little and is not fully back to where she was prior to the seizures but is rebounding quite nicely. Garret has her in the gym now for some stretching and Mary Lou is coming in for some Speech therapy after that.

Thanking Jesus for the rest and healing and praying for more.