standing frame

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

Day two of renovations was productive and we now have internet at the new house. I felt naked without it.

Janet called me around four to ask when I’d be there to visit her. She sounded like she was having a good day and when I arrived around five thirty she was all smiles and about to have dinner. She was quick to tell me she didn’t sleep “at all” last night and Curtis confirmed she was awake at four thirty. I feel she must have slept at some point because she was way too awake and bright otherwise. She very confidently told me of her morning and the “class” she went to that turned out to be some sort of residents meeting. Janet told me she spoke about our new car, selling our house and buying a new one. Pretty good! There was no arguing about the gym tonight and her Shuttle session was excellent. I keep trying to impress her with statistics but she doesn’t always buy into it. Her improvement is noticeable especially with the amount of extension she is able to get now. Janet was a little tired by the time we attempted some free standing so that wasn’t her best tonight. The Standing Frame was good tonight as well with a nice straight upper body but we still need to work on the leg positioning. Curtis will consult Tez tomorrow on that one.

Our plan was for me to read to Janet for a while before bed and Janet did a great job of getting herself ready. A page and a half into the read she was sound asleep. Good thing we were re reading for tomorrows She Life session and hopefully this means she will have a good sleep tonight.

With our good Internet connection restored I was finally able to upload the video tour of the new house. Check it. http://youtu.be/f8mj1SNXwbU

Praying for increasing strength and flexibility and lots of energy tomorrow.

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

From a secret location really close to Janet.

The first day of October and the winds of change are blowing. Outside, there’s snow on some of the mountains and inside Connect there’s big changes to Janet’s exercise routine. Tez popped by this morning after breakfast and agreed to stay and talk as he may not make tomorrow’s Team Meeting. I’m really glad he stayed as we had a very productive time together. I explained how the KGH pool is becoming more of a chore for Janet and the Rutland Family Y Pool is at least fun for her. Tez agreed that Janet would receive more benefit from going to the Y as there will be staff there to work with her and he is able to attend often especially if there’s a large group there. Besides the fun element there are more therapeutic opportunities at the Y because of the variety of pools you can access. As long as the water is warm enough. So, unless Janet wants to go to KGH, we are done there.

As a goal for the next couple of months I want to focus on strengthening Janet’s right leg and Tez advised that weight bearing and gaining trust in herself will be the keys to achieving that. He said the Shuttle sessions should include a good warm up then pushing as much weight as possible with that right leg. He instructed everyone to place Janet’s feet much lower than we have been in order to allow her a greater stretch. We tried that tonight and what a difference! It’s harder for Janet to push but she pushes two to three inches farther which is a huge benefit. For weight bearing there will be lots of standing and some parallel bars work. Tez introduced a new technique on the Standing Frame which is very cool and allows for Janet to stand almost free and put weight on her right leg.

20131001-233550.jpg
Here’s a pic of her in the new position making me a peanut butter sandwich, the first meal she’s made me unassisted in sixteen months. It was damn good. Janet will be using the Standing Frame this way to perform some tasks like making a sandwich or working on the iPad or playing cards. We tried it tonight with minimal success but after returning her to the old position minus the table she stood the straightest ever as she had nothing to lean on and for the first time I’ve noticed, there was some weight going through her right leg. I made sure to ask Tez about the frequency of workouts for Janet so she could hear the answer. I jokingly said four times a day and Tez wisely agreed. Janet negotiated down to two times and didn’t argue about going at all tonight. I hope she remembers that for tomorrow and beyond.

Janet worked super hard today and accomplished a lot. She’s not totally convinced of course but there is some improvement in the confidence area. I think she feels better about herself after a busy and tiring day than one that’s not super busy but still successful. It helps if you can spell out a big list of accomplishments like I could today. Praying for an uninterrupted sleep tonight and a productive meeting and day tomorrow.

Still no correct guesses on the car. Does this help you?

20131001-233843.jpg

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #realestate #house #strong

Janet was laying in bed looking at her watch as I walked into her room this afternoon. She had agreed to nap for one hour and was very aware that the hour had passed. I doubt she slept and we had things to do so I helped her get up. We had some real estate business to take care of and I’m excited to announce we have removed the subjects on the home we are buying so its full steam ahead for the big move now. Janet is excited its all happening and a little unsure of the transition period knowing she won’t be able to come home for a few weeks depending on how much work we decide to do. That’ll be a big adjustment and I’ll have to think of some fun ways to fill that time.

With time before dinner Janet elected to do the Shuttle and I challenged her today by upping the tension for each of her sets. She was not happy with me but persevered and did very well. Standing on her own was great today as she is gaining confidence and is more willing to try and put weight on her right leg. Her Standing Frame session after dinner was complaint free for once as she enjoyed watching football while “standing”.

No fancy dinner out tonight and lots of boring real estate stuff to do made for a tired Janet a little earlier than normal. She is really looking forward to coming home for the weekend and I’m praying its a good one.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #Workout #Homeless #Strength

Today started out great for Janet according to Jess who said she was laughing a lot, working hard in the gym and just generally really bright. Of course when I got there she was in bed but not sleeping and the first thing she did was ask me “what the lady said about her house”. It’s amazing to me how Janet can lock in on an event or topic and remember it for a few days yet not always remember my name or what she did a few hours earlier. I was thrilled she did remember about the house and Jess told me Janet is worried about me as I have no where to live. Unfortunately that remains the case as the lady who owns the house we had our eye on is apparently in no hurry to sell. Looks like we will be renting something until we find a place worth buying.

Following her little rest time Janet had the choice of helping with dinner or going to the gym, she chose gym and ended up having time for both. She delivered a very strong performance on the Shuttle this afternoon, an improvement from yesterday and a dramatic improvement from earlier in the week. I can see she’s making gains and I think we’ll come out to Connect on Sunday and hit the gym so she doesn’t lose much of what she’s gained. Janet isn’t too happy with that idea but I think that almost three days off is too much and gaining strength is too important. A good example of her improved strength is her ability to transfer from the wheelchair to the Shuttle unassisted except for a little lift of the right leg at the end. When Janet first started using the Shuttle I had to literally carry her onto it. Her pole transfers at the bed and in the bathroom continue to get better as well and tonight she made a couple of good steps with her right leg while transferring from the toilet back to her wheelchair. Nice move!

In order to give Janet time to help prep dinner we postponed the stretching routine and made our way to the kitchen. Janet was able to work with Curtis in making a salad to go with the smokies and perogies on tonight’s menu. I could see Janet cringe when she heard what was being served and I give her a lot of credit for eating what she was given. That’s a pretty lame meal and if it wasn’t for the salad I’m not sure what nutrition anyone would have gotten. Janet did a decent job of chopping things but still moves from one thing to another before completing the first thing and ends up with a mess of half cut stuff on her cutting board. Curtis taught Janet to use some nails embedded in the cutting board to hold whatever she was cutting still and that seemed to help. Janet was very determined to complete her task despite the challenges.

The sun surprised us after dinner so I insisted we go for a walk. Janet wanted to get the Standing Frame over with but I felt the fresh air and sunshine ought to be taken advantage of and we ended up enjoying a nice warm walk. We spent the hour with Janet in the Standing Frame looking online for rental properties and have a couple options to check on tomorrow. The rest of the night was pretty quiet and Janet was asleep minutes after I got her tucked in just before ten.

Praying for a place to live and for Janet to continue gaining strength and awareness.

The Team Save Janet Report is Out! #TSJ #workout #moving

I snuck into Janet’s room this afternoon and managed to not wake her as she enjoyed a well deserved afternoon nap. Her morning had been busy with the usual Tuesday routine followed by singing with John. Not quite as tiring as swimming but enough to warrant a nap. We had a nice chat when she woke up around 3:30 and then sat in the sun on the patio and talked some more. Janet’s memory is really improving and a good example of that today was when she spontaneously told me that Garrett was changing shifts so he’d be working days starting next week. She had been told that earlier in the day and it stuck. She pretty much always gets the day of the week right with me now and usually knows roughly what she is doing that day as well. Her attitude towards the gym has shifted from hating and fighting against going to disliking but going anyways and given the choice of when to go today she chose before dinner.

The Shuttle is working well for Janet and she had another strong workout on it this afternoon, some of her best sets to date. Garrett came in after a while and gave Janet a good stretch, something we need to do more consistently. Standing on her own for over three minutes, Janet did a great job shifting her weight between her right and left leg. She’s still quite nervous about falling but gaining confidence for sure.

Our after dinner walk was nice and sunny but with the temperature in the low twenties and a breeze blowing, Janet had goose bumps when we were out of the sun and with the shorter days its getting harder to stay in the sun. Might have to switch to before dinner walks soon.

It was Andrew’s birthday today so we had a little Skype chat with him. Janet talked very well and nicely updated Andrew on our house sale situation. The Standing Frame rounded out the night with Janet correctly announcing when it was time to get down.

Today was a solid day for Janet with good workouts, good conversations and clear signs of improvement. Praying for deep and healing sleep tonight and lots of energy for tomorrow.

Water Baby. If only Janet would drink like she swims. #TSJ

This has been a relatively quiet week with Janet holding her own in most areas with some more signs of increasing assertiveness. Swimming and hot tubing remain her favorite activities with the Standing Frame taking over from the Shuttle as her least favorite thing to do.

Thursday was an interesting day for me as I found Janet curled up on her bed, awake and upset, saying she’d been “yelling for help to get out of here”. Her pendant alarm was right beside her and when I asked why she didn’t push it for help she all of a sudden seemed to feel silly that she hadn’t thought of that. There was no reason to want out other than she couldn’t sleep so from that point on it was a fun day. We went for a long walk to the eastern shore of Wood Lake and saw a large deer feeding on the side of the road. Or at least I did. Despite the thing being only twenty meters in front of us then moving towards us on the road before hopping into the bushes only ten meters away, Janet never saw it. We had lots of time and it was on her left side so I thought for sure she’d pick it out but even with me pointing and turning her head, she saw nothing. As we continued our walk Janet was able to see and tell me about things like boats on the lake, large trees and other landmarks and enjoyed watching a train roll by. I had commented on how close to the tracks a number of homes in that area are and how annoying it must be when a train goes by. We agreed it probably doesn’t happen often. Of course, less than five minutes later we heard the whistle of an approaching train. It was fun watching it and Janet saw it no problem. To wind down the day I assisted Janet in typing an email to her mom. I had to guide her to most of the letters but she did a great job in thinking of what to say and spelling the words as we typed. If y’all wish to correspond with Janet via email her address is jedieno@gmail.com , just remember I’ll be reading them to her and helping with any response.

Janet was ready to go home for the weekend when I arrived at Connect Friday afternoon. It had been a quiet morning and even though we had no big plans she was anxious to go. We stopped at Save On along the way and used Janet’s VIP parking pass for the first time. I must admit its pretty sweet to be able to park pretty much at the front door in a nice wide spot and not have to worry about someone parking too close to us. Janet was a big help shopping and enjoyed choosing things on her own. Her help continued as we made a Quinoa salad for dinner with Janet doing lots of chopping and tossing. We had dinner outside with Janet reestablishing her authority as the corn on the cob expert saying “this is the best corn of the year”.

20130711-000212.jpg
After a good stretch in the hot tub we watched So You Think You Can Dance with Janet’s legs in the extenders. She loved the show and at one point asked for a paper and pen as she waned to “tell someone I want Amy and Fik-Shun to win”. Not sure who she was going to tell or why but I love the spontaneity of that thought. As bright a moment as that was a short time later she didn’t know my name or that I’m her husband. I’ll let it go as being really tired and that seems to be the pattern with Janet knowing me. She’s good in the morning then by dinner time I can be any name under the sun including ones she makes up herself.

Saturday was a sleep in day with breakfast happening outside closer to lunchtime than breakfast. We had a good Skype chat with Mary/Gaga then got Janet’s nails cut and cleaned in readiness for the arrival of family next week for Laurel and Raj’s wedding 2.0. After a nice walk and a good lunch we took off to do some shopping before church as Janet needed shirts and I needed some shorts. It was fun shopping with Janet and she was a big help to me in choosing colors. As we were settling in for church Janet asked to have her right arm up on the armrest of her wheelchair. That’s a first and a really encouraging sign as it wasn’t long ago that it hurt her to have her arm in that position. After church, Janet asked for a burger for dinner and was excited to sit outside at Red Robin and devour a Mediterranean Chicken Burger. I had promised her we’d watch a movie that night and she didn’t let me forget even thou it was nine o’clock by the time we started it. We watched Safe Haven which is actually pretty bad but we enjoyed it. Janet was quite restless going to bed and five minutes after lights out I found her on her tummy laughing. She wanted to lay on her left side but turned the wrong way and couldn’t get back. With a little help she got there and fell asleep quickly.

The Sunday breakfast tradition seems to be watching Pick a Puppy, a show that follows a family as they choose their pet. It’s very cheesy but Janet loves it and in the true spirit of our TV viewing habits, we’ve made it into a competition. Janet is now three for three in choosing which puppy the family ends up picking. In trying on her new shirts we’ve determined she is no longer a size XS and has graduated to size S. That means more shopping come Fall. Yea. There are enough weeds and plants that need pruning in the front yard that we were able to spend over an hour out there with Janet doing a lot of pulling and clipping. Hard for her to squeeze the clippers sometimes but she enjoyed the challenge and being in the sun. Her reward was a nice swim in a ridiculously warm pool where she did some great lower leg kicking. This is the first time in a while I’ve worked on this with her and once she thought about it she did well with her left and managed a little movement a couple times with the right. She closed her water session with a relaxing hot tub where she got so relaxed that I actually let go of her as she floated on her back. As soon as she realized I’d let go she started to sink but it was pretty cool she could float like that. I tucked her in at 9:45 and twenty minutes later heard a little bang from the bedroom. I was startled to see Janet sitting on the edge of the bed where she had been rummaging through her bedside table. In her hand was an old pair of glasses and she said to me “I’m trying to find the ones that work”. She only cried a little bit then asked to sleep on her left side and as soon as I helped her there she was heading off to la la land. Or maybe that’s where she was when she was sitting up, I don’t know, but it was cool she could get herself up and sitting. A little flash of houdieno.

Monday we were back in the Rehab Pool at KGH. It had been over a week and I was anxious to see how Janet would do. Kiko graciously came along to be a cheerleader but I put her to work as videographer and her is the result.

We enjoyed a yummy lunch at Marmalade Cafe with Kiko afterwards. Nice way to spend a sunny afternoon. Thanks Kiko!

20130711-000350.jpg
On the way home we stopped at Save On so Janet could pick out the fruit she wanted to take to Connect for the coming week. The team agrees that Janet needs to eat lots of fruit as she doesn’t drink enough water and since she loves it that’s a pretty easy thing to do. From now on, like home, her breakfast will be a large bowl of fruit and yogurt, a piece of toast and peanut butter and a little coffee if she wants. Coupling this with as much fluids as possible should get Janet more regular on the toilet. I can report today that it seems to be working.

Tuesday morning was busy for Janet as she got back into the Connect routine. I took her out of that for the afternoon so she could get her haircut.

20130711-000518.jpg
Chelsea always does a good job with Janet and the whole experience was fun with Janet being much more talkative than last time. For her evening workout, Janet was good about going on the Shuttle but put a big pout on during her Standing Frame session. So much so that I thought she was quite rude to one of the other residents who tried giving her some encouraging advice. Janet was having nine of it and gave that person the silent treatment until they complimented her on her hair. That brought a big smile and a thank you.

In the Standing Frame tonight, Janet was in a much better mood and surprised me by accurately predicting when the session was over. I had set nine o’clock as the end time and using her watch she guessed at 8:43 that she had twenty minutes left and at 8:55 she knew there were only five minutes left. The funniest bit was when she stared at her watch for the last thirty seconds and when it reached 9:00 she proudly held it up to me and said “I’m done”. Indeed.

Cognitive gains like that continue and are very encouraging. Even her negative outbursts are good I guess as she is expressing her opinion and feelings much better. She still lacks confidence in a lot of things, using a stock answer of “I don’t believe it”, when someone tells her something good about herself or tries to explain the benefits of doing something she doesn’t like doing. The only way I see of battling this is to identify every moment she does something well and explain why it’s good and where it can lead her. Pill swallowing is getting much better for Janet as well with most doses going down on the first attempt now with hardly any coughing. I notice she coughs a lot less drinking apple juice and drinks it a lot faster too. Not sure why. Janet still has a hard time with my name and knows it better earlier in the day as opposed to late at night. The family names usually come to her pretty quick but she needs prompting for the staff members names usually. We’ve stared reading at night again and Janet seems to be understanding what I read a little better now too.

This coming Tuesday we meet with Dr. McCann for another round of Botox. I think the timing is perfect as although there is still good flexibility in both of Janet’s legs the left one is tightening up and the right one is pulling into the left a lot. That hasn’t stopped Janet from doing well on the Shuttle and her pole transfers a very good with a noticeable improvement in balance. This past weekend was the first one driving the Vibe and the first one that hasn’t left me with a very sore shoulder as I no longer have to lift Janet into the car. Nice.

Looking forward to more progress this week and the arrival of family ahead of Raj and Laurel 2.0.

She’s a Real Stand Up Kind of Girl. A day of successes for Janet. #TSJ

Today was one of those days where everything seemed to go right for Janet. It started this morning in the gym with Tez, Joel and Lorne.

20130507-222908.jpg
That’s Lorne with Janet as she stands in the standing frame for the first time at Connect. Tez was pleasantly surprised at how well Janet can stand and weight bear through her legs. She is really improving in that area thanks to her hard work in the gym and the Botox. Tez even had Janet standing on her own, balancing herself with her butt up against the edge of the table mat. I’m really impressed by that one and will credit the work in the pool with helping her to figure out how to do that. Lorne took Janet for a walk outside in the standing frame so she wouldn’t get bored as Tez wanted her in there for twenty minutes or so. I remember seeing Fred and Chris use this apparatus and hoping Janet would get a chance one day. I didn’t expect it to be this soon.

I had a good chat with Lorne, Jess, Tez, Brian and Joel when I arrived this afternoon and everyone seemed excited for Janet’s achievements with Tez wanting her to use the bike this evening as he believes she’s ready for that. He recommends keeping the pool sessions going and trying to get Janet into our hot tub as much as possible. They are two different types of therapy and Janet will benefit from both. To simplify our schedule I will see if we can change the Thursdays to Fridays so we can just go home from the pool. Jess said she put Janet to bed amidst much protest over an hour earlier so I quietly entered her room to see how she was and this is how I found her.

20130507-223024.jpg
Not exactly Houdieno but if she starts believing she can walk, watch out!

Janet was in a very good mood as she gave me her account of the day. She still downplays her achievements but not to the degree she has in the past. Tez stopped by to show me how well she can stand using a slightly different technique than I was using. It gives more responsiblity to Janet and Tez suggests doing it as an exercise a few times a day.

We made it outside for happy hour and a Skype chat with Mary Gaga. Garrett then suggested Janet go to the gym to try the bike before dinner and Janet accepted with no argument at all. There is a Keek of her first pedals, @larrylatour, and as you can see in this pic she was quite comfortable on the bike and had a really good first go at it.

20130507-223150.jpg
Ideally she’d be able to pedal without the arm assist but for this session and probably the next while she will need it. I reminded her it’s not that different from the elliptical machine she used to use but she says she doesn’t remember that. As well as she did on the bike Janet didn’t seem all that impressed with herself but hopefully her attitude will improve with some more successes.

After her bike ride Janet BBQ’d herself a couple pieces of steak for dinner and gobbled them up along with her first corn on the cob in over a year. She loved it of course. We then had a little Skype chat with Andrew before reading some Slow Dance while Janet lounged in her wheelchair. I turned the lights out on a very content Janet tonight and pray she has a good night’s sleep and is ready for an active day tomorrow.