sushi

Button Race. A nice family day for Janet. #TSJ

Laurel and Raj went out to Connect to pick Janet up just before lunch today. Janet told me she was surprised to see them but didn’t cry. She was showered and had been to the gym so was off to a good start. Lunch was at Joey’s where Janet enjoyed some fish tacos and was quite alert and responsive throughout the meal. Once home it was pretty much nap time and for once she didn’t need much convincing.

After a good nap Laurel and I took Janet and Nash for a sunny and warm walk around the neighborhood then settled in for some March Madness and a good sushi dinner. Janet ate a lot, I was surprised by the amount, and even enjoyed a little wine with the meal. Her water intake for the day was the barely the minimum but I didn’t have to nag her quite so much. She seems to give in easier when others are around.

Overall Janet seemed pretty quiet again today with some really good moments thrown in just to let us know she’s still doing OK. Laurel and Raj showed us some pictures of their trip to the BVI and Janet enjoyed seeing the beautiful beaches and colorful water and insists that we move there. Oh no, that was me ten years ago. Still would be nice to visit but I don’t know about doing such a long trip with Janet like that. It took Laurel and Raj 28 hours door to door from Calgary, not sure Janet could tolerate that. She faded pretty fast tonight and agreed to get ready for bed at 8:45. One of our bedtime rituals is to have a race doing up buttons on Janet’s PJ tops. I start at the bottom and she starts at the top. Whoever does up theirs up the fastest wins. Tonight, for the first time, she beat me! Praying for a restful night that brings lots of energy for an active and fun day tomorrow.

Road trip. Disaster Averted. #TSJ

Friday night I got Janet into bed a little late because of the nail painting but not too late, about 9:40 and she fell asleep almost instantly so you would think she’d wake up at her usual eight or eight thirty at the latest. Right? Wrong. I had to wake her at 9:30 so we could start getting ready for our road trip. She actually sprung into action quite quickly and I was glad for that because I felt bad about having to wake her and the only reason I had to get her going was we had an appointment to drop off the dog before we could hit the road. We had plenty of time to get to Vancouver otherwise. We thought we were empty nesters. Hah.

It was a glorious day for a drive, bright and sunny the whole way, sparkly lake, snow on the mountains. Stunning. Janet did well, sleeping for a couple of short bursts on the first leg which was a little over two hours. That got us to Hope for our scheduled lunch and gas stop. Janet shocked me by ordering a Beef Philly Dip Sandwich, something she would never have done prior to getting sick and she ate all but one tiny piece. She surprised me even more by turning down a chocolate milkshake for the road. She regretted that decision after tasting mine but I was nice and shared.

I guess that pit stop took a little longer than anticipated as we didn’t get into our hotel room until five. Fortunately we were late enough to have avoided the Second Narrows Bridge being closed due to a police incident. They opened it over an hour before we got there so most of the mess had been cleared up. That left forty minutes or so for Janet to have a nap before dinner. That was enough though and we met Jim and Nancy at our favorite sushi place, Genji Sushi, and enjoyed a really nice meal and visit with them. Janet carried on her trend of eating completely different things than she used to by enjoying some tempura to start the meal. Never would have gone near that before. The sushi was very good and remains one of the few things we miss about the coast.

I got Janet into bed after nagging her some more about drinking water. If anyone has suggestions as to how to get her to drink more without being nagged I’m listening. Also if anyone is campaigning against daylight savings time, I’m in. It’s a ridiculous and outdated practice, especially as I write this at eleven o’clock knowing its actually midnight. Goodnight.

Thanking God for all His creation and praying for a restful night that brings energy and brightness tomorrow.

Jumping the Gun #TSJ

I had an early start to the day today as I met with Janet’s GP this morning. She wanted to follow up on Janet’s seizures and increase the medication for that slightly. In my opinion Janet has rebounded very well from that day and is gaining cognitively quite well. Her doctor is confident in using Dilatin for Janet and has not experienced any real difficulties with that drug. She confirmed that she will remove the peg tube on Valentine’s Day and will talk to Janet’s GI before doing so just to make sure she does it right as this will be her first. Since Janet is eating real food now and trying to swallow her pills whole I asked if we could dump the horse pill sized multi vitamin she gets and the doc agreed. So once I check with Connie and she approves there will be no more crushing of meds for Janet. Yay! I enjoyed the chat with her doctor this morning and appreciated her calling me in to follow up on things. We will continue doing so rather than dragging Janet in when not necessary.

After doing some investigating on the condo we are looking into buying I made my way out to Connect. Janet was sitting on the couch in the living room with a big smile on her face watching TV. She seemed quite proud of herself for doing so and was in a great mood. She described her day so far as good and tried really hard to tell me she had pushed her pendant alarm for help in going to the bathroom. Garrett confirmed that she had done just that both for needing to go and when she was finished. High five! They had a reasonable workout in the gym and Garrett said he was pleased with the way her legs stretched out.

Janet and I made our way downtown for a meeting with a lawyer regarding Power of Attorney and when we informed the receptionist we were there I could see someone elses’ name in our time slot. Sure enough two minutes later that person came in. I quickly checked my calendar then the email I got from the lawyers office. Turns out my calendar app had synced a reminder from a calendar I no longer use and it appeared as an event for today when the actual meeting is tomorrow. Silly me. We used the extra time to do a little drive around downtown since we were there thinking we might see a building that looked interesting to live in. Knowing that there are few condos the size we want and most are in the complex we already looked at and didn’t like, the drive around confirmed that Invue has a lot going for it. I will take Janet there one more time before making a decision to try and buy there or not.

At home and after she played with Nash, Janet and I enjoyed a cup of tea together. Can’t remember the last time we did that. We read a letter from some family friends of Janet’s in Ontario and prepared some cards for our World Vision kids. I also showed Janet some pictures of her new found old friend Karen. Janet definitely remembers her but doesn’t recognize her yet. She gobbled down a bowl of fruit and yogurt after complaining she was hungry then I could see her getting pretty tired. It was late in the day and she had not had anything close to a rest time so I got her into bed as she complained “why are you putting me here?” Fifteen minutes later she was snoring.

I got Janet up just before Kiko and Joel arrived with a boat load of sushi for dinner. Janet had regained some energy and an appetite eating probably more sushi than she would have before getting sick. I poured some wine for Kiko and I and Janet almost immediately asked for some. I was very tempted to let her but have been told alcohol is a big no no for ABI patients. I promised her I would talk to her doctor next time we see her and also Dr. Miller. I’m sure they will say no but maybe its a soft no and a little sip here and there won’t hurt her any. I hope so as it would be really nice to enjoy some wine with Janet again. Much more fun than tea.

Janet was tucked into bed at Connect pretty late tonight, full of sushi and ice cream. Before we left the house she asked me why we were spending all that money keeping her “there” and why couldn’t she stay “here”. She got quite upset about it all but resigned herself to the situation after agreeing that working with Brian, Tez, Mary Lou and all the others was best for her right now. She asked why she only did that “in little bits”. I reminded her how tired she gets if she works out too long or plays a game too long and she totally agreed and was fine after that. Janet continues to move into a higher state of awareness and has a greater ability to express her feelings than ever before.

Today was a busy and good day for Janet. Thanks again Joel and Kiko for your friendship and food. You made our evening very enjoyable. Praying for a night of rest and healing and a productive day tomorrow.

Good to See You #TSJ

Janet was very bright and cheery this morning when I arrived before taking her to the eye doctor. The dietician had already been and gone and Garrett reported that she had a little conversation with Janet and reviewed her chart and said all looked good, carry on. I was hoping to speak with her but maybe next time. Janet said she slept well and had a good breakfast. She knew we were going somewhere this morning but couldn’t remember where. I was encouraged by her responsiveness.

We had a good appointment with the eye doctor, spending an hour examining and chatting about Janet’s condition and he will prepare a detailed report for Connect over the next couple of days. From what I saw and from what he told me, Janet’s eyes are healthy, they are aligned almost perfectly with the left one maybe very slightly deviated but not nearly what it was a few months ago. There is a large floater in the right eye. This likely occurred at the time of the rupture or soon after and there is no treatment needed for it. Janet’s vision may or may not be affected by it and she may not even know it’s there. Janet is displaying some right side neglect and just how much will be determined when we do a vision field test next week. There was not enough time to do one today and the doctor wants Janet at her best and brightest to give the highest probability of success. Janet’s prescription is fine for now and her glasses are still good for distance as prescribed and she should not wear them for reading. With her glasses on Janet tested at 20/20 or close to it and she was able to read impressively well. As we have known for some time, she often gets stuck and repeats a word or number, she did that today a number of times during the exams and it was interesting to see the visual cues the doctor gave her to erase what she was stuck on and start fresh. Covering an eye briefly, looking up at the ceiling briefly or closing both eyes then re focusing. He would like us all to start teaching Janet some of these cues and feels she can regain a strong ability to read one day. She currently can go four to five words before stalling and that is impressive considering.

Home for a wintertime lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup was next on the agenda followed by an afternoon nap. Yes, Janet slept for over thirty minutes this afternoon and quite deeply too. I had to wake her up so we could get back to Connect in time for a workout before dinner. We managed to Skype with Mary/Gaga before leaving and enjoyed a good conversation with her. Janet was pretty loud and was able to answer some questions about what she had been doing. I’ve noticed a real improvement in that area lately. Earlier in the day I had read an email to Janet sent to me from an elementary school friend of hers who found this blog and wanted to get in touch. Her name didn’t register with Janet when I first read it to her then when I told Mary/Gaga who very clearly remembered her, Janet’s memory kicked in as well. Her and Karen were close friends in grades five through eight and we look forward to at least virtually reinstating that friendship.

In the gym today we had only a small battle about working on the Shuttle. Janet gave in a worked hard with some good results. It helped to have Phil getting his first workout at the same time as the therapists encouraging him could be heard easily by Janet. Phil was with us at KGH Rehab and is doing really well. Glad to have him at Connect. Janet’s legs are quite tight, maybe tighter than the last time I worked with her but I still managed some pretty good range and she was able to do lots of movement in both herself. She gave two strong attempts at the stripper pole but was pretty tired so was not that successful. All of the transfers I did with her today were standing, except for the car, and she did very well with most of them.

Dinner was another beautiful Rikki creation followed by a nice warm shower, some reading of Slow Dance and a Janet initiated prayer. She was very tired and only managed “thank God for Andrew and his…” The rest was Klingon but I’m sure God understood. We prayed as always for rest, healing, restoration of the ability to walk, use of her right arm and hand, complete restoration of her vision and ability to talk loud all the time. Looking forward to a fun day of recovery tomorrow and a nice sushi dinner at home with Joel and Kiko. Thanking God for them and all the other cool people in our life.