Family

Nov 17, 2004

There have been several big events these past few days. Jenny was evaluated for a power wheel chair (which is something she has been waiting for). She was perfect at it. All that Ms PacMan really paid off for Jenny. The chair has features that allow for new freedoms. Jenny is able to tilt herself back (to relieve pressure when needed), the chair is faster than Jessie’s bike, It can elevate up and down, and it will raise and lower her legs. Most of all, I will not leave her in a room to watch the kids play and then come in later to have her left watching a pile of toys that were left by the kids who went elsewhere.

We also went to the Louisville LDS temple last weekend with the ward. It was Jenny’s first time back since just a couple days prior to her stroke, 8 months ago. It was a bit scary for her since we did not know how she would do on a long trip, at a hotel, or at the temple. The hotel and ride were easy as pie. The temple experience was wonderful, due in part to all the supportive ward members who made it possible. Jenny told me she felt a sense of peace that she has not had in a long while and that it was a needed experience. These are just more things that we have experienced and conquered. Our next big challenge is flying, but I think we will do fine with a bit of planning.

Outpatient therapy is working well. Jenny responds best to speech therapy so far. Her therapist has been on vacation this week and Jenny has actually digressed. I was stumped as to why, since the therapy they were doing was essentially the same. It dawned upon me that the only difference was that the usualy therapist and Jenny spend half the time laughing, which activates the vocal chords and allows the therapy to work better.

Occupational therapy is Jenny’s worst therapy. A quarter of the time it is really helpful, but the rest is a waste of time or frustrating to her since they want her to do things that she does not agree with (I am on Jenny’s side most of the time). As for Physical therapy, Jenny takes on a good amount of pain and works hard at everything they tell her to do.

Nov 11, 2004

Jenny is feeling better from the tube removal. Her stomach was sore for a few days and she even took her first nap in years for a couple hours. She has been working with augmentative communication devices that speak what she types. She is good at it, but she is faster at finger spelling, so she is reluctant to use the speaking machines. Sign language does not require her to carry around a small computer, but finger spelling limits who she an speak to – mostly the kids. She did write several notes to the kids telling them how she felt about them. Plus, Zach has homework assignments where he needs to make words from a group of predetermined letters, so this offered a perfect opportunity for her to help Zach with homework for her first time. Being a past 2nd grade teacher herself, this meant a lot to Jenny to feel useful and to interact with Zach.

Of course, like most of Jenny’s things, everyone else used the communication devices more. We had to do several sentences such as, “Jessie eats worms”, or “Zach kisses girls” to make sure we really figured how to make it worked.

The kids have been really sweet with Jenny lately. They wanted so much to help their mom get better. Even our two-year-old Sophie makes sure to pray every time that, “mom gets better”. I gave therapy assignments to the kids to do specific activities with mom to help with motor skills. They involve puzzles, games, and therapy putty- so the kids are even more excited.

Last night, we had an aid to help out, so Zach became the first child to sleep with mom. Jenny needed this badly. They fell asleep holding hands and giving each other their special “I love you” hand squeezes that they have always had as their special secret way to tell each other that they loved each other. Zach is so sweet to his mom and loves her so much. The other day, Zach pulled out a bunch of his mom’s old sign language books and was diligently studying them. Jenny broke down into tears because she realized how much he wanted to communicated with her.

Nov 1 2004

Jenny and I went to the hospital early this morning to have her last tube (feeding tube) removed. Unfortunately, they could not get an IV in her, so they postponed it for a later date. Jenny was really dissapointed and I hated to see her feel let down. It will come out soon, but this is another bump in her road to recovery. To do something a little more upbeat, Jenny and I went out for breakfast and Jenny shopped at a new scrapbook store. She has been to craft stores since coming home form the hospital, but she actually bought a couple small things this time. It seemed to do the trick to take away some of the hurt. I have a feeling that she will be wanting to scrapbook now that she can move her arm better. At least she can edit digital photos on the computer.

I, again, want to thank Jenny’s brother, Don, for this great web site. Recently he added some photos of Jenny and the family for those who are interested. They show early progress, but do not really capture how good Jenny has been recently. Hopefully I will be able to add more soon. You can find the link on the begining web page.

Oct 26, 2004

Jenny finally gets to start outpatient therapy tomarrow! She is excited to see what they can offer. I am in the process of hooking her laptop up to a bigger screen so she can read without problems. I see her play games using a mouse and I do not see why she could not be doing more on a computer.

Sophia has been trying to be a helper in making her mother better. She often covers Jenny in band-aids, moves her arms and leg for “exercise”, and I see her try to feed Jenny every now and then, which I have to be cautious of. Jenny will usually push the buzzer to alarm me. Sophia was able to get a glass of water by me. She held up the capped feeding tube (without a way to funnel the water in) and dumped the glass over the top of the tube. Fortunately, it was bed time and Jenny needed to change into her pajamas. Sophie also accompanied Jenny to the ENT to have an injury on her ear drained. Sophia was shy until she felt she needed to tell the doctor how to do his job. She will be our child who most likely will be a doctor some day.

Oct 12, 2004

For the past several years, our family has enjoyed the tradition of having weekly family nights. Once a month, we have a night where all we do is take turns sharing our feelings for each other, the gospel, and what ever else that person would like to share. For those familiar, it is like a testimony meeting at church, but much more intimate. The past several months have come with a void in which Jenny has not been able to be involved by sharing her thoughts during this favorite family activity- until now. Last night, Jenny was able to use her ever improving ability to finger spell her thoughts and feelings. We really miss hearing her voice, so it was wonderful to experince the miracle of her communicating her thoughts to us this way.

Jenny has told me on several occassions lately that she tries and tries, but her left side does not respond anymore. It has been 2-3 months since her voluntary movement on her left slowly went away. It was her stronger side and had more voluntary gross motor movements initially. She refuses to give up. We went through our closet this week, as a yearly tradition dictates. I was impressed that she finally got rid of some of her 80’s clothes from high school. When it came to her high heels, I asked if I could get rid of them. Jenny refuses to believe that she will not walk in them again some day. So, we kept them. Because it is Jenny, she probably will.