Jenny has made great strides in the past week or so. She keeps trying to do more that what she has been capable of doing. I have always been proud of her, but she really is taking control of her life and future outcomes. A recently accomplished task has been the ability to drive up to a table and take things off from it, such as the remote. Before, she needed someone to place things in her hands. A new movement today was to be able ot move her pinky on her right hand. I always see her trying to move and stretch the pinky against her leg or other objects. It appearantly worked. This is helpful because she had to change the ASL alphabet for “i”, “j”, and “y” and use her ring finger instead of her pinky to sign letters. It worked fine, but looked like she was flipping you off when she spelled “i”.

Jenny has also been able to use our “Ab Lounger” (sit up machine) for the first time. She can get several back and forth movements before feeling fatigued. I notice that her stomach is not as much of a pooch since her stomach muscles have kicked in. Some new vocal things have kicked in as well. Jenny will start to speak without thinking and she is able to produce word sounds. This has only happened a couple times, but it has only been a couple days since it started. hopefully, it is a positive sign.

We are slowly packing for our move to Texas. It is difficult for Jenny because we are trying to reduce our posessions and she feels that getting rid of items is giving up on her recovery potenial. I feel torn as well, but I debate the fact that we do not need a whole lot of snow recreation gear in Texas, for example. We did not use it in Indiana, and we always rented when we did things like go skiing in Utah. Jenny has always wanted more children, so the idea of getting rid of baby supplies is difficult. We make compromises, but she still refuses to get rid of any toys. Jenny has not lost her pack rat or stubborness traits with the stroke. We still disagree and argue our sides, but I hate arguing with her now. It is something you have to experience to understand. Since she spells out each word, and her signs are not always very clear, I need to say what I see her spell to make sure I understand correctly what she is telling me. Therefore, I use my voice to say her thoughts. Basically, I am yelling/arguing at myself- or at least it feels that way.

We begin doing therapies, almost exclusively at home, starting today. We realized that we could do more aggressive therapies at home and utilize our time better by doing it ourselves. We found that what they wanted us to do at outpatient was what I was already doing with Jenny at home, but without the wasted time of traveling, waiting, and reassessing all the time. We are not going to have therapist come in either. I feel comfortable with the exercises that they did with Jenny, and since I was at every outpatient therapy appointment, I was basically doing the same thing anyhow. Jenny held onto one speech therapy a week, but she is eager to just have me be help her with the physical therapy. As needed we will return to outpatient to learn new exercises.

I am most pleased with how Jenny has decided to make the most out of life, be more adventerous, and overall more assertive. It is difficult to keep up with her requests and pursuits. The kids have noticed a change in activity and have wanted to interact with Jenny more as well. Sophia had Jenny give wheelchair rides all day Sunday. I do think that a lot of this energy came from her trip to Disney where she realized that she could enjoy life and do more than she thought she could.

We are returning to Austin in March to let the kids see their new home. Jenny is a pretty confident traveler, so it should be a more enjoyable trip than the first time. We are anxious to see how the kids will like Austin. We have planned a mini sight seeing tour with visits to familiar places (McDonalds, Toys R Us etc…) and new entertainment spots. The kids have been most concerned about not having their favorite places in Texas and leaving their friends behind. We are planning to be their on a Sunday to let them go to church and meet new kids their age.