Jenny has had a “bumpy” few days and continues to be a tough woman. She has had a number of bumps and bruises stemming from various reasons. Her new chair is awesome, but she has got her foot caught under the foot peddle as it was moving, the arms are too narrow and bruise her legs, and she pinched her toes between the table and foot rest when leaning it back. We do have an appointment to fix some of these wheel chair concerns. The worst incident was when she sneezed herself off the toilet and landed on her face. I was nearby, but not close enough. It was a weird experinece to see someone fall slowly like that, but not be able to brace their fall with her hands. It was painful, but Jenny was incredible with handleing the pain. Her face is only a little sore on her cheek, but no bruise. It did cause her to be able to pucker her lips better on command. Discomfort has always helped motivate her intentional movements. She kind of liked being able to move her left leg and foot. Instead of crying, she was laughing and excited as she told me to watch as she made her foot move. She is doing good, but has had more accidents and bruises these past two weeks than in the past 10 months.
News
January 10, 2005
Jenny continues to do well with driving around the house and using her arm support. We were excited to see her show some strength in her legs by being able to bend (a little) and then strengthen them (a little) while at a 75 degree tilt on the tilt table. It is a good step in the right direction. Jenny feels a mixture of some successes and a large degree of frustrations and losses. I would say that her life is still very much filled with trials and struggles that are difficult each and every day. Our big goal is to get her speech working. There are glimpses of sounds and words all the time, but nothing that is solid and permanent. I would love to hear her voice again and be able to know what she is thinking and in need of without the slow/difficult process of ASL spelling (which is still tons better than the blink spelling).
Jan 6, 2005
Jenny continues to do well with the power chair. I had to put her in her non-power chair because the other was caught in a sudden rain storm. It was an interesting experinece because we both realized how much better life was with the power chair. Jenny rides around on super slow speed. It was just this week that she was able to see how fast it could go. She picked Zach up at the bus stop and he drove back on her lap at full speed. She liked it, but is still too unsure to gun it. There are a couple marks on the wall (one by me), but they are easily fixed by a little paint. It is more difficult to use in crowded areas because Jenny is unable to clearly see people dart in and out. Sophia found out that we really were serious about not touching the attendent control as she backed it over her own toes. She is fine, but hopefully wiser.
Jenny is so excited about her new teaching position with me in church. We get to teach Zach’s class and she is glad to be back in Primary. What can a woman who can not move or speak do as a teacher? Well, she already has done it. As we read the first lesson together, as we planned for next week, she kept stopping me to tell me she has made visual aids for various points of the lesson- especially the parts where we are to sing songs. I will actually have visual aids and planning involved in my lessons. I just hope I have time to find or make everything she has planned.
Jenny has been feeding herself meals with her new arm support. It is incredible as she seemed to rapidly improve from meal to meal. I found out that I was not feeding her fast enough (based on how fast she is able to eat). Appearantly, I was not splashing it on her face enough either (also based on her self feeding). She is getting better and not as messy with each meal.
We are planning on two big plane trips back-to-back. We are going on a quick trip to Austin to let Jenny see the property we bought. A few days later, we will be in Florida. This will be her first time on a plane since her stroke, so I hope we work the bugs out by the second trip.
Dec 30, 2004
Jenny and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday. We had a wonderful time going out and seeing the new Phantom of the Opera movie (we saw the broadway version on our honeymoon). We went to one of our favorite places to eat and had a nice dinner together and went home and shared chocolate fondue with our kids. My favorite part was at speech therapy earlier during the day when Jenny was able to verbalize an recognizable, “I love you”. It was truely her first real words. It was not perfect, but it was real and udible. She struggles with making the words in her head come to her mouth, so this was something huge. She was able to do it again later that evening, but not as easy to discern. I am so proud of her!
Jenny also got her power chair! She is so proud and loves the extra little bits of independence that it affords. At first, I found her occassionally staring at an empty chair where a child once sat. She admitted that she has been unable to move independently for so long that she forgets that she can move. She was always complaining that I stick her in front of the tv too much (she is not much of a tv watcher). Howerever, I felt vindicated because the first thing she did was drive to the tv and flip through the channels. I made sure to tease her about it. ALSO, she got a new arm support which aids her own strength in her right hand by helping her do things like feed herself and some personal grooming. We tried things out by letting her be in control of her own bowl of popcorn. It was not pretty, but she worked until all that was in the bowl was in, or made an attempt to get in, her mouth. Things have truley been wonderful for Jenny and the family. Of course, we have all had a turn on the power chair (except Sophia- because it is her incentive for potty training, and she has not done too well).
dec 28, 2004
We were able to have both sets of our parents, Jenny’s grandma, and a few siblings with us for Christmas. Jenny felt it was one of her better Christmas celebrations. We played several games, all of which Jenny was able to participate in with little or no help. The kids, with only minimal help from myself, made Jenny a game for Christmas that she can play with no help. Overall, it was a wonderful time and Jenny was happy and positive about things. I was fearing that it would be just the opposite being that it was her first Christmas since the stroke. Each day has the potential of bringing tears as she does something for the first time, like wear her sun glasses that she has not worn since March, or finding that they don’t make her favorite hair gel anymore. Something that minor is as trying experinece because it is one more thing that has changed since her injury.
Jessica was so excited because she received a doll in a wheel chair for Christmas that she had been asking for. Playing “mom” has always been a favorite thing in their imaginary play, and this is now part of their everyday life. Jenny is touched that Jessica has been so accepting of her condition and still feels like Mom is a big part of her life. If I can take anything from Jessica’s play, there is nothing that Jessica feels that her mom can not do.
JENNY LYNN'S NEWS 