Recovery

Feb 28, 2005

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.

Feb 23, 2005

Since Jenny has been using the computer, we have always joked about her going crazy on e-bay, but she has rarely done more than checked e-mail, played games, or written in her journal. For some unknown reason, Jenny woke up and immediately stated that she wanted to go on the internet. She immediately began shopping and spending. I would not have known this except our credit card has a new expiration date since Jenny used it last and she needed help when it did not work. She first hit Deseret Book to get supplies for our Primary class, Zach’s upcoming baptism, and some church tapes to listen to. She hit a music web site to get new tunes to listen to. E-bay was most likely drained of it’s goods, and she even researched some cool party ideas for Sophia’s upcoming “Dora the Explorer” birthday party. Jenny read her e-mail and maybe even wrote one (which she hardly ever does). I hope this was a matter of getting it out of her system since she was been holding out for a year. However, it was good to see her desire to be more independent and assertive. What I really think is that she just wanted to get more mail.

Feb 15, 2005

The kids have been really sick for the first time and it is difficult on Jenny to not be able to pick them up and comfort them like she use to. Not only that, we definately do not want Jenny to get what they have, so they really can not even sit on her lap like the usually do for comfort. Jenny strated showing signs of congestion and weakness, but is looking better now.

I am still impressed with Jenny’s improvements that happen ever so slightly. I am encouraged by her trunk and stomach muscles. She is begining to be able to bend forward and back while on the tilt table or in her chair. This would greatly increase her range of abilities if she could do that.

Jan 27, 2005

Jenny survived her first plane trip this week. We just returned from visiting where our new home will be in Austin. The actual time on the plane was no problem at all. As a matter of fact, I finally realized who they built the plane seats to accomidate. Jenny fit good in them and was well supported, so you can blame her for uncomfortable seating if my theory is correct. The other stuff was not so smooth (cancellations, rerouting, late arrivals, missed planes, blizzard conditions etc…). Several years ago, Jenny had her bags lost and she stated, “To have my bags lost is by biggest fear of anything.” A much wiser Jenny remarked a couple days ago, “After a stroke, most problems that occur seem small and are not worth worrying about.” The real difficult part of traveling was being without her assistive equiptment such as her power chair, accessible van, accomidated bathroom, and so on. She had a rental chair that tilted back and folded up (since her other chairs do not travel well). It turned out that the chair actually made her work so hard to stay up that it wore her out.

We did attend what would be our new ward. As it turns out, a few families (all with kids our kids’ ages) live on our short street, so our kids will know their neighbors better since they will get exposure at school, church, and the neighborhood. Jenny’s favorite part was that since it was a new building, there was a ramp that led to the podium. The members were just as nice as those in Indiana, but the building its self felt more accomidating. Overall, Jenny loves the area and would love to move there! that was a big relief for other family members and myself (mostly since we are starting construction there). The weather was wonderful. Jenny has a difficult time with the cold now, so being that Austin was in the 70’s and Indianapolis was having a blizzard, it proved to be a good place to go.

Jan 17, 2005

We have been highly encouraged with Jenny’s increased strength related to her knee bends that she is able to do while strapped on the tilt table. She has definatley demonstrated the ability in doing significantly more bends each time she does them. Little things like this can still be physically exhausting for the rest of the day. I also see greater shoulder strength while Jenny is laying down, but nothing new in her shoulder while sitting up. Even the physical therapist is surprised that the movements have not carried over.

The extreme cold weather is highly difficult on Jenny. She is really looking forward to her trips to Austin and Orlando in the next few weeks.