Recovery

July 31, 2004

Jenny use to like mail and UPS deliveries, but now, the mailman delivers too many hospital bills/ test results and UPS people just deliver therapy and medical supplies. The kids love all the therapy equiptment and think that our house is like a playground now. Jenny would relate it to a torture chamber. With all of Jenny’s new abilities, it becomes our task to see what she can do, in a practical sense, with her movements. By seeing herself manipulating her environment, Jenny becomes more positive and feels like she is really getting better. Today, we went to a few stores and tried out a couple gaming joy sticks for fun. Jenny played her childhood favorite, Ms Pacman. She could move her player, but not fast enough to be good at the game. I also placed her in the front seat of the van, instead of her wheerchair, to see how she could do. Jenny sat better in the seat than her wheelchair. The only problem is that I have to lift her in each time (which she demanded all day long) rather than pushing her wheelchair up a ramp to the van.

We also went to the scrapbook store that she use to teach classes at. This was the first time I went in that store with her where we bought nothing and we were in less than 5 minutes. I guess it had to do with me running her through at lightning speed. I’m sure Jenny is looking forward to controling her own wheelchair due to experiences like this. Jenny has also met the decannulation (trache removal) requirements by plugging her trache for 24 hours. She actually kept the plug on after meeting the goal. So, as far as it looks right now, she will still get rid of her trache Monday. I promised to stay by her bed last night to watch her (she was obviously a little anxious about not breathing) but she actually breathes better with her trache capped while sleeping than when conscious. I feel good about her progress and after the last 48 hours, Jenny is confident in her abilities too.

July 29, 2004

This is truly the best day so far. Jenny keeps improving and getting stronger each day. As I did therapies with her today, I realized that Jenny could easily do all the movements needed to use a computer mouse. I put the mouse in her hand and off she went. Jenny cried tears of tremendous joy as she once again met another mile marker on her journey. It is my luck that just yesterday, I asked if I could unsubscribe her from all the e-groups that she was on because her e-mail box is always full of 100 e-mails or more. It surprised Jenny that she could move a mouse. If she can move a mouse, she can definately move a joy stick and control her own wheel chair.

We also went to the ENT today who changed Jenny to a smaller size trache. We also set a date to have the trache totally removed Monday!!! Jenny must meet the requirment of having it capped for 24 straight hours, but that is not a problem (he did make us promise not to try tonight, but we can do it tomarrow). Appearantly, it was an easy process of just taking out the tube and putting a peice of tape across the opening to close it up until it sealed on its own. He asked if we wanted our nurse to do it at home or if we wanted to come all the way to his office for a 5 minute procedure. Jenny opted for the office visit. That is alright, I was out of duct tape anyway. Jenny has officially decreed that she is getting better based on the events of the day. She has always been a hard worker and faithful, but she was pretty discouraged at her limited progress (based on the fact that she assumed she would be back to normal by now). After re-evaluating her situation, she is doing quite well in progressing. So, I assume Jenny will be able to read e-mails more often so her address is jenannlynn@aol.com if you wish to send a private message. Otherwise, I try to read postings to her regularly from this web page. Now I am off to re-subscribe Jenny to all her e-groups again- and find some way to disable e-bay.

July 26, 2004

Jenny finally had her long awaited ENT appointment today. As it turns out, Jenny demonstrated the skills needed to begin the process of having the trache removed. the plan is that they will put in a smaller trache this week that she can breathe around easier and when she can tollerate the trache being plugged for 24 hours, she is then able to have it removed. It will be a great day in the Lynn household when this happens. We celebrated by eaing lunch at O’Charleys- which was her first time going out to eat. It was a pleasant experience and Jenny seemed quite okay with everything. Her days of not wanting to go out because people will stare at her seem to be coming to an end. She has began to accept more invites to go place with us. I fear that we may have a problem in the future of Jenny wanting to go out too much. She is already talking about going on a vacation to Disney. I guess she feels like she is getting better- finally!

July 23, 2004

I just returned from a 2 night trip out of state. In the past 4 months, I have been by Jenny’s side for no fewer than 8 hours per day, so it seemed weird not to be with her- even though I typically am not a clingy person. Jenny had a couple big new movments to show off that she had perfected in just the 2 days I was gone. I hear others talk about her drastic improvements, but it is nice to finally see what it looks like. It gives so much more, but I am afraid Jenny will not have our luxury of stepping away for a couple days. One of the new movwements is a secret that she wants to show to a few family and friends and the other is the ability to pick up and move her right arm and move it in various directions in large movements. The right side is really getting active, and the left side is showing movement again. Respiratory is great and Jenny still has not needed suctioning for over 10 days! I sill hope for the trache to come out soon- very soon.

July 20, 2004

We continue to do pool therapies as well as the others and Jenny seems to be having larger movements in her right side, and has began moving more of her left side as of today. If anything, she is eating well and she can drink water as long as it is given by dropper or spoonful. We have an ENT appointment Monday and we hope for the best (meaning that the trache will come out). Jenny has not needed suctioning for over a week and she does not appear to have any problems with swallowing/breathing/clearing. Sophia has decided that she is the new therapist for Jenny’s arms, but tends to walk away with Jenny’s arms dangling from the side of the wheel chair. I caught Jenny trying to lift her right arm from a hanging position to almost having the arm rest on the arm rest.

Sophia has also claimed Jenny’s lap as her own personal sitting spot. She will take Jenny’s arms and wrap them around her self and tell everyone that mom is hugging her. The kids get so excited when they see their mom move a new muscle or do any large movement. Jenny has just began to feel able to discuss her stroke and trials without extreme emotional struggles. A friend of hers sent an excellent book by an LDS author called “Making Sense of Suffering”. We read a bit in the hospital but Jenny could not make it through a couple pages without needing to stop. It is an excellent book and Jenny feels that she has more direction and purpose. Jenny also made it through all 3 hours of church last Sunday. It appears that she has been fearing going to Relief Society because it tends to be more emotion evoking than the other meetings (It think the Relief Society women strive to make each other cry or it is not a good lesson). Jenny survived, so I think we are back to the full schedule as long as no other health problems get in the way.