Scrapbook

May 23, 2005

A huge part of Jenny’s life returned this week as she has resumed her favorite passtime of scrap booking. A couple of wonderful women came to our home and taught Jenny how to digital scrap book so she can print her pages and put them in albums. I personally like digital better (not just because we have 20 plus boxes of scrap book supplies packed for our move). I see a spark in Jenny that I have not seen in too long of a time. Her self esteem has escalated and she is so proud. Thanks so much to Laura and Teri for your thoughtfulness and time. I give Jenny 3 months before she is as good as the best digital scrapbookers.

Jenny had her first wheel chair “incident” today. Appearantly she sneezed and darted into the wall as her hand bumped her joystick. The kids yelled for me and I found her stuck on the wall. She only got a little scratch on her foot, but the wall took a beating. Yacktmans and their feet do not get along. The kids and I ticketed her for driving while sneezing and exceeding the sneezing limit by 2.

May 10, 2005

Our family has been ill with a cold of sort that just drains your energy, so we have been recoverying for the past week. Jenny’s mom was great and came at this time to help pack Jenny’s “sacred” scrapbooking supplies. Only the mother of such a woman like Jenny could comprehend what was needed to organize and separate supplies. 20-plus boxes later, it was complete. She was also great to have around so we could get a little rest.

Jenny conitinues to demonstrate the ability to do a little bit more than she was once capable of doing. They are small, but measurable marks like being able to reach her face with a washcloth, or reach the window cotrol in the car. These were once impossible tasks a few weeks ago. Speech is an area which is most frustrating. It seems that the more we do to work on speech, the less we get. Jenny does psych herself out most times she tries, but will say simple words, without thinking, on occassion. We keep trying.

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.