Week of August 13, 2007

Mon. It was hard to get up today. Not enough sleep. Unfortunately, that made therapy extra hard and not as effective. We'll have to schedule our rough nights better!!(ha-ha) We ran some errands, then came home. We had Rylee overnight for a visit before school.
Tue. Rylee went to therapy with us and played in the pool. Terry also had an appt. to find out about the pelvic pain(no relief yet). I had an appt. for my skin. It cleared well, but now seems to be falling back (it's a matter of time and patience). We came home and spent the afternoon with Rylee.
Wed. Today was tax day. SPRING property taxes, that is. We took care of that, then went to therapy. We had showers, etc. in the evening, making it a late night.
Thu. We see the prosthetic doctor again today. He took a cast of Terry's leg, and said the prosthetic should be ready in TWO weeks! They'll order a water-proof knee, and make the rest. We're excited!! The next stop was Methodist. I intentionally planned extra time so I could show Terry around a bit. We saw several people that knew him, and they were AMAZED at his progress! We need reminders like that. We saw Dr. Maar, and he was pleased with Terry's improvement as well. He doesn't need to see Terry for 6 months. After that appt., we headed for home. LONG day!
Fri. W/T again today. Terry is STILL having the pelvic pain. We keep praying for the answer. He DID feel his hamstring stretching. Praise God! That means feeling in his thigh IS coming. We went home after therapy, to do still more paperwork.
Sat. We babysat again, then had a fairly quiet evening.
Sun. After church, I had a TWO-HOUR nap. It was wonderful! We had a fairly easy day planned anyway, but I took it to extremes. It was nice to relax!

Week of August 6, 2007

Mon.I had a lot to get ready before therapy, then we left. At W/T they had Terry work on technique (they're getting PICKY!!!). He did WELL!! Then, as a grand finale, they wanted him to stand without the walker!! With me on one side, and the therapist on the other, HE DID IT!!! As a reward, I kissed him while he was standing STRAIGHT up! He was using our hands for balance, but it was a glimpse of the (CLOSE) future.We had an appt. with the prosthetics next. The therapists feel it may be time for that leg. They'd like to see him be able to use it in W/T. We ALL think it would be good for him to learn and strengthen in the water, then move onto land with the leg. Mr. Rogers (they're not doctors) agreed, and gave Terry two stump-shrinkers. He's supposed to wear them all of the time. We made an appt. for next week. After we got home, we had a quiet evening. It's been a LONG day!!
Tue. At W/T today, Julie wanted Terry to try to use his HANDS on the bar, instead of his arms. It's difficult since he doesn't have the mobility in his left hand, but he tries. We had Arlyne and Thomas for dinner. They're kid-less since the kids are at Aunt Jeannine's, so it was a quieter evening. Warren came, too.
Wed. We had O/T today, then went to Sam's. Mike, Esteina, and the boys came for dinner. We had a nice day.
Thu. Mom came again today. With her as taskmaster, we had three bags of trash, three boxes of books, and FIVE bags for Goodwill! We really made a BIG difference! It definitely helps to have her here keeping me on track! After she left, we ran a couple of errands.
Fri. Terry's having a lot of pain in his pelvis(2-3 days now). We're not sure if he may have a bladder infection or what it may be. We plan to get it checked. We have W/T today, too. At W/T, Julie took the armrests off of the walker. She REALLY wants Terry to use that hand. It was very difficult(and painful!!), but he tried. We had O/T after lunch. Kelly(therapist) says Terry only needs to see her once a week. With all of the tools he has at home, he can do therapy without her.The schedule just keeps changing!! Terry hurt pretty badly after therapy, so we came home to rest for the evening.
Sat.We babysat this morning again, then went to a triple birthday party for Seth, Levi, and Lydia. All of their birthdays are in August, so they celebrate together. We enjoyed seeing them. We don't get to see them as often as many of the other grandchildren. We ran a couple of errands, then came home for the evening.
Sun. We had a guest preacher today. Our pastor had neck surgery this past week. He's doing great, praise God! After church, we stopped by Arlyne's and they graciously fed us breakfast. We enjoyed the visit! We came home and had a nap TOGETHER in our bed! We don't often get to do that since Terry needs the mobility of a hospital bed, but it's GREAT for a short time. I look forward to the day we can get rid of that hospital bed! Terry's still having a lot of pain in his pelvis. I hope we find a solution soon. We ended up staying up until about 2:30 AM, just talking over things and trying to focus on the need to lean on God. It was a long night, but very needed at this moment.

Week of July 30, 2007

Mon. We skipped therapy today. We MUST find a van. We had a doctor appt. first, then went looking. We found a GREAT van. It's a mini-van, with only 39,000 miles on it.It was pricier than we really wanted, but mobility vans don't come cheap. This one should last a long time, without big problems. We drove it home tonight, and will finalize everything tomorrow. I'm having MAJOR skin trouble, too, but there's little time to deal with it right now. Soon, I hope.
Tue. We had W/T with Jill again. She said there was 150% improvement. Terry sees a challenge and works to meet it!! God gave him so much determination! After therapy, we went to the bank, then to finalize arrangements on the van. We noticed a couple of small glitches, which will be taken care of Thu. I'm pretty miserable with itching,etc., so I'll call tomorrow to try to take care of that.
Wed. I called and saw the Dr. early this AM (Mandy stayed with Dad).I'm apparently having an allergic reaction to something. To get past this "storm", she gave me Prednisone. I hope it works! We had O/T and P/T later. David(P/T) said they all thought we should change our schedule so that we have three days of W/T, and the other two days of O/T. W/T seems to be the most effective right now.We won't have P/T at all for awhile.
Thu. The Prednisone has me WIRED! I hope it also clears my skin. Mom came again today. We got a fair amount done. Unfortunately, there was an accident on I-70 that caused traffic in town to be totally tied up, and it took Mom two and a half times as long to get home as usual!!! She handled it well, though, praying for those in the accident, and just taking it easy.
Jimmy took the van for it's small repair problems. They gave him a loaner car and said they'd call when it was ready. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready that night, so we're out a van until it's done.
Fri. I was awake, itching, until 4:30 AM. I called and found there were some things I could take to relieve that.
I also called Senior Services to arrange transport to W/T. I hate to miss ANY therapy. Later, we found out we wouldn't have the van until SAT.!!! Another day spent waiting....
Sat.We babysat again. Also, my skin IS clearing. PRAISE GOD!!! I'm not sure I could have stood it much longer. We ran some errands after we got the van back, then had showers, etc. to get ready for tomorrow.
Sun. Mark asked me to tell of my encounter with God(or one of them) at church today. That's what he's currently preaching about. He also asked Terry to do the morning prayer. We prayed that God would give us His words and use it all for His glory. All went well, and our nerves didn't show. We got a nap after church, then I cooked a roast on the grill for dinner. YUM!!!

Week of July 23, 2007

Mon. We had water therapy today. The therapists are taking turns so far with Terry, so they see a lot of improvement. This is VERY encouraging to us!
Tue. They had Terry use the walker in W/T again today. It has special arm-rests, so Terry's using the strength in his upper arms. He walked the length of the pool today!After therapy, we couldn't get the van to start. I had to get us home, as well as arranging a tow. Thankfully, Senior Services took care of the ride. The whole thing is discouraging, though. Our mechanic delivered it, ready to go a little later. We wanted to go look at other vans. When we made a short stop, it was hard to start, AGAIN!!! It will have to go back in. Unfortunately, it had to be towed AGAIN!!! We'll have to arrange that in the Morning. HARD day!!
Wed. We had the van towed, then were stuck home. We had hoped to help with the NCMP Race for Riley.
Best laid plans.......
Thu. Mom came today. She's offered her Thursdays to help me organize. It seems I'm having trouble finding my house under all of the STUFF!!! We worked for several hours, while I was right here to help Terry.We did get a good start on things. We got the van back, but I don't trust it much. We'll be praying for guidance.
Fri. In W/T today, Terry walked the length of the pool and back! Then he immediately "swam/floated" the length and back. His strength and endurance are improving! We had O/T (hand) after lunch.
Sat. Babysitting again.Yeah! It's so nice to get back into that a little. We've missed that closeness. Arlyne and family came for dinner.
Sun. At church, a good friend offered to be at my service on Fridays. I've had so MANY offers of help in different ways, I'm VERY blessed! I haven't figured out how to use all of the offers, but one day soon, I'm going to try.

Week of July 16, 2007

Mon. At therapy today, David had Terry transfer to the table by himself, scoot around it, and transfer back into his chair. It's amazing to see Terry's progress in just 4 days. He did the whole process in just 20 minutes! Tue. We went to see the hand specialist today. He wants Terry to WORK that hand. He also scheduled a nerve test(EMG) to measure Terry's injuries.At therapy, Terry got a new splint to try to bend his wrist backwards. He can't bend it back right now, limiting his function. At water therapy, they were impressed with his progress. Wed. We made more festival purchases and preparations. I'm getting a little nervous about the festival. Thu.Beth and Jeffrey came this morning to help with final preparations for the festival. They stayed for a few hours, then had to leave. I kept working, and finally stopped around 7:00 PM. I'll do the rest in the morning. Fri. It's festival day! Since there were a couple of people here to help for the festival, Terry felt safe to try transferring to his chair(with watchers).He did GREAT !!! He went to the festival to help in the set-up. It was good to have him there, keeping track of many facets of the operation that I had forgotten. He stayed until about 6:30, then Tony took him home.Tony and Grant were SO much help!! It was a fairly busy evening, though. I missed Terry's experience! Sat.We had a long day planned! I got up at 6:30 to be there by 8:00. Jimmy is going to stay with Terry, with various other family coming later. We had plenty of people to help at the festival, but not much business for HOURS. Finally, around 6:30, we began to get busy. We kept hopping after that. Fortunately, I have several family members to help me, too, as well as a couple of GOOD workers. It went well, and I was home by 11:00. Sun. There's a community church service at the festival today. Terry is going with me to that, and to spend the day. There was a radio station there(88.1), and they wanted to interview Terry, so we did that. The business was fairly slow, so our workers handled it while I was busy with Terry. When it came time to shut down, again Terry was invaluable help! There are so MANY things I don't think of!! I thank God for Terry's clear mind OFTEN!!!! We got loaded up and came home. Thomas pulled the trailer.

Week of July 9

Mon. David wanted Terry to try balancing on a Therapy Ball. It was pretty shaky at first, but pretty good.
Tue. Terry FINALLY HAS HIS FIRST WATER THERAPY TODAY!!! They lowered him with a lift into the water. Then she had him do some sitting leg exercises. Next came the HARD part. She took him over to a chest-high bar. He was to stand up beside it. Locking his right knee was VERY difficult! Although the right calf and foot are very active, Terry doesn't yet have feeling in his thighs.With WORK, he was able to do it, though. Balancing is quite a chore. This is fair week. We've seen several grandchildren competing, and they've all done well. We spent the evening there tonight.
Wed. Today at therapy, David wanted to see how much Terry could do toward transferring himself. He worked, and worked, and WORKED and TRANSFERRED HIMSELF!!!!!! We all felt like it was party time! To see him do that was like watching a miracle unfold. Later in the day, Arlyne brought him a power wheelchair that her friend wanted him to have. It belonged to her friends' mother, and she had recently passed away.We got Terry in it, and he was VERY pleased to have the mobility! It was great to see him move around on his own. It is a little small, but maybe he'll adjust.
Thu. We went to the store with Terry in the power chair. It was nice to have him move on his own. It's a lot more awkward than many people realize to try and shop while pushing him and pulling a cart.
Fri. While we were at therapy today, David suggested we change the schedule so we have water therapy 3 times a week, and land therapy only 2. Terry will probably progress much faster in water right now, so we'll try that for a while. David also had him transfer to the table by himself and then try to scoot around the perimeter of the table(slightly bigger than a king-sized bed). Terry was up to the challenge! It's hard to watch how difficult things are for him to accomplish, but gratifying to see his determination!
Sat. We babysat for Garrett and Logan for the first time today. It was great to start that again, we've missed those times. Another first! Terry shaved with his safety razor for the first time since the accident! He's been using an electric, but with his full beard, it's not very effective. We went to Lapel for a while this evening. Their festival is this weekend, and we can't work there, but we wanted to visit. We enjoyed a couple of hours there, visiting with many friends.
Sun. We went to church this morning, then came home. Thomas and Chase are coming to help prepare the trailer for a festival next week. We worked for a few hours, then they went home. Terry and I went to their house for dinner and swimming later. It was GREAT!!!