Paul's Update - 04/26/07

Dear Friends:

Wednesday started out as a quiet day. Dad went over to the hospital to arrange for the MRI that has now been approved by Medicaid. It is easier to drive over there than to do it by phone! When he got home, Dad loaded Paul into the car and headed out to visit his mother at Lake Anna. Dora was able to take the day off since Dad wasn't sure how long he would be away and she leaves at 7pm. Uncle Jimmy traveled with them. He hasn't seen his mother in a while either! Grandma Johnson is doing well. She has been feeling bad off and on for months but was having a good day. This is an hour and a half trip and Paul did good during the drive. Wednesday night is our bible study night. We were able to sit out on the deck for part of the time. Once it got dark and the temperature started dropping we moved into the house. Paul sat out there with us. After we moved into the house we had dessert that Ronda had made ... YUM! After everyone had gone home Paul sat up and watched TV with us until about 10:30pm. He gets really tired sitting in the recliner but doesn't want to give up during his TV programs!! Thursday morning was Paul's physical therapy. Dad, Dora & Paul headed out about 9am for his 9:30 appointment. Cathy (the therapist) had Paul walk with a walker that had wheels. She immediately noted why we don't use a walker with wheels. He leans on the walker too much and the wheels make it move away from him. This causes him to lean too far forward. Once he was in the therapy room she asked him if he wanted to go the peddle machine or the table. He said the table. Once he was there she tried to get Paul to lay on his stomach. He absolutely wanted NOTHING to do with that. She managed to get him on his stomach but he wouldn't cooperate and immediately started to try to roll back over. She isn't use to a patient who doesn't cooperate and she isn't allowed to force a patient to do something they don't want to do. She decided it was time to do the exercise cycle. He worked on that for 5 minutes. He did really good with that. Once he was done Cathy had him stand inside of a three-sided wooden box (shaped like a U) and take some bolts out of it ... move them to the other side ... and put them back in the board. Not only did he undo the bolts (and the nuts & washers), he put the bolts back on but only after he made sure the washers were in the RIGHT place!! He really does mechanical things well!! He was standing during this process and she was impressed at how hard Paul was working to steady himself while he was standing. She had to help him a bit but he was really doing well. She was impressed! She attempted to get Paul to transfer himself from the table to his wheelchair but when she went to help him he immediately tried to stand up so she just helped him turn and sit in his chair. This needs more practice! It would be nice if he could transfer himself! Tonight at dinner we asked Paul if he wanted to go to Denny's after I got home from choir and he said "no". We usually do this after choir (Carl, Bill, Ronda & I) but we decided to come back to the house for coffee instead. Dad purchased a video on Pay Per View so we all watched that. Paul wanted to stay up to see the entire movie and didn't go to bed until after 10:30pm again tonight!

Have a great day! TGIF Lynne & Carl