Paul's Update - 05/03/07

Dear Friends:

Paul had Physical Therapy today. Cathy is a hard worker!! She had Paul peddle on the exercise bike for 6 minutes. They worked on the exercise ball again. He has to sit on it and keep his balance. They played the card game "war" while he sat on the ball. Each person draws a card and the one who has the higher card "wins". Each time he drew a card she would ask him "who won?" and he would tell her either you or us (dad was helping him). He was right every time except once!! He wouldn't shuffle the cards for her but he was willing to cut the deck. He stood at the free standing table and removed bolts, moved them to the other side of the box and put them back. Paul had to stand by himself in front of the box, the therapist was there in case he lost his balance but he did good most of the time. After they got home Paul and Dad sat out on the deck for a while. Cousin Tony came by to visit for a bit. Paul did lots of walking again today. He is really not using the wheelchair much. When he came to the dinner table tonight he was able to walk all the way to the table, turn around and he sat down with minimal assistance! Aunt Shirley and cousin Anna came by to visit for a while. They were in the area since Anna had a doctor appointment in Arlington this afternoon. After dinner I went to choir practice. I got home around 9pm. The house was full of people!! Carolyn's friends Jennifer & Alicia were here. Alicia had her son Damian who is just over a year old. Max was also here, it was fun keeping an eye on two toddlers (uh ... busy toddlers!). We really enjoyed them! Paul seemed to enjoy all the company. Paul stayed up until almost 10pm. He was pretty tired. Friday Dad will take Paul to the hospital to have an MRI done. This is a follow-up that he normally does when a patient is about a year into recovery to make sure that everything is working OK. Since Paul has a PV shunt he will check to make sure that it is working correctly. Paul still seems to have a lot of headaches and this is a possible cause for concern. Hopefully we will find that there is nothing to worry about!!

Have a great weekend! TGIF Lynne & Carl