Paul's Update - 06/09/07

Dear Friends:

The last few days have been busy. Thursday started out with Paul having breakfast in the living room on the couch. He had an appointment for Therapy at 9:30. Cathy worked him pretty good. She had him balance on the exercise ball for a bit. He walked from the therapy room out through the waiting room, out to the hallway and all the way to the hospital lobby. Once they got out there Cathy bought Paul a smoothie from the coffee bar. He enjoyed that! Once he was back in the therapy room he had used up all of him appointment time so they got him back in the wheelchair to go home. The afternoon was pretty quiet. Bill & Ronda came over in the evening for bible study. It turned out that nobody else was able to come so we just had coffee and visited for a while. Paul ended up staying up until after 11pm. Friday Paul had an appointment with his general practitioner. She wants to start him on two new drugs. One stimulates brain growth and the other helps with the brain synapses (the connection between the brain cells). The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells, or neurons. Transmission of an electrical signal from one neuron to the next is effected by neurotransmitters, chemicals which are released from the first neuron and which bind to receptors in the second. This link is called a synapse. On average, each neuron is connected to other neurons through about 10,000 synapses." One of the side affects is a possibility of seizures but she is starting him on a very low dose. She believes his risk is very low since he is on anti-seizure medicines and it has been close to a year since his last seizure. He seems to be doing well with it. It seems to make him a little more active even though he won't talk to us much. After the doctor appointment Dad & Paul went to pick up Max at the daycare and he spent the day with them. He is so close to walking ... it won't be long. He is taking about 3-4 steps on his own before he sits back down on the floor. He is busy all the time and is mostly a very happy child. Once Tabby picked him up Dad, Paul & I went out for dinner at the Chinese Restaurant. Bill & Ronda had things to do at home and couldn't come with us. We had a nice dinner but got home a bit late. Paul wanted to sit up for a while and went to bed about 10:45pm. Carolyn went to the doctor during the afternoon. Her doctor said that if she doesn't have the baby over the weekend he will induce labor on Monday morning. So ... we will have a new grandson by Monday! Saturday morning Ronda and I went out around 8am. Paul was sitting in his bed when I left watching a movie and drinking his coffee. He didn't want to talk to us today. It was challenging to get him to say anything. He seemed to have plenty of "pep" when he walked but when Dad asked "is this one of your no talking days?" he nodded "yes". After I took Ronda home I headed out to the grocery store to get some things for a BBQ. Jen's family was coming over so we could meet. Now that we are all going to be family it is important to know each other!! They were suppose to come around 2:30pm. Alysa (our granddaughter) had a dance recital at 1pm so I went to see her dance. Her class did a dance to the music of "I love Lucy" and they were in red & white Polka dot dresses. They were so cute. Once I got home Bobby & Jen were already there. Bobby takes care of preparing the steaks ... he has a "special sauce" which makes him the master of preparation!! Jen's family arrived about 3pm and we visited for about four hours. We really enjoyed them and we are excited about planning a wedding!! Paul didn't want to go outside so we ate in the living room. As the evening came he decided to go out on the deck with the other guys. He was determined to sit on the lounge chair. It was difficult getting him on and off of it but he enjoyed sitting on it! Bill, Ronda & Lew came over after everyone left and we had coffee. We missed out on Mexican food with them this afternoon so it was nice to have them over. Paul was pretty tired by 10:30pm and headed off to bed.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl