Paul's Update - 08/29/07

Dear Friends:

Paul continues to have progress each day. We have new things each day it seems. Monday morning Dad got Paul up and dressed. It was my day off so we decided to take a ride to Skyline Drive. Dora went with us. Paul now gets into the car pretty much by himself. He was ready to get out of the house. We drove up through Warrenton to Luray and got on the Skyline Drive there. While we were there we got a handicap pass to the National Parks for Paul. Since he enjoys going to Skyline Drive this will get much use!! We didn't see a lot of wildlife but we DID see two young bucks (deer) that were right on the side of the road. They still had soft fuzz on their antlers. This was especially interesting for Dora since she has never seen deer that close up. We stopped at the visitor center and had lunch in their dining room. The walkway to the visitor center is very steep and Dad had to help Paul quite a bit but he walked the whole way. There was a large cloud hanging low over the visitor center so we couldn't see down into the valley. We enjoyed lunch anyway. When we got ready to leave we were walking in the parking lot and the cloud came down almost to the ground. Dora was very surprised ... she'd never seen that either!! We spent most of the day riding and got home about dinner time. Bill came over after dinner to work on my computer. While we were in the office to Paul came in to watch us work on the computer. We have a new bath chair that will lower Paul into the bathtub so he can take a BATH instead of having to take a shower ALL the time. He sat on the old bath chair that was in the in the office since there is not extra space in the bathroom to store it. When we were done with the computer Paul moved back to the living room and watched TV. He stayed up pretty late that night.

Tuesday Paul had a dentist appointment. This was the visit to have the permanent caps put on. The dentist was running late and Paul had to wait in the office for an extra 45 minutes before seeing the dentist. The dentist had to take the temporary caps off with his drill since they had sealed better than normal. Dad said Paul did well. Paul will have one more appointment to build up the base of his teeth in front of the caps and then he will be DONE with the work that we planned to do. After Paul was done at the dentist Dad took the van to get an oil change. We will be traveling with it over the weekend and want it to be ready. Dad brought Paul & Dora home after getting McDonalds for lunch then headed back out after lunch to do errands (getting Paul's medicine and supplies). Dora stayed with Paul. Just before dinner Carolyn, Billy, Alysa, Nadia (Alysa's friend) & Chris came by to bring Dad's truck back. Billy borrowed it on Monday to take his jet ski out. We ordered Chinese food for dinner. Dad was going to order Paul the Sesame chicken but when I asked Paul if he wanted that he said "No" so we got him beef and broccoli. He seemed to enjoy it! After he finished eating I got him up (all by myself!!) and we went outside to sit and visit. We stayed outside for about an hour. It is really nice that almost anyone can get Paul up ... it makes it easier to encourage him to get out of his chair and do things with us. After Carolyn & Billy left we came back in the house and Paul watched TV with us until almost 11pm.

Wednesday is therapy day. Dad & Dora got Paul up and dressed. They have to be at the hospital by 9:30am. The Occupational Therapist had Paul throw a balloon to her, he stretched a bit, then she had the sticky notes on the wall for him to identify. He had more trouble doing the identifying but he would take them off the wall and hand them to her. He sat at a table and had to pick up marbles one by one in each hand (all at once). He was able to handle nine marbles in each hand. He had to manage his hand to hold marbles while picking up more. After OT he headed to speech. He didn't want to work with the therapist today. She tries really hard but when he doesn't want to work ... there isn't much MAKING him!! After an hour went by they headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Paul had pizza and Dad had a cheeseburger. The cheeseburger upset Dad's stomach so when they got home they didn't do much. Paul watched TV with Dora until I got home. I decided to clean out the van so it would be ready for our trip. After I got done Paul decided he wanted to come out to the garage. He walked out there and down the steps. He headed to Dad's motorcycle and wanted to sit on it. He turned his back to it and sat on the seat. Then he pulled his left leg over the seat so he was sitting properly on it. He sat there for about 10 minutes while Dad talked to him about when he use to ride his own motorcycle. He doesn't seem to remember much about it but he WAS interested in it! We went out to dinner with Bill and Ronda about 8pm. We went to a new restaurant in town, The City Grille. We had a very nice dinner and got home around 10pm. We watched the news and Paul went to bed after 11:30pm.

Like I said before ... something good happens each day. Paul does so many wonderful things ... a little at a time ... day by day! What a miracle we are experiencing ... God is truly good to us!

Have a great day, Carl & Lynne