Paul's Update - 11/28/07

Dear Friends:

Sunday we went to breakfast with Bill & Ronda. They didn’t have the kids so it was just the five of us. After breakfast we went back to the house and Max arrived to go to Sunday School. Ronda had Max & Chris in the nursery class. Max is very good with Chris ... he was trying to share his toys with Chris! It was very cute to watch! After church we headed home and spent the afternoon with Max. Football is the word of the day on Sunday ... even when it is disappointing! Max was here until about 7pm.

Monday we got up early and headed to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond. We are participating in a study of the effects of brain injury on survivors and their families. We had an appointment at 11am but that means we have to leave our house around 8am. We stopped and got breakfast on the way. Dora went with us. Our meeting ended about 1:15pm. We arrived back home around 4:00pm. Since it was my birthday we decided to go out to dinner. We waited until Dora went home at 7pm before we headed out. We went to Sweetwater Tavern in Centreville. Carl and I had the Crab Cakes and Paul had ... Salmon! He was really hungry and ate everything on his plate!! It was all delicious! Paul stayed up until almost 11pm before he was ready for bed.

Tuesday we had someone coming to do repairs on our boiler so Carolyn and Chris came over and stayed while Dad & Paul were at Physical Therapy. They worked on walking and balance most of the time. After PT Paul had Occupational Therapy. Paul was pretty worn out from the PT. She always works on stretching Paul’s muscles first. They worked on tossing balls. He would throw them to Dad and Dad would throw them back to him. He is getting better at throwing and catching. They worked on sticking pegs in a pegboard. He had to fill in a row of pegs. He would pick them up two at a time and maneuver them in his hands to put them in the board one at a time! They also worked with a jar that had coins in it. He was sitting on the floor and he had to bend over to pick up the jar. He had to dump the coins out on a table. The therapist put out a quarter, a penny and a nickel. She told him to move the quarter over to the side ... which he did. Then she had him pick out which coins were the quarters. He found them and stacked them into a pile! He likes sorting the coins and stacking them according to what kind of coin they are! Then he had to pick up the coins and put them in the jar. He would pick them up three at a time in a stack and put them in the jar. He dropped a penny on the floor so the therapist moved the table out of the way and asked him to pick it up. He had to bend over and reach for it but he was able to get it and put it in the jar!! Dad & Paul got home about 3:45pm. Dad & I had eye doctor appointments at 4pm so we headed right back out. We got home in time for me to fix a quick dinner before I went back out to have my hair done. I spent a lot of time getting my suitcase ready for our trip. We leave on Friday and I hadn’t started packing yet. Paul stayed up until 11pm.

Wednesday Paul had another OT appointment at 9:30am. This is a different therapist but they all start out with stretching Paul’s muscles. She told Dad that she thought he might benefit from muscle relaxers. I’m not sure we really want to go there again!! She had a plastic erector set. Paul had to build an airplane. It is a simple plan but he had to look at a picture that had five steps to follow. He had to figure out which pieces went together and it even had a little chair that he had to screw in. He seemed to follow directions quite well ... the therapist had to give him some hints but he did the work! That used up most of the therapy session. We had to have the guy come back to finish working on the boiler in the afternoon. It looks like we are going to have to order some parts but the boiler is working!! Yahoo! Dora (the nurse) informed us this afternoon that her dad passed away yesterday. It looks like she is going to Ghana in December for about 2½ weeks. She called Gradis (the weekend nurse) to see if she could cover for her and she agreed. We will miss Dora but Gradis will be very helpful while she is gone. A visiting nurse from the home health care agency came today. Paul was sitting in his chair with a blanket. The nurse said he was going to take Paul’s blood pressure so Paul took his arms out from under the blanket and held his arm up so the nurse could do the blood pressure cuff on it! He just did a general check of Paul’s vital signs. This is just a routine follow-up appointment so the agency knows how Paul is doing. Dad went and picked up Max at the daycare about 6pm. Mommy was running late so he got to spend some time with us. Paul was not feeling well this evening. His stomach was upset and he complained of a headache. Dad gave him some Tums and Tylenol. He didn’t really want to go to bed but Dad convinced him to go to bed about 11:30pm. Hopefully he will be feeling better Thursday!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/24/07

Dear Friends:

Friday was a quiet day. We stayed home ... no appointments, no work, no SHOPPING!! LOL Dora was back. Dad & Paul have been watching the Star Wars Movie Series so they watched several movies throughout the day. I spent lots of time in my office ... cleaning & filing! It is a place that constantly needs work and I don’t always have time to do a really good job. Dad has been encouraging Paul to do more standing up by himself. He is doing really well and gets up by himself most of the time. Dad is always nearby and sometimes Paul does lose his balance but he is doing extremely good. We went out to dinner with Bill & Ronda. We left early so we could beat the dinner crowd at Olive Garden. We only had to wait a couple of minutes while they prepared the table for us. Paul had ... FISH!! He really likes fish lately. They say fish is “brain food” ... I wonder if there is any relationship?? After dinner we headed to our house for coffee and a movie. Paul had gotten the movie Evan Almighty for his birthday so we decided to watch it. Paul was ready for bed about 11pm.

Saturday morning Gradis showed up and helped Dad get Paul up. She began her cleaning once Paul was up, dressed & in the bathroom. I really like the fact that the carpet & floors get cleaned every Saturday!! Gradis was so excited when Paul got up from the chair all by himself. She really enjoys seeing Paul do well. About 2pm we headed out to El Agave for lunch. We took two cars since the van wouldn’t start ... the battery is dead. I guess we need to use it more often!! LOL I must admit ... it is nice that Paul doesn’t really need the van or the chair lift anymore!! After lunch Bill, Ronda & I went to the hospital to visit Michelle. Dad, Paul & Gradis headed home. Michelle was sitting up when we arrived and looked very well for someone who just had open heart surgery! We didn’t stay long since Michelle had been sitting up for some time and was very exhausted. Bill needed to stop at the radio station where he works to check on one of his computers so I got a chance to see the station! It isn’t anything like WKRP in Cincinnati!! LOL Once I arrived home I found that Carolyn wanted to take Alysa to the movies so she needed me to watch Chris for a while. They had a great time but Chris was very tired and fighting sleep ... he was ready to go home!! Just before bed Paul got my attention. I asked him if he needed something and he said “yes”. Dad asked him “do you need to go to the bathroom?” and he said “yes”. I’ve been trying to get him to tell us when he needs the bathroom so I asked him “what do you say?” He started out slow but SAID “I ... need ... bathroom”! He said this totally by himself ... I didn’t even prompt him!! WOW ... what a breakthrough (I hope!). Sometimes I think he probably could say other things that he just won’t try to say. He was tired but he stayed up until almost 11pm. I set the vaporizer up for him since he is still very congested ... we all are! He seems to be progressing through the cold and I hope he will be mostly over it by the end of the week!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/22/07

Dear Friends:

This has been a busy week for all of us. Unfortunately most of the week Carl, Paul & I have all been fighting a terrible cold. We started off Monday pretty slowly. Dad said Paul had appointments at 1pm & 2pm so we took our time with breakfast. I tried to get some cleaning done while they were watching TV. At 10am the phone rang ... it was the therapist’s office wondering where Dad & Paul were. Evidently Dad got his appointment times confused and the appointment for Monday was actually at 9:30am and the back to back (1pm-2pm) appointments were suppose to be on Tuesday. It was too late to reschedule for that same day so the secretary managed to reschedule Paul for a “make-up” time on Wednesday. Dad asked Paul if he wanted to go to the gym and he said “yes” but when it came time to go Paul wouldn’t budge. He can be so stubborn sometimes. Paul has been struggling to walk this week. It’s possible that all the congestion is causing some balance problems. He has gotten better at getting up from the chair by himself though. My new chair sits him a little higher up and gives him a good position to stand from. Dad had to catch him from falling a couple times. The ladies group from our church paid Paul a visit in the evening with a Thanksgiving Basket of fruit. They stayed and visited Paul for about 15 minutes (they had other stops to make). Paul enjoyed the company ... he usually enjoys company!! We put the vaporizer in his room when it was bedtime. He hasn’t needed any cough medicines ... only nose spray and Tylenol. He didn’t sleep well according to Dad who hears every noise he makes at night.

Tuesday Dad took Paul to PT at 1pm. When they arrived at the hospital they got to the front lobby and the receptionist there asked Dad “do you want a wheelchair for him?”. Dad said “no, he needs to do the walking”. He walked a little more towards the elevator and another lady there said “do you want a wheelchair?”. Again Dad said “no” but Paul said “yes”. She asked him if he knew where he was going and he said “yes” so she said “go ahead then” but he refused to take another step. I guess we need to give him a break ... after all ... he isn’t feeling well!! When they got to the therapy room the therapist wanted to see Paul walk with his cane. He walked down the hallway to the elevator and back. When he got to the turn in the hallway she had him back himself into the “V” of the two walls. She had him stand there without the cane, not touching anything. She told Paul she was going to gently push him and see if he could resist her and keep his balance. She did that about five times and he seemed to do pretty good with it. He really seems to have better balance each day. Then while standing she had him turn at the waist and look over his shoulder and then turn to the other side and look over his other shoulder while balancing himself. After he did that they went to the bar on the wall and walked backwards down the hallway. He does pretty good with this but you have to watch that he doesn’t reach too far back with his hand and lean into it or try to turn around and see where he is going ... he will lose balance when he does that! At 2pm they had OT. The therapist was a student. She had him sit in the wheelchair and she stretched his arms a bit. She got him to take a softball size ball away from her at different angles. She would make him reach above his head and from side to side to reach it. He had to stretch to get it some of the time. She had him reach in the crate and grab a ball and reach his hand straight out and drop the ball into another crate. By the time they got home Paul was pretty tired out. We went out and got Popeye’s chicken for dinner since I was feeling terrible and didn’t want to cook. Funny thing is ... Paul ALWAYS has their FISH! He doesn’t like their chicken. He was feeling pretty bad during the evening. His nose is very stuffy and his voice is horse. The vaporizer seems to help him along with the nose spray. He didn’t sleep much better but then…none of us did.

Wednesday was Paul’s birthday. He is now 27 years old. He was suppose to have therapy but the therapist called and said she had trouble getting a babysitter for her child and had to cancel. That’s OK ... a day at home is good when your sick! I stayed home too. I spent most of the day in bed! Bobby came by and visited in the afternoon. Paul always enjoys visiting with his older brother. Max was here at 3pm since the babysitter was getting ready to go away for Thanksgiving. The weather was in the 60’s and Max enjoyed playing out in the front yard with Pap-Paw and Uncle Bob. Max had brought his Daddy a birthday present ... a movie and a card. Max signed the back of the card ... it looked like scribble to the naked eye but I understand it actually said “I love you”!! We didn’t do cake or celebrate the birthday since we were going to do that on Thursday along with Thanksgiving dinner! Paul got a card from Nana Richard that he opened by himself!! Once it was open, he pulled the card out by himself!! I read him the card and then he had a second envelope with some money in it. Nana & Granddad Richard always sent the amount of money equal to your age for our birthdays ... so he had $27. Paul started taking each bill and laying them on his stomach ... one by one. I asked “are you counting it?” and Paul said “yes”! When he was done I asked him how much it was ... he said “ow”, so I said “Twe” and he said “twenty-five”. I helped him count them again and he followed along with me and did the counting out loud. He did better that way. The interesting thing about this is not only that he did most of the opening and counting by himself ... but he thought it was 25 which would have been the next birthday just after his accident!!! I’m not sure if he remembered that he should be turning 25??? ... hmmm!! Dad said that the other day Paul paid attention to his house when they drove by it which he usually doesn’t do. Dad asked him if he remembered it being his house and he said “yes”. Maybe he is having more memories of his life! I wish he could tell us! We had a quiet evening and Paul went to bed at 9pm since he still feels terrible. He seemed to sleep better.

Thursday morning we got up and started getting ready for our family to arrive for Thanksgiving Dinner. Carolyn came over with Chris and we began preparing food. Dad & Paul were warming up the chairs in the living room. All the family started arriving around noon and we had our dinner about 2pm. There was plenty of food and I don’t think anyone went away hungry ... if they did it was their own fault! LOL We had cake and sang “happy birthday” to Paul after dinner. He only had two candles on his cake ... the 2 & 7 number candles. He had to try two times but he blew out his candles by himself. Everyone stayed until about 5pm. We spent the evening watching a Dudley Moore movie called Santa Clause. I’ve never seen it before ... it was pretty good. I am mindful of how much we have to be thankful for. I was remembering the other day that it was only New Year’s Even last year when Paul stood up by himself for the very first time. I look at where we are today and praise God for our blessings!!

I hope you had a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/18/07

Dear Friends:

I cannot believe I have fallen so far behind. The weeks go by so quickly. Wednesday Paul had Occupational Therapy at 9:30am. They started with stretching to loosen him up. She gave him a 25 piece puzzle to work on. He was able to complete one edge of the border. She gave it to Dad to take home and finish. She had him sit on the exercise ball and lay backward across it. She was trying to get him to stretch out his back. She had him stand, facing the mat on the floor, kneel down on his knees and stand back up. He was in front of the exercise table so he could use it to help. Then they did some knee bends (squats) and stand back up. Dad headed to the doctor’s office after. He thought there was an appointment to have Paul’s blood drawn but the office was closed. They came home after that.

Thursday Paul had PT. He used the cane to walk down the hallway to the therapy room. It takes a long time but it is such good exercise. The therapist had him sit on the mat and lay down. She got him to roll over on his stomach. He hates this position ... and refuses to do anything. She asked him if he would rather walk and he said “yes”. They went to the hallway where there is the railing on the wall. He walked backwards holding onto the bar. She quickly realized she couldn’t touch him or he will depend on her to keep him balanced. He walked backwards for about 40 feet. Then he faced the wall and sidestepped back to where he started and then back the 40ft down the hall. Dad told her that he has him practice with the cane at home so she wanted to see that. Dad gave him the cane and told him to step backwards. She realized he was angling the cane in such a way that it was much the same as using the bar. She was impressed that he figured out how to use the cane to manage himself. After they finished with PT, Paul walked back to the car. They headed to the doctor’s office to have his blood drawn. They need to check the Lithium level in his blood. They headed home after and spent the rest of the day at home. We had bible study that evening.

Friday Dad asked Paul if he wanted to go to the gym. Paul said “yes” but when it was time to leave he refused to get up. Dad asked him if he was feeling bad and he said “yes’. He seems to have a cold (stuffy head, runny nose, etc). They decided to spend the day at home. The doctor’s office called to say that Paul’s Lithium level is low ... which is GOOD!! It looks like we won’t be doing any medicine changes for now! We went out to dinner with Bill & Ronda. We went to Logan’s and Paul had the fish. He usually enjoys the fish. We had a lovely evening. It was really cold so we walked pretty quickly to the car. Paul used his walker ... the walkway is on a slant and is hard for Dad to walk him. Paul still has trouble on ground that isn’t level.

Saturday started as usual with Gradis arriving at 7:30am. She does her cleaning once Paul is cleaned up and dressed. We went to El Agave in Warrenton a bit early since Bill had to do a youth activity at the church at 3pm. Paul used the walker again ... he has that mastered!! It makes the walking quicker. Bob & Jen came over for a visit in the evening. Paul enjoys visiting with his brother. They stayed until Paul was ready for bed ... about 10pm.

Sunday morning Paul wasn’t feeling very well. He got up, dressed and we went to breakfast. Max came just before Sunday school time. I left to pick up Joanne and the boys headed off to church. We made it through Sunday School but Paul was feeling bad (Max was too) so they headed back home during the worship time. Dad spent a good part of the day giving out medicines! Paul had nasal spray and Max had Tylenol and Motrin. Max napped a lot since he wasn’t feeling well. He spent a lot of time on Pap-Paw’s lap too! We watched the football game ... another disappointment!! This evening Paul was holding the Nerf Football that Max had been playing with earlier. Dad asked him to throw it about three feet. Paul hesitated but then tossed it to Dad!! Dad had him do that a couple more times. He took the football from his left hand and put it in his right hand ... then threw it! Since his right arm is not the strong arm….he put the football in his left hand after about two throws with the right hand. He took his right hand supported his left arm so he could throw the ball!! It was quite ingenious!! He seemed a bit disappointed but we were thrilled that he was able to do that activity since he really hasn’t done an “overhead” throw before!! We spent the evening watching TV. Paul’s chair is now moved over to the opposite side of the living room and he seems to enjoy the change in scenery! As we prepare for Thanksgiving this week I am reminded how blessed we are. Not only because Paul is doing so well but we have been blessed with family and friends who have supported and prayed for us. Thank you so very much.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/13/07

Dear Friends:

Sunday started with breakfast at Yorkshire Restaurant. Bill, Ronda, Lew & Serenity were already there. After breakfast we headed to Sunday School and church. Max came just before we left. Pap-Paw made sure Paul & Max were at Sunday school on time. After church we headed home and had lunch just before watching the Redskins game ... another disappointing game. Alysa was spending the day and came home with us. Max was at our house until almost 8pm. He had a little rash on his face that we were not too concerned about. He had it all day but after he went to bed he woke about an hour later with it all over his body. Mommy took him to the hospital to be checked out. We had a pretty quiet evening. Alysa stayed overnight with us since Monday was a school holiday. Paul was ready for bed pretty early. He doesn’t seem to be adjusting to the time change yet. By 10pm he is ready for bed.

Monday Max came early. The doctor decided that since he was taking an anti-biotic for an ear infection last week that he may have had an allergic reaction. He stayed with us for the day. His daycare provider took the day off. Pap-Paw got him breakfast along with Paul. After breakfast Aunt Cathy called and was heading over to go shopping with me ... actually I was going shopping with her ... well you know what I mean!! LOL Dad was busy with Max mostly ... good thing Dora is here! Carolyn came over with Chris and spent part of the day. Paul was very entertained watching the kids and Pap-Paw play on the floor. Dad put together a rocking Harley Davidson Motorcycle (like a rocking horse) for Max. He had gotten it for Christmas last year but was too small until now to play with it. Max was trying to help. He picked up the wrench and screwdriver and was trying to use them on the motorcycle. He’s just like his Daddy!! Paul was practicing his words more. Some days he is more willing to talk than other days. He normally will say “hi” and when asked “how are you?” he will answer “good”. We encouraged him to ask “How are you?” and although he did it slowly ... he said “how ... are ... you?” He only needed a little prompting to get him started but he was able to complete this three word sentence by himself. Later I asked him if he wanted something to drink. He had his mouth full of carrots and was trying to chew fast and swallow to answer me. I had asked him “do you want soda or tea?” He finished up chewing ... I waited for him to finish ... and then he said (without me asking again) ... ”Tea”. The significance of this is ... he remembered what I asked him while finishing what was in his mouth to answer me! Wow! Max went home about 7pm. Carolyn stayed with the kids until about 8pm. Paul was tired and ready for bed about 10pm.

Tuesday Paul had a doctor appointment with his neurologist. It has been six months since this doctor saw him last. Can you believe that?? A LOT has happened in six months. The doctor was first amazed to see Paul walk into the office. The last time he saw Paul he was still using the wheelchair. He asked Paul to reach out and touch his hand ... which Paul did without trouble. Then he asked him to touch his nose, then touch the doctors hand again ... he repeated this a couple times. Then he asked Paul if he could touch each of his fingers with his thumb. Paul said “yes”. When the doctor said “WILL you do it?” ... Paul said “no”. The doctor showed him what he wanted him to do and he was able to do it. He asked Paul “can you straighten your fingers out?” which he did. Dad said “Paul ... can you do the Vulcan sign?” Paul did that ... not only with one hand but BOTH. The doctor was so amazed ... he said that all these activities are fine motor skills which according to the doctor, Paul should not be able to do. He said most people who have strokes or brain injuries take MANY years to recover these skills. He took Paul’s arms and moved them freely and was impressed that Paul doesn’t have any stiffness. He checked all of Paul reflex areas and was impressed that they appear to be normal. It is so gratifying to hear the doctor be so impressed with Paul’s improvements. Dad told him that his goal was to have Paul walk at Bobby’s wedding in April but now the NEW goal is to have Paul walking WITHOUT a cane. The doctor said “THAT WAS A POSSIBILITY”!! The amazing thing about that is ... the doctor thought Dad was crazy a few months ago when he said he wanted to get Paul walking. I think the doctor has become a believer!! Now he wants us to start working with fine motor skills by using something like an erector set (which we have) and other small exercises like puzzles. While Paul was in the office the nurse drew some blood to test his Keppra & Trazadone levels. The doctor was concerned about the Lithium that Paul’s General Practitioner has him taking. This drug causes Kidney damage and doesn’t believe that any benefit is worth the risk of taking it. Dad called the General Practitioner’s office to have blood drawn again on Wednesday to check on the Lithium levels. After leaving the doctor’s office Paul had an appointment at Fair Oaks Hospital for Physical Therapy. They arrived late since the doctor’s visit lasted longer than anticipated. He was only able to get about a half an hour of therapy. They worked on walking in the hallway again. She had him walk backwards along the rail. They spent the whole visit doing this. After PT, Paul had Occupational Therapy. Paul had to take a soda bottle out of the crate and take the top off. He didn’t have any problem with that. She had him stand without touching anything and toss a ball back and forth to her. He did that without losing his balance!! They worked on nuts and bolts ... taking them apart and putting them back together. One of the bolts had a wing nut and a nut. The wing nut got in the way and locked the nut into place ... Paul was able to unscrew the wing nut ... freeing the nut and making it possible to take the nut off. He thought of that ALL BY HIMSELF!! The therapist didn’t even pay attention to it ... but was amazed when she realized what he did! They worked with taking the plastic clips off of the vertical rod again. He had to do it from a sitting position this time. He had to reach pretty far up to reach the ones at the top which made him have to reach as far as his arms could reach. She asked him to take the yellow one off. He said he didn’t know which one was yellow so she showed him another yellow clip ... after which he was able to find the yellow clip and take it off. She asked him to take the red one off. She asked him if he knew which one was red and he said “Yes” . She tried to trick him by pointing at the blue and green ones and asked “Is this red?” He wasn’t going to be fooled ... he KNEW which one it was and said “yes” when she pointed to the red one! She took Paul over to a cabinet that has shelves in it. She had him stand in front of it and he had to take the soda bottles and put them on the top shelf. She had him put them up with one hand and take them back down with the other hand. He had to fold washcloths and put them on the shelf. He is VERY particular about how he folds things ... this was not exception. He was like that before the accident!! She thought it was funny that he was so picky! It had to be PERFECT before he would put it on the shelf ... all the seams had to match and if it moved…he started over!! LOL Dad, Dora & Paul had to make a long walk back to the car ... Dad had forgotten to bring the walker (actually it was in the trunk of MY car!). It took a long time to get there but Paul walked the whole way! Unfortunately Paul didn’t get lunch until almost 4pm since they had so many appointments. We also had an appointment with the case worker from Brain Injury Services in the evening. She is working to help us understand the Medicare information since Paul will be eligible for Medicare in April next year. We had a nice visit with her. Paul was exhausted and was ready for bed about 10pm. He was having trouble walking ... probably from all the activity of the day! It is not surprising for a patient with TBI to wear out easily but we often push him pretty hard during the day!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/10/07

Dear Friends:

Thursday was a busy day for Paul. He had therapy twice in one day. He had a 10:30am PT appointment but the therapist called and changed it to 2pm. She called AFTER Dad had already headed to the hospital but he was willing to make the change anyway. They came back to the house and waited until after lunch. Once Paul got there the therapist wanted to see how Paul walks with the cane. She took him into the hallway and had him walk while holding the railing on the wall. He got tired and so they went to the waiting room and sat for a few minutes. Then she had him go back to the rail and walk backwards the length of the rail while holding onto the rail with one hand. He went backward and forward several times. Then she had him face the wall holding onto the rail with both hands and do several side steps in front of the wall. He did that a couple of times. They went back to the therapy room and he sat on the exercise table. He laid on his back and rolled over onto his stomach. She wanted him to raise his head up but he refused and complained. She finally got him to roll back over and sit on the edge of the table. She brought him some cones. He had to grab the cones and put them on the table to his right. This was to make him bend and twist at the waist. Then she had him switch hands and move the cones to the opposite side. OT was right after they finished PT. The OT therapist had Paul pull some sticky notes off the wall. They had alphabet letters on them. He didn’t have to identify them ... just pull them off the wall. Several were over his head which made him have to stretch a bit. Then she wrote his name on one and had him find his name and pull it off. Dad said he did OK with it even though she had to remind him a couple of times what it was he was looking for! Then she got a plastic jar that had some change in it. He had to unscrew the lid and dump the coins on the table. He didn’t want to dump them out so she started by doing some of them and he did the rest. She separated the coins and he had to find the quarters and put them in the jar. He had to do that a couple of times before she asked him to put ALL of the coins in the jar. He started picking up three or four at a time and put them in the jar. Then he had to put the lid back on the jar. She told him to tighten the lid on the jar so she couldn’t open it. He tightened it up so much that she actually had a hard time getting the lid off ... remember how strong he is?? After they finished she had him stand up and reach for clips on a vertical rod. He had to stretch his arms and reach over his head for some of them. He had to take the clips off the rod by their color. He recognizes his colors fairly well and did a good job with it. By that time they had used up all his therapy time. He was pretty tired but had a great workout. We had bible study that evening. Ronda brought dinner as usual. We really like the fact that she enjoys cooking!! LOL Our TV was not working in the living room. The Cable Box went out. Paul went into his bedroom after bible study and watched TV from his bed. He was able to use the remote for his bed and he had the massager on while he watched TV. He was ready for bed by about 11pm.

Friday morning started with the Comcast Cable guy (no pun intended!!) coming to fix our cable box. It turned out that the cable box was bad and it was an easy fix. Paul had decided that he was enjoying the ability to stay in bed and watch TV. He had breakfast in bed while he watched TV. Some days you just HAVE to do stuff like that!! Later in the morning we received delivery of the second new chair we bought. We actually bought it back when we bought Paul’s new recliner but this one was a special order. It is actually my chair that was replacing the chair we got rid of. It is also leather but it is smaller (more my size!). Dad went out after the chair was delivered for a while and Paul stayed with Dora. It is so nice that Dora can handle Paul by herself so Dad can get out once in a while. Later in the evening we met with Ronda & Bill and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. We left early since Ronda and I were suppose to be at choir practice by 7:30pm. Unfortunately we got there right behind several LARGE groups (30 or more people) and we had to wait an hour to be seated. The dinner was worth the wait. Ronda & I got to the church about 8pm and realized that choir had to be cancelled due to the fact that another church group uses our sanctuary on Friday nights!! OOPS! I went home and had a quiet evening. Paul had a chance to talk on the phone. He talked for about 10 minutes. It is amazing to watch him talk on the phone. He actually tries to say more words over the phone than he is willing to say in person!! Most of the conversation is still “yes” and “no” but he occasionally says other words (or at least tries).

Saturday morning Gradis came and started to get Paul ready to take his shower. Dad had left him in the bathroom and when he went in to get him undressed for the shower ... he was ALREADY undressed. He had taken his clothes off by himself! After showering he went to the living room for breakfast. Gradis did her cleaning while Ronda and I were out. Dad & Paul were watching the history channel on TV and they were talking about the history of the Frito-Lay company. Dad got a craving for potato chips so he went to the 7-11 to get some for Paul and himself. Who says we aren’t influenced by TV?? LOL Carolyn, Alysa & Chris came over and went out to lunch with us. Chris is growing so quickly and is lots of fun. We rode in Carolyn’s van so we wouldn’t have to change the baby seat around. Paul got to sit in the front seat and Dad drove. Ronda & Bill had Lew & Serenity with them. We were a pretty large group and we had to use TWO baby chairs!! After we came home ... Billy came over for a little visit before he headed off to work. He was on the floor playing with Alysa and Paul was enjoying the merriment!! Carolyn and the kids stayed until about 7:30pm. We watched the Wizard of Oz and Paul was ready for bed about 10:30.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/07/07

Dear Friends,

Monday was a quiet day for Paul. Dad & I had some errands to do. We left about 10am to visit with Paul’s social services case worker. She needed to update her file now that Dad & I are Paul’s guardians. Paul stayed with Dora while we were gone. Once we got home Dad made lunch for Paul. I went out to have lunch with Ronda. She and I had appointments for facials at 2:30pm. It was a nice way to spend time together and spoil ourselves a bit! Dad & I ordered Pizza for dinner. Paul enjoyed that! I had a meeting at the church until about 9pm. Paul still hasn’t adjusted to the time change and went to bed about 10pm.

Tuesday Paul had a dentist appointment at 12:20. The hygienist called in sick so they rescheduled him to come in at 1pm to see a substitute hygienist. She examined Paul’s teeth and discovered a couple of small cavities. She instructed Dad about how to do a better job of cleaning Paul’s teeth. Dora usually does this activity so Dad told her about it. She doesn’t go in with Dad when they are at the dentist ... she stays in the waiting room since there is limited space around the dental chair. Dad, Paul & Dora came home after the dentist appointment. Paul spent the afternoon watching movies with Dora. Dad worked on winterizing our boat since the weather will be getting pretty cold soon. After dinner I had an appointment and then went to the grocery store afterwards. Paul & Dad enjoy when I go to the store ... they have lots of choice for snacking!

Wednesday morning Paul had OT at 9:30am. The therapist had Paul work on putting his coat on and taking it off. He had to stand up, zip up his coat and then unzip it. He did that a few times. She had him work on a puzzle that had several shapes ... circles, squares, rectangles etc. He had to pick the right shapes and place them on the puzzle board. He did pretty good at that. He got bored after a few times but Dad encouraged him to finish. He finished without any help. She had him go to the stairs and hold onto the rail while taking balls out of a milk crate and transfer them to a chair that was an arms length away. He had to stretch and bend in order to place them on the chair. I thought this sounded a lot like doing the dishes at the dishwasher!! I think he needs more practice!! LOL ... Dad brought Paul home for lunch instead of eating at the hospital. They stopped on the way home to get Paul a haircut. His hair had gotten very long. After lunch Dad tried to encourage Paul to go to the gym but he wasn’t interested in doing that. Dad went out shopping later in the afternoon. Paul stayed with Dora. After dinner I spent some time learning about the new camera I bought for our cruise that is coming up the first of December. We are looking forward to it and starting to prepare for it! Paul was tired and ready for bed by 10pm again. Thursday Paul will have OT & PT. This is to make up for the PT that he missed out on last week.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/04/07

Dear Friends:

Friday morning Dad headed out for Paul’s doctor appointment at 9:30am. His appointment was at 10am with the general practitioner. She was pleased to see Paul doing so well. She didn’t change any of his medicines ... yeah!! It is really nice that we don’t have to go through that since he always has a difficult time when there are med changes! She gave Paul & Dad their flu shots while they were there! The afternoon was quiet but Dad went and picked up Max at the babysitter’s at about 5pm. He spent about an hour and a half at our house before Mommy got home. He is such a joy and he just LOVES playing with Pap-Paw! Paul was watching them and at one point he looked up with a smile. Bill was out of town and Ronda had plans so we called Bobby & Jen to go out to dinner with us. We went to Yorkshire Restaurant. While we were waiting for our food Vikki said that Ronda was coming there for dinner also!! We ended up eating at the table next to Ronda & Jessie. Not our traditional dinner out with Ronda but we enjoyed seeing her. Jen wasn’t hungry but Bobby ate a nice meal. Paul had the Salisbury steak dinner and a dessert! When we got back to the house Bobby commented on Paul’s hair. He said “looks like you got a mullet thing going on” and Paul looked up with a big grin!! I think he was amused by Bob’s sarcasms!

Saturday Gradis came and I didn’t even hear her come in. She got Paul dressed and ready to start his day. Dad found a movie on the TV after breakfast that they were watching. I did some cleaning in the laundry room since that room has gotten out of control!! I was able to start some laundry while I worked in there. Since Bill was out of town and we had dinner plans for the evening we didn’t go to Warrenton for Mexican food. We have not been there for several weeks ... we need to get back on track!! LOL We went to the church in the evening for the Turkey & Oyster dinner that our church was doing. We were there until about 8:30pm. Paul enjoys Turkey ... not oysters. Alysa & I ate oysters! Carolyn and I were also helping in the dessert room. This dinner is quite a production for our church and it went really well ... a good time was had by all!!

Sunday morning Paul was up about 6am which was OK since Gradis came in around 6:30 (she forgot to set her clocks back!!). After he was up and showered we prepared to go out for breakfast with Ronda & Lew. Paul now uses his cane when we go out. Even though we are at Yorkshire Restaurant almost every Sunday some people don’t really know what happened to Paul. Our waitress asked me what happened to him ... she didn’t know even though she sees him all the time and has rejoiced with us as he has made progress! Everyone is always very nice about making room for Paul to walk past the tables. It is an old restaurant and the walkways are really not designed for persons with handicaps. Sunday was the 2nd anniversary of his survival from his horrible accident. It was a pretty normal day ... normal for us anyway! We went to Church as we usually do. It was communion Sunday and Paul WALKED up the aisle to receive communion. It was an emotional day for Dad & me. What a wonderful way to celebrate Paul’s miraculous recovery! Max came to church with us. All of our grandchildren were there this morning ... what a blessing! Chris was a little fussy and it is suspected that he is teething! Max spent the afternoon with us. He napped for a while but was up for several hours for us to play with him. Every once in a while he will go to Paul and stand at his knees. Paul seems to enjoy watching him. I look forward to the day that HE is on the floor playing with Max but for now Pap-Paw does that! Paul was up walking a lot during the day. Sometimes he just wants to walk around ... it is such good exercise for him! He was tired and ready for bed about 10pm. The time change will probably take time for his body to get use to since he doesn’t function by the clock ... he just wakes when he wants and usually goes to bed about 16 hours later.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 11/01/07

Dear Friends:

Tuesday morning Paul had Physical Therapy. As I said before, this is such a good time for him to be doing PT since he is now walking and regaining his balance. The therapist had him do some balancing activities. He did some squatting, sitting and walking. She told Dad that he needs to encourage Paul to have some “chores” around the house so that he is doing exercise without much effort. Daily routine activities encourage normal movements. After finishing with the therapy Dad took Paul to the pool. Evidently the pool has been VERY cold lately but Paul seems to enjoy being in the water. He walks well in the water. Dad pulled him through the water on his back (grabbing his legs) and he had to keep himself above the water. He has a flotation belt on but he still had to use his trunk muscles to keep his head above the water.

Wednesday Paul had OT. She stretched him first then they worked with a puzzle to make patterns with the pieces. It has different colors that he had to sort them and match them on the board. He is a bit defiant some times but he eventually does what she wants. Dad said he did well with it once he was ready to cooperate!! Later in the day Paul was walking around and walked to the kitchen. Dad asked him if he wanted to help unload the dishwasher and he said “yes”!! Dad had him open the dishwasher and take out the dishes. He put them on the counter and Dad put them away. In order to do this he had to bend down to reach the dishes! After all the dishes were put away Dad got him to LOAD the dishwasher. Dad gave him the dishes and he loaded them. He would take the glasses and turn them upside down and put them in!! Dad said he did a really good job. At dinner we had Paul come to the table to eat. We’ve been a little lazy and let him eat with a tray table a lot. Since we’ve had lots of spills on the carpet we decided we really need to eat at the dinner table. He actually enjoys sitting with us. He always waits for us to pray ... and finishes with “amen”!! Trick or treaters started coming about 6:15pm. We didn’t have very many ... maybe a dozen or so all evening!! Not surprising ... we never get many kids to come to our house. Paul tired out early and went to bed about 10:30pm.

Thursday we were wakened by a call from Carolyn. She had been sick all night and was at the emergency room with the kids. I dressed and went to pick up Alysa & Chris and they stayed with me while she was getting checked out. It turns out she only has a virus. Paul had PT again. Dad, Dora & Paul headed out about 10am. The therapist had him catch a ball and throw it back to her. She had him practice sitting up straight and stretching his arms in front of a mirror. They did some walking with a full length mirror that had wheels. She had him push it across the floor. After they came home Dad went and got McDonald’s food for lunch. Paul likes the fish fillet. It was our bible study night but only Ronda showed up. She had a new dinner that she made from a cookbook that her Mom gave us when we were there last week. It was yummy ... Paul loved it. We visited and them had dessert ... Ronda feeds us really good!! She stayed until about 9pm. Dad & Paul watched a horror film ... The Headless Horseman ... I didn’t watch!!! Paul liked it.

Friday Paul has a doctor appointment with his General Practitioner. She is following up on the medicine he takes to encourage synaptic activity and brain tissue growth. Sunday is the 2nd anniversary since Paul’s accident. We will probably have a quiet day but we certainly have plenty to celebrate!! I cannot believe that two years have gone by. I sometimes look back at my old emails (I saved all of them!) and it is really hard to read the stuff from those early days. I’m so thankful that God has been by our side and that we have such wonderful friends and family that have supported us and prayed for us.

Have a great weekend, Lynne & Carl