Paul's Update - 01/20/08

Dear Friends:

This has been a most interesting week. With Dora & Gradis both gone we weren’t sure we would get a nurse for the week. Tuesday Paul had therapy at 1pm & 2pm. Dad had to take him by himself ... but it is certainly something Dad can handle. Physical therapy was first. Paul did more walking. She worked him pretty hard. The occupational therapist had him work on putting bottles on a shelf above his head, then take them back down while standing by himself. He was pretty tired from the PT and didn’t want to cooperate much. She had him separate some coins which he did OK at first but then he got bored with it and was just putting them in random order.

Wednesday morning we were expecting a male nurse to show up. When Dad woke the nurse was not here yet. When I went to leave for work at 8:30 he still wasn’t here. Dad called to find out what happened to him and was told that he was at Paul’s house and had been knocking at the door for an hour!! It turns out he was at Tabby’s house ... not ours!! He finally made it to our house after I left. He and Dad seemed to get along well. He is also from South Africa. His name is Mayah. He got to help Dad with getting Paul to the bathroom. Of course Dad watched him pretty closely to see how he would handle Paul if he began to lose his balance. Dad said he was very attentive and seemed prepared to intervene at the right moment to prevent Paul from losing his balance and falling down. Dad even allowed Mayah to walk Paul without his cane ... something he hasn’t let the other nurses do!

Thursday morning Dad woke to a wonderful surprise! We have a baby monitor in our bedroom to hear Paul during the night. Dad woke up to hear Paul COUNTING! He was saying “eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, he skipped sixteen and said “ow” then said seventeen. He also said something that Dad couldn’t understand. Dad got up to check on him and he realized at that time that Paul was still sleeping! This is VERY significant for a couple of reasons. First he doesn’t usually talk in his sleep and second ... he doesn’t usually count past ten by himself! WOW!!! It really shows us that there is more brain activity than we always get to see! Mayah got lost trying to get to our house. He is coming from Ft. Belvoir which is about a 45 minute drive from us. It was a therapy day and Dad was concerned that he wouldn’t arrive before he & Paul had to leave. He arrived about 9:25 ... they leave at 9:30am! Occupational Therapy begins at 10:30am. Dad, Paul & Mayah headed over to the hospital before it began to snow. We were expecting a pretty bad snow storm but it had not begun yet. The therapist asked Paul if he wanted to exercise his arms first or go to the table and work. He chose to work at the table. She took a piece of paper and drew a partial circle leaving a section open and a rectangle with one side open and a square with a piece missing. Paul was supposed to complete the drawings. She gave him a pen and he worked to draw the pictures. He did the circle easily and the triangle was easy too. She asked him what they were and gave him part of the sound of the word and he would complete the word. He was able to identify the word once she gave him part of the word!!! These are not words we work on so he actually knew what they were ... once you gave him a start! Then the therapist drew a big circle on a piece of paper and gave him scissors and told him to cut it out. He wasn’t interested in doing it but Dad helped him and got him started. Once he was cutting (while Dad held the paper) he decided that he could do it by himself. He took the paper from Dad and finished cutting out the circle. When he got almost to the finish of the circle he just cut the edge off and then went back and TRIMMED THE EDGE!! It is a little rough around the edge but he actually did a pretty good job! After she had him finish that he stood against the wall and put alphabet letters on post-it notes and he had to stick the notes on the wall while free standing. There wasn’t any order to the notes he just had to put them on the wall. He quickly figured out that he could rub the sticky part on the wall and it would stick! After they were all on the wall she had him take them off and put them in order. He would say the letter and then pull the letter off and put them in the right order. He did pretty good and only missed a few of the letters. After Occupational therapy Dad decided that it was snowing pretty hard and would be better to skip Physical therapy so they headed home. The rest of the day was spent at home watching it SNOW!! We got a couple of inches of heavy wet snow and some sleet and ice mixed in.

Friday was much clearer. The day was pretty quiet and Paul didn’t have any appointments. Dad & I had an appointment with the CPA that we hired to help us with the reporting we need to do as Guardians of Paul’s finances. That was at 3pm. After we got home the nurse went home a bit early so he could get a new tire for his car. He had a flat in the snow on Thursday on the way home!! We went out to dinner with Bill & Ronda. We went to Carraba’s in Centreville. We hadn’t been there before and we really enjoyed dinner.

Saturday was more normal than we’ve had lately. We actually got a chance to go to El Agave which we had not done for several weeks since everyone has been sick! Paul enjoyed his lunch but he got sick on the way back home. I wasn’t feeling really well on the trip either. Alysa was with us for the day. She also spent the night Saturday night. She’s been wanting to spend the night with Grandma & Pap-Paw!

Sunday we went to breakfast with Bill & Ronda. Mayah was suppose to come but he wasn’t here when we left so we put a note on the door for him. He was parked out front in his car when we got back!! He went to church with us. Paul was feeling pretty good. Max came over and went to Sunday School & church. He spent the day with us. Paul really enjoys watching him. Many times we see Paul smiling when he watches Max. It is nice to see that kind of emotion out of Paul ... we don’t get much of it so it is very special for us! In the afternoon Max was playing with his Popcorn popper toy. As he pushes it along the floor the balls in it “pop” and it has sound that counts as he does this. Paul was watching him as he went passed his Daddy and then all of a sudden ... out of the blue ... Paul said “nine ... ten”!!! He was COUNTING THE SOUNDS!!! He did this without ANY prompting. WOW ...and WOW! Dad & I looked at each other and were amazed! Paul never just volunteers any speech ... he only speaks AFTER we speak to him. Again ... proof that there is brain activity that we don’t see most of the time! When Mommy came to get Max it was time for kisses before he left. He went around the room and gave out kisses. He stood next to Daddy’s chair and Paul reached down to give him a kiss. Then he climbed in Daddy’s lap to give him a kiss and hug. Paul had a smile from ear to ear. He really enjoys this interaction with Max. Mayah left about 6pm and told us that he had spoken with the nursing agency. It appears that Dora is back in the country and should be back to work on Monday! We are going to be very glad to see her back!! We watched the football game with Green Bay and the NY Giants in the evening and Paul stayed up pretty late. He didn’t go to bed until after 11:30PM.

Have a Great Day! (holiday for some!) ... Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 01/14/08

Dear Friends,

Paul continues to improve in his walking. Wow ... it is so wonderful to have hope that someday he may walk normally! Wednesday Dad rode his motorcycle again. It has been so unusually warm and it is a great opportunity to get out.

Thursday he went to therapy. Since the therapist has been gone she wasn’t aware that Paul was walking without his cane. She told Dad that she read the substitute therapist’s notes from last week and saw that she had written “Paul walked without his cane” and she thought it was a misprint ... that she actually meant “with” his cane. She was amazed when she saw him walk. She told Dad that she would never have thought to have him walk without the cane. Isn’t it amazing how much we limit ourselves to what we have ... instead of attempting to get what we WANT! Gradis told us that she would be leaving on Monday (the 14th) for Ghana. She is very worried about her mother but she also found out that her brother had a stroke. She took the day off on Friday to prepare for her trip. Apparently she talked to Dora and found out that Dora isn’t going to be back from Ghana until Thursday the 17th instead of the 9th. That is going to mean we may not have any nurses for the next week!!

My sister Cathy’s retirement ceremony was on Friday morning. Mom & Ann arrived Thursday night to be here for the big day. Ann spent the night at my home and Mom stayed with Cathy. Dad, Paul, Ann & I left Friday morning at 8:00am to go to Falls Church. We needed to be there for the 10:00am ceremony and expected the traffic to be pretty bad. It turned out that we arrived at the Skyline Towers Building about 9:30am and had plenty of time to park and get to the area for the ceremony. After she was properly honored we visited with her friends and coworkers for a bit before heading to Shirlington to the Capitol City Brewery where we were going to have lunch. There was a reception scheduled there at 3pm. Paul used his walker since we had to do so much walking.

Saturday was a busy day. We didn’t do our regular routine but we instead had Max come for the day. Nana & Aunt Ann had an opportunity to visit with him. Carolyn also came with Alysa & Chris. The kids were very cute and we enjoyed spending the day with them. Mom & Ann spent the night at Cathy’s house since they needed to leave on Sunday morning to go home. Cathy’s house is lots closer to I-95 and it saves them about 20 minutes of driving.

Sunday we didn’t have Max since he spent Saturday with us. We had a Sunday School breakfast which Paul enjoyed ... we all did! I had to help with the 11am service since it was United Methodist Women’s Sunday. After the service the ladies had a Tea with a light lunch. It was a good time for Carolyn, Alysa & me to spend with the other ladies at our church.

Monday was “take the tree down” day. Dad & I started first thing while Paul watched us work and clean! I enjoy Christmas but I was very ready to put everything away and get my living room back in order! Since Gradis is gone and Dora hasn’t returned yet we had no nurse for the day. Dad called the nursing agency to find that they were unaware that we had nobody. They said they would try to find someone and get back to us but we haven’t heard anything yet. It was actually kind of nice to have no nurse for the day ... we got a lot done! Paul has been doing more “normal” walking. His walking isn’t consistent but from time to time he walks with a nice stride. He will go to therapy on Tuesday and we will see what the therapist begins to work on now that he is doing even better! What a nice blessing ... and just when he is eligible for more therapy!! We received a notice today that Paul will be eligible for Medicare in May of this year. We actually knew that would be coming but I’m not sure what that is going to mean for the things we are currently getting through Tabby’s insurance and Medicaid. Just when we think we are understanding our life ... another “thing” to deal with!! Oh well ... we can be thankful for the things we have been blessed with too! Oh yeah!!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 01/08/08

Dear Friends:

Paul continues to do well. Our weeks seem so routine lately. Gradis is still working everyday while Dora is in Ghana. She will finish up this week and Dora will be back next week. It is very different having Gradis all week ... every day! Her husband has been working from 5am until 10pm every night and since Gradis doesn’t drive ... Dad has been picking her up and taking her home at night.

Tuesday last week she was off for the holiday. We stayed home and relaxed on New Year’s Day. It was nice to have a day that was quiet!

Wednesday Dad went to the hospital to pre-register Paul for the therapies that the insurance company has authorized. Since it is the beginning of the year it was very busy with other people signing up for their approved therapies as well! Dad had to wait over an hour to get the registration process started. Paul stayed home with Gradis ... he doesn’t need to be there! Paul had therapy only one day.

Thursday, they went to the hospital at 10:30. The Occupational Therapist is on vacation so he had a substitute. She had him walk from a chair to the workout mat. He worked on throwing a ball back and forth to her. The Physical Therapist was also a substitute since the regular therapist was also on vacation. Paul walked without his cane for her. He was a little tired and had some balance problems but he is getting better.

Friday was a day at home. We went out to dinner with Bill & Ronda once I got home from work. We had Chinese at our favorite restaurant in Centreville. We haven’t been there for a while and it was pretty good.

Saturday we did lunch at El Agave ... another place we haven’t been for a while. Everyone is feeling better so lunch was a good idea! After we got home we were able to relax for the evening. Paul has been pretty tired this week. I’m not sure if he is still fighting a bit of a virus but he has been going to bed around 10pm.

Sunday we went to church. Max came in time for Sunday School. Paul was able to walk up to communion without his cane. This was the first time many people have seen him do that! It is quite an emotional event for all of us that have been watching his improvement over this last two years! Sunday afternoon was a time for football. Max stayed with us for the day. He still has some of his Christmas gifts out and was enjoying them. Funny ... he likes our plastic bells that play music as much as his toys! We watched the Redskins lose their last game of the season. Dad was feeling a bit tired and had an opportunity to take a nap! Paul napped a little too. Max stayed until about 7pm.

Monday we took a trip to Richmond. This was the last visit for the VCU study that we were involved in. It takes us all day to go down and come back. On the way home we got lunch at a BBQ place in Ashland Virginia. We also stopped at Aunt Shirley and Uncle Wally’s house on the way back to visit since we hadn’t seen them since before Christmas. After we got home Dad took his motorcycle out for a little ride. The temperature was in the 70’s all day and promised to be the same on Tuesday. What a great opportunity for Dad to get out of the house and do something he loves.

Gradis stayed with Paul on Tuesday while Dad went out. He came by my office and we went out to lunch together ... something we haven’t been able to do for a long time!! Gradis told us that she is planning to go to Ghana after Dora comes home. Her mother is not well and she is worried that she may not live much longer. Please keep her in your prayers. Paul sat in the chair on the opposite side of the room this evening. He was looking all around the room ... it must have looked like a different room to him! He usually sits in the same chair and this was a different perspective of the room! He was tired tonight and went to bed about 10pm.

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl

Paul's Update - 12/31/07

Dear Friends:

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to catch up on my updates. Christmas week was busy. Christmas Eve we all went to church. Paul enjoyed having the opportunity to participate in the candle lit part of the service. He seems to understand very well the importance of holding the candle just right and not dropping it or holding it too close to anything that would catch fire! After service we came home and finished up the preparations for Santa to come! Paul helped address some of the packages to our family that he was giving presents to. He seemed to enjoy the preparations. Christmas morning we slept in a bit. The nurse was off for the day and Paul had a chance to sleep until about 8am. Once we were up I started getting things started for our annual Christmas breakfast. It is the only day I actually cook breakfast and all the kids come for it (even if they would rather stay in bed ... LOL). We got breakfast about 10:30am and after we’d eaten the presents were opened. It was quite a busy scene! Alysa, Max & Chris enjoyed opening their presents ... Chris needed a little help!! The rest of the day was spent with Carolyn, Alysa, Chris & Max. Bobby & Jen spent the balance of the day with her family and Billy slept since he’d worked the night before and had to work that night at 6pm. Max stayed until about 8pm that night. He was so excited with all his toys that he wouldn’t nap and was exhausted by the time Mommy came to get him.

Wednesday and Thursday Paul had Physical Therapy. The occupational therapist is off for the holidays. She had him walk and try to improve his time. He uses his cane when he is doing this and was able to shave off about another minute of time walking down the hall and about ½ minute coming back. It took 4 ½ minutes to go down the hall and just under 5 minutes coming back. Thursday he didn’t do as well, it took him 5 minutes and 12 seconds going down ... she didn’t time him coming back. They took some time out on the bench and they worked on squats and standing up and sitting down. He doesn’t like doing this but she keeps trying and he eventually does it. She works with him doing some free standing while she pushes on him to see if he can resist her without losing his balance. Dad says he does this exercise pretty well.

Friday was a quiet day at home. I was at home with the stomach flu. Paul, Dad & Gradis spent the day watching TV. Saturday was much the same. We didn’t go out for Mexican Food (ugh ... it didn’t appeal to my stomach!). Sunday we went out to church. Breakfast got cancelled because Lew was sick with the stomach flu!! After church we spent the afternoon watching football and relaxing. The Redskins game was at 4pm and that proved to be a very good watch!! Monday was another quiet day. Gradis was off for the New Year’s holiday. Carl got the car fixed with the help of the neighbor’s son. That evening we had a wonderful breakthrough!! Dad decided to see if Paul could take a couple of steps from the couch to his chair. He took the cane away and told Paul to try to take a couple of steps. To Dad’s surprise, Paul walked the entire length of the couch and then over to his chair. Once he was there he had to turn around to sit down and he did that without any help!! Wahoo!!! Another miracle! Just think it was only a year ago (on New Year’s Eve 2006) that Paul stood up by himself ... now he is walking by himself!! Every time Dad gets him up to go to the bathroom Paul walks without the cane. It is not great walking ... but it IS walking!! I am sending a link to a short video for you to watch if you would like to! What a great way to round out the year 2007! It is amazing how much we’ve been blessed over the last year!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Holiday ... and I wish you a very Happy & Blessed New Year!

Have a great day, Lynne & Carl