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