"Daily Improvement"

January 10, 2010

1439 Hours

It really would not be right to just skip to all the good stuff since we came home Friday. So I will bring you up to speed since New Years Day.

We are already 10 days into the New Year, my birthday has come and gone and Dar is improving daily.

We brought in the New Year quietly and without much excitement. Dar has been improving daily and if you recall I have said that there is something different about Dar. I don’t think I can put my finger on ut and I don’t think I really want or need to have a full understanding of it. What I do know is that God is doing a work in Dar. Since returning to Rehab this last time, everyone has noticed a change in Dar.

Dar has had a willingness and desire to do well in all therapies. She has been trying to say all words in answering questions. She is mouthing all the right answers but just cant get the vocals to work. Kerry from speech therapy has been encouraging Dar not to force the words so hard, the harder she does the ore the cords lock up. All of us have been just trying to get Dar to relax and take a smaller breath and not push so hard.

Dar has been spending a good 2/3 hours per day in her chair. Working in the gym with the standing frame, Dar is obviously trying in ways she may not have been able to ealier and at the latter part of last year.

Dar’s pump is being titrated very slowly this time around. When we left on Friday the pump was set at 253, an increase of 23 mics per day. Tuesday when we return to Rehab for an evaluation in speech class we will have the pump turned up a little bit more. We are going to take our time this time around and I can honestly say that I don’t ever want to have an incident like we had in early December. I personally don’t think we will get anywhere near the 500 we were at before. Dar’s tone at the present is very good, so good that we do not have to bolster her arms at all. Her fingers are more limber, her legs show minimal tone, and her arms have a good range of motion.

Dar has adjusted well to each titration. I truly hope we achieve our goal of “tone release” without going to the high dosages.

Thursday night while with Dar I told her I had a surprise for her. Her immediate reaction was to purse her lips together and give me a look of “what now”, “what are you up to”.

I told her that she was going home on Friday. You would have thought that I had given her a shiny new Corvette. Her expression was priceless. That was one time (there have been many) that I wished my Blackberry had a camera. Dar was so very excited she started laughing at just the thought of being back with Maverick.

I should probably tell you that Dar and I have somewhat developed our own way of communicating. Laughter has become a way of not only showing joy about something, but it also means, “yes”. If she is happy and can’t say yes when she tries she will give a hearty laugh. If I am in the garage and have the two netbook on Skype I can ask her if she is “ok” she will try to say yes and then laugh if she cant say yes. Laughter has become a very good tool in communicating with Dar. We just reformat our questions, even those that will be in the negative with a positive response.

Well back to my story, Friday arrived and Jamiesue and I headed over to Chico in the van. Jamie picked up the van the evening before from the Joey’s shop. It had been in the shop for a fuel pump. Had to drop the wheel chair lift and the fuel tank to put a new pump in. Willy and Joey gave the van a good going over and fixed a few minor issues and we were ready to roll.

We arrived at Rehab about 1:00 and did not get out till almost 4:00. Dar was patient and happy and when we said good-bye to everyone she laughed and laughed. We had to make two stops before returning to the house to pick up prescriptions and Dar was as content as could be. In her chair, in her “Angel Van”, as we call it, and of course Maverick running the length of the van. Mav has not quite figured out what to do, he has so much room to “hunt” in. He finally “plopped” down next to Dar’s chair and went to sleep. For about 2 minutes or until the van made a different noise or slowed down, then he was up looking for action.

We arrived home just about 5:00 and got Dar situated in bed and in her nightgown. The whole time, when asked Dar was happy, happy, happy. Such an angel she is.

I should probably back up just a bit to tell you that one of the other super things that has happened for Dar is as you already know she passed her swallow tests before returning to Rehab. Although cautious, Kerry and Mark agreed that “food treats”, pudding, yogurt and lollipops would be a great incentive and go a long way in Dar’s recovery. Think about it, everyone likes to eat. Not only that, it builds swallow ability, and also using the “dum dum” suckers it challenges Dar to use her tongue and gain control of it.

When Dar left Dar was having good success with all of her “treats”. We take all precautions to insure Dar’s safety, and only let her “partake” when she is acutely awake and sitting in a 90-degree position. The other day she ate a whole small container of Tapioca pudding. The suckers are a big deal too; she does love a good lollipop.

Ok, now the rest of the story, we got Dar all settled and about 6 Jamie took off for home. I gave Dar her dinner and we both enjoyed some quiet time together. We talked about all of her angels above her; we talked about how proud of her and happy I am that she is home again. Lots of attempts to speak, lots of laughter and lots of encouragement to just relax and not try so hard to push those answers.

At 9:30 I asked Dar if she was glad to be home. Waiting for her answer or laugh, as I have grown accustomed to, I noticed she was trying much harder to say “yes”. I watched with interest and after a couple of tries I heard a very distinct and very quiet, “yes”. Dar had said yes, she had found her voice again. I could not hold back the laughter and the tears. Dar had reached yet another milestone. She had found her voicing again!!!!!!. I immediately called Jamie and told her, Jamie was on speaker and she asked Dar if she really said “yes”. Again Dar answered, this time with much more clarity and voice strength. Folks, I have to tell you that since 9:30 Friday night Dar has said, yes, no, ok, I love you, hi. She is even saying “amen” after prayers. You have to understand that previously when Dar would say amen it was with laughter. I would say prayer and end with “in Jesus name” and ask Dar, “what do you say”, then she would laugh, now she says “amen” on her own.

Each day that has gone by since Friday, Dar’s speaking has improved. In fact I have accuse her of lying in bed thinking of what she wants to say, she laughed. I have even had to turn the football game down a bit because Dar is trying to tell me something. I am encouraging her to speak whenever she has something on her mind. She is. I am not always able to figure it out but I will take every bit of it. It has been very exciting around here this weekend. She has spoken to a couple of friends and Lorrie and jerry and we just tried to call her mom and dad and Diane and Roger. They are missing out cuz they aint home, their bad.

We are looking forward to Tuesday so we can show Kerry and Mark and our new therapist in Outpatient, Jennifer.

Well this brings you up to date as of this moment; I am so appreciative for all of your prayers and support. Now that we are home I hope posting will become a little easier. Please forgive the lapses.

We also have a social worker coming to the house tomorrow to assess Dar and her needs so that we get additional help here at home. I hope this will make a huge difference in Dar’s care. Dar may qualify for many hours of paid help because of her “special needs” We also make a trip to our new Primary Care Physician on the 14^th.

^{We hope you all have a great remainder of you weekend and your favorite team wins. Love to all.}

^{Dar/Danny/Jamiesue}

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