The progress continues...

Jean chauffeured Dad to therapy yesterday and today was my day. It is an eye-opening experience to be there and witness how hard Dad is working to get better. The new speech therapist, Marge, has 40 years' experience and is wonderful! Speech therapy started at 10:00 and lasted an hour. That hour flew so quickly! Marge told me she has seen marked improvement in Dad over the two weeks that she has worked with him!

First, she got out a sheet of paper with the each of the letters of the alphabet a separate box. Another box read, "end of word." She wrote a sentence and had Dad read the sentence with her. She encourages him to use his voice and all his words sounded pretty much the same, but at least he's using his voice! She then had Dad point to each letter on the sheet that corresponded with the letters in each of the words in the sentence. For instance, he would point to each of the letters "t-h-e" and then touch the box that said, "end of word." Then he would point to each of the letters in the next word and then touch "end of word" when he finished that word, and he did that until he had done the entire sentence. His recognition of letters has greatly improved since she has started this exercise! She explained a lot to me about aphasia and how it is a learning disability like dyslexia. Many stroke victims end up with a form of dyslexia and she sees a little bit of that when she works with Dad.

Then she got out little colored tiles a words or punctuation marks on each tile. With the tiles she made the sentence, "The little brown cat ran up the big tree." She had Dad read the sentence and she mixed up the tiles and told him to arrange the sentence! He gave her a hearty, "HaHa!" He then proceeded to arrange the tiles. He would get the tiles in the wrong place but would proof-read his work and correct it! He had the sentence correct except he kept calling the cat "the brown little cat" and he had "the" and "big" backwards. Marge told Dad that there was an error at the end of the sentence and he re-read it and fixed it! She gave him positive feedback and then mixed the tiles up again! Once again, he gave her a hearty laugh! It's obvious he likes working with her! He worked to set up the sentence and, once again, he transposed "the" and "big." She told him there was an error and he fixed it! She had him work with the sentence about six or seven times until he got it all right!

Next she got out a bag of six sets of Scrabble tiles. The three of us made sure all the letters were face-up on the tiles. She said Dad liked words about the rodeo, so that was our word for the day. She and Dad spelled "RODEO" out with the tiles and then we took turns finding tiles to spell words that we could play off of "RODEO", as if we were playing Scrabble! It was so much fun! Every once in a while Dad would get a little stuck with spelling, so Marge would put out 3 or 4 tiles and let Dad pick from them, rather than from the huge pile. He gets a little confused or overwhelmed and she helps him but doesn't just give him the tile. On one of Dad's turns he pulled an "R" then an "E" and an "M" and was adding it to the "U". Marge could not figure out what he was trying to spell! I said, "I know what you're spelling, Dad!" it was "REMUDA!!!" WOW!!! Marge got so tickled because she didn't even know what a remuda was (a herd of horses)! I explained it to her and Dad was nodding his head and pointing to her while I was telling her, as if he was explaining it to her himself! What a hoot! Before we knew it, the hour had flown by and it was time for physical therapy!

The physical therapist spent the 30 minute session today showing me stretches for Dad's legs, knees and hips. What I realized, while I was working with her, is that Mom has so much to focus on during each day with the house, preparing meals, laundry, etc. that she doesn't seem to be able to work in any home therapy. It's just too much for her. At this point we are very grateful that Dad can go to therapy 3 times each week. I don't know what we're going to do when Medicare decides to cut back on that. I wish so whole-heartedly that we lived close enough that I could go over on the days he doesn't have therapy and work with him. I'll have to figure out something!

Lisa spent some time this weekend visiting with Mom and asked her what was her biggest stress. Mom said it still was deciding what to cook and the actual chore of preparing meals. Lisa and I worked together and found a restaurant, Noon Spoon, in Marble Falls that will deliver lunch. So today I called and talked to the owner, Jennifer, and pre-arranged lunch to be delivered at 11:30, so it would be there when Dad and I got home from therapy. Dad had a dental appointment at 12:40, so the window of time that we had to eat lunch was pretty small. The food was delivered promptly at 11:30, as ordered, and was waiting on us when we returned from Burnet! I had ordered 2 sandwiches and a quart of soup. Mom saved the soup for their supper and we thoroughly enjoyed the sandwiches for lunch! Would you believe they will deliver the food from Marble Falls out to Mom and Dad's house for only $5.00?! I told Mom it was so worth it for her to take advantage of that! I will keep urging her to order lunch (they have a different hot-meal special every day of the week, sandwiches, salads, etc) on the days that Dad has therapy. That should help her a lot! I was so impressed when this afternoon the owner of the restaurant called me to see how Mom and Dad liked the food! She also offered to talk to Mom and have a customized menu for them!!! What a blessing she is going to be!!! The trick will be to get Mom to use her services!

After Dad's dental appointment we got back to the house and he went straight to his bedroom chair for his nap! Mom and I spent a little time checking her emails and going over a few things the therapist had told me. Bless Mom's sweet heart, caring for Dad is a full-time job despite her usual house-keeping chores. Hopefully we kids can keep figuring out ways that she will allow us to help her! Please keep our precious Mom (and Dad, of course!) in your prayers! "Give her the reward she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the City gate." Amen!

Steamboat Springs Colorado!!!

Mom was in our driveway promptly at 8:05 Thursday morning! We had asked her to be there between 8 and 8:15! What a champ! She and Dad were all smiles!!! Since Jean was so wonderful and had gone Wednesday to take Dad to therapy and help Mom with the last-minute packing and other details, Mom seemed so unstressed and ready to go!!! Dad was all thumbs up!!! We headed immediately to the airport in Austin to get checked in, eat breakfast and relax until our flight left at 11:26. I won't get on my soap box, but there is nothing that infuriates me more than to have the security guards pull my Mom and Dad out of line and body search them...my sweet Daddy because he is in a wheelchair and adorable Mom because she has had both knees replaced. I know, I know, they're just "doing their job," but it still makes me crazy!!! Okay, enough of that!!! All six of us, Lisa, Danny, Mom, Dad, Ollie and I were able to board. How about that, one advantage of a wheelchair-bound person! Dad's wheelchair wasn't able to fit down the aisle of the plane, of course, and they didn't have one of those skinny chairs nearby. we asked Dad if he thought he could walk onto the plane, and HE DID!!! Danny supported him and Dad walked from the door of the plane to his aisle seat! No problemo!!! The flight was non-eventful, Mom and Dad napped off and on, and we were in Denver in a couple of hours! The pictures are backwards, but I couldn't figure out how to switch them! One is of Mom, Dad and Danny on the tram from the Denver terminal to the baggage pick-up and car rental! Aren't they looking great?!

Lisa had rented us a wonderful van with 4 rows of seat! Dad gets to ride "shotgun"!!! The drive from Denver to our cousins Fran and Jimmy Callahan's lodge north of Steamboat Springs took us about 3.5 hours. The scenery kept everyone captivated, so it was a pleasant drive! We arrived at Fran and Jimmy's about 3:30 or so and, boy, did we receive a grand welcoming! Everyone was so incredibly happy that Mom and Dad were able to be there! Blessings abound!!! One little issue that we were all anticipating was getting Dad up into the house! The other picture is of Danny, Bobby Sonnen and Ollie literally carrying Dad and his wheelchair up the stairs! Hmm...let's just say that Dad sure must trust those guys!!!!! He seemed to get a big kick out of making them work so hard!!! After that, the guys got a little smarter and figured out they could push the wheelchair up the hill, around to the back of the house and take Dad in the back door, which was a lot safer!!!

It was such an honor to see this great group of people who absolutely adore our parents, and visa versa! Cousin Jimmy Callahan is Mom's first cousin...his Mom, Lucy, was my Mom's aunt...Grandma Grohman's youngest sister. He and Fran are the ultimate hosts! The six of us stayed at the lodge with Fran and Jimmy and the other guests stayed in cottages down the road. I think there were about 24 people there, or something like that. Jimmy hosted golf for the linksters on Friday and Saturday at two different coursesOlie said he got to play a lot of golf for the money!!! The rest of us either relaxed or went to Steamboat and shopped. Mom was so thrilled to spend Saturday at the lodge all by herself! I was trying to decide if I should stay there with her and she wholeheartedly encouraged me to go if I wanted to because she was looking forward to having the house to herself!!! She stayed in her robe most of the morning, worked her crossword puzzles, napped, showered and got dressed, all without interruption! Boy did she deserve that!!!

The whole weekend was very low-keyed and full of love and friendship! Jimmy fed us his famous fried chicken out on the deck Friday night and Saturday night was steak-night! Fran did all the delicious side-fixin's and everyone pitched in! Saturday night Jimmy got us all quieted down (a major feat in itself!) and had many of us in tears talking about how they all feel about Mom and Dad and how blessed we were to have them there! His prayer is that they will be there next year and that Dad will be able to speak to the group! That would be awesome! "May (his) tongue sing of Your word!"Amen!

Many times throughout the weekend, someone would go give Dad a hard time about something or tell him something funny and Dad would laugh his big ol' hearty laugh out-loud! It was music to our ears!!!

We were on the road Sunday by 9:15, headed back to Denver for our 3:10 flight home. We really didn't have a minute to spare once we had dealt with the traffic, stopped for a potty-break, unloaded at the airport, returned the van, eaten lunch and gone through security. In fact, we were some of the last ones on the plane! Got back into Austin and away from the airport at 7 p.m. Next on our agenda was some dinner! Danny and Lisa were in their own vehicle and went right on home. So, Mom, Dad, Ollie and I had dinner at the Frisco in Austin, where Mom and Dad used to take us when we were kids! Their vinegar cabbage slaw is wonderful! Mom and Dad headed home right at 8:00, had a good night's rest in their own bed and were doing great this morning! Mom said Dad slept until almost 11:00! I know the trip was exhausting for him, but he was such a trooper and it was priceless having him and Mom there!

I will go spend the day with Mom and Dad Wednesday and take Dad to therapy and acupuncture! So, until then, God's blessings!!! Love, Sandi

Jean and Dad!

Today was Jean's day to drive Dad to his therapy appointments. He was scheduled for physical and speech therapy today. Since I just told you about physical therapy, I'll tell you now about speech therapy! Jean watched and took notes! Dad's speech therapist has been doing that for 40 years! So she's blessing us with lots of experience in her field! She had Dad do quite a few different "exercises." For example, she had him do a puzzle of the alphabet. He got most of the letters correct, but missed one small area. She told Jean that, each time he does the puzzle, he misses a small area and it's not always the same area. She gave Dad a quiz that first made a statement like, "The boy lost his dog." The other side of the sheet asks, "What did the boy lose?" and Dad is supposed to write the answer on a line. He could answer the simpler questions. He could even write what I would consider a harder word, "Chicago," as one of the answers. But, later, when she asked him the same question, he missed Chicago. She said that is a symptom of Dad's aphasia. I looked up aphasia for you...according to Wikipedia, it is a language disorder in which there is impairment of any language modality. Depending on the area and extent of brain damage (in this case, from the stroke), someone suffering with aphasia may be able to speak but not write, or vice versa, or display any of a wide variety of other deficiencies in language comprehension and production, such as being able to sing but not speak. In Dad's case, it affects his speech, his reading comprehension and his ability to take a thought and transfer it to paper They have tested Dad's eyesight and found that he has no peripheral vision in his right eye. It makes me wonder if he can hear with his left ear. If you approach him from the right side, often times he does not acknowledge you at all. This explains why! The therapist sent Dad home with a hand mirror and exercises. We're supposed to have him look in the mirror and watch himself saying ooooo's, ahhhs, ohhhhs as well as have him smile, pucker his lips, etc. That's something that Jean and I can do with Dad because Mom's days just get away from her too quickly.

Mom and Dad are due here tomorrow morning at 8:00 so we can head to the airport! As I told you earlier, we will be north of Steamboat Springs Thursday nght through Sunday morning! The low this morning in Steamboat was 44, but we are about 1000 feet higher than that!!! YEEHAW!!! We girls hope to get in a LOT of R & R and the guys will play some golf, tell some "stories" and, you know, do guy stuff!!! We're all really excited about going! I can't wait to tell you all about it!!!

Jerry will be at Mom and Dad's Monday to help her unpack and do laundry from the trip. I go back out there Wednesday because Dad has therapy in the morning and acupuncture in the afternoon, so Mom can do other things and not have to be gone most of the day. So, until next week, may God keep us all safe and healthy! Amen! Love, Sandi

I now don a chauffeur's hat!

Monday I arrived at Mom and Dad's at 9:30. Dad's physical therapy appointment was scheduled for 10:15, so I didn't want to arrive too early and make Mom feel rushed, but I did want to get there early enough to help her, if she needed it. She got Dad dressed, they ate breakfast and Dad and I were out the door about 9:50. It was so cool because I didn't know where in to go in Burnet, so Dad told me where to turn, which building it was in, and exactly which parking spot he likes to use! Like I have said, most of the time he has no problem getting his point across!

His usual physical therapist was out and he had a young, cute therapist to work with! Of course, he hated that! He's still such a flirt! Here's a list of the things she worked on...

> stretching and range of motion exercises for his right shoulder, arm, wrist and hand.

> she had Dad lift his shoulders and pinch his shoulder blades together. ..his muscle control is much improved

> she put on his ankle brace and had Dad walk around the room with his hemi-walker. His balance is appreciably better since the first time I saw him use it! Her goal was to get Dad to focus on looking where he was going rather than at his feet.

> sitting and standing to continue strengthening his leg muscles

> lunges with each leg while holding on to the parallel bars

> side steps holding onto the bars and focusing on keeping his feet straight

> bending his legs and pulling each of his knees up and down and then lifting each leg while holding it straight

> marching in place

> and, finally, standing on a spongy surface, not holding on, and using his leg and buttocks muscles to balance

So, physical therapy wears Dad out! He watches the big clock in the room and points to it when his hour is up!!! From therapy we went back to the house for lunch and a nap!!! However, he was pretty grumpy when Mom went back to the bedroom and told him it was time for me to take him to acupuncture! Apparently we were making too much noise talking and doing dishes, so he never got to sleep! Oops!!!

So, off we went to acupuncture for Dad's 2:30 appointment. When the acupuncturist came out to get him, he didn't smile at all. She teased with Dad and told him not to be so grumpy! She took him on back and the treatment lasted an hour. When she brought Dad out, he was all smiles!!! Not only did he have a good nap during the treatment, but I do believe that the treatment enhances his mood! On the way home, I reached over, patted Dad on the arm and said, "I love you Dad!" He laughed out loud like, "Yeah right!" The mood inside the suburban was much lighter on the way home than it was on the way there!!! Once we were home, I talked to Dad about acupuncture and how his attitude will help the success of the treatments. I pointed out to him that it has improved his facial control...that he didn't drool at all and that his smile is straight and whole! I think he really listened to me. Hopefully he will be more positive the next time he goes.

While we were gone during the morning, Mom prepped lunch and, in the afternoon, she did some laundry. She seemed so much less stressed with having someone there to do the driving for Dad. Jean is going Wednesday and do pretty much what I did, except I think Dad has speech and physical therapies and no acupuncture. I have a hard time keeping up with his appointments if I don't have Mom's calendar right in front of me! She sure does a good job of keeping them written down! Thank goodness, because there's no consistency so far!

Now for the best part! I kissed Dad and Mom and headed out the door for home. Mom hollered "Bye" to me as I was going out the door and DAD CALLED OUT AND ALSO SAID BYE!!! I quickly turned around and went to him and siad, "Did you just tell me bye?" Mom said, "He sure did!" I was so elated and told Dad so! Then I said, "Okay now tell me that you love me!" And, Dad siad, "Ah, M, Ooo!" THANK YOU DEAR GOD!!! Just to hear him making sounds and attempting to talk is so unbelievably fantastic!!!

Mom told me this evening that she has already packed Dad's suitcase for Colorado and she'll work on hers tomorrow. It's going to be tough on her to get here by 8:30 on Thursday, but I'll bet she makes it!

Ollie is taking his laptop on our trip, so I'll try to blog while we're in Colorado. If not, I promise to catch up as soon as we get home! Lord please grant us safe and uneventful travels!!! Amen!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I hope each of you Dads had a wonderful Father's Day and did exactly what you wanted to do!

Our celebration was held at Glenda's house. Mom had toyed with the idea of having us all gather at their house, but then decided she'd like to come and go at their leisure! We all got to Glenda's about 11:00 and were concerned when Mom called and said that Dad was having some dizziness. She had him resting in his chair with hopes that he would feel better once she was ready to go. Thankfully, he was feeling much better after he rested, so they were able to come! Glenda lives off 71 west in South Austin, so it's not a bad drive for them from Marble Falls.

Dad really enjoyed getting loving attention from the four of us kids, our spouses, and the grand kids and great-grand kids that were there. We were all also thrilled that Troy and Terri were able to join us! Dad gets a big kick out of watching 3 year olds Mia and Austin and their antics! They play so well together and are quite entertaining! We all marveled at Glenda's prolific garden and thoroughly enjoyed fresh tomatoes on our burgers! She was also generous with all of us and sent us home with bags of fresh produce! YUM!!!

We girls had a little "meeting" with Mom to see if she will let us do more to help her. She said that she would be willing to let us take Dad to one of his therapy sessions each week. He is now going Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Of course, we are thrilled to do so! We also suggested that she allow Jerry, their part-time aide, to take Dad on at least one of the other days. Her reasoning in not letting him take Dad is that she hates to pay him to" just sit there" while Dad is in therapy! We said that we thought they could afford that and, whatever it cost, it was worthwhile if it gave her a break! She chuckled at herself and reminded us of how tight she is!!! I've never thought of Mom as tight, but she is very, very frugal!

Tomorrow, I am going to get Dad and take him to therapy. I'm excited about that because I'll get to witness what happens there and then blog about it! Jean is going to go Wednesday and give Mom a chance to pack for Colorado without interruption.

We are witnessing some progress with this round of therapy and with the re-introduction of acupuncture! Today, Dad called Jean over to the window and pointed to a couple of cars that he didn't recognize. He was saying the letter "M", which is new! Another big improvement we've noticed is Dad's control over his mouth and face. Not to sound disrespectful, but Dad has been having a problem with drooling. I did not see him drool one time today and Mom said it has been that way since she started taking him for acupuncture treatments! Dad was very resistant to acupuncture while in the hospital and when he first got to go home. However, he now gives it the big thumbs up!!!

When Mom and Dad were leaving, I leaned in to the suburban and told Dad that I loved him. Mom told him to tell me and he did, in his own way! She said she gets him to tell her he loves her every night when he goes to bed! For the 64 years that they have been married, they have never gone to sleep without a good-night's kiss and without saying "I love you" to each other! Theirs is a great example to follow!!!

Mom, Dad, Lisa and Danny and Ollie and I leave Thursday morning for our trip to Fran and Jimmy Callahan's lodge outside Steamboat Springs Colorado! Mom is a little bit nervous about having to be at our house by 8:15 Thursday morning, especially since Dad likes to sleep until at least 9:00! I tried to talk her in to coming here to spend Wednesday night, but she said it will be better to sleep in their own bed that night and leave from home that morning. It made her feel a little better when I reminded her that she and Dad could nap on the 2-hour flight from Austin to Denver and on the 4 hour drive from Denver to the lodge. Keep your fingers crossed that they make it here on time!

Dad will spend Friday and Saturday with the guys on the golf course. If he gets tired, we girls can go pick him up. Otherwise, Mom, Lisa and I are going to be lazy and do nothing but relax, read and/or go for little walks! I can hardly wait!!! Mom does want to go to Wal-Mart in Steamboat and see if they have long-sleeved collared golf-type shirts for Dad. We have looked and looked, but there are none to be found in Austin or Marble Falls - it's just not the right season for long sleeves down here! If we don't find them in Colorado, I'll do some on-line shopping.

Again, God bless all you wonderful Dads! I honor all of you!

Didn't happen...

Dad wasn't feeling well early today, having trouble with some nausea, so Mom cancelled her appointment and they stayed home. I checked on them off and on all day. Dad slept most of the morning and woke up feeling much better. In fact, he and Leslie went out to the deer camp this evening to have steaks and play poker with Danny and Ollie and the rest of the guys! That's always good incentive for him to feel better! Those guys get out there and laugh and have a great time! That's so good for Dad! Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. ~Henry Ward Beecher

All our bunch will gather at Glenda's house for Father's Day this Sunday. It gives us all such pleasure to honor our beloved Dad! To all of you Dad's who read the blog, God bless you!

There in every memory
See his love and care
Strength and hands to count on
Freely he does share
Provider, toil so faithfully
To make our dreams come true
Give strong and tender discipline
Though it is hard to do
A Father is God's chosen one
To lead the family
And point it to His will for life
Of love and harmony...
Sue Skeen

Practice makes perfect...

Danny went out to see Mom and Dad last week on Thursday. He said that Dad used his hemi-walker and made four rounds with it! Dad seemed in control and pretty well-balanced. Other than that, the visit was uneventful...

Mom has a follow-up-type doctor's appointment in Austin early this afternoon. She and Dad are picking us up and we are meeting Danny at Luby's for lunch. I think Luby's is Mom's favorite restaurant!!! After lunch, Danny, Ollie and I are coming back to our house so Dad can nap while Mom goes to her doctor's visit. I'm sure Mom will want to do a little running around before she comes back to pick up Dad! She doesn't want me to go with her to the doctor, but I plan to entice her with a visit to Stein Mart afterwards if she'll agree to let me go!!! I like to go with her and provide an extra set of ears. Also, Mom gets a little turned around when she's driving in town...so much has changed since they lived here! We'll see if she lets me go!!!

I'll write more after I see them today! Love to all!!!