Ruby Tuesday

So today was another busy day. We had physical and occupational therapies today at Dominican Rehab Center and it was an 11 am appointment, so we had to get things rolling early. Jerry, like any 19 year-old, doesn't do mornings. It started out with a little nausea as usual, but as the day progressed, Jerry felt better. He did a variety of exercises and stretches during his PT time, they did a standing table type of thing for his legs, and then had him sit down and lay back(with help of coarse) to see if they could get some abs working. After that Katie and Jerry had an hour to have lunch, and back at 1 pm for his first OT session. Since it was his first appointment for OT, there was the papers to fill out, and then they went through a stretching routine, to kind of see what we have been doing, and to evaluate what his limits are, and then they were done.

Katie then took the new van over to get it smogged, and since since she was down in Santa Cruz, figured she would go by the DMV after. Well it passed, happy day, and off they went to the DMV. CLOSED, BUMMER. Best Buy instead I guess. Still had a half hour to kill before the big SLV/APTOS showdown in softball, and looking at TV's seemed like a good thing to do. Didn't buy anything (thank you Lord) but Jerry's pressing hard for a 50" lcd. Someday maybe.

Katie and Jerry showed up about the bottom of the 1st, and were in good spirits. Even Jerry. He usually gets kinda bored during softball games, but he wanted to see his sister play and knew this was the game to see. The game was a good one with SLV coming back in the 7 TH inning to win the game 8-6. Whoo-hoo. That was a big one, and it was exciting too. It was even warm out, go figure. The girls did good. Well it's off to SCI-FIT tomorrow so we better rest up. Thank you all for sharing our day with us, it was truly a gem of a day.

Good night and God Bless.
Dennis

Monday - March 30

Today was a great day Jerry's nausea was rated at a 1 today, that's about as good as it has gotten since he's been home. It's interesting to note he's been on antibiotics for three days, yesterday his nausea was manageable at 2 to 3 and then today is even better, hmmm. I just hope it stays away.
SCI-FIT went well Jerry was in the standing frame for 12 minutes, a new record. Jerry could have stood longer however it was time to switch to the next exercise.

We never posted pictures of the new van because it was dirty and needed a wash before I took pictures. I found some time on Sunday to wash the van so I took a few pics today while loading Jerry for our trip to Pleasanton.




We have 2 new additions to the family, we got 2 kittens. Not to replace our missing cat Pedro but to fill the void his absence has left. These babies are soooo cute. I was trying to snap some pictures of them but they are too active. I would finally get them to look at the camera and just as I snap they would look away. Better luck tomorrow.

Now we have to come up with some cute names, Jerry being the history lover he is has come up with some names of his choice: Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Rome, Caesar. I know the names don't fit but he does get to name one and we just gotta live with it. Caesar wouldn't be so bad.

More tomorrow,
Katie

Saturday - March 29

I love the weekends, today went well considering Jerry could not sleep last night and was awake until 5:00 am. Jerry had the beginnings of Autonomic dysreflexia the description is lengthy so anyone curious can find out more about it here. Jerry's temperature went up, his heart began to race and he had anxiety bordering on panic. We stripped him down, put the fan on him, put cold clothes on him as well as other treatments best not mentioned. Jerry's temperature went down, as well as the anxiety and heart rate. The result was almost like an over dose of adrenaline, he was not able to sleep. Jerry took some medication to help him sleep about 3:00 am however did not finally doze off until about 5:00. Needless to say it was a long night. Morning came early as our wonderful friend John brought a work crew to help with Jerry's room. Work began about 8:00 am, my day began at 9 however Jerry was able to sleep through the morning routine until about 12:30. It's possible Jerry has a urinary tract infection and may have had it since he left the hospital. There is bacteria present in the specimen however it does not grow in the culture or something like that. So they don't know which bacteria it is, at any rate he started on an antibiotic today. Maybe it was an undetected UTI that's been causing the nausea? Maybe a few days on antibiotics may clear the the nausea as well as the UTI? It would be an answer to our prayers as well as all your prayers for Jerry to be cured of the nausea. We will see how he feels over the next week and keep you posted.

I was able to get Jerry settled in his wheelchair however I could not convince him to go to Jessica's softball tournament. I got Jerry all set up with his computer and off I went to Jessica's tournament. Today was the first time Jerry was in the house alone, Josh was gone and Janea had to work. Don't panic I wouldn't leave him totally on his own, Dennis was working out front and was checking on him periodically. The cool thing is now that Rob got Jerry all set up he can control some of his environment from his computer. He can change the TV channels, text message and make phone calls using voice activation. So cool!!! If Jerry needed something before Dennis came in to check on him then Jerry could just call him from his computer to Dennis's cell phone. Way sweet!!! Again thanks a bunch Rob!

By the way Jessica's team one both games they played today, way to go Cougars, you rock!!!
Before I say good night I gotta say thank you to my mom and dad for being such a wonderful support for us ;-)

Good night....
Katie

TGIF - March 27

We had a great day today, this is my favorite time of year with the sunshine and warm days, it makes me feel like all is right with the world. It's amazes me how mood can be affected by weather.

Jerry had an appointment at Dominican Rehab today at 11:00 for a second wheelchair evaluation. To get out of the house by 10:00 is so difficult, I was sweating already by 10 running around like a wild Banchi. What is a Banchi anyway? ;-o We were 15 minutes late for the appointment, doh, good thing it was a 2 hour appointment. So we are not going to be getting the chair we were trying to get, we settled for the next best thing. Toxic Green is his color selection, it's a pretty sweet color.

After the appointment Jerry and I went to Pacific Garden Mall and got a bite to eat. Jerry's nausea was about a 2 today so that is a very good day on the nausea scale. Jerry wanted a shave when we got home, I'm not fond of shaving him, the electric razor hurts because it pulls the hair out, with the razor I'm afraid I'm going to cut him.

After the shave I rushed over to Twin Creeks for Jessica's softball tournament. Those not familiar it's about an hour away. It was a very good game tied in the last inning 3 to 3, the game went into double overtime and we won 6-5 in the ninth inning. Fun game, we go back tomorrow for a 12:00 game.

I arrived home from the game about 10:00 to find our dear friend Rob here hooking Jerry up in a big way. Rob set up a voice activated remote to handle the TV, stereo, cable box, and DVD. In addition Rob got Jerry all set up to do texting and email through yahoo, as well as got Jerry set up on Skype so he can do voice activated phone calls on his computer. If all that wasn't enough he set up a sling box which I need to get familiar with, I think it enables Jerry to watch TV on his computer. WAY TO GO ROB, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!! If you want to email Jerry directly you can send mail to jerry@followingjerry.com or jerrymaccallister@ymail.com. Jerry's Skype number is 831-440-8470.

It's 12:50 am and I'm about to turn into a pumpkin, tomorrow will start early with Dennis, John and crew working on the house bright and early at 7:30 am. Time for bed....

Good night,

Katie

Thursday - Mar 26

Today was a good day, the sun was shining, it was warm and everything went relatively smooth. The drive to SCI-FIT was pleasant the window down enjoying the cool fresh air. The rolling hills of the Sunol Grade were vibrantly green in the sun shine with the music on and making our way to Pleasanton. Time seems to fly by these days and the trips to Pleasanton doesn't seem to take as long as it did the first few visits. Jerry had a good workout today, he tolorated 10 minutes in the standing frame without needing to come down, thats a huge improvement. Jerry did some table excercises with Leigh and the Total Gym with Jerry (trainer). Jerry ended the session with a 40 minute ride on the FES Bike for a total work out of about 2 1/2 hours. His pain level was tolerable with no additional pain meds, halleluja!

Jerry had his daily nausea but it was manageable for the most part. The nausea never goes away he says, the best it gets on a scale of 1-10 is 2, he considers that a good day. Today on the nausea scale at it's worst he was about a 6 which lasted 30 minutes and was brought on by getting him out of bed into the wheelchair, most of the day he was at 3.

On the way home we stopped off at Gretchens house for turkey dinner in celebration of Lukes birthday. Gretch is an awesome cook and of course she always cooks enough to feed an army.
It was the first visit to someones home for Jerry, it wasn't so bad. I took both wheelchairs to SCI-FIT because Jerry needed to be in the power chair for the drive because it's more comfortable however there is no way to get the power chair in Gretchs house as there are a couple of stairs. We unloaded both chairs upon our arrival then transferred Jerry into the manual chair. It was a piece of cake getting the manual chair in and out of the house. Jerry enjoyed visiting with his buds and watching the basketball game.

I got a phone call the other day from Jerry's Jr. High School photography teacher Chet White, ironically his wife Mrs. White was one of Jerry's Kintergaten teachers. Mr. White called to say that they had just heard about Jerry and his accident and how sorry he was and what a wonderful student Jerry was. It warms my heart that years later he is remembered by his teachers and they have such lovely things to say about him. Chet has some photographic art on display at the Santa Cruz City Art Center in Ben Lomond accross from Ben Lomond Market for all you locals. Chet's work will be displayed through April and is for sale. Chet has offered the proceeds from the sale of his art to go to Jerry's recovery fund. If any of you locals are on the market for a new piece of art I encourage you to visit the Gallery. Thanks Mr. White for your generosity and your kind words.

God Bless!
Katie

Hump Day

So here we are, middle of the week, half of the weeks appointments done, and were finally getting a chance to write something. Man these days and weeks seem to be flying by. Remember a time when summer used to take forever to get here? Not anymore. I just wish I could type as fast as the days go by......dare to dream.

Met with another group of social workers today. This time they were from California Children Services, and we had a nice visit at our house. We like for them to come to our house as it just feels more relaxed, and they can get a chance to see who we really are, and how we live. I don't know, maybe that's what they are thinking too. They will be helping with some of Jerry's equipment needs and guiding us through some of the bizillion questions that we have. They were very nice folks that have Jerry's best interest at hand. After they left, it was get Jerry ready for his first appointment/evaluation at Dominican Rehab Center. He will be going there twice a week also for physical and occupational therapy, so we will have to sort out what he will be doing there, and what he will be doing at SCI-FIT, as to get the best possible combination of the both. Jerry and Katie were both pleased to have met Mary-Anne, his new therapist, and she evaluated Jerry with some exercises to see what he can, and connot do yet, to try to set up a program that will benefit him most. It was off to Taco's Moreno's after that for lunch with Chris, Luke and Torrie, the same guy's that took Jerry out to the movies last night in the shaggin-wagon. It was nice for Jerry to get to get out spend some time with his friends alone, although it was a little uneasy for his mother and I. Still new to this I guess. Oh well, everything went fine and it's nice for him to have the kind of friends that we can feel comfortable in letting him go with. Thanks guys, we are proud of you all!

Well tomorrow is coming apon us quickly, and we have another big day. Sci-fit, belated birthday bash(Luke), and a cougar softball game so I'll just say goodnight, and God bless.
Thank You Lord for a nausea free day today,and I pray for the same tommorrow.
Dennis

Monday - March 23

Wow, we've reached over 50,000 hits for Jerry's blog, I like to think of it as 50,000 prayers. Thank you all for faithfully following Jerry's progress, thank you for continued prayer for Jerry's recovery.

Today was a little disappointing, we arrived at SCI-FIT on time however some unforeseen circumstances prevented us from starting on time, we were 40 minutes late. It's to expensive and to long of a drive to miss out on 40 minutes of the workout. Jerry was put in the standing frame however upon going up he was not able to tolerate it and had to come back down. I have to remind myself that things are not always going to go as planned, just go with the flow and when unforeseen circumstances come up they'll be easier to handle.

Jerry is still struggling with the nausea and I'm struggling with not being able to get a handle on it. What is the cause and how do we fix it? It's perplexing and I feel so helpless, everything we have tried to remedy it has not helped. Poor Jerry has so much to deal with, I wish we could take this one of his plate. Please continue to pray for deliverance from the nausea.

Tomorrow's another day and we start over fresh. It will be a better day....

Good night,
Katie

Sunday, a day of Rest

So here we are ready to start a new week, and a full week at that. Muddled in between our two trips to Sci-fit this week, we will be getting started at Dominican Rehab on Wednesday, along with doing another evaluation with Children Services on Tuesday I believe. The days seem to string together sometimes, so I'm not quite sure which one is which, I just go where Katie tells me to go. Some of Jerry's friends are home on spring break this week also, so maybe will see them once in a while. (Hint-Hint)

Jerry felt better today and that was a plus. Hopefully he got over whatever what was making him feel sick. We basically lounged around as we were all kinda tired, and the weather was not the best outside today, but that's OK. Katie's aunt Steph was up this weekend and did a great job helping us out by doing some cleaning and laundry. I want to thank her and her son Phillip for coming over, and along with the help they provided, it was just good to see them. Way to go guys! We were going to go over to Luke's for a birthday bash, but he too was feeling a bit under the weather, so we will have to do it at a later time. A good day's rest was probably just as well.

So let's pray for a week of good sunshine, a week of good health, and some more progress in all the therapy that we will do this week. Pray for the people we meet, and the circumstances that will arise, that Gods hand will be nudging gently us along the path he has chosen. This is something that each and everyone of us can use. I have a feeling this is going to be a great week.
Good night and God Bless,
Dennis

Saturday - Mar 21

The house is buzzing with activity this morning, Dennis, Johnny, and a couple of Johns workers are working on the room. Jessica has a softball tournament over in San Jose so Josh got up and drove her over at 7:00 this morning. My aunt Stephanie and cousin Phillip came for the weekend to help me get some cleaning done and I just started Jerry's morning routine. I'm thankful there is no rain today so the guys outside can work and not get wet. I'm hoping to get through Jerry's routine and then try and make it to Jessica's 3:00 game while Stephanie and Phillip hang with Jer.

Jerry was feeling very sick for most of the day yesterday, he threw up a few times and didn't want to be touched or moved. Jerry finally started to feel better about 5:00 but by 8:30 he was feeling pretty crappy again. Jerry couldn't sleep and about 2:00 am he started feeling scared something was really wrong. Jerry started feeling like we should go to the hospital because this was the worst he has felt and he was worried. I was able to calm him down and assure him he was OK he just felt crappy. He finally fell asleep a little after 3:00 am so he slept in this morning. Please pray for Jerry that he will be nausea and pain free today.

Time to finish Jerry's routine, more later....

Katie

Thursday - Mar 19

The drive to SCI-FIT was quite, Jerry was nauseous and not feeling well, Janea went along to help out. Jerry was riding shot gun so Janea was stuck in the back, I've ridden back there it's a rough ride but she fared well. Jerry started to feel better by the time we arrived, amazingly we were on time. Our appointment was an hour early and I ain't gonna lie, it was a bit of a challenge to make it on time.

Jerry worked is butt off today, below is a video of one of his work out routines. There was wonderful progress during this exercise. One of the trainers Leigh filmed it and Jerry the trainer was kind enough to put it on disk for me, thanks Jerry! During this exercise Jerry the trainer would bend the knees, then stimulate the leg muscles to trigger a spasm. He would have Jerry make a connection with the spasm and use it to push with his legs to lock the knees. This was so encouraging for me to see, when Jerry was done with this exercise he said his hip flexers burned. A good burn like you get with a good workout. This also was encouraging to me, that he had feeling well below his level of injury.





Next Jerry was on the standing frame and then spent time on the table being ranged by John. Lastly Jerry spent about 45 minutes on the FES bike. Jerry's workout was about 2 hours 45 minutes and he was pooped out at the end. He feels good tonight lets pray that holds through tomorrow.

Off to bed, good night...
Katie

Wonderful Wednesday Mar 18

I really enjoy Wednesdays especially when the sun is shinning. If y'all haven't noticed from my past posts, I'm kind of addicted to the sun. Wednesdays are great because the physical therapist and occupational therapist come to the house and work with Jerry. I think Jerry likes Wednesdays as well because we don't make him get out of bed until about 5:00. PT and OT work with Jerry in his bed. We generally go through our morning routine, then Jerry sits in bed and works on his computer for about an hour until OT comes at 1:30, Cheryl usually works with Jerry for about an hour. Next is lunch and then PT arrives about 3:30, David works with Jerry for about an hour as well. It's really nice to have a break for 2 hours in the middle of the day to get paper work done, although the time flies much to quickly.

As the days routine settled in I had a sense of peace, with Dennis and our oldest son Josh working on the house outside hearing the power tools going and knowing the room is well underway. Janea helped me do some chores and fed Jerry his lunch so I could make a few phone calls. Later in the evening Jessica rubbed Jerry's feet and encouraged him to move his toes then kissed him on the head and said good night. How blessed we are to have such wonderful kids, everyone pitching in to help.

The SCI-FIT trainer introduced a new exercise on Monday for Jerry, let me see if I can describe it for you without making it to confusing. Jerry lays on the table on his side, the trainer sits on the table on Jerry's backside next to his buttocks. The bottom leg is straight and the top leg is bent at a 45 degree angle, the trainer grabs the top leg at the knee and ankle and pulls it back to stretch the hip flexer, Jerry's job is to attempt to initiate the movement. While doing this exercise at SCI-FIT the trainer said she could feel a little initiation on Jerry's part in the hip flexer. I told David the therapist that comes to the house about this exercises and he tried it with Jerry as well. David said he could also feel something initiate and was encouraged by what he felt. This is all good stuff.

Tomorrow we are off to SCI-FIT and are very much looking forward to it. We are hoping to start on gait training some time soon. I'll explain gait training later once he is able to do that.

Thank you all so much for following Jerry's progress and keeping him and our family in your daily prayers. Thank you all who leave wonderful comments on this blog, it's very uplifting for us. Jerry reads your comments and enjoys hearing your thoughts and prayers as well.

Good night,
Katie

Tuesday - Mar 17

Jerry had an appointment with the neurosurgeon that operated on him, a 2 month evaluation appointment at 11:00 in San Jose. Wow it was a challenge to get there on time. We tried our best but still were a half hour late. The receptionist was irritated at the lateness but the doc was great. Doc said no worries we can just show up anytime before 2:00 and he would still see us. So next appointment will be less stressful. It looks like Jerry will have another four weeks with the neck brace, but other than that everything else is good. Although nausea reared it's ugly head once again, Jerry felt sick most of the day.

Dennis has made progress on the room, thanks Bill and John for the help, most appreciated.

Happy St. Patricks day....
Katie

Monday, March 16

So here it is Monday again, and it seems like the weeks are piling up. We have a good routine on Monday's, one that flows right along, and today was no different. But lets recap the week-end first shall we? Saturday I got a good day of work in on the room addition, my son Josh helped me strip off the old roof and load it in a trailer, and then my good friend John Caruso came over and we cut loose the floor joists and jacked the whole thing up level. It was really cool. I have felt like a slug lately and just needed to get something done with no interruptions. Mission accomplished! Luckily, I covered it with plastic just in case it rained because when I awoke on Sunday, water everywhere. Oh well. The rain bummed me out a little, as I felt we were making progress, but it gave me time to go to the dump to empty the trailer and clean up some mess. We finished off Sunday with a few visits from friends. Jack, Kelly, and Jake Williams stopped by with a awesome apple pie, and Gretchen, Ed, and Gabe Luboff brought over fixins' for Ruben sandwiches, so we just sat around and ate food all evening. Thank you all for you're good food and great company. So back to today. Like I said earlier, we have a pretty set routine on Monday's so we got up and had Jerry ready to go to SCI-FIT by 1:00, and things were working out just fine. We rearranged the seats in the van so Jerry could ride shotgun, and it made the ride a lot less bumpy. Now I know how he felt nausea because riding over the hill in the back of that van is like being in the back seat of a roller coaster for an hour and a half. It's enough to make anyone feel sick.....But all went well and we got there in plenty of time. Today he worked on some more range of motion stuff, and then got all set up to do the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) bike. It takes a while to get it all set up the first time, and the therapists needed to see for themselves how Jerry would react to the stimulation, but it all went well and he rode for about 35-40 minutes. From here on out he can ride it without taking up his gym time, he can do it either before, or after his regular workout, as long as nobody else is scheduled. So we got that going for us. A stop by Wal-mart on the way home to get a few things, and the day was over. A good day indeed. It seems that the days are getting less complicated as of late, they are still busy, but we all seem to be handling them better. Jerry's nausea and pain have been at a minimum, and that helps out a lot. Katie and I have got a sort of routine down for the most part, and that makes things go smoother for everyone, including Jerry. Were hoping for nice weather for the next couple of days, so I can get the rest of the floor done on the addition and other than that, life is good. I thank you all for sharing this time with us, and I thank you all for your prayers and support, because without that, we would truly be lost. May God bless you and you families tomorrow as He has blessed ours today.

Good night, Dennis

Amazing Grace

Yesterday was another good day, I hope the trend continues.

Jerry wanted to let his hair grow out and it had gotten quite long and was completely unmanageable. He stuck it out as long as possible but couldn't take it anymore, because the back of his head is always resting on something and it made his head itchy. We got ready early and took Jerry to get a hair cut.



After Jerry's hair cut we went to Dominican Rehab so Jerry could check it out. Carl the wheelchair guy was doing a wheelchair clinic there so we had an opportunity to meet with him briefly to discuss the chair issues. From there it was off to Taquaria Maranoes (I'm sure that's not spelled right :-0) to get a burrito for lunch, Jerry loves that place. Next it was a rush to the doctor appointment. The appointment went well, Jerry is going to ween off the Neurontin, it should take about six weeks to get him off of it.

Jerry had a case of insomnia last night, maybe it was taking a new med or maybe it was a caffeinated beverage in the evening or maybe both, so no soda past 5:00 pm from here on out. Jerry did not get to sleep until about 4:30 this morning so I'm letting him sleep in, I plan on waking him at 11:30. If you've been following the blog you know, sleeping that late throws the whole day off. It's a good thing I've always been a flexible person, it makes it a little easier to go with the flow when things don't go as planned.

A friend sent the below video An amazing rendition of Amazing Grace, performed in the coliseum in Rome, I thought it was beautiful, if it's your cup of tea enjoy....



Katie

Thursday - Mar 12

I must say the visiting nurse at 8:30 this morning was a bit early, however the rest of the day went very well. I got Jerry ready for the outing to SCI-FIT while Dennis made a few calls about the power wheelchair and then worked on the room. We decided it would be more productive for Dennis to stay home and work on the room and I would take Jerry to Pleasanton. That plan worked out fine, Janea and her boyfriend Josh went along to help out if Jerry needed anything along the ride. There's always something an itch on the nose, adjust the hands, a drink of water, wipe the eyes. It will be interesting when we finally get to a point where I will be taking Jerry on my own. It takes 1 1/2 hours to get to Pleasanton, that's a long ride with an itchy nose and nobody to scratch it, I guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes.

SCI-FIT was wonderful, I wish Jerry could go every day.
Here's Jerry in the standing frame with trainers Jerry and Bianca.



Ok, I'm a dork, I took the video with the camera turned on it's side so I could fit Jerry's whole body in the frame. I can't figure out how to turn the video up right. Any suggestions?








Here's Jerry on the total fitness machine working with the John



Jerry had a big workout but felt pretty good afterward. The ride to and from Pleasanton beat him up a little more than the workout. His chair bounces with every bump, some of the bumps practically send him through the roof. You never think about how bad some of the roads are until you are in a situation like this.

All in all it was a good day. God Bless.....good night!!!

Katie

Wednesday - Mar 11

Today was busy as most days seem to be lately. I don't mind busy days in fact I rather prefer them. The morning started in the usual fashion with the routine we are finally getting accustomed to. The morning routine was not quite finished when our first appointment arrived about 11:45. A wonderful woman from In-Home Supportive Services met with us today to get me signed up as the caregiver for Jerry. I'll be able to collect a wage for some of the care I do for Jerry or I can hire a care giver to come in and do some of his care, this service is going to help us immensely. The social worker Cindy was a pleasure to work with she made it so easy, there was a mountain of paper work to get through however she was so organized it was effortless.

Dennis worked on Jerry's room today and made some progress on leveling the roof/floor. I know that seems confusing, the new room is going to be built off the side of the house on top of the car port. The car port roof is slopped and needs to be leveled before it can become the floor for Jerry's room. Dennis worked on the room until about 3:00 when he went to Jessica's softball game. Jess had a game at the high school so he didn't have to go to far.

After Cindy left I made lunch and before I could feed Jerry, Cheryl our occupational therapist arrived. Cheryl worked with Jerry on some exercises for his biceps and shoulders. Jerry's left side is much stronger then his right however Cheryl said it felt like the right was getting stronger. As Cheryl had just finished charting her visit and packing her computer in her bag the doorbell rang and Dave the physical therapist arrived, they tag teamed with a high five in passing as one went out the door and the other came in.

Dave worked with Jerry and I used the opportunity to get caught up on email and a few phone calls. We have been shot down on the power wheelchair we requested for Jerry, Dennis is going to have to do some research to try and find a vendor willing to fight for the chair. If only everyone made it as easy as Cindy did, it would be nice if all we had to worry about was Jerry's care. Just another task for the ever growing "To-Do List".

Dave left around 5:ish and Jerry wanted to do some work on his computer. After getting Jerry all set up on his computer I used the opportunity to go outside and detail the new van. I've been anxious to clean up the new van but everyday is so full I haven't had the opportunity. It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine, I love being outside. I scrubbed the carpet with carpet shampoo and vacuumed and totally detailed the inside. The sun went down and I ran out of light, the outside of the van will have to wait, maybe Friday.

Next on the agenda was cooking dinner and dishes, accept I decided, dishes fagettaboutit, that sink full can wait. We watched a movie "Role Models", hilarious, then watched "American Idol".
Dennis is getting Jerry ready for bed as I post this blog, then off to bed I will go.

Jerry had great day no nausea and very little pain. The day was full but the day was good. Tomorrow we have a nurse coming at 8:30 am, ouch that's a little early. We are off to SCI-FIT which has turned into something we all look forward to very much. Thank you all for caring and for praying for Jerry and our family. Until tomorrow.....

Katie

Tuesday's Gone with the Wind

So today was a day of rest. After a long day yesterday, we were not sure how Jerry would feel today, but I must say that he felt good. He slept in until 10 or so, got breakfast and started a casual day. Katie wanted to go to Jessica's softball game at North Monterrey High School, and she had to leave around 1:30, so I worked at home on Jerry's room, and took care of Jerry's needs for the afternoon. Katie needed a break and I'm sure Jerry is getting sick of having us around also, so I let him veg out and watch a few movies while I worked. Wednesday he has another full day with appointments, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and another home health care meeting, so we will have to get up and get things going pretty early, and I also want to keep taking advantage of this great weather and keep going on his room. So for now that's about it. Thanks for being so faithful with your prayers and such, it continues to touch us each and everyday. Time to get some sleep now.
Good night, and may you have a pleasant tomorrow.
Dennis

Monday, Monday

It was all we hoped it would be. As I type this tonight, I FEEL good (way to much American Idol with the song lyrics I know) but hey, what can I say. Today was great. As I got to do some work on Jerry's room this morning, Katie got Jerry out of bed and ready for his appointment at SCI-FIT. The sun was shining, it was quiet outside, and it just felt like any other normal day. We had a full agenda, as with most days lately, but it just felt like we were getting things done for a change. Jerry was actually on board too, as I think he was excited to be going for a work out. So when I came in around 12:30 from outside, he was all ready to go. Great Job Katie! Some of you might not understand how huge this is, but trust me, getting anywhere on time is a daily challenge for us. So we loaded up in the van, praying that today would be a "good day." Med bag-check, Pillows-check, Jerry's blankie-check, wallet, phone, water, money, straps, mail to drop off, AAAHHHH, check, check, check, lets roll.

Jerry was in a great mood on the ride to Pleasanton, talkative, joking around, feeling real good. With no nausea or pain, the trip was not bad at all, and we made it there 10 minutes early. I'm even realizing where all the big dips in the roads are so I don't send Jerry's head through the roof. Wow, we are getting good at this. Jerry met Jerry and Josh, his trainers for today and they got right to it. Jerry the trainer was a runner also, so they had a good connection right off the bat. It was good to see how dedicated and uplifting they are with their work, they make us feel right at home. Everyone we have met there has been great, the other people working out, the trainers, everyone, it is just very comfortable, like family.

Jerry worked on range of motion on a platform for about a half hour or so, really trying to focus on moving his muscles with the movements of the trainer. After that he moved over to the Chuck Norris total gym machine, and worked on doing some squats. He did that exercise for about a half hour also, doing two legs, and then one leg at a time. Then we moved over to the standing frame. The standing frame is an important part of rehabilitation for quadripeligics. God made our bodies to be upright, not to be laying around or sitting all the time. We need to stand to get circulation of blood back to our hearts, and it keeps all the muscles and tendons from shortning up, as well as numerous other funtions in our bodies. Jerry has only tried the frame a couple of times at Valley Med and has pretty much passed out each time as his blood pressure would drop, and he only got to about 60 degrees each time. Today he got all the way up, and stood there for 5 mins or so before feeling light headed. He did this 4-5 times and the last couple of times, he did like an eliptical machine movement for 5-6 mins before sitting back down. These are big steps for him and you could see the excitement in his face that he was standing. I must admit that mom and I were pretty excited too! The little things we take for granted. We finished the session off with some balance work where Jer was sitting up with some assistance, and then leaning forward, then back, and side to side. Jerry was saying how he could feel some of his back muscles doing some of the work, and the trainer agreed, saying he could feel something too. Little steps, but steps indeed.

So that was our workout in a nutshell, so to speak. Jerry felt great afterwords, and he even worked up an appitite, so we hit up Applebee's on they way home for some food. He said it was the first time he's been really hungry in quite a while, so that was a good sign. The ride home was nausea free, but he was a little sore, so he did take a little pain medication. All in all it was a very good day.

Katie and I were very proud of the work that Jerry put in today, physically and emotionally. We thank God that he has given us this great place, and taken the time to put special people in our lives that will help us to grow in the future. We thank him for nausea free days and answered prayer. But most of all, we thank him for the patience he has bestowed on us, so that we are able to see the good things that are happening in are lives today.

Good night and God Bless,
Dennis

Busy Weekend

This weekend has been busy but very nice all the same. Saturday went well, Jessica's softball team won the tournament. Jerry didn't want to go to the field so I got up early and got all of Jerry's business attended to. Josh stayed home with Jerry and kept him company so Dennis and I could watch Jessica's games. It was wonderful to spend the day at the field watching softball, the sun was shinning and it was warm for the most part. Jerry and Josh had a chill day relaxing at home.

We were up late last night and slept in until 10:00, after being up for a few minutes we realized it was actually 11:00, oops forgot about the time change, that sort of threw the day off a bit. It was about 2:45 before we got Jer in his chair when Josh called and wanted to take Jerry to the movies to see Watch Men. We loaded Jerry in the van and I drove the van down to Felton to meet up with Josh and his friends. We exchanged cars and off they went to the movies. I have to admit I was nervous letting Jerry go without Dennis or I but I knew Josh could handle it. I spent the rest of the day cleaning house and finished up about 8:30.

Dennis started work on Jerry's room, finally enough sun to start the building project. I'm so glad that the rain is on break, several days of sun will be awesome, not to mention Dennis can actually start to get something done on Jerry's room.

Tomorrow we are off to SCI-FIT, we are excited to go. Jerry has had a few days of minimal nausea and pain. Please pray that Jerry will continue to be nausea and pain free. Pray we are able to get to SCI-FIT with no delays, and as always please continue to pray that Jerry will be healed, the damage to his spinal cord will be mended and pray he will walk again.

Thank you all for the love, support and prayers,

Katie

TGIF - March 6

I'm so happy to see the sun today and even happier to hear we should have sun for at least the next 7 days. Last night Jerry had trouble sleeping and didn't doze off until after 2:00 am so I let him sleep late this morning. If this becomes a pattern we may need to wake him up early morning even if he's tired to try and break the pattern. We'll have to see what sleeping pattern he has over the weekend.

Today was a good day for Jerry, maybe it was sleeping late, maybe it was changing his afternoon supplement of Neurozyme and Mental Clarity to morning, I don't know. I'm just happy he made it through the day with almost no pain or nausea. Jerry also managed to get through the day without pain or nausea medication, let's pray this pattern persists.

Jerry has an appointment at SCI-FIT on Monday, we can't wait. We are so excited about this place, I wish we could be there every day. Jerry spent some time using his Dragon voice activated software today, he did a little facebooking, read some of his blog and got to talk with a couple friends on chat. Dragon is getting better, a little less frustrating. Jerry also did his workout with the arm skateboard and he spent about 4 1/2 hours in his wheelchair. Jerry finally got in his recliner chair about 8:30, his favorite place to be. Dennis and Jerry watched a movie the original Terminator.

Tomorrow is a big day, Jessica has a softball tournament at SLV all day. Dennis is leaving early in the morning to go help with the fields. I will probably take care of Jerry's needs in the morning and have Janea sit with him so I can go watch Jess's game at 10:00. I'll probably come home after Jess's first game and get Jerry ready and bring him back for the third game. He probably won't be to thrilled he's not a big softball fan, even if it is his sister playing. The fresh air and sunshine will be good for him though.

Good night.....God Bless You All!!!

Katie

Thursday, Thursday

Well once again, you're stuck with me. Katie says it's my night to write, and if there is one thing I've learned over the past 25 years that we have been married, that no just doesn't work for her. So here I am, taking the safest way out, and doing what is asked of me. Katie and Jerry had a late night last night, so I'm glad to do it. Seems while I was fast asleep last night, Jerry had a case of the itches. He kept wanting his nose, face and head scratched, and it got to the point where Katie ended up washing his hair at 2 in the morning to get it to stop. Thankfully that got him to relax enough to get to sleep around 3am. I think he just slept to much yesterday and was feeling restless but I can't know for sure because I was sleeping.
Today was a much better day though, as we got up and going in the usual manner. Katie got to get out and get some shopping done and I got to get my boy ready for the day. Jessica had her first softball game at the school today and there was no way I was going to miss opening day. So after doing all the normal stuff we do in the morning, we set out for the game. It was a nice day outside, compared to the last week, so we were all gung ho. Jerry felt fine today so we went and watched his lil' sis play ball. Cougars win 9-4. Oh yeah. Came home, made food, watched American Idol, then watched the office, and got ready for bed. A pretty uneventful day really, which is nice. Maybe tomorrow will be the same, who knows, but I'm glad the rain is sapposed to be done for a while. It will be nice to get outside and work on Jerry's room. It will be nice to get outside and do anything. Well I guess thats all for now, but we appriecate all of you that are keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, it really means a lot to us and we just hope that tomorrow will be another one of the good day's. Peace and love to all.
Dennis

Wednesday - March 4

Today was a laid back day for Jerry. Jerry stayed in bed until about five today because he had an in home appointment with the occupational therapist at 11:30 today and with the physical therapist at 3:00. It would be easier for the therapists to work with Jerry in the bed. We went through our morning routine until OT arrived which happens to be someone we've known for several years, our sons were friends. OT left about 1:ish so Jerry worked on his voice activated software while waiting for PT. Jerry did his facebook for awhile and spent some time reading the blog, he has a lot of catching up to do on the blog. Thank you all for commenting it means a lot to us and I know it's encouraging for Jerry. PT didn't arrive until close to 4:00, we went over range of motion and Dave showed me a few more exercises we could do for him.

Jerry's nausea was almost non-existent today as well as his pain. I moved his afternoon supplement of Neurozyme and Mental Clarity to morning. It seemed like the medications he takes around 3:00 may make him feel better, he almost always feels good after 5:00. The only other meds he takes at that time is Nuerontin and Aspirin for blood thinner. The hope was that maybe the two supplements I moved to morning may be making him feel good and by giving them in the morning maybe it will eliminate the nausea. I'd like to say it worked however I think it's likely the lack of nausea was probably due to spending the day in bed with minimal movement. Tomorrow will be a better day to test that theory because he will get out of bed early and have more movement. On a positive note Jerry went through the whole day with no pain meds.

It's almost 11:30 pm time to hit the hay, until tomorrow...
God bless,
Katie

Tough Tuesday

Well here we are, sixty-one days have gone bye, and a lot has happened. Sixty-one, I have to remember that number. Today started off in the usual fashion, up by eight, breakfast by nine, ready to get Jerry going so we could leave the house by one. Medications, range of motion, bath and dressed, all that that entails, we were getting it done, ready to face the hour and a half drive to Pleasanton to Jerry's new training gym SCI fit. Then it happened. Nausea. We were in the van, which we owe thanks to the many supporters for, and just ready to leave camp when Jer got sick. We all were bummed. Sixty-one. Mabey it was the scrambled eggs? Did we give him his medications in the right order? Did we forget something? Was it the sixty-one speed bumps that we go over to get out of the camp? I don't know, buy Jerry was sick and that ended the trip. Man, Monday was so cool, we just wanted to feel that again. We were so close, but being sick before the drive was a bad sign, so we cruised back home and took care of business. Once we got in the house, Jerry went back to bed, Mom made some phone calls, and I went to get a few things at the grocery store and got the movie Austrailia to watch later in the evening. What a lame day! So much promise, dashed by the stinking nausea. I hate that word.
Jerry got up later about 4pm and we ate a little food, looked at some pictures that our friend Linda had brought over, and we sat down and watched the movie. Simple enough I guess.
But as we talked later in the evening, we all remembered sixty-one.
It's ONLY been sixty-one days since his injury. Not three months, not six months, but sixty-one days. The people at SCI fit couldn't even believe he came in when he did, they just usually don't see people in that soon. So I guess what I'm trying to say is we need to be patient. There are going to be days like this, and there are going to be days like Monday, and we have to just have to keep on keeping on. We will get up the same way tomorrow(except for the eggs I think) and see what the day will bring. One thing I know for sure is though, we will keep trying, and that God will see us through the good and the bad, just the way he did today. Just when I thought today was a wash, he reminded me of the good. We are alive, we love one another, and we get another chance to do it again tomorrow. All that in Sixty-one days.........Remarkable.

Thank You Lord.
Good night and God Bless, Dennis

Monday - March 2

The sentinel wrote a lovely article about Jerry yesterday, if you missed it there is a link on the right under "FOLLOWING THE STORY" or you can just click here.

Today we visited SCI-FIT, let me just say we love it. Bianca, the woman that worked with Jerry is wonderful, we are very excited about the facility. We met Dan the founder of the program, we were so encouraged by him. Dan was a quad with a C5 level injury, his injury was over three years ago. Dan did some of his rehab at Project Walk in San Diego and actually relocated there. Dan also visited several other rehab centers. When Dan founded SCI-FIT he took the best of all he had learned in all the other programs and combined it to come up with his own unique program.

Bianca did some movement with Jerry and spent some time evaluating his ability with the help of another trainer named John. It was so wonderful to watch them work with Jerry and give him one on one attention, or should I say two on one attention, even better. Jerry got to work on a piece of equipment that somewhat simulated a squat. Jerry was laying at about a 45 degree angle on a moving platform with his legs locked and supporting his body weight. Bianca would unlock the knees and his body would lower then she would push the knees back until they lock. Simulating a partial squat. It's kind of hard to describe, hopefully that lengthy description made some sense and helped you to visualize the exercise.

Jerry had a pretty good workout and needless to say was feeling it before we got home. Jerry liked the program and the trainers and seems excited to go back, we are going back to SCI-FIT tomorrow. Jerry feels comfortable with trying two days a week, Bianca suggested Tuesdays and Thursdays because the gym is hoping with a young crowed and there are a few patients Jerry's age, she did mention that they are mostly of the female persuasion, Jerry didn't seem to broken up about that ;-). Bianca is out on Thursday so we decided to go back tomorrow and then Tue & Thurs next week and each week thereafter. Tomorrow we will try and get some pictures and post them, we forgot the camera today.

Thank you prayer warriors for lifting Jerry and our family up in prayer, thank you Lord for hearing the prayers of your children.

It's midnight and morning comes to soon, I'm off to bed.....Good night.

Katie