Once again Jerry is in a life threatening situation in need of prayer. Last Sunday Jerry had complications with a drug interaction and experienced something called Serotonin Syndrome. His fever peaked at 107 degrees, his blood pressure dropped to critical level and his heart rate was dangerously high. Jerry was near death, barely breathing and comatose by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital. Jerry seizured throughout the night and remained comatose for the last seven days. He has mad improvements everyday from his vitals stabilizing, to his eyes opening. Today it is believed that Jerry has come out of the comatose state, his eyes have been open for the last 48 hours however today is the first day we have been able to prompt a response from him. Jerry's intubated and clearly beginning to show signs of agitation with having the breathing tube down his throat. Today was the first day that I felt a sense of relief that he's gonna pull through this. Jerry's not out of the woods and has a long road of recovery ahead, please keep him in your prayers that he will become fully awake and aware and that he won't suffer long term brain damage.
Thanks,
Katie
Monday, April 30, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
January 31, 2012
Thank you to all who still follow and care about Jerry's progress, I apologize for letting so much time pass since the last post. I run into people I don't see very often at the super market and am reminded that people still care and miss reading updates on how Jerry is doing. I feel that I'm not a very good writer and what I write is not all that interesting however people still ask for updates so I will try to be more diligent about updating, at least once a month.
It's been so long since I've posted I don't even know where to begin. This has been one of the most difficult years of my life and I think Jerry's as well, which is one of the reasons I haven't posted. I suppose I should start where I left off Jerry and I flew to GA in June for power soccer, which was a wonderful experience. Jerry's first plane ride was a learning experience to say the least, I was amazed how smoothly it went considering we traveled with the team and there where about eight team members in wheelchairs to pre-board the plane. The process was interesting, Jerry could only take one wheelchair so he was stuck in his soccer chair for the duration of the trip which is not very comfortable for him but he handled it very well. Getting the wheelchair through security takes a little more time then I expected, we were taken into a small private room at which point I could no longer touch or stand near Jerry. The security officer then has to pat Jerry down for weapons, the challenging part was he did not have experience in handling a quadriplegics body in the sense that he needed to lean Jerry forward to check behind his back but he didn't know how to do that on his own and could not allow me to help, I had to give him verbal step by step instructions. When that was complete he had to wipe down Jerry's chair as well as his hands and shoes with a special cloth which was then tested for explosives. Once we got through security and were ready to board it got a little bit hectic. I was told in advance that wheelchairs are not handled well when put into cargo and often come back broken. To avoid this you bring a duffel bag and disassemble the chair and put the parts (joystick, arm rests, feet rests, neck rest, head switch etc.) into the duffel and bring it as a carry on. The problem with this is they will only give you about 1 minute to disassemble and you cannot begin until Jerry is out of the chair. Luckily the coaches where there to disassemble the chair so that I could get Jerry boarded. Once we got to the bottom of the boarding ramp I had to transfer Jerry into the airport manual wheelchair designed to fit in the plane isle, the assistant wheeled him to his seat and I transferred him into the seat. Jerry is 6'3" tall and does not fit in coach very well, his knees hit the seat in front of him and his head was higher then the head rest so needless to say it was not a very comfortable flight for him. If we ever make it to China he will have to fly first class.
We had ups and downs while in GA but mostly ups, it was difficult adhering to the schedule of others and being up and out of the hotel early morning, there was a lot of rushing and running late on my part. Jerry also had difficulty controlling his chair and was disqualified his first game for lack of control in the pre-game testing. Jerry didn't get much play time in the remaining games but he was ok with it, it was to much pressure, he didn't want to screw it up for the team because he couldn't control his chair. Our team took 3rd, everyone played very well. All in all the trip was wonderful and a huge learning experience on how to travel as a quad.
Shortly after returning home Jerry was admitted to the ICU for another Pulmonary Embolism (multiple blood clots in both lungs), he spent about a week in the hospital. Jerry's doctor felt the embolism was a result of the flight, which isn't all that uncommon in people with his condition. Jerry had to go back on blood thinners and have PT-INR checks done by a vising nurse weekly. The original discussion is that Jerry would have to remain on blood thinners for life with regular INR checks, however we later discussed Jerry getting off the blood thinner after 6 months and only taking it a week before and after he does any traveling. To date he is still on blood thinners but I think it's time to advocate for him to discontinue.
In late July I took Jerry on his first camping trip as a quad, it was both challenging and very rewarding. Jessica, her boyfriend Jack, Jerry and I drove 6 hours to Trinity Lake up near Redding, and met up with friends. We had so much fun, even Jerry who was reluctant to go and had to be bribed and coerced had a blast. I brought both Jerry's wheelchairs (power and manual) because I wasn't sure if his power chair could handle the terrain. We only got into a couple of spots where the wheelchair got stuck but it wasn't to much trouble to get around it. I had two queen size air mattress that I stacked on top of each other for a bed for Jerry. I devised a method of transferring him in and out of bed via the tent back door which is difficult to explain and even more difficult to do. The transfer from the wheelchair to the bed was a piece of cake but from the bed to the wheelchair was a whole new ballgame, to say difficult would be and understatement. Our days were spent in the lake and our nights around the fire. We put a life jacket on Jerry and transferred him into a raft which we tied to the kayak, Jack and Jessica would row Jerry around the lake in the kayak. Our friends Dana and Jim have a boat so one of the days we were able to get Jerry on the tube and Dana pulled him around the lake. Thank you Dana for that awesome experience!
It's been so long since I've posted I don't even know where to begin. This has been one of the most difficult years of my life and I think Jerry's as well, which is one of the reasons I haven't posted. I suppose I should start where I left off Jerry and I flew to GA in June for power soccer, which was a wonderful experience. Jerry's first plane ride was a learning experience to say the least, I was amazed how smoothly it went considering we traveled with the team and there where about eight team members in wheelchairs to pre-board the plane. The process was interesting, Jerry could only take one wheelchair so he was stuck in his soccer chair for the duration of the trip which is not very comfortable for him but he handled it very well. Getting the wheelchair through security takes a little more time then I expected, we were taken into a small private room at which point I could no longer touch or stand near Jerry. The security officer then has to pat Jerry down for weapons, the challenging part was he did not have experience in handling a quadriplegics body in the sense that he needed to lean Jerry forward to check behind his back but he didn't know how to do that on his own and could not allow me to help, I had to give him verbal step by step instructions. When that was complete he had to wipe down Jerry's chair as well as his hands and shoes with a special cloth which was then tested for explosives. Once we got through security and were ready to board it got a little bit hectic. I was told in advance that wheelchairs are not handled well when put into cargo and often come back broken. To avoid this you bring a duffel bag and disassemble the chair and put the parts (joystick, arm rests, feet rests, neck rest, head switch etc.) into the duffel and bring it as a carry on. The problem with this is they will only give you about 1 minute to disassemble and you cannot begin until Jerry is out of the chair. Luckily the coaches where there to disassemble the chair so that I could get Jerry boarded. Once we got to the bottom of the boarding ramp I had to transfer Jerry into the airport manual wheelchair designed to fit in the plane isle, the assistant wheeled him to his seat and I transferred him into the seat. Jerry is 6'3" tall and does not fit in coach very well, his knees hit the seat in front of him and his head was higher then the head rest so needless to say it was not a very comfortable flight for him. If we ever make it to China he will have to fly first class.
We had ups and downs while in GA but mostly ups, it was difficult adhering to the schedule of others and being up and out of the hotel early morning, there was a lot of rushing and running late on my part. Jerry also had difficulty controlling his chair and was disqualified his first game for lack of control in the pre-game testing. Jerry didn't get much play time in the remaining games but he was ok with it, it was to much pressure, he didn't want to screw it up for the team because he couldn't control his chair. Our team took 3rd, everyone played very well. All in all the trip was wonderful and a huge learning experience on how to travel as a quad.
Shortly after returning home Jerry was admitted to the ICU for another Pulmonary Embolism (multiple blood clots in both lungs), he spent about a week in the hospital. Jerry's doctor felt the embolism was a result of the flight, which isn't all that uncommon in people with his condition. Jerry had to go back on blood thinners and have PT-INR checks done by a vising nurse weekly. The original discussion is that Jerry would have to remain on blood thinners for life with regular INR checks, however we later discussed Jerry getting off the blood thinner after 6 months and only taking it a week before and after he does any traveling. To date he is still on blood thinners but I think it's time to advocate for him to discontinue.
In late July I took Jerry on his first camping trip as a quad, it was both challenging and very rewarding. Jessica, her boyfriend Jack, Jerry and I drove 6 hours to Trinity Lake up near Redding, and met up with friends. We had so much fun, even Jerry who was reluctant to go and had to be bribed and coerced had a blast. I brought both Jerry's wheelchairs (power and manual) because I wasn't sure if his power chair could handle the terrain. We only got into a couple of spots where the wheelchair got stuck but it wasn't to much trouble to get around it. I had two queen size air mattress that I stacked on top of each other for a bed for Jerry. I devised a method of transferring him in and out of bed via the tent back door which is difficult to explain and even more difficult to do. The transfer from the wheelchair to the bed was a piece of cake but from the bed to the wheelchair was a whole new ballgame, to say difficult would be and understatement. Our days were spent in the lake and our nights around the fire. We put a life jacket on Jerry and transferred him into a raft which we tied to the kayak, Jack and Jessica would row Jerry around the lake in the kayak. Our friends Dana and Jim have a boat so one of the days we were able to get Jerry on the tube and Dana pulled him around the lake. Thank you Dana for that awesome experience!
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| Jerry Playing the maraca's drum night around the fire |
We had so much fun camping we decided to take another camping trip a few days after returning home. The second trip never happened due to an accident. I had everything all packed and loaded in the van, ready to go. The lift on the van had been broken for some time and the cost of repair was more then I had so we had been manually operating the lift. The in-out did not function electronically however the up-down still worked, to manually operate the in-out you unlock the lift grab hold of it and pull it out, when done push it in and lock it, the lift is located under the vehicle. After loading Jerry, Jack and Jessica we were off for our next adventure. We did not get far, just down the street, I had forgotten to lock the lift, as we went down the hill just before passing a tree the lift flew out, hit the tree and was ripped right out of the van. We spent the next 3 hours trying to figure out how to get Jerry out of the van. We wound up driving to a motor cycle shop and borrowing ramps used to load ATV's into the back of trucks. We were able to get Jerry/wheelchair out of the van, we transferred Jerry into another vehicle and put the wheelchair back into the van. Once we got home we were able to use the hoyer lift to get Jerry into the house and Dennis built a ramp to get the wheelchair out of the van. The cost to repair the lift came to a whopping $15,000, it took almost 2 months for the insurance to determine that they were totaling the van and paying out $8,000. Needless to say that was devastating, affordable used handicap vans that will fit Jerry are hard to come by. It took another month to find a van that we could afford, now we have a new van that is actually older then the old van but it's working for now.
In late August Jerry was signed up for a computer class and calculus 2. However we had no transportation so we were dependent upon para-cruz. The process to sign up for para-cruz took about a week so in the process Jerry missed the first 2 classes of calc. He decided it would be to difficult to come in late so he dropped the class. I wound up taking the computer class with Jerry so I could help him out, the semester went well, we both got A's. It was a little challenging because it was a night class and we were at the mercy of para-cruz and the commute traffic on the fish hook. 90% of the time para-cruz dropped us 10 to 20 minutes late to class, the teacher was very understanding of the circumstance. The semester ended in Dec, however the next semester does not start till the week of February 6th. It's been a very long break.
Jerry has spent nearly the entire break in bed, he did go to a San Jose sharks and a 49er game, he continues to go to therapy in Pleasanton once a week and had a few visits from friends over the holiday. Other than that Jerry has spent most his time in bed, not wanting to get up or go out. Jerry quit the soccer team when we were with out a van and now refuses to go back. My heart breaks for him as he becomes more reclusive, lonely and depressed, he seems to be on a downward spiral of despair. Jerry is struggling with the will to live and to find purpose for his life. Jerry expresses that he does not want to live a life in his condition, that he wants to advocate for his own death but does not want to hurt his family. Even as I type this the tears stream down my face, he has lost hope and I don't know how to help. Jerry is struggling in believing there's a God and quite frankly I'm having my own struggles in that department. I haven't lost my belief in God but I struggle to understand and accept what ever his plan may be, I've lost my desire to pray as I've come to the conclusion that God's plan will not be altered by prayer so whats the point. God has a plan ....let it play out, we are just pawns.
I've struggled with weather or not to talk about this last bit of news as well as the previous paragraph. How much should be shared and how much should be kept private? Should I only update the positive and leave the negative out? ...that's what I would prefer to do but somehow it feels fake and dishonest. I need to be real and honest, life is not always roses. So here goes Dennis and I have been living separate lives for the last year, there is no fixing what is broken and we are getting divorced. Beyond that I will leave the details out, those of you who know us well know the details, those that don't know us so well really don't need to know. To complicate matters further Dennis lost his job and as a result we also lost medical and dental insurance for the family. Dennis has desperately been searching for work, he was contracted to do a job in Gilroy, I just hope that it will lead to more work as the family is dependent upon his income for survival. The home that we live in was part of Dennis' employment, now that he is no longer employed they have given me one year to stay in the home. They have been very generous to allow the kids and I to stay in the home rent and utility free for one year. I am eternally grateful for the kindness however I'm still very worried about the future where to go beyond here.
Katie
Sunday, April 17, 2011
New Experiences
Jerry started taking classes at the community college in the first week of February. Our schedule was a bit grueling with school Monday through Thursday, SCI-FIT in Pleasanton Friday and wheelchair soccer on Saturdays, not to mention homework. The drive to school is about 45 minutes, too far to drop Jerry and come back home so I am taking classes at the same time as Jer. I'm loving it, I have a golf and a fitness class, it's a great break for me. The first hurdle to overcome was how Jerry was to manage homework assignments, the first homework assignment was a bit overwhelming. We purchased software that allows Jerry to do calculus using his voice activation software, it's been challenging for him but he's figuring it out. Jerry really enjoyed his history class and liked the teacher very much. In the 4th week Jerry had an issue with the teacher and dropped the class. I encouraged him to stick with it, not let the teacher get the best of him however he felt he could not work with a teacher that was so unreasonable. Jerry has special accommodations for test taking, he takes tests at disabled student services where a scribe will write his answers. He showed up for class on Monday and found that there was to be a test however he didn't have the chance to set up the time with a scribe because he was unaware of the test. Jerry asked if he could set it up for the next day and the teacher would not allow it. The teacher explained the test date was in the syllabic (handed out the first day of school), he told Jerry he would have to take a zero and be more prepared for next time. The bottom line is Jerry is just trying to figure out how to be a student as a quad, he took classes he thought would be easy, he didn't need them. The purpose is to work out the kinks and figure out how to manage. As a mom I was ready to march in and have a little chat with that teacher however Jerry would not allow it, Jerry did make a complaint in disabled student services.
Jerry is playing wheel chair soccer (power soccer) on Sundays and enjoying it very much. He plays on a co-ed team with others with different disabilities, some have MS, MD and spinal cord injured. Jerry's wheelchair is not good for the sport it's far to slow so in the beginning it was very frustrating for him. The coach has a few extra chairs that people have handed down and offered one to Jer. It took about 3 weeks to modify the chair to fit Jerry's needs, this weekend he was able to control his new chair with almost no issues. The team had a tournament in Santa Barbara last weekend so Dennis and Jerry made the long haul. This was the first time since Jerry's accident that he has traveled in a vehicle for more than 2 hours as well as a first for staying in a hotel. Jerry fared well on the drive and slept fine without the alternating pressure mattress. This was a good trial for travel, our next trip will be a little more challenging as we'll be flying to Atlanta GA in July.
Here's a little taste of power soccer:
God Bless!
Katie
Jerry is playing wheel chair soccer (power soccer) on Sundays and enjoying it very much. He plays on a co-ed team with others with different disabilities, some have MS, MD and spinal cord injured. Jerry's wheelchair is not good for the sport it's far to slow so in the beginning it was very frustrating for him. The coach has a few extra chairs that people have handed down and offered one to Jer. It took about 3 weeks to modify the chair to fit Jerry's needs, this weekend he was able to control his new chair with almost no issues. The team had a tournament in Santa Barbara last weekend so Dennis and Jerry made the long haul. This was the first time since Jerry's accident that he has traveled in a vehicle for more than 2 hours as well as a first for staying in a hotel. Jerry fared well on the drive and slept fine without the alternating pressure mattress. This was a good trial for travel, our next trip will be a little more challenging as we'll be flying to Atlanta GA in July.
Here's a little taste of power soccer:
God Bless!
Katie
Monday, January 17, 2011
Quick Update
I think we may be getting closer to addressing the nausea issue for Jerry. Although we've not discovered the root cause we have found a medication combo that eliminates about 85% of the nausea. Jerry feels better physically which improves his mood and outlook on life greatly. I hope this remedy holds up, Jerry builds a tolerance to medications very quickly within 2 to 4 weeks. For now the pain, nausea and emotions are all being managed successfully.
Jerry begins classes at Cabrillo college in about 3 weeks, I think he's excited yet very nervous at the same time. Originally Jerry was going to sign up for a history class to learn how to be a student as a quadriplegic, the biggest concern being how to manage homework. Jerry decided that one class was not enough he really wanted to take calculus as well and so signed up for the class. Now Jerry is becoming increasingly more nervous about being able to handle 2 classes and is wavering on whether or not to drop calc. I reassured Jer that there is plenty of time to drop a class and he should at least give it a shot. He could attend 2 or 3 classes and then determine whether or not he can handle it, so for now that is the plan. Since I am driving him to school and don't have time to come home, I've decided to take some classes as well. As a new student I got to register for classes last and thus all the classes I wanted to take were full, so I will be taking a golf class this semester. I'm excited and hope to improve my golf game immensely.
In my last post I mentioned Dennis being in a band and encouraged all locals to join us at the next gig. I just wanted to let everyone know that Dennis dropped out of the band. Maybe he will pick it back up at a later date but right now it's a little too complicated. I assume the scheduled shows have been canceled, unless they were able to pick a drummer.
I still have lots of t-shirts, if you were planning on purchasing I encourage you not to wait we are limited on sizes.
Much love,
Katie
Jerry begins classes at Cabrillo college in about 3 weeks, I think he's excited yet very nervous at the same time. Originally Jerry was going to sign up for a history class to learn how to be a student as a quadriplegic, the biggest concern being how to manage homework. Jerry decided that one class was not enough he really wanted to take calculus as well and so signed up for the class. Now Jerry is becoming increasingly more nervous about being able to handle 2 classes and is wavering on whether or not to drop calc. I reassured Jer that there is plenty of time to drop a class and he should at least give it a shot. He could attend 2 or 3 classes and then determine whether or not he can handle it, so for now that is the plan. Since I am driving him to school and don't have time to come home, I've decided to take some classes as well. As a new student I got to register for classes last and thus all the classes I wanted to take were full, so I will be taking a golf class this semester. I'm excited and hope to improve my golf game immensely.
In my last post I mentioned Dennis being in a band and encouraged all locals to join us at the next gig. I just wanted to let everyone know that Dennis dropped out of the band. Maybe he will pick it back up at a later date but right now it's a little too complicated. I assume the scheduled shows have been canceled, unless they were able to pick a drummer.
I still have lots of t-shirts, if you were planning on purchasing I encourage you not to wait we are limited on sizes.
Much love,
Katie
Friday, January 7, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy new year, may God bless you today and everyday of this upcoming year.
There has been a couple of changes to this site I'd like to point out in case you haven't noticed. First we have reached $9,557 for the China fund, at just under $10,000 we are almost 1/4 of the way to our goal of $40,000. Secondly there is a new page for t-shirts, to view the new page you can click on the "T-Shirts" link above or click on one of the t-shirt images on the right. Sizes are limited so be sure to order your t-shirt early to ensure you get the size and color you want. We need to sale 27 shirts to break even but my goal is to sale all 100.
Some of you may know that Dennis joined a band, on January 1st the band had their first gig at Don Quixote's in Felton (Tunes for the Troops) , the band did great and sounded awesome. The proceeds from the concert went to the Army Blue Star Moms who put together packages for the troops. Originally they called the band Curtis, Yadon & the California Kingpins but they had to change the name, I think California Kingpins was already in use. The new name is Love Creek, sorry guys that name has gotta go, ya might want to go back to the drawing board on that one. We would love to see all you locals at the next show Britania Arms in Aptos Saturday January 22nd and Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale Friday February 25th. You can listen to a couple of their tracks by clicking here. Jerry went to the movies with his buddies but was able to get to the concert in time to see them play. I caught many glimpses of him laughing and having a good time but I think he was laughing at me on the dance floor, ahhh well what are ya gonna do?
Jerry's two year anniversary was January 2nd, it was a day like any other. We chose not to acknowledge the day as a reminder of a tragedy or give it merit. We went about our routine as usual and didn't talk about the anniversary of his accident. I know to some that may sound like denial however I don't see the point in dwelling on the date that marks a tragic event. We live with sadness for Jerry's loss of mobility, Jerry struggles daily in accepting his new reality, we need to look for the positive not dwell on the negative. So the day came and went as any other day.
Jerry still struggles with nausea on a daily basis but does his best to be functional in spite of the fact, some days are better than others. Jerry continues to go to therapy at SCI-FIT two days a week and we are looking to have someone come to the house to work with Jerry three days a week. It would be great to get someone to come to the house to do range of motion, standing frame and FES bike, to give me a bit of a break.
Jerry begins school in February he'll be taking a history and a calculus class at the local community college. Cabrillo college is about 45 minutes from our house, it's pointless to drive him to school and come home so I'm taking a golf class. I'm excited for Jer and hope that he will not have much trouble figuring out how to be a student as a quad. Calculus homework may be challenging not being able to write out the equations however he has a calculus software that may allow him to work on his homework.
We have a busy day today the visiting nurse was here this morning to check Jerry's INR, he should be able to get off the blood thinner Coumadin by the second week of February. Jerry has a doctor appointment in Santa Cruz at 2:45 and my friend Cheryl and I are going to see Willie Nelson in concert tonight at 6:30. It's going to be a bit of a push for me to get through Jerry's appointment, drive 40 minutes home from Santa Cruz to drop off Jerry and be back in Santa Cruz by 6:30. Dennis and Jerry are going to the San Jose Sharks hockey game tomorrow night they're pretty excited about that, I hope they win. Go Sharks!!! That's all for now I gotta get rollin.
God Bless!
Katie
There has been a couple of changes to this site I'd like to point out in case you haven't noticed. First we have reached $9,557 for the China fund, at just under $10,000 we are almost 1/4 of the way to our goal of $40,000. Secondly there is a new page for t-shirts, to view the new page you can click on the "T-Shirts" link above or click on one of the t-shirt images on the right. Sizes are limited so be sure to order your t-shirt early to ensure you get the size and color you want. We need to sale 27 shirts to break even but my goal is to sale all 100.
Some of you may know that Dennis joined a band, on January 1st the band had their first gig at Don Quixote's in Felton (Tunes for the Troops) , the band did great and sounded awesome. The proceeds from the concert went to the Army Blue Star Moms who put together packages for the troops. Originally they called the band Curtis, Yadon & the California Kingpins but they had to change the name, I think California Kingpins was already in use. The new name is Love Creek, sorry guys that name has gotta go, ya might want to go back to the drawing board on that one. We would love to see all you locals at the next show Britania Arms in Aptos Saturday January 22nd and Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale Friday February 25th. You can listen to a couple of their tracks by clicking here. Jerry went to the movies with his buddies but was able to get to the concert in time to see them play. I caught many glimpses of him laughing and having a good time but I think he was laughing at me on the dance floor, ahhh well what are ya gonna do?
Jerry's two year anniversary was January 2nd, it was a day like any other. We chose not to acknowledge the day as a reminder of a tragedy or give it merit. We went about our routine as usual and didn't talk about the anniversary of his accident. I know to some that may sound like denial however I don't see the point in dwelling on the date that marks a tragic event. We live with sadness for Jerry's loss of mobility, Jerry struggles daily in accepting his new reality, we need to look for the positive not dwell on the negative. So the day came and went as any other day.
Jerry still struggles with nausea on a daily basis but does his best to be functional in spite of the fact, some days are better than others. Jerry continues to go to therapy at SCI-FIT two days a week and we are looking to have someone come to the house to work with Jerry three days a week. It would be great to get someone to come to the house to do range of motion, standing frame and FES bike, to give me a bit of a break.
Jerry begins school in February he'll be taking a history and a calculus class at the local community college. Cabrillo college is about 45 minutes from our house, it's pointless to drive him to school and come home so I'm taking a golf class. I'm excited for Jer and hope that he will not have much trouble figuring out how to be a student as a quad. Calculus homework may be challenging not being able to write out the equations however he has a calculus software that may allow him to work on his homework.
We have a busy day today the visiting nurse was here this morning to check Jerry's INR, he should be able to get off the blood thinner Coumadin by the second week of February. Jerry has a doctor appointment in Santa Cruz at 2:45 and my friend Cheryl and I are going to see Willie Nelson in concert tonight at 6:30. It's going to be a bit of a push for me to get through Jerry's appointment, drive 40 minutes home from Santa Cruz to drop off Jerry and be back in Santa Cruz by 6:30. Dennis and Jerry are going to the San Jose Sharks hockey game tomorrow night they're pretty excited about that, I hope they win. Go Sharks!!! That's all for now I gotta get rollin.
God Bless!
Katie
Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas!
We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, remember to stop and give thanks to God, appreciate your loved ones and don't take life for granted. We never stop to think about the things in life that make our life manageable until it's gone, only then do we realize how precious and fragile life is. I'm guilty, I never gave much thought to the things that make my life easy, the ability to walk, take a 5 minute shower, scratch my head when it itches, feed myself, bend my fingers to grip something, write or type, turn my body over in bed to relieve pressure from being in one position for too long, driving and on and on; until my son was no longer able to do these things. I appreciate now all these things that I'm capable of just to be functional through the day but I would give it all up in a heartbeat if I could give Jerry these gifts. I still pray God will heal Jerry and restore him to health, I will never give up hope that he will again be able to do the simple things in life that make life easier.
We have a family tradition of delivering homemade cookies to all our friends on Christmas eve. Our family loads in the car and drives to deliver to about 25 homes in the valley. This year started out great we decided to take the suburban so Jerry could sit in a regular seat in the car instead of his wheelchair. Jerry felt good when we loaded him in the car but by the time we hit the 6th house he was very nauseous, and couldn't go on. Dennis dropped Jerry and I at home and then continued on delivering cookies, I hope you recipients enjoy the tasty treats.
My family came to visit for about a week and we celebrated Christmas a week early. It's the first time in several years that we had most of the family together, I enjoyed it very much. There was about 20 of us, my house is not that big but we managed to all find places to sit and visit. We missed you Mark and Brandon, Robert & Phil, Dave, Vince & Rena. I'm planning a summer family camp out so mark you calendars now. Having already made the big Christmas dinner last week, I've decided tomorrow I'm not doing anything but enjoying the family, so Chinese food it is, another first.
Well good news, the followingJerry t-shirts are done. I picked them up a few weeks ago and so wanted to get them on the website before Christmas. With preparing for the family to come, having them here a week, getting all my Christmas shopping done, wrapping etc. I either didn't have time or was too exhausted to get the shirts posted. It certainly has been a whirlwind of a December, needless to say the t-shirts are now available. We have blue shirts with white lettering and white shirts with blue lettering for sale $18, the proceeds will go in Jerry's China fund for stem cell therapy. You can click the link on the right side for more info or to place an order.
Merry Christmas to all!
Katie
We have a family tradition of delivering homemade cookies to all our friends on Christmas eve. Our family loads in the car and drives to deliver to about 25 homes in the valley. This year started out great we decided to take the suburban so Jerry could sit in a regular seat in the car instead of his wheelchair. Jerry felt good when we loaded him in the car but by the time we hit the 6th house he was very nauseous, and couldn't go on. Dennis dropped Jerry and I at home and then continued on delivering cookies, I hope you recipients enjoy the tasty treats.
My family came to visit for about a week and we celebrated Christmas a week early. It's the first time in several years that we had most of the family together, I enjoyed it very much. There was about 20 of us, my house is not that big but we managed to all find places to sit and visit. We missed you Mark and Brandon, Robert & Phil, Dave, Vince & Rena. I'm planning a summer family camp out so mark you calendars now. Having already made the big Christmas dinner last week, I've decided tomorrow I'm not doing anything but enjoying the family, so Chinese food it is, another first.
Well good news, the followingJerry t-shirts are done. I picked them up a few weeks ago and so wanted to get them on the website before Christmas. With preparing for the family to come, having them here a week, getting all my Christmas shopping done, wrapping etc. I either didn't have time or was too exhausted to get the shirts posted. It certainly has been a whirlwind of a December, needless to say the t-shirts are now available. We have blue shirts with white lettering and white shirts with blue lettering for sale $18, the proceeds will go in Jerry's China fund for stem cell therapy. You can click the link on the right side for more info or to place an order.
Merry Christmas to all!
Katie
Thursday, December 2, 2010
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ours was great. Josh came home from San Diego it was so nice having him home. I got most of my cooking done on Wednesday evening so we spent much of the day relaxing and watching football, I even got do my cross stitch. It was a very quiet and peaceful day.
Not much has changed since my last post, Jerry still struggles with nausea on a daily basis. He's lonely and some days the sadness is overwhelming. The great thing about holidays is Jerry's friends come home from college. The boys took Jerry to the movie to see the new Harry Potter movie, he enjoyed that very much and Issac dropped by to visit for a couple of hours. It helps to distract him if only for a short period. A friend of ours Rob gave Dennis and Jerry San Jose Sharks tickets, so the boys got out of the house and had a great evening watching hockey on Tuesday, it was a bummer the sharks lost but the boys had a good time none the less. Thanks Rob!
Good news the t-shirts are in production and should be ready for sale soon. Jim from Sports Embroidery Center has done an awesome job designing the shirt and has given us a sneak peak, (see image below). We will have the blue shirts with white lettering as well as white shirts with blue lettering. The image below is the back of the shirt, the front of the shirt has a smaller logo over the pocket area and Jeremiah 30:17 on the sleeve, the shirts will be sold for $18. I was nervous about investing too much money and not being able to sale all the shirts so I only have 100 shirts, 50 of each color which breaks down to about 10 shirts per size. So if you know you will be ordering shirts you may want to do it earlier rather than later to ensure we don't run out of your size. You can pre order shirts if you like by sending a check to the address below, please be sure to include: how many shirts your ordering, size, color, ship to address and phone number in case there's questions.
It's time to get Jerry ready for SCI-FIT, thanks for the prayers, love and support.
Katie
162 McPheeters Cir
Boulder Creek CA 95006
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