A big shout out to the good folks at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Growing Up in Santa Cruz for their help in advertising our Sunday, August 15, 5pm ballgame between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts!
If you've not picked up a copy of the August edition of Growing Up in Santa Cruz, be sure to do so and find the *awesome* half page ad they generously provided!
Be sure to get your tickets soon via www.followingjerry.com
Go Giants!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Game ON!
The time has come, the time is NOW to get your ticket to the ballgame.
We are just two weeks out and we are anxious to see you all on Sunday, August 15 for the 5pm game at the San Jose Municipal Stadium as the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts!
Tickets are just $7, and after we cover our event costs, $6 of every ticket goes straight to Jerry's assistance fund. To cover our costs, we only need to sell about 150 tickets--so, there is great possibility here of adding a great amount to help with Jerry's therapy costs as we have 1200 tickets available for sale.
If you went to the game last year, you know that it is a FANTASTIC way to spend a summer evening. If you've not been to a minor league baseball game before, it's a real treat. The baseball is pretty darn good, and the food at the Stadium is REALLY good--seriously, some of the best pulled pork sandwiches on the whole planet and they are even CHEAP.
Anyways, we need your help to sell these tickets. Last year, the vast majority of tickets were not sold through this website nor at any of our local ticket locations--they were sold by friends and family like you! So, we humbly ask for your help once more to make this event happen.
If you'd like your own stack of tickets to sell off to your friends, family or coworkers, please contact us at katie@followingjerry.com
If you can help us spread the word via Facebook by setting your status update to point people to this game, we'd love it. Find the event page for Facebook here and join us!
For all of us on Team MacCallister,
Marci
We are just two weeks out and we are anxious to see you all on Sunday, August 15 for the 5pm game at the San Jose Municipal Stadium as the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts!
Tickets are just $7, and after we cover our event costs, $6 of every ticket goes straight to Jerry's assistance fund. To cover our costs, we only need to sell about 150 tickets--so, there is great possibility here of adding a great amount to help with Jerry's therapy costs as we have 1200 tickets available for sale.
If you went to the game last year, you know that it is a FANTASTIC way to spend a summer evening. If you've not been to a minor league baseball game before, it's a real treat. The baseball is pretty darn good, and the food at the Stadium is REALLY good--seriously, some of the best pulled pork sandwiches on the whole planet and they are even CHEAP.
Anyways, we need your help to sell these tickets. Last year, the vast majority of tickets were not sold through this website nor at any of our local ticket locations--they were sold by friends and family like you! So, we humbly ask for your help once more to make this event happen.
If you'd like your own stack of tickets to sell off to your friends, family or coworkers, please contact us at katie@followingjerry.com
If you can help us spread the word via Facebook by setting your status update to point people to this game, we'd love it. Find the event page for Facebook here and join us!
For all of us on Team MacCallister,
Marci
Thursday, July 15, 2010
2nd Annual Follow Jerry.....to a Ballgame!
Mark your calendar RIGHT THIS SECOND for Sunday, Aug 15th , 5pm!In partnership with the San Jose Giants we will be joining forces to support the MacCallister Family with a benefit baseball game! While the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts, we'll take over the stadium (literally!) and fill it to overflowing with the friends, family and community that has been supporting this family for these last months.
Invite your friends and family to join us on Sunday, Aug 15th for a 5pm game. If you've never yet been to a minor league ball game, this is a great time to try it out. The venue is extremely family friendly, and kids (and grownups) of all ages will enjoy the feel of the stadium, the great food and seats that are close to the action. Not only can you hear the crack of the bat, but you can also hear the muttering of the players. Depending on the game, this can get pretty interesting......
But here is the best part of all. Tickets are $7 each, and $6 will go straight to supporting Jerry and his recovery fund.
For now, tickets are only available online--just click on the link to the right and we will get your tickets in the mail.
If you would like to have a stack of tickets to sell to your coworkers, friends or family, please email us at ballgame@followingjerry.com and we will get those to you right away.
Please join us and Follow Jerry to a Ballgame! It's gonna be great.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Have you noticed?
I thought I would point out a few changes in case you haven't noticed, we've added a sponsor page as well as a fund raising page, you can access them by clicking on the links above Sponsor Page or Fundraising. I'll be adding an upcoming events page so keep checking back to stay updated in what we are up to and how we are doing in our fund raising efforts for China.
We're also doing the San Jose Giants fund raiser again this year, you can click the flier in the upper right corner for more information. We could use some help selling tickets, if you would like to help send an email to katie@followingjerry.com, include how many tickets you would like to sell and contact info.
We're also doing the San Jose Giants fund raiser again this year, you can click the flier in the upper right corner for more information. We could use some help selling tickets, if you would like to help send an email to katie@followingjerry.com, include how many tickets you would like to sell and contact info.
Monday, July 5, 2010
July 4th
Happy Independence Day!
Ordinarily we would be heading to the beach about now, the car loaded as if we were camping for three days, boogie boards, BBQ, ez-up, chairs, fire wood for evening bonfire and enough food to feed an army. It's been a tradition for us for many years to spend the day on the beach, body surfing, playing volleyball, and barbecuing. When the sun goes down the bonfire goes up, we break out the smores and watch the fantastic display of fireworks. I will miss our 4th of July tradition greatly, the beach is no longer an option for Jerry, it wouldn't be fun for him sitting idle on the beach while everyone around him was having a great time. It's time to begin a new tradition, swimming at the pool and barbecuing with friends and family.
We've had a busy month between Jerry, Jessica and I we've had a lot of doctor appointments. Jerry still has nausea everyday and we are no closer to figuring out why then we were a year ago. Jerry had another ultrasound and x-ray which both came back normal. On one hand you hope that test results come back normal because you don't want there to be anything wrong, on the other hand you hope the test results come back showing something wrong at least then you would know what your dealing with and hopefully know how to fix it. There is one medication that Jerry has been on since two weeks after the accident which he takes to control nerve pain. Jerry decided to go off of this med in hopes that it's been causing the nausea however no such luck, he's been off of it for about a month now and still has daily nausea. Jerry's been experiencing some pretty strange sensations since going off the nerve pain med, he believes it is nerve pain but I'm not so sure. He felt like his big toes were burning and hurting badly the odd thing is he had ingrown toenails on both big toes that I had trimmed back a few days prior. He felt like his back was burning as well as sever abdominal cramping that he said felt like someone was punching him in the gut repeatedly. I felt it was encouraging that he was feeling these things because it is well below the level injury and he generally can't feel anything below the chest. Jerry didn't see it that way and he makes a good point, "What good does it do me to feel my toes, I still can't move them and it hurts." At any rate the nerve pain became unbearable so Jerry started taking a new nerve pain med, so far the new med is working OK.
Jerry has been riding the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) leg cycle at SCI-FIT for the past year, he also rode the FES arm cycle at Dominican Rehab, unfortunately we are no longer covered by insurance to do the arm cycle. Jerry has not ridden the arm cycle for about 3 1/2 months and his arms are much weaker now then they were when he was doing the arm cycle. The FES cycle has been pivotal in keeping Jerry's muscles strong and preventing atrophy, which is why we felt very strongly that Jerry needs this equipment at home. At $20,000 dollars it was a huge investment, we had enough money from past fund raising to pay for about half and then financed the rest. We are so excited to get the bike and should have it in house by mid August, we'll definitely post pictures when we get it.
Jerry had his 21st birthday last Saturday, he had some friends over to play computer games where they network their computers together. I think they spent more time networking them and getting set up then they did actually playing the game. Unfortunately Jerry cut the party short because that was when he was having all the strange nerve pains and he felt like someone was hitting him in the stomach all he wanted to do was get in bed.
Jessica graduated high school 3 1/2 weeks ago I can't believe the baby is out of school, man I'm getting old. It's going to be very weird not having any kids at the high school, we have had kids there for the last 10 years. Wow!
Jessica had surgery to repair the damage to her knee on Monday, she is so not a happy camper. She had 2 tears in her meniscus in which the surgeon couldn't repair, the best he could do was clean up the tears and smooth it out. Jessica also had her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) replaced, the surgeon removed her ACL and replaced it with a cadaver ligament. Jess is bummed out, living on the couch for the past week. Jess can't get down the stairs to her room so she has been sleeping on the couch. During the day she has to spend 6 hours on a machine that does range of motion bending her leg up and down. In addition she has leg exercises she has to do, she's not having any fun.
I started this post yesterday on the 4th however had a hard time finishing as we had company for the weekend. I keep saying I will post more often however I get so busy I never seem to get it done. Thank you to all who still continue to stay with us offering kind words, prayers and support. We appreciate you all so much.
Love to all,
Katie
Ordinarily we would be heading to the beach about now, the car loaded as if we were camping for three days, boogie boards, BBQ, ez-up, chairs, fire wood for evening bonfire and enough food to feed an army. It's been a tradition for us for many years to spend the day on the beach, body surfing, playing volleyball, and barbecuing. When the sun goes down the bonfire goes up, we break out the smores and watch the fantastic display of fireworks. I will miss our 4th of July tradition greatly, the beach is no longer an option for Jerry, it wouldn't be fun for him sitting idle on the beach while everyone around him was having a great time. It's time to begin a new tradition, swimming at the pool and barbecuing with friends and family.
We've had a busy month between Jerry, Jessica and I we've had a lot of doctor appointments. Jerry still has nausea everyday and we are no closer to figuring out why then we were a year ago. Jerry had another ultrasound and x-ray which both came back normal. On one hand you hope that test results come back normal because you don't want there to be anything wrong, on the other hand you hope the test results come back showing something wrong at least then you would know what your dealing with and hopefully know how to fix it. There is one medication that Jerry has been on since two weeks after the accident which he takes to control nerve pain. Jerry decided to go off of this med in hopes that it's been causing the nausea however no such luck, he's been off of it for about a month now and still has daily nausea. Jerry's been experiencing some pretty strange sensations since going off the nerve pain med, he believes it is nerve pain but I'm not so sure. He felt like his big toes were burning and hurting badly the odd thing is he had ingrown toenails on both big toes that I had trimmed back a few days prior. He felt like his back was burning as well as sever abdominal cramping that he said felt like someone was punching him in the gut repeatedly. I felt it was encouraging that he was feeling these things because it is well below the level injury and he generally can't feel anything below the chest. Jerry didn't see it that way and he makes a good point, "What good does it do me to feel my toes, I still can't move them and it hurts." At any rate the nerve pain became unbearable so Jerry started taking a new nerve pain med, so far the new med is working OK.
Jerry has been riding the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) leg cycle at SCI-FIT for the past year, he also rode the FES arm cycle at Dominican Rehab, unfortunately we are no longer covered by insurance to do the arm cycle. Jerry has not ridden the arm cycle for about 3 1/2 months and his arms are much weaker now then they were when he was doing the arm cycle. The FES cycle has been pivotal in keeping Jerry's muscles strong and preventing atrophy, which is why we felt very strongly that Jerry needs this equipment at home. At $20,000 dollars it was a huge investment, we had enough money from past fund raising to pay for about half and then financed the rest. We are so excited to get the bike and should have it in house by mid August, we'll definitely post pictures when we get it.
Jerry had his 21st birthday last Saturday, he had some friends over to play computer games where they network their computers together. I think they spent more time networking them and getting set up then they did actually playing the game. Unfortunately Jerry cut the party short because that was when he was having all the strange nerve pains and he felt like someone was hitting him in the stomach all he wanted to do was get in bed.
Jessica graduated high school 3 1/2 weeks ago I can't believe the baby is out of school, man I'm getting old. It's going to be very weird not having any kids at the high school, we have had kids there for the last 10 years. Wow!
Jessica had surgery to repair the damage to her knee on Monday, she is so not a happy camper. She had 2 tears in her meniscus in which the surgeon couldn't repair, the best he could do was clean up the tears and smooth it out. Jessica also had her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) replaced, the surgeon removed her ACL and replaced it with a cadaver ligament. Jess is bummed out, living on the couch for the past week. Jess can't get down the stairs to her room so she has been sleeping on the couch. During the day she has to spend 6 hours on a machine that does range of motion bending her leg up and down. In addition she has leg exercises she has to do, she's not having any fun.
I started this post yesterday on the 4th however had a hard time finishing as we had company for the weekend. I keep saying I will post more often however I get so busy I never seem to get it done. Thank you to all who still continue to stay with us offering kind words, prayers and support. We appreciate you all so much.
Love to all,
Katie
Thursday, May 13, 2010
May 14
I'm so happy to see the sun, life seems so much brighter when the sun is shining. It's been over a month since my last post, I apologize to those of you who worry when there's no post. Not much has changed in Jerry's physical condition, he is still nauseous everyday, it seems as if the nausea is getting worse. Jerry used to get relief from the nausea in the late afternoon and be good through the evening. More and more Jerry is suffering nausea morning noon and night with small windows of relief shortly after taking medication, however the relief is shorter and shorter sometimes only an hour.
Jerry has had some bad days over the last month, coming to terms with the loss of mobility has been tough. The first year was spent focusing on regaining as much mobility as possible. It's disheartening for him to work harder than he ever has in his life only to be able to move his arms a few inches. He's gotten so much stronger in his arms but he still can't even scratch his own nose. We just need to keep reminding him how far he has come, in the beginning he couldn't move his arms at all and now he can drive his wheelchair with the joystick. We just need to keep working and never give up hope.
Dennis built a desk for Jerry so now he has a computer station that he can drive right up to. The first day he tried it out he spent a little too much time at the computer which gave him a neck ache, he needs to start out slow.
Jerry finally got the alternating air pressure mattress for his bed, at first the compressor unit was pretty loud however he's gotten used to it. Jerry sleeps much more comfortably and it's nice not worrying so much about pressure sores.
It's been a busy month which is good, I prefer life when it's busy, too much idle time is not good. Mothers day was wonderful which started with breakfast in bed and ended with a family dinner at Chili's. It was one of the few times that we've been at a restaurant where Jerry could sit comfortably at the table. Most restaurants have handicap access but not very adequate accommodations once your in.
Jessica hurt her knee in softball, her doctor thinks maybe torn MCL, she has an appointment with a specialist today. It's astounding to me that it took a month to get an appointment to be seen by the specialist, ridiculous! The injury was heartbreaking for her it ended her senior year of softball mid season. Jessica had prom, going to prom with a hurt knee meant not much time spent on the dance floor but she made the best of it. Fire fighting internship has been affected as well, she goes however she can't participate in drills. Jess hopes to get clearance to begin practice again, the team won a 3-way tie for first place in league. Jess is hoping she will be able to play in the Central Coast Section games.
Josh has been accepted into UC San Diego's civil engineering graduate program so he will be moving to SD in the fall. Any blog followers down there with job leads give us a shout out. Janea continues to go to Cabrillo and work but is hoping to get a new job working with kids.
That's all for now, thanks for continued support,
Katie
Jerry has had some bad days over the last month, coming to terms with the loss of mobility has been tough. The first year was spent focusing on regaining as much mobility as possible. It's disheartening for him to work harder than he ever has in his life only to be able to move his arms a few inches. He's gotten so much stronger in his arms but he still can't even scratch his own nose. We just need to keep reminding him how far he has come, in the beginning he couldn't move his arms at all and now he can drive his wheelchair with the joystick. We just need to keep working and never give up hope.
Dennis built a desk for Jerry so now he has a computer station that he can drive right up to. The first day he tried it out he spent a little too much time at the computer which gave him a neck ache, he needs to start out slow.
Jerry finally got the alternating air pressure mattress for his bed, at first the compressor unit was pretty loud however he's gotten used to it. Jerry sleeps much more comfortably and it's nice not worrying so much about pressure sores.
It's been a busy month which is good, I prefer life when it's busy, too much idle time is not good. Mothers day was wonderful which started with breakfast in bed and ended with a family dinner at Chili's. It was one of the few times that we've been at a restaurant where Jerry could sit comfortably at the table. Most restaurants have handicap access but not very adequate accommodations once your in.
Jessica hurt her knee in softball, her doctor thinks maybe torn MCL, she has an appointment with a specialist today. It's astounding to me that it took a month to get an appointment to be seen by the specialist, ridiculous! The injury was heartbreaking for her it ended her senior year of softball mid season. Jessica had prom, going to prom with a hurt knee meant not much time spent on the dance floor but she made the best of it. Fire fighting internship has been affected as well, she goes however she can't participate in drills. Jess hopes to get clearance to begin practice again, the team won a 3-way tie for first place in league. Jess is hoping she will be able to play in the Central Coast Section games.
Josh has been accepted into UC San Diego's civil engineering graduate program so he will be moving to SD in the fall. Any blog followers down there with job leads give us a shout out. Janea continues to go to Cabrillo and work but is hoping to get a new job working with kids.
That's all for now, thanks for continued support,
Katie
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7
I hope everyone had a great Easter, with the exception of rain ours was wonderful. We ventured to Richmond to my aunt Steph's house with the family. It was great to see everyone (we missed you Mom, Dad, Mark, Brenda, Brandon, Nick and fam, Phil, Vinny and Rena). Jerry spent over 11 hours in his wheelchair on Easter so needless to say he was in a great deal of pain by the time we got home. It's hard on him to be in his chair for so long but it's good for him, he should spend at least four to five hours in his chair everyday however he refuses to sit in the chair when he's at home. I keep thinking that when the nausea goes away he'd be more willing, unfortunately the nausea persists.
Thanks Trish, Gretch, Zack, Mom, Steph, Wendy, Sharon and all that continue to to follow Jerry's progress through the blog. I appreciate your comments letting us know that we are not alone, kind words and prayers.
My cousin Erin came for a visit for a few days we enjoyed having her. Jessica's on spring break and enjoying the time off. The kids have gone on a hike spent time at the Board Walk and taken Jerry to the movie to see Clash of the Titans. It's been kinda chill around here.
Not much has changed since my last post but I do have good news regarding Jerry's mattress. It's hard to believe that Jerry's been home almost 14 months and still does not have the alternating pressure mattress however we are so close now. The mattress has been ordered and should ship within the next couple of days. The alternating air pressure /low air loss mattress will help prevent Jerry from getting a pressure sore. The mattress has air bladders within that increase and decrease with air pressure on a cycle, this will help prevent any part of Jerry's body, particularly bony parts from experiencing pressure for a prolonged period of time.
It looks like we also have a good chance of getting the portable lift authorized so we can get Jerry in and out of the tub. I'm excited to get the lift, it'll be so much easier to do tub transfers and I know Jerry will enjoy bathing more often. It's amazing that we never stop to think about how life is different for the handicap until we are faced with it in our own family. Things like taking a five minute shower for you or I takes an hour for Jerry. We take so much for granted and have no idea how blessed we are.
Enjoy the sun!
Katie
Thanks Trish, Gretch, Zack, Mom, Steph, Wendy, Sharon and all that continue to to follow Jerry's progress through the blog. I appreciate your comments letting us know that we are not alone, kind words and prayers.
My cousin Erin came for a visit for a few days we enjoyed having her. Jessica's on spring break and enjoying the time off. The kids have gone on a hike spent time at the Board Walk and taken Jerry to the movie to see Clash of the Titans. It's been kinda chill around here.
Not much has changed since my last post but I do have good news regarding Jerry's mattress. It's hard to believe that Jerry's been home almost 14 months and still does not have the alternating pressure mattress however we are so close now. The mattress has been ordered and should ship within the next couple of days. The alternating air pressure /low air loss mattress will help prevent Jerry from getting a pressure sore. The mattress has air bladders within that increase and decrease with air pressure on a cycle, this will help prevent any part of Jerry's body, particularly bony parts from experiencing pressure for a prolonged period of time.
It looks like we also have a good chance of getting the portable lift authorized so we can get Jerry in and out of the tub. I'm excited to get the lift, it'll be so much easier to do tub transfers and I know Jerry will enjoy bathing more often. It's amazing that we never stop to think about how life is different for the handicap until we are faced with it in our own family. Things like taking a five minute shower for you or I takes an hour for Jerry. We take so much for granted and have no idea how blessed we are.
Enjoy the sun!
Katie
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