Today was a very pleasant day for me despite the lack of sleep. I was up at 5 am with only about 4 hours of sleep, Jessica rolled out of bed about 15 minutes before it was time to leave. Jess and I had to get an early start to Stockton for a softball tournament with the summer traveling team. Jessica had 3 games today and another 2 games tomorrow, it was nice to just kick back, chill and not worry about Jerry's care at home. I knew he was in good hands as Dennis was in charge during my absence. Dennis was supposed to texture Jer's room today but he couldn't get started until I got home, so needless to say he got a late start. It's almost 11 pm and he is only half done, sorry Sherry, Joel, Jay and Tif (my neighbors). Texturing is one of those jobs once you start you have to finish or you could wind up with a very uneven job. The unfortunate part is the air compressor is very noisy. I may have to go pick out paint colors tomorrow, whoohoo!
Jerry received his xbox game controller yesterday, thanks again Rob, good work. This devise is very hard to describe, it's a box with several plugs for switches. Their are a multitude of different types of switches, there's a head set with sip and puff, a couple of switches you could use for elbow or shoulder switches, a mouth switch, chin control joy sticks. It's a crazy looking contraption, I think to fully utilize it Jerry will look some what like he's doing a shimmy with his shoulders, bee bopping with his head and chin and sippin and puffin his heart out. Did I mention he really loves gaming.
OK, Dennis just brought the air compressor into the living room, because it's to noisy outside for the neighbors, this ought to be interesting. ..........Jumpin jimminy crickets.......the baby kittens did not like that noise one bit.
Jerry woke with nausea as he does most mornings but by mid day he felt pretty good. Jerry seems to be getting more of his appetite back in the evenings, it's interesting to note that the past few evenings he has had NO nausea. The tingling in Jerry's legs continues today when he tries to move them. Praise God for this blessing, we've been praying for God to give Jerry something new everyday or at least once a week to help keep hope alive. When a few weeks go by and there are no changes Jerry begins to feel despair. Even the smallest change can renew hope, the tingling couldn't have come at a better time, Jerry was beginning to feel down about not having any new movement or feeling. Jerry enjoyed his day off from therapy doing his favorite past time, watching TV and playing his video game.
God continues to bless us in so many ways, we are so very grateful, give thanks and praise....
good night,
Katie
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday - May 28
Today was very busy but a good day none the less. We got through the morning routine then headed out to Dominican Rehab in Santa Cruz. PT went well Jerry's therapist noticed a lot more arm movement as well as his ability to tap into his trunk muscles. When Jerry is laying flat on his back with arms at his side he is able to move his left arm away from his body about a foot, and then pull it back into his body. Jerry's triceps are beginning to wake up, he's been having a little more movement with the triceps which is awesome, up til now he has had no tricep movement.
We left Santa Cruz and headed to San Jose for Jessica's Central Coast Section play off game. Unfortunately it did not go so well the team lost so the high school softball team has officially come to a close. With high school ball over we now start the traveling softball team, Jess has a tournament this weekend in Stockton. I'm not quite sure how we will work this one out, probably Dennis staying home with Jer and me and Jess going to Stockton.
After the softball game we had to jam back to Boulder Creek to go to Jessica's Fire Fighting Internship Graduation. Unfortunately Jessica was about 40 minutes late however they knew she would be because of the softball game, they were OK with it. Jessica got the Intern of the Year Award, we are so proud. I was a little bummed when we got to the fire house the ceremony was in a part of the fire house that was not handicap accessible, so Dennis and Jess went in and I took Jer home.
We met Leanne and Mark at home and they delivered the lift. Thank you all who helped in this endeavor. I appreciate every one's effort and a special thanks to Leanne for finding the lift and working out all the details. Thank you Laurie for taking time on your vacation to deliver the lift to the crating company. Thank you John Usinger for handling the shipping, Jerry at Propack for the crate, and Courtney Madden at the Red Cross. Great work everyone, I can't wait to get it installed. I'll post pics when it's up and running.
Yesterday Jerry had an exciting moment at SCI-FIT. While riding the FES leg bike Jerry felt his legs tingling, this is the first time he's felt anything in his legs. When you pushed on his knee caps he could feel something. Jerry got bummed when the tingling went away after about 3 hours, he could no longer feel you push on his knee caps either. While in bed last night Jerry couldn't sleep so he decided to exercise by attempting to move his legs and arms. He did each arm and leg 100 times. When he did the legs he felt the tingling return and was again able to feel me put pressure on his knees. This was so exciting for him to be able to have any kind of feeling in his legs.
Well that's all for now, tomorrow's another day....
Katie
We left Santa Cruz and headed to San Jose for Jessica's Central Coast Section play off game. Unfortunately it did not go so well the team lost so the high school softball team has officially come to a close. With high school ball over we now start the traveling softball team, Jess has a tournament this weekend in Stockton. I'm not quite sure how we will work this one out, probably Dennis staying home with Jer and me and Jess going to Stockton.
After the softball game we had to jam back to Boulder Creek to go to Jessica's Fire Fighting Internship Graduation. Unfortunately Jessica was about 40 minutes late however they knew she would be because of the softball game, they were OK with it. Jessica got the Intern of the Year Award, we are so proud. I was a little bummed when we got to the fire house the ceremony was in a part of the fire house that was not handicap accessible, so Dennis and Jess went in and I took Jer home.
We met Leanne and Mark at home and they delivered the lift. Thank you all who helped in this endeavor. I appreciate every one's effort and a special thanks to Leanne for finding the lift and working out all the details. Thank you Laurie for taking time on your vacation to deliver the lift to the crating company. Thank you John Usinger for handling the shipping, Jerry at Propack for the crate, and Courtney Madden at the Red Cross. Great work everyone, I can't wait to get it installed. I'll post pics when it's up and running.
Yesterday Jerry had an exciting moment at SCI-FIT. While riding the FES leg bike Jerry felt his legs tingling, this is the first time he's felt anything in his legs. When you pushed on his knee caps he could feel something. Jerry got bummed when the tingling went away after about 3 hours, he could no longer feel you push on his knee caps either. While in bed last night Jerry couldn't sleep so he decided to exercise by attempting to move his legs and arms. He did each arm and leg 100 times. When he did the legs he felt the tingling return and was again able to feel me put pressure on his knees. This was so exciting for him to be able to have any kind of feeling in his legs.
Well that's all for now, tomorrow's another day....
Katie
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday - May 27
I'm back in the land of the living. I apologize we haven't posted, I've been down and out with a nasty flu bug. I spent 5 days in bed and am still trying to recoup. I was able to finally get up and function on Monday, I made it down to the Art and wine festival for about an hour, I just had to get out of the house. Jerry's routine and care is a little harder on me, I get exhausted by mid day. Each day I get a little stronger and hope to back to normal soon, I still feel like medicine head, a little like my heads in a fog. I pray Jerry or none of the other family get this flu. I wore a mask and washed my hands constantly, I used so much germ killing hand gel the smell of it now is nauseating. Dennis and the kids helped with Jerry's care which gave me the much needed break.
Dennis hasn't been able to do much work on the room this past week he's been taking care of Jer. The room is now ready for texture then paint, we're getting closer. Jerry decided he wanted to have black and neon green colors in his room, so that ought to be fun, we'll be sure to post pics when it's done.
Jerry's ultrasound came back normal, good news he's not pregnant, just kidding :-). The doc has made some adjustments to his medications, he upped the dosage of the nerve pain meds. Jerry's nausea is the same it fluctuates between level 2 and 6. It does seem however to be at level 2 a little more often. Jerry is going to see a Ear Nose Throat doctor to see if there may be an inner ear problem. In June Jerry will have some kind of gastro study of some sort, to see how his food is digesting.
Jerry is getting much stronger in his left arm he seems to have more feeling as in the left arm as well. We got an arm sling set up for the wheelchair and are going to begin working on using the joy stick. I'll have to post some more pics. We are off to SCI-FIT, more later....
Katie
Dennis hasn't been able to do much work on the room this past week he's been taking care of Jer. The room is now ready for texture then paint, we're getting closer. Jerry decided he wanted to have black and neon green colors in his room, so that ought to be fun, we'll be sure to post pics when it's done.
Jerry's ultrasound came back normal, good news he's not pregnant, just kidding :-). The doc has made some adjustments to his medications, he upped the dosage of the nerve pain meds. Jerry's nausea is the same it fluctuates between level 2 and 6. It does seem however to be at level 2 a little more often. Jerry is going to see a Ear Nose Throat doctor to see if there may be an inner ear problem. In June Jerry will have some kind of gastro study of some sort, to see how his food is digesting.
Jerry is getting much stronger in his left arm he seems to have more feeling as in the left arm as well. We got an arm sling set up for the wheelchair and are going to begin working on using the joy stick. I'll have to post some more pics. We are off to SCI-FIT, more later....
Katie
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21
Sorry it has been awhile since we have posted, it has been a really busy week. Things have been well with Jerry, but mom has caught a nasty cold. Too much weekend I guess, so I thought I would give a little update. Thanks to a few people, a lift system for Jerry's room is on it's way from Pennsylvania. It should be arriving sometime early next week and will be much appreciated. With this lift, we will be able to get Jerry in and out of bed and around the house with little trouble, and it will help us get him into a bath tub with ease, something Jerry is looking forward to. The small thing we take for granted! I would like to thank Leanne and Mark for finding this deal, Courtney Madden from the Red Cross in New Jersey for helping us with organizing the shipping end of it, Jerry Davis in NJ for providing the lift, Jon Usinger for supplying the shipping, Gerry at Propack for hooking us up with crating the lift for shipping, and my sister Laurie and nephew Kevin for helping get it shipped to us. You guys have been great they way you have helped us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The way you put it all together was tremendous, and I thank God that he has given us this awesome gift, and put such awesome people in our lives. I'm sorry too if I have forgotten anybody, but just know that we love you.
Well I have got to get to bed now as the days have been wiping me out with all the stuff going on, and even though we sometimes don't post as often as we would like too, know this for sure, not a day goes by that we do not think of all of the people, some that we won't meet until we're in Heaven, that have been there with us through this journey. Whether it's been through prayer, financial giving, or a task that you've taken on. Whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, or a checker at wal-mart, you have been instrumental in my son's rehabilitation. And someday we will all sit around and talk of these times with joy in are hearts, but until that day, I hope that each of you have someone show you the kind of love that you have shown to us. That is my prayer for tonight....
God bless you All
Dennis
Well I have got to get to bed now as the days have been wiping me out with all the stuff going on, and even though we sometimes don't post as often as we would like too, know this for sure, not a day goes by that we do not think of all of the people, some that we won't meet until we're in Heaven, that have been there with us through this journey. Whether it's been through prayer, financial giving, or a task that you've taken on. Whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, or a checker at wal-mart, you have been instrumental in my son's rehabilitation. And someday we will all sit around and talk of these times with joy in are hearts, but until that day, I hope that each of you have someone show you the kind of love that you have shown to us. That is my prayer for tonight....
God bless you All
Dennis
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Day 135 - Sunday May 17
It never ceases to amaze me how the temperature can vary so drastically from Moss Landing to Boulder Creek. Those that are not familiar with the area it's about a 45 minute drive. Moss Landing was 61 degrees, Boulder Creek was 85. I had a wonderful and much needed break, my friend Gretchen and I went to Montery, we had dinner on the wharf, delicious. We stayed the night at a hotel and from our room we could see the ocean, it was beautiful. Gretchen and I stayed up way too late painting our toe nails and talking, but we did get to sleep in this morning. I've been having an annoying problem with my ears, my left ear is so plugged I can hardly hear out of it. This turned out to be a blessing this morning. Two kids and their father (the instigator) were swimming in the pool at 8 am. There was much screaming and laughter all morning. I didn't hear a thing however Gretch was not so lucky it was so loud she could not drown it out. At any rate we went shopping to find a comforter for Jerry's new room, hit some antique shops and headed home. I had a great time thanks Gretch.
Dennis played mom and held down the fort at home with Jerry. Jerry was pretty uncomfortable with the heat the last two days. It was 92 degrees in our house and Jerry's body temp went up to 100.8. Since I was gone Janea helped to take care of Jerry while Dennis worked on his room. Janea monitored his temperature, gave him ice water every 15 minutes, kept a wet rag on his head and freshened it every 20 minutes, put wet rags in the freezer to put under Jerry's arm pits. On a positive note the nausea has been at a tolerable level the last few days.
Jerry enjoyed time off from rehab to just chill this weekend, he caught up on some of his shows he has taped, he loves the history and military channel. Our neighbor had a birthday party down at the pool, it was nice to get out of the hot house, it was much cooler at the pool. Jerry got to visit with some friends he used to work with as well as a couple of friends he has known since kindergarten.
Tomorrow starts another week, off to Pleasanton, at least we have AC in the Van, hallelujah!
God bless,
Katie
Dennis played mom and held down the fort at home with Jerry. Jerry was pretty uncomfortable with the heat the last two days. It was 92 degrees in our house and Jerry's body temp went up to 100.8. Since I was gone Janea helped to take care of Jerry while Dennis worked on his room. Janea monitored his temperature, gave him ice water every 15 minutes, kept a wet rag on his head and freshened it every 20 minutes, put wet rags in the freezer to put under Jerry's arm pits. On a positive note the nausea has been at a tolerable level the last few days.
Jerry enjoyed time off from rehab to just chill this weekend, he caught up on some of his shows he has taped, he loves the history and military channel. Our neighbor had a birthday party down at the pool, it was nice to get out of the hot house, it was much cooler at the pool. Jerry got to visit with some friends he used to work with as well as a couple of friends he has known since kindergarten.
Tomorrow starts another week, off to Pleasanton, at least we have AC in the Van, hallelujah!
God bless,
Katie
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thurday - May 14
Leanne you ROCK! Thank you so much for finding this lift and going through all the trouble to get it to us. Also a big thank you for everyone helping to coordinate this shipment, Kris, Marci and Courtney. We can't forget a super duper thank you to Laurie (Dennis' sister) for the willingness to do the packing and shipping while in PA. We appreciate every one's effort so much, this devise will make it possible for Jerry to get in a bathtub, which is something he enjoys very much. Thank you!!!
Jerry had an ultra sound this morning at 11:00, the technician took images of his stomach, gall bladder, kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The doctor should have a report of the results by Monday. Jerry had Physical Therapy at Dominican at 2:00 today, the session went well. Jerry's biceps really are getting stronger, while laying flat on the bed he was able to lift up his left arm off the bed about 2 inches. Jerry feels like his right arm is also getting stronger.
Jerry is getting the hang of his new controller, he is able to play a video game on the computer called Civilization. This is a game he enjoyed playing before his injury so to be able to play this game again was very cool for him. The controller has 2 joystick thingy's that Jerry can control with his chin.
Jerry and I are looking forward to not having any appointments tomorrow. For Jerry it will be a chill day, for me it will be a day to catch up on house work, laundry, paper work, and following up on equipment. Busy, but good to be home.
God bless....
Katie
Jerry had an ultra sound this morning at 11:00, the technician took images of his stomach, gall bladder, kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The doctor should have a report of the results by Monday. Jerry had Physical Therapy at Dominican at 2:00 today, the session went well. Jerry's biceps really are getting stronger, while laying flat on the bed he was able to lift up his left arm off the bed about 2 inches. Jerry feels like his right arm is also getting stronger.
Jerry is getting the hang of his new controller, he is able to play a video game on the computer called Civilization. This is a game he enjoyed playing before his injury so to be able to play this game again was very cool for him. The controller has 2 joystick thingy's that Jerry can control with his chin.
Jerry and I are looking forward to not having any appointments tomorrow. For Jerry it will be a chill day, for me it will be a day to catch up on house work, laundry, paper work, and following up on equipment. Busy, but good to be home.
God bless....
Katie
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Help Ad
Thanks to Leanne, our resident "donation genius", a ceiling lift system has been found and donated for use in Jerry's room at home. Having this system installed will be an amazing help with the many physical aspects of caring for Jerry. Worth about $20,000.00, having one donated is nothing short of AMAZING.
The only catch with this fantastic donation is that we need to find someone who can pack it up into a box and take it from the American Red Cross (where it is currently waiting for us) to the shipping company. We have the shipping covered; so it's just packing and delivering to the shipping company so that it can make it's way to us on the West Coast.
So, does ANYONE reading this blog happen to live near Carney's Point, New Jersey? We know from the map that there are a lot of East Coast readers of this blog....so, if anyone is near this area, or knows someone who is, could you let them know of our need?
If you can help, please email Leanne directly at leanne_m@pacbell.net
For Leanne,
Marci
*WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Thanks to the Red Cross and three others who stepped forward, the lift system will soon be on it's way! Thanks to everyone!
The only catch with this fantastic donation is that we need to find someone who can pack it up into a box and take it from the American Red Cross (where it is currently waiting for us) to the shipping company. We have the shipping covered; so it's just packing and delivering to the shipping company so that it can make it's way to us on the West Coast.
So, does ANYONE reading this blog happen to live near Carney's Point, New Jersey? We know from the map that there are a lot of East Coast readers of this blog....so, if anyone is near this area, or knows someone who is, could you let them know of our need?
If you can help, please email Leanne directly at leanne_m@pacbell.net
For Leanne,
Marci
*WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Thanks to the Red Cross and three others who stepped forward, the lift system will soon be on it's way! Thanks to everyone!
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