JENNY’S NEWS

Last night was a quite different experinece for two things. First of all, Jenny seemed to sleep a little at last. Second, we had a tornado and severe thunderstorm warning so I had to carry Jenny down to the basement. I think Jenny liked it since she had not seen the basement since coming home.

Jenny has been making small movements still. I know it is something significant because Jenny is now agreeing that she is making good progress. Her meds are still being worked out to regulate spasms and contractures that cause pain and twisting of her body. Her head is turning to the left side again, which makes head control more difficult. I am most encouraged by her respitory health. We have been plugging her trache to allow her to breathe completely through her mouth and nose. She does well considering that her airway is obstructed with a tube. It is pretty much like breathing through a straw. This just means she is getting closer to having the trache removed.

Every day seems to be better than the next. Jenny has been less resistant to therapies- even though she knows they will hurt. I am seeing more movements in her whole body and they get ever so slightly better each day. I guess the millimeters add up over a long enough period of time. Jenny had spagetti w/red sauce and Neopaliton ice cream for dessert. The noodles were NOT pureed, but chopped. Jenny is willing to give pasta a try even though her tongue movements are lacking at the moment. She still reports that she is sleeping rarely at nights. Jenny also let me know that she has not slept in the last 48 hours. It sounds like the old Jenny, but without the activity to go with it. We are trying a new med to help her sleep. I wonder what she could do with a whole night’s sleep.

We have had a great day with Jenny. Sophia has been asking to sit on Jenny’s lap, so we gave her a chance while they watched tv and Jenny had her hair brushed. The kids love to climb in bed with Mom and they get excited when they see her body move. Jenny asks for the kids to come hug her and she loves the contact. On the flip side, it is difficult to hear the kids get hurt and the instinctive reponse is to call for Mom. Jenny wants to comfort them so bad. The kids are sometimes allowing us to bring them to Jenny when they are hurt- especially when they just need hugs.

Jenny complains about not being able to sleep much. She does not appear to be sleeping ever. She states that she has not slept more than 1-2 hours at a time since her stroke. She also reports that she tends to not sleep at nights. She doesn’t sleep days, so I’m not sure what is going on. Her muscle spasms are still gone. I really think the Botox shots were wonderful. We worked on head movements today and Jenny was able to lift her head back and forward, left to right, and truning left to right. I held the back of her head for minimal support. She gave more than slight movement. I let go several times and she could move completely by herself! I get all teary eyed when these things happen. Jenny still is not pleased with her progress, but I think she feels good deep down.

Jenny is looking so very good. She feels very discouraged and is fighting the idea of therapies at home, but she is really getting better much faster, even though she has not done much physical therapy. Her body is not experincing spasms and she was able to hold her head for several minutes without support today. Her body thermostat is becoming more normal all the time. Jenny reports that her double vision is pretty much gone and her eating/swallowing/mouth movements are better than ever. Jenny would not agree to there being improvments, but she has numerous. We are working out the bugs with nursing and routines, but I think things are going well.

I carried Jenny upstairs for a chance to see our new painted walls and our bedroom. She napped with me on our bed and the kids all joined in to hug on their mom. It felt good to have this type of experince as a family again. I feel good about the future of Jenny’s rehabilitation.

Jenny seems to be doing better at home, and appears more happy to be with the kids. Of course, being at home with the things she loves reminds her of what she can not do and it is difficult emotionally. I think she tries to get out of doing some therapies, but we encourgae until she gives in. She has a lot of emotional periods, but they seem to be brief and less traumatic. She has had fewer periods of spasms and her neck appears to have had favorable results from Botox shots since it does not pull to ther left much (however, she will not admit that the shots were worth it) and her ankles appear more loose. The kids are warming up well to Mom being home. They are coming in more to snuggle an show Mom things. Zach is always looking for someone to watch him champion his gameboy games and now he has a captive audience. Jessie saw Mom’s feeding tube and she wants one too. Jessie thinks that her mom is cool because food gets in her tummy fast without having to go through her mouth.