Moving on down to the 4th Floor

Dad is now in the Rehabilitation Center on the 4th floor of the hospital. He seemed anxious and after a full day today, was quite out of sorts when I got there. A busy day, a new schedule and lots and lots of work for him. The speech therapist worked on swallowing. Another day or two and his trach site will be healed over so he can do a barium swallow test. He got to have some water, pudding and other treats so that she could see how he's doing. Yummy since the only thing he's had in his mouth has been a bit of mouthwash on a little sponge and some tart lemon swabs to stimulate salivating.

Physical therapy wore him out. He complained about the pain - getting stretched after being bedridden for 6 weeks is going to be hard. He also went on about some off the wall stuff, but after he started to calm down, that went away. Our hope is that he can recover enough to come home. The hard thing is trying to encourage him without threatening him or making him feel that it's his fault if he doesn't improve. It's possible that he won't be able to accomplish certain things. And then you have to make it upbeat that working hard and being in pain is what he has to do in order to make progress. And then I wonder if therapy just keeps getting harder because once he gets to one point, there will always be more to work on. Plus we have no idea of how it feels for him and he knows it and says that and I wish we could take some of that from him. He has to do all this extremely hard work himself.

So that was Day 1. Keep tuned in!

The most interesting things can happen at Libraries

A naked display of emotion over library closings

The Friends of the Kingsteignton Library in Devon, England, are taking the threatened closure of one of 12 underused libraries by the county council seriously enough to engage in a nude protest. Local library lovers—among them several councilors at the district and parish levels—have been demonstrating against the closing of the library, rain or shine, since February. But last summer, chanting “Don’t strip us of our library,” the group staged a nude indoor protest behind a shelf of large-print books....

What Hurts My Feelings

Not being Informed.
Not being Included.
Not being Invited.
Not being Introduced.

Not being Appreciated.
Not being Acknowledged.

Snacks at School

Finally a very commen sense idea - let's get all the high calorie, sugary, non-nutritional junk out of school. Things that have come off of our grocery list at home: chips, soda, candy and ice cream. There isn't a whole lot of baking going on - my oven doesn't do a very good job, although my family maintains that I'm the one that burns the bottoms of the cookies.

Another idea on how to help the child obesity problem: PE for everyone. All grades, all days.
Some things my teens seemed to enjoy (besides changing for gym):

• being able to choose from different activities (archery, golf, softball, etc.)
• doing circuit training in the weight room
• working on the Presidential Council on Fitness Challenge

Some fit things we've done as a family:

• taken karate class together
• passes to the amusement park in the summer meant lots of walking

Ok, that's a couple things off the top of my head - not enough really. And we reflect that.

What I've Learned

What I've learned in the last few weeks:

Not to take for granted breathing, speaking, eating, or my body's ability to move.
That everyone has their own way of dealing with and responding to stress.
That little kindnesses mean a lot and big problems can be insignificant in the blink of an eye.


That any day is a good day when:

You can look your loved one in the eye and say "I love you"
You can touch, hug, kiss and hold someone who can touch, hug, kiss and hold you - well, even if they can't and at least you can.