Mom spent the night in her new room (which is quieter and a bit
lonelier), and then this morning the physical therapist came and helped her shuffle to the bathroom for the first time in over a week. She was mad at my dad when he wouldn't help her do the same thing mid-morning, but it had taken two people and my mom is still very weak (and has a broken arm and leg!) so it is just too much for one person to help with. We're hopeful that the PT will show us how to help her to walk safely as she gets stronger over the next few days.
When she's tired, my mom still gets a little incoherent, but she's certainly on a mission to get out of the hospital! We've supplied her with hand-held solitaire and hope to get her a laptop soon. I'll see if I can modify the phone handle so she can pick it up when I go in this evening. Muscle control and sensation is still fairly low for her left arm and leg, and she can't turn her head to see where the phone is. Anyway, I'll try to do another update when I get home late tonight.
Amy
7 comments:
Good Morning Hansens!! Thanks Jill and Amy for all your posts. It's been nice to be able to follow what's going on without bothering you guys with incessant phone calls. I agree that with a lap top Janet can get on Skype, shop on line, watch tv online, email people, listen to audio books and all kinds of good things. She can get on Facebook and Tagged and all kinds of places to read about people she knows. She can also be able to play online word games, crosswords, suduko and do jigsaw puzzles free online. But will she have internet access inside the hospital? If not you may be able to buy her a game pack at that store you get the computer game from with 30 or 40 card games, mah johngg, word games, puzzles, etc. Just don't get arcade type games because she might get frustrated on them with just her left hand.
Love, Teresa Liu
Hello Hansens. We have been so glad to follow all the good news updates about Janet as well as some of the funny things that have happened like Jill's description of the kids' life in the hotel. We are grateful that Janet is doing so well and thank you for the updates.
As for the Treeses, we are all good. Cassidy has the most exciting news as she won the "Summer Gift Basket" -- a fundraiser for the PTO. The basket is huge and contains all kinds of things for summer -- floats, towels, sunscreen, frisbees, water balloons, etc. She was thrilled and, because she had bought the raffle tickets with her own money, had to be delicately persuaded to share the good with her siblings. In any event, it was very exciting.
Mother's Day here was great. Jake and the kids made me a delicious breakfast that included belgian waffles and eggs benedict. I was also able to do whatever I wanted while Jake and the kids cleaned the house. Why don't they have Mother's Day once a month.
The Brownies for Katie are almost over. We have an end of the year aqua party at an indoor pool on Friday. I'm glad it is over because it has taken up quite a bit of time. I did volunteer to do it next year(against my mother's sound advice).
I had my book club meeting on Wednesday and we discussed Pretty Birds. The overwhelming thought was that it was depressing. Our next book is The Glass Castle. I have not started it yet.
Katie's class had a mother's day tea last week which was really cute. They sang songs and played the First Grade Version of the Newlywed game. They were given certain questions ahead of time and had to guess their Mom's answers (things like what would Mom do if she had a day to herself). If you answer matched your daughters, you got a kiss. If it didn't match, you still got a hug. It was very cute and the songs made me cry -- something that I do not do that often.
Nothing too new with Kevin or Jake.
Tonight I am going to a meeting as the liason between our summer swim team and the swim league. Everyone had to volunteer for a position and I picked this one.
In addition to the Brownie swim party Friday, we have two birthday parties over the week-end and a wedding on Sunday. Jake is going to the Phillies game with Cassidy on Friday during the Brownie parties. All and all things are good but busy here. We are so happy that things are going well there and are hoping Janet can get out of the hospital soon.
Love, Leanne, Jake and family
And good afternoon from me (still a.m. in Maui). It's great to hear that Janet was able to walk to the bathroom, even with lots of help. This idea would be for down the road, but there are bound to be read-in-bed aids for people who can't hold a book with both hands. TV gets pretty tiresome after awhile, and audio books aren't the same as moving your eyes along an actual page. I dunno, just an idea. Wish I could do more than send ideas and good wishes, but for now that's the deal. Love to you all, Carolyn
Hello Hansens!
I think the pictures of Janet look a little too good for someone who has been in a serious car accident. Oh that's right I forgot how photogenic the Pike side of the family is!
I have an idea for something for Janet to do on the computer. I am sure you all have heard of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. If not, he's a convicted cop killer on Pennsylvania's death row. Anyway, the case was a very straight forward murder case but has been on appeal for years. He has the support of a lot of California celebrities who have no idea of the facts of the case. Anyway, the widow set up a website and posted the trial transcripts so that people would know the truth. The website is www.DanielFaulkner.com. It's an interesting case b/c once you read or hear the facts AND what the defense attorneys continue to try to do, you become amazed that anyone would support this guy. France actually named a street after him. I recently read a book written by the widow. She actually lives in California now.
It will definitely fill the time. The appellate just recently ruled that Mumia will get another sentencing hearing.
The kids and I went to a Taekwon Do tournament hosted by our Dojang (place where we take the classes). We bought 3 raffle tickets but had to leave before they did the raffle. So to appease the children, I wrote our ticket numbers and my name and telephone number on a piece of paper. I gave it to the lady running the raffle and told her that we were pretty sure that we had the winning raffle ticket and to give us a call when we won. And guess what, we did win!! We won 4 tickets and a free parking pass to a Phillies game. The kids have never been to a Phillies game so this is a big treat!
Got to go, Cork just pulled in from work! Got to get hopping on dinner!
So good to hear all the progress!
Love,
Leslie
Hello Hansens!
I think the pictures of Janet look a little too good for someone who has been in a serious car accident. Oh that's right I forgot how photogenic the Pike side of the family is!
I have an idea for something for Janet to do on the computer. I am sure you all have heard of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. If not, he's a convicted cop killer on Pennsylvania's death row. Anyway, the case was a very straight forward murder case but has been on appeal for years. He has the support of a lot of California celebrities who have no idea of the facts of the case. Anyway, the widow set up a website and posted the trial transcripts so that people would know the truth. The website is www.DanielFaulkner.com. It's an interesting case b/c once you read or hear the facts AND what the defense attorneys continue to try to do, you become amazed that anyone would support this guy. France actually named a street after him. I recently read a book written by the widow. She actually lives in California now.
It will definitely fill the time. The appellate just recently ruled that Mumia will get another sentencing hearing.
The kids and I went to a Taekwon Do tournament hosted by our Dojang (place where we take the classes). We bought 3 raffle tickets but had to leave before they did the raffle. So to appease the children, I wrote our ticket numbers and my name and telephone number on a piece of paper. I gave it to the lady running the raffle and told her that we were pretty sure that we had the winning raffle ticket and to give us a call when we won. And guess what, we did win!! We won 4 tickets and a free parking pass to a Phillies game. The kids have never been to a Phillies game so this is a big treat!
Got to go, Cork just pulled in from work! Got to get hopping on dinner!
So good to hear all the progress!
Love,
Leslie
We are so happy to hear the improvement. Go Janet Go! Your own room is progress and defintely a good sign. We continue to log on and are always happy to hear of the positive progress. Keep up that fighting spirit. Go Lefty Go!
Kathleen and Maureen
So sorry I missed the update from this am. I just got home. I am so thrilled that Janet is moved to a regular room--this will probably be better for all as I am assuming the visiting hours thing is a bit more fluid.
Speaking of laptops, Bob bought me a little pink one, an Asus, that is just great, especially for travel. Bob loaded Skype, some games, and I was able to use it to check e-mail. I haven't tried to watch a DVD--I would need an external hard drive. The best things about this laptop is it is really inexpensive, very small and portable, and very durable. My pink one was only about $300 with 2 gig and Bob's was 400 but has 4 gig and a camera. But I don't worry about the fancy stuff-- I use it in the "simple" mode--Bob put my icons on the screen for me and I just navigate. There is an advanced mode that lets you customize it and can do amazing things--that's how Bob uses his. In fact, we had 5 of them delivered to our house in one day: one for Bob, Devon, Me, my friend Kris and her daughter. We all love them. Bob swears by them for normal person computing.
BTW, Janet's birthday card that I sent to the house in Missoula found its way back to me today. Will send it on to her soon.
Hope you are all getting some rest. And hey, YEAH! on the bathroom journey. Another milestone for Janet.
Love to all
vickie
Post a Comment