Not too much on the docket today.  I played hostess today to lots of visitors.  I practiced walking by myself and did my exercises.

We passed out a fair amount of candy to various trick-or-treaters.  We passed candy out to a fairy and a lion.

Not much else going on today.

No therapy scheduled for tomorrow either but I am looking forward to a day pass out of the hospital with my family.

Please continue to pray that I would have patience waiting for God’s plan to be revealed and that I would trust in Him.

Ang

Ang had a big day today so she has delegated the update for today to me....

Ang got introduced to Dragon Naturally Speaking and was able to calibrate the program and "type" her first three paragraphs using a speech recognition program.   It was fun to watch.

We had a new PT today who spent time just on how to stand up safely and how to better position her hip bones so that walking is easier.   We saw much improvement in stability and in Ang's confidence.   Now, we get to worry about her launching herself without any warning!   Ahhhh....  "letting go" is never easy.

OT got cancelled today because of an EMG.   Quite the test to check out if the nerves in her left arm are working both in transmission from the brain as well as in coordination within the arm itself.   It is hard to watch her be in pain but WOW is she a brave person.   She was quite captivated with the sound and recording of the muscle activity but she was quite stoic about just getting the test over with.

No official therapies this weekend but lots of homework from each one.  Writing/typing, exercises, outings, visits, and sleeping are all on the agenda.   

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and stop by for a visit if you are in the neighborhood.

Mom. 

I had my interview this morning with Rehab Without Walls.  It went okay I think.  Then my neuro-psycho-therapist came to visit me.  He seemed really nice and on top of his game.  

When I went to speech therapy, I met my vocational counselor.  Later in the afternoon my grandparents came to visit.  They watched some PT and all of my OT.  Gram left me some pizelles to share.

All day people have been trick-or-treat-ing in my room.  I have been handing out candy with my left hand which was a challenge given me friom my physical therapist.  

I started walking on my own today.  It works pretty well so long as I'm not giggling. 

Ang 

Because of a staff safety meeting this afternoon, Angela had all her therapies crammed into the morning.   It was action packed starting at 7:30am and pretty much moving right through until 2:00pm.   BUT...at 2:00pm, we got a pass and we got to take a field trip to her house.

In PT, we continue to work on gait and strengthening the legs so they can walk.   More stairs, more stretches, more talk about braces....  Please pray for strong hamstrings and excellent toe raises, it would be wonderful to not have a brace.

In OT, we continue to work on Ang taking responsibility for her own personal grooming up to and including blow drying her own hair.   We also work on cognitive skills as they apply in the home setting and today's focus was on balance.   Ang got to sit on the ball and work to maintain her balance while reaching, stretching, moving around, ...  we can get most of this as long as Ang does not start giggling.   She has no balance at all when she is laughing.    What a sight.

In ST, we showed off the brain program that Josh picked out after researching options and it appears her therapist is jazzed enough about Josh's selection to have us demo to all the other speech therapists later in the week.   Then, Angela learned a new game using deduction and that is always fun.   We also learned about interrupting and the importance of listening all the way through to the end of the speaker's message.   If you are talking with Angela (on the phone or in person), help her out if she cuts you off in mid-sentence by gently reminding her that you get a turn too!   It is all part of therapy.

We have an interview with Rehab Without Walls representative tomorrow so say a prayer that it all works out exactly as it is supposed to .... a lot rides on the outcome of this interview in terms of discharge date, next steps, return to work, etc.

And the BIG EVENT!   Angela climbed the stairs to her home.  Sat on her own couch.  Petted her own cats.  Ate dinner in how own living room.   And generally soaked up the familiarity of being home with her own stuff in her own space with her own husband!    It was fantastic.   It was a big trip and it took all of five minutes for her to be sound asleep once she got settled in for the night.   Here's to a full night's sleep.

Hugs to all,

Teresa 

We get our first PASS to take Angela out of the hospital this afternoon.   We are taking advantage and won't be here from about 2:00pm until about 7:00pm ...  so we hope this doesn't impact anyone planning to visit today.     We are anxious to try this type of "home therapy" and see how Angela's stamina is.  

More later....

Teresa  

Lots of sleep last night.  I think that Ang is averaging around 10 hours a night now.  That means that Teresa and I are also getting some much-needed rest.

Ang started her day off working with her cognitive program on the computer and then worked through the morning self-care rituals with OT. She started out working on her computer program for 5 to 10 minutes and now she works at it for an hour at a time. 

And did lots of walking during her morning and afternoon PT sessions.  We even went outside to do some walking on uneven ground.  Ang’s leg is getting stronger.  She is able to do more of her exercises and is highly motivated to get her mobility back.  Tomorrow she will be working on the lite gate.  Since Ang has already achieved the goals that PT set for her last week they have set some new goals.  Short-term (1 week):  Walking 50ft unassisted. Long-term (2 weeks): 150ft with a cane.  It really wouldn’t surprise me if Ang made the 150ft without the cane at this point.  We shall see.

More logic problems in speech therapy today.  Ang did great and is getting better at asking the therapist about the point of the exercise instead of getting frustrated.  Many of the exercises are simplistic yet necessary to establish her cognitive baseline. 

Biggest event of the day was the meeting that we had with Ang’s rehab team.  Angela’s tentative discharge date is much sooner than we had originally anticipated.  Looks like we will be heading home on 11/10/2009, at least tentatively.  Ang should be participating in a program called “rehab without walls”.  This is a real blessing.  Rehab takes place in the home and at the workplace and the program is tailor-made to fit the individual.  Co-workers, friends, and family become an integral part of the recovery process.  It is outside the box and has proven to be amazingly effective (Just like my wife…)

Take care,

Josh

Address currently - maybe for two weeks:

Angela Sweet
Harborview Hospital - Room 450 West
325 Ninth Avenue
Seattle, WA  98104

Teresa 

Ang did great today.   Tired!  but great!

This morning's PT was strength training and this afternoon was stairs.   We went out into the stairwell and she went down and up putting each foot on the same stair.   Got back to the top and we "high fived" for making goal 1 - do a full flight of stairs "the easy way"....  Angela looked at her PT therapist and said, "let's go for goal 2 - a full flight of stairs with feet on alternating steps....  Whew, it was hard but SHE DID IT! ! !  with only minimal help.

OT helped with a shower and Angela did the whole thing on her own....   Josh and I are adjusting to sitting on her hands more and doing more cheering instead of actively assisting and helping Ang more.   Tough transition  but sooooo rewarding.

Recreational therapy got Angela outside today with a promise to walk outside later this week.

Speech therapy had Ang doing some visual assessments of four block pictures.  The goal was to pick the picture that doesn't belong and sometimes she picked up the outstanding picture before I could even check out the four pictures.   Thankfully sometimes I could find the different one faster than Ang.

We have a gorgeous view of the Smith Tower and can look across to Alki so the room really is nice.   

We have lots to be thankful for and can say even more prayers of joy and thanksgiving.  We thank you for joining us in these prayers.

Love,

Teresa 

Room Change:   We moved to room 450 in the West hospital.   It is still a private room.  It is still quite roomy.   It has a great view.   

New therapy schedule:  9:00 - 10:30 am and then 1:00pm to 4:00pm.   Whew!   We shall see how it goes!

Our first TEAM meeting is tomorrow afternoon.   Looking forward to hearing goals, impending discharge plans, and hearing about the outcome of all the initial assessments.

More later.

Teresa 

Quick post tonight.

We had lots of visitors and Ang enjoyed chatting with everyone that came throughout the day.

AND-  Ang started to move her left arm in addition to the hand today.  It is still very hard for her to move, but there are definitely signs of life.

Not much else going on but rest before Ang has to hit therapy hard again tomorrow morning.  I think we are going to watch a sermon online and call it a night.

Thanks to everyone who came to visit today.  

Josh 

Angela says, "today was filled with therapy sessions."   We had six sessions between 8:15 and 4:00pm.   Ang passed the hearing test, she made change, she walked, climbed stairs, did squats, showered on her own, made a clock with the correct time, identified 30 pictures of items from accordions to latches and generally scored a perfect score (minus the deduction for being a college graduate).

It was a most busy day.

The awesome news is that after Bill massaged her arm and fingers, Ang moved each finger on her left hand individually! ! !  Did we do a dance????   Yes we did! ! ! 

In fact, each one was done twice to confirm scientifically that Ang was able to move them.   I laughed out loud when she said it had to be done twice for scientific reasons.

We still have a long way to go on this left arm but every moment of progress is appreciated and thanked.   

We are settling in and adapting to the new rules, new procedures, new schedules, etc.   It is a fairly easy transition.....much easier than moving your child into a nursing home.

For some reason the people here got the impression that Angela was a Ph.D.  so it has been fun to answer some of the questions that we get asked from head nurses, supervising doctors, etc.   We did post the picture from Amgen of Angela with the bio-reactor.   That helps people get an impression of where Angela came from and where she is looking forward to returning.  Thanks, Amgen!

Well, that's it for tonite.

Teresa

Day 1 at Harborview went really well.  Ang had multiple therapy sessions and we think that she really wowed everyone around here.  She got a little tired this afternoon but she had enough stamina to make it through the day.  It seams that the therapists roles at Harborview are a bit different from what we got used to at Park West.  The OT folks do some of what the PT and ST folks did and the PT folks do some of the old OT exercises.  It is all a bit confusing.  Ang really let her sense of humor out of the bag today.  Lots of fun to watch.  She was also talking to anyone that would listen about how wonderful Danish bacon is..  We call my wife the “bacon pusher” and she is back to it again.

Besides the standard therapies we had to go downstairs have more x-rays taken of Ang’s arm.  What a change in her from the last time that we had to do this. The last time Ang had to move her arm around for x-rays she almost killed the poor tech.  This time Ang was her sweet usual self and chatted with the techs and did what she could to help.

Later in the evening after everything had quieted down, Ang’s attending physician came by to give her a quick evaluation.  Most of the talk was about the pins and needles sensation that Ang feels throughout her left side and what the plan was to assess any potential nerve damage.  The process involves needles and electro-stimulation.  Should be slated for sometime next week. Ang is not too thrilled about it to say the least. They are going to give her some medication tonight on a trial basis that should address the tingling.  Only draw-back is that it makes you a bit tired.  They are going to give her a baby dose and we’ll see.

And-  She extended the fingers on her left hand.  Only a little, but we all saw it!!  We also got started working on stairs.

Not too much else to report tonight.  We were initially told that tomorrow was going to be a light day, but after looking at Ang’s schedule for tomorrow it looks like she has therapy from 8:15 am until 3:45 pm.  Should be a busy day.

G’night-

Josh

Angela's new schedule:

Breakfast at 7:30
Physical Therapy at 9:15 - 9:45
Occupational Therapy at 11:15 - noon

Lunch at 11:45

Speech Therapy at 1:00 - 1:45
Physical Therapy (part two) 1:45 - 2:30
Occupational Therapy at 3:15 - 4:00

Dinner at 4:30


Right now Ang seems to fall asleep around 7:15ish.   We will keep you all posted as she adapts to the new schedule and we see how it all goes.

Teresa 

What a blessing today was.  I am SO thankful to have spent my third anniversary with my beautiful wife.  Breakfast was wonderful.  Ang cooked Danish bacon from Husky Deli and made waffles. Two of my weaknesses..  She has a servants heart and I love her so much.  I was just happy to be sitting with my best friend, enjoying her company, and knowing that God has everything under control.  She was very pleased!  I think it was the best breakfast that I have ever had.  I had promised her a “Snuggie”, one of those crazy blankets with arms that you see on t.v. before the accident.  She got her mom one and loved it despite its infomercial appeal.  She got her snuggie today and she loved it. 

We got everything loaded up and Ang and the staff at Park West said there farewells.  They all want her to come back to visit after she has finished up at Harborview.  I think they might be motivated by promises of Ang’s famous pasta sauce upon our return.  The drive went well.  Ang is no longer getting car sick.  She took the time to take a little nap before we hit the ground running back where it all started on 8/18/09.  I remember touring the rehab facility with the admissions coordinator while Ang was still on the fifth floor at Harborview and praying that God would heal my wife and that she would be able to return for their intensive rehab program.  It is not a very easy program to be admitted to and people come from all around the country.  God has been so faithful during this time and we continue to see His grace poured out on my wife, our family, and our friends every single day. 

Before we left the parking lot to enter Harborview we said our prayers and we went to the admitting office.  Ang took care of all of the paperwork and made sure that the administrator made copies of everything for me.  Ang said, “My husband will want to know what I am signing.”  After the admitting process was complete we headed up to the fourth floor of the West wing to the rehab center. We were pleased to find out that Ang was going to have her own room.  It is HUGE!  It wasn’t quite ready yet so we waited in a shared room with a wonderful woman who had been in a severe car accident.  She shared her story and then prayed for my wife.  Once we got to Ang’s room the first thing she asked was if I thought it was big enough to host community group in!  I knew that Ang would be okay weeks ago when Jesus was the first thing that she remembered.

Ang was greeted by one of the rehab doctors that went through the standard barrage of reflex testing, etc.  She also did a quick cognitive evaluation, which Angela aced. (No surprise to us!)

After all of the formalities were dealt with the day was relatively lazy.  Teresa and I brought a few loads of stuff up from the car to make the room feel more cozy.

Ang’s new digs:

Harborview

West Wing, 4th Floor, Rm# 460

We are not sure what tomorrow will look like, but we are all looking forward to meeting the folks that will be working with Ang.  They are already talking about starting her sessions on Saturday.  We are supposed to have a meeting that will determine how long Ang might need to stay at the rehab center.  We were initially told that 3 weeks was the standard, but perhaps we will be there longer?  We’ll have to wait and see.  Not sure what visiting hours are or what her schedule will look like so we will keep everyone posted via the blog.

So far so good-  AND PRAISE JESUS!!!!

Josh