Roaring New Year of 2009

The year of 2009 is starting off with sweet high- what with my Huskies destroying the Cougs today- broke the UNlucky 7 streak! Sorry Cougar fans, but this is a Husky family!

As Paul and I gear up to head back to our respected universities for Winter Quarter- we wanted to share our tremendous thanks to everyone who has given their time, energy, thoughts, prayers, and the donations to the fundraiser! We are truly blessed with so much support! We know we still have a long road to go- with more rehab and nursing care, but each day seems to bring new skills and abilities. Mom repeatedly says how she knows that the prayers and thoughts are what pull her through the days.

I sent off an email the other day to one of our favorites at the UW Rehab unit, Vicki, with an update. They are dying to know how their favorite patient is doing. So I thought, I have to share this everyone else:
She has nearly full range of motion in her arms- although her left shoulder is still pretty tight. But she can use a laptop and mouse to use a computer, without having slings. She adjusts her own small pillows, manages the bed controls (up/down, etc), she can shift her shoulders, adjust her neck, and I even saw her lift up her "buns" ever so slightly to adjust her hip placement. She can raise her leg from the bed so we can place pillows under them! A huge improvement! She seems to just be acquiring these abilities virtually on her own. Although we have been doing range of motion exercises, and getting her up to the bedside for stretches, she really only has PT or OT about 3x a week! They even got her up into her wheelchair (which she is driving on her own through the house, and so far only stubbed her toe a couple of times) and then took her in the living room and moved her onto the couch! She reclined on the couch for about 2 hours, from what I hear.

As she is getting stronger, both physically and mentally, we are exhausted trying to keep up with her and entertain her. She can still take cat naps during the day, but our goal is to keep her "active" with tasks as much as we can. It is worth the effort to see her improve!

Hope your new year is off to as a great of a start as ours- wishing you the best!
Love,
Caitlin, Dayton, Paul, Dave, and of course, ME