Another special day....

As I noted in my last post, this time last year my sister noted that Sherry was "happy, she can see shadows." Today, almost exactly one year later Sherry stood up in front of the entire congregation of our church and read two sentences from a piece of paper. I was so proud of her, and our girls who also had parts to read.

If you are interested, you can see the video by clicking here. It may take the video some time to load depending on your internet connection. Also, you need to be using Internet Explorer as your browser. Sherry speaks last, but for those of you who have been checking up on her and her progress, it will be worth the it. The video came from my still camera and the quality is not very good, but I hope you enjoy it.

enough for now,

I love my wife....tomorrow we move forward,

Dean

A messege from Betty....

This is an email that Sherry's vision therapist, Betty sent to her today. I am re-typing this, so you can assume that any typos are mine and not Betty's. Anyway, I thought you all might appreciate this.

Dear Sherry

I was on line today to catch up on you at "Sherry's Journey". I must say you are so loved and thought of by many people including your new family here at Foley Vision Center. We see many people on a journey/road to recovery. You, however, have made the biggest impression with all of us. As for me, I will always endear the words "going forward", that you have given such special and powerful meaning to. You have given them a rich honor. I use those word more now always with the intent to make a stronger impression. The family here is so inspired by you; they marvel at your drive and energy to keep going forward. They absolutley love it when I share with them how much progress you have made and what type of progress.

I spoke with Jennifer at Sacred Heart Rehabilitation earlier today. She said you had been in today and that she did some finger stretching with you and Jody.

Jody is sure the amazing person I am so glad you have her! But I was wondering when you fire her if I could have her?

I saw some snow today mainly mixed snow and rain. It made me wish for lots of snow. I was wondering if you enjoy snow? I love it!

Keep up the good work in the kitchen! I spoke with Dean earlier today he said that you made a meal the other day with directions from Jody. Congratulations Sherry!!! I encourage you to keep that up.

This time of year walks are brisk but very refreshing. I hope you enjoy them too. Take good care. See you soon, Happy home vision therapy.


Sincerely,

Betty Aflleje
Vision Therapist
Foley Vision Center


Nothing to add, enough for now

I love my wife.....tomorrow we move forward

Dean

Happy Holidays

Okay, okay....maybe I am finally getting into the spirit of the season. It has taken awhile, but I am starting to get into it a little bit. Sherry remains her "bah humbug" self, but I think deep down inside she is just glad to be here for Christmas.

Last year at this time, she was still in pretty bad shape having just come out of the second coma (or whatever it was that made her totally unresponsive for over two weeks.) I was reading from the "Visitor Log" that I put together for Sherry when she was at Eugene Rehab and Speciality Care. On December 13th, 2005 Sherry's stepmother Dona had visited and written in the log " Sherry "found" me. She knows who I am tonight." I was there the next day and wrote "Good visit, Sherry sat up in her bed to eat. She remembers our trip to Boston-she remembers a visit from Pastor Doug earlier in the day-she is making progress." Later that day my sister Kim wrote "Sherry is so happy, she can see shadows." I realize, more than ever just how far Sherry has come since then. It has been slow, steady progress and I know she is not done yet. I give her a very good chance to reach her goal of working again. Her timetable of three months may or may not reasonable, but she has the spirit and work ethic. If anyone can pull it off, I think she can. If she does not, we will just keep plugging away, always moving forward.

Thanks once again to all of the professionals who have and who continue to help Sherry. Thanks especially to our family and friends who continue to carry us through this. We hope all of you have the very best holiday ever.

Enough for now,

I love my wife tomorrow we move forward.

Can I have your job please??

Earlier today, Sherry made her third trip back to the Lane County Courthouse to visit friends and co-workers. It has been quite some time between visits. Sherry wanted to wait until her surgery was past her before she went back again. I was unable to be there this time so Jody went with her. From all reports it was was quite a visit. Sherry is seeing better than the last time she was there and I hear that everyone could tell. Sherry was looking all around, taking everything in, noticing changes in where people worked, checking out the new flat screen computer monitors. She told everyone there that she wants to be back to work by the end of February. She has a goal. I don't know if she can reach it by that date, but I think she will get there. She is so determined and works so hard. I talked to her former supervisor, Carmen on the phone later in the afternoon to see how things went. She is going to try and help Sherry out by providing a list of job related tasks that Sherry might work on during her therapy sessions. I think this will do her a world of good, knowing that she is actually working on specific things related to a job. This will also give us a better picture of where she is and how much there is still left to do.

Sherry will resume speech therapy on Monday and hopefully her other therapies later in the week. She has already started back up with her vision therapy and that is going well. She was even able to walk on a low balance beam with little trouble. She continues to amaze us.

As I was writing this Eric called from Chicago. Sherry got up out of bed (no easy feat as not much will get her up after she has gone to bed) to talk with him and the grandkids. It put a big smile on her face and some tears to her eyes. She told me after talking to Eric that today was just an "insane good day." She got to see her friends at the courthouse, talk to Eric. Tommorrow whe will see Sean and on Sunday she will see her mother and sister as we have a family get together at the clubhouse here at the park where we live. She is on a roll.

enough for now,

I love my wife......tomorrow we move forward,

Dean