Tidbits

A few neat things to report tonight. A few days ago we found out that Eric, Sherry's youngest son will be coming for a visit this coming weekend. He will be here for two weeks. Sherry has not seen Eric or his family since she became ill in July of 2005. She is very excited by the news and cannot wait to see him. She is also a liitle apprehensive as well. She knows she is not the same person she was when she last saw Eric. But, she is also proud of the progress she has made and is glad he is seeing her now instead of several months ago, when she was much worse.


This weekend our whole family walked about a mile and half to the little market in our neigborhood. We tried this trip not long after Sherry came home in February of 2006. Sherry was only able to make it about a quarter of the way before sitting down in a wheelchair. This time, no problem, walked all the way, shopped in the store and then walked back home. I was so proud of her. Her stamina and confidence is at an all time high.

She is also making very good progress with getting herself dressed. In the past she has struggled with getting her tops on. Twice in the last three days she has appeared from the bedroom in her nightgown. The first time, a few nights ago, it was on inside out, but tonight it was perfect. It always puts such a huge smile of her face. She knows she is getting better. She still has her down moments, but she is getting better about talking herself through it and getting her mind back on the positive track. She is such an inspiration to me. I love her so much.

Sherry recieved an email from her former supervisor at the courthouse today and it made her day. She had a few tears in her eyes and said "they haven't forgotton me yet have they?" I assured her that she was not forgotton there. We are going to plan another visit there in a week or so. Thank you Carmen :)

Enough for now,

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

Dean

catching up

As I said before, there is more to report. Sherry also had her latest visit with Dr. Mundall, her neurologist last week. It too, went very well. He called her an inspiration and was impressed with Sherry's ability to use her vision. He thinks (and we all know) that she needs to improve her ability to see things accurately in space. Her acuity is good, but there are still significant visual problems. But when we consider where she began, only seeing light and dark, it is truly amazing that she can see and do what she does today. Dr. Mundall made me particularly happy when he agreed with Sherry's therapists that her recovery and improvement should continue.

On the therapy front, Sherry's Occupational Therapist Dawn has begun to teach her how to dress herself. She has been able for months now to put on her underwear and pants pretty much by herself. However, putting on a shirt has been difficult. If I put the shirt over her head for her (a pull over shirt or nightgown) she easily takes care of the rest. But if she has to do it from step one, to figure out which way the garment should face, where the bottom and top are, she often runs into trouble. There have been a few times that she has done it on her own. After shopping the other day we came home and she went into the bedroom and put on her nightgown by herself. It was inside out, but still, she got it on. She was very proud of herself. I think with Dawn's help we will master this soon. When we do, it will be a huge step on her path to independence.

enough for now, check back again on Saturday.

I love my wife...tomorrow we move forward

Dean

Good reports......

Once again I feel the need to apologize for the time in between posts. I am setting myself a goal of posting every other day from now on. The posts will probably be a bit shorter, but I know there are a few people out there who really rely on this, so I will do better.

We recently had an "all team" meeting with Sherry's therapists. The consensus was that she is still making very good progress and that there is no reason to think that it will stop at this time. Her therapists want her to start getting into "community rehab" programs which will hopefully lead to vocational rehabilitation in the future. Sherry will probably get involved in physical "therapy" classes at LCC soon and may begin a speech therapy program at the U of O as soon as we can arrange it. We also want to get the Oregon Commission for the Blind involved for some "transitional" help with getting around more independently. The idea is for Sherry to learn skills that blind people use to navigate the world to use now, hoping she won't need them in the future. I'm afraid we may run into some resistance from Sherry on this. They will probably want her to learn to use a cane, and in the past she has been opposed to the idea. Considering where Sherry has come from, she actually gets around very well. We no longer worry about her moving about the house. She can get in and out of the shower by herself and the tub with assistance. She can navigate in familiar places such as church and even the courthouse with little or no help. But walking outside is still risky. She does not always realize changes in terrain such as curbs or sidewalks. Hopefully the chance to become even more independent sooner will inspire her to give it a chance.

Sherry also had a progress appointment with her opthomologist and the news there was good also. They are also very pleased with her progress. Her visual acuity is much better (better than mine in fact) Her eyes are "working together" much, much better after all these weeks of therapy. She will probably continue vision therapy as a home program with scheduled progress check ups with Dr. Foley's office.

There is more to report and I promise to post again by Wednesday evening.

enough for now,

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

Dean