Well I'm on the bus heading to work again, ready to start another week. This
is really working out well, writing the blog entries on the bus while
listening to music or podcasts. I will be able to post much more often
and it makes the bus rides go by quickly also.

On Sunday, Sherry's family had their annual holiday party. We all got
together in the clubhouse at the manufactured home park where we live.
Sherry's sister Michelle and her family made the trip from the Bend area,
Sean's family and Joy and Curtis were there also. We enjoyed a lot of
good food and company. Sherry does not get to see her sister very
often, so she was excited at the opportunity.

Sherry's new assistants Gayle continues to amaze us with her willingness to go the extra mile
to help us out. She is great at working with Sherry on her home
therapy sessions and Sherry gets along with her very well. She made
the comment that Gayle is beginning to feel more like a friend than a
"care provider" That is what I have been looking for all along.

Well, the holiday season is upon us with all that it entails. I hope
that it goes well for all of you and that you experience all of the
joy this time of year offers and only a little of the added stress.
Probably wishful thinking, but that is my hope for everyone.

On the home front, both Chelsea and Brittney have been sick for the last few days. Chelsea stayed home from school on Monday with a pretty bad head cold. Brittney developed "stomach flu" the next day and has been home the last two days with a sore tummy and a 102 degree fever. This is very unusual for them. The girls usually get perfect attendance awards at school. I don't think they have been kept at home due to illness more than two or three times each since they came to us over six years ago. Chelsea is still coughing quite a bit, but has been a trooper. Brittney's fever is much better and I hope she will return to school tomorrow (Thursday.)

We have adopted yet another new member into our family. We have several stray cats who live in the area. Sherry and the girls have taken to feeding them, much to my dismay (as I put the finishing touches on this post at home, I can hear one of them meowing loudly on our front porch, wanting in from the cold. One of the strays is a beautiful, solid black cat that the girls named Midnight. It became pretty obvious that Midnight used to be someones pet. He is very tame and lovable and I finally gave in and let the girls bring him in. He has become Chelsea's "little prince" and is now an indoor/outdoor member of our family. Our other cat, Kali is not sure what to think at this point, but will get used to him in time I think. Midnight and Keesha have had a few little run ins with Keesha getting the worst of it. I think she is now resigned to the new reality and pretty much ignores the interloper. Gayle has a lot of experience with animals and has been very helpful integrating Midnight into our household.

ERIC...I got your phone msg tonight, we will try to call you on Thursday evening (just in case you are reading this:)



Enough for now,

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

Dean

Trying something new :)

It has been forever since my last post. I am trying something new at
this point that I hope will help me post on a more regular basis. A
few months ago I purchased an iPhone (a great piece of technology by
the way) Anyway, the phone has some basic word processing capability.
It just occurred to me that I can use it to write down my thoughts as
I find the time (like on my daily bus rides to and from work every
day) Then when I am done I should be able to email the document to
myself and then post it from home. We will see how this works. I will
write more in the morning on my way to work and post when I am done.

Well I'm on my way to work. Needless to say, much has happened since I
last reported way back in late October. I guess the most important
news is a change in Sherry's caregiver situation. We decided to make
the change after a lot of thought. No need to go into all of the
reasons here, I will just say we needed a fresh boost of enthusiasm
and a new perspective. We are in very good hands. I use the word WE on
purpose here. Sherry's new assistant not only does everything she
needs do for her, she also goes out of her to help the rest of our
family. She considers it just part of her job to make life easier for
us all. She likes to spend time with girls, involving them with
preparing dinners or baking cookies etc. She is still learning our
routine and the way we like everything done but we think she is
wonderful and doing a great job. Most importantly, Sherry has nothing
but great things to say about Gayle.

Sherry continues to see Kelly at the U of O Speech Clinic. They are
working very intensely on Sherry's attention span. She does attention
exercises at the clinic twice a week and the Gayle oversees the home
program. We are going to be measuring "real world" results soon, I will
let you all know how she is doing in the future.

Due to the process of changing assistants Sherry has taken a break
from vision therapy. I am in contact with her vision therapist and hope to have
her begin her sessions again very soon.

Overall, Sherry has handled all of the changes very well. She
continues to want to work hard and we are still seeing progress. I
expect to see more when her vision therapy resumes.

Enough for now......

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

Dean



Sent from my iPhone