Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Christy and Donald had kind of a mellow day today.  By the way, the cord that hooks Don's camera to the computer is MIA, so no pictures tonight.  He spent a long time looking for it... I'm sure it will pop up somewhere tomorrow.

Today's big event was Christy's steroid shot in her shoulder.  Dr. Ripley injected the steroid medication into the shoulder around 10am.  Christy was immediately able to raise her arm up over her head when she could only raise it up parallel to her shoulder.  That was the first big thing we saw.  While Dr. Ripley was injecting her shoulder, he was able to fully see the deformity of Christy's right shoulder blade.  When Dr. Balazzi was filling in, Don and the Doc reviewed the old x-rays of her shoulder blade taken from the front of her body.  Dr. Balazzi thought that as far as he could see from the x-ray they had, everything looked OK.  Dr. Ripley thought that it was worth while to get an x-ray specifically to look at the fractured right scapula (shoulder blade) to double check that everything is OK.  Don can't help but wonder if the pins & needles could possibly be caused from the fractured shoulder blade pressing on the wrong place-- a nerve, maybe.  It healed the way it did because there isn't any cast to put on the shoulder blade.  Christy never wore a sling, she was in bed and still asleep for most of the healing.

Christy did a ton of stretching with Physical therapy today.  OT worked on dressing.  Amy is here in Casey's place still.  

Christy is still experiencing nausea, most likely from the increase in medication for motor control.  They are giving her anti-nausea medication, but it doesn't always work.  Christy was throwing up tonight while I was skyping with Donald.  I felt so bad for her.  Don and Chris are going to bring up the continual nausea medication with Dr. Ripley.  The bummer part is that the medication seemed to be working for Christy to help with motor control and with her tongue movements.

Tuesday, April 24, 2009

Today was an awesome day full of wonderful therapy!! Physical therapy was intense with all of its exercises and stretches.  Chrsity did a bunch of new exercises with the ball to

 strengthen her core and legs!  This picture on the left shows Cathi and Carly with Christy at PT.  Jody is there in the right hand lower corner, too!  Christy is working on stretching here, and the girls are helping out!  

The picture on the right is Chrsity doing a bridge exercise holding a ball between her legs!! Wow!!  Christy is using her core, her hamstrings and gluteus (butt) muscles to lift her body and keep her legs together!! Impressive, Christy!  Christy is getting stronger and stronger every day!   Sit up core exercises were part of the regime today as well.  You see Christy with the ball in her hands doing a sit up!!! Wow!! Strengthening the core muscles will help with her balance while walking and sitting up, etc!

More work was done in PT with walking with the shopping cart (you've seen pictures of that before).  Christy did something new and worked on walking up and down stairs with PT today!  Christy has an easy time going up the stairs, but had a more difficult time going down.  I know its easier for me to go up than down.  Especially when I'm carrying something and my vision is obstructed. With Christy's weakened vision, it is a little more scary stepping down the stairs, not sure if the footing will be perfect.  She did wonderfully with this new exercise!

Donald put the feet rests back on Christy's wheelchair to encourage Chrsity to move herself in her chair with her hands.  This will help strengthen her upper body and arms, especially her right side.

Speech went smoothly. More work on tongue strengthening.  

Chrsity's regular OT therapist was out today.  She's away.  Christy had a new therapist Jannine.  During one of the OT sessions, they went down to therapeutic recreation.  This is the same place that Christy painted at before.  There were about 4 therapist there at the session and a couple other patients.  The task at hand was to make "fruit pizzas".  They had sugar cookies that they spread cream cheese on.  There were other patients who could cut up the toppings: kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, etc.  Christy had to put the different fruits on the cookie for them to eat!  She had to work on vision, hand-eye coordination, color recognition, motor movements, etc. during this exercise.  Christy and Don had fund doing this project!

Chrsity had started a project with ceramics earlier during her stay.  She had chosen which ceramic she wanted to do, so she had it while the kids were here.  Christy picked a ceramic NEMO!  Today she got to paint it. 

Christy had standing frame with Dan today, as well!! Christy did very well with standing up strait!

Christy and Don talked to Dr. Ripley today about getting some steroid shots in her shoulder.  The steroid shots will help ease her pain and help gain more range of motion.  If Christy doesn't get the shots the work she needs to do to rehab the shoulder will be very difficult and uncomfortable.  Originally, Christy didn't want to have to get poked with the needle, so she wasn't interested in the steroid shots.  Today Christy agreed to try them out.  She'll get relief and be able to do more in therapy.   She gets her first shot tomorrow at 10:00am.  

 Christy is still working on eating enough calories to maintain her baseline weight and to get the PEG tube out forever! Christy has been receiving an ensure shake in the morning to supplement her breakfast.  The Ensure has vitamins and minerals, calories, etc. for Chrsity's optimal healing.  Christy gets an AM Ensure because she's not really a breakfast eater.  They decided that they are going to try and give as little as possible through the PEG to wean her off PEG use now.  Christy will be taking all of her pills by mouth now.  This will get us closer to getting out the PEG.  The set back is the nausea from the medication to control her motor movements.  Christy barfed up her dinner tonight.  She just gets sick as a side effect of the medication.  junk.

Until tomorrow!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Christy started her day with OT getting dressed. Christy has been working on getting dressed in the morning since she's been at Craig.  It's an activity of daily living.  And the OT want to make sure Chris is an independent as possible when she leaves.  Christy's getting closer to dressing herself  independently every day!  

Christy had Physical therapy today that concentrated on Stretching, Walking with the shopping cart, and doing the "long lap" that's around 200 feet in distance!!  Christy is building her endurance up!

Christy had speech today and did lollipop exercises with her tongue to strengthen it.  We're aiming for clear speech and effective chewing. Chrsity was able to lick her lips today which shows good muscle strength and control of taht tongue!!  Every day is something new! 

During Christy's pool therapy she worked with hand weights.  Punching them in the water, against the water's resistance!  Christy was using her right (weaker) arm really well, too!!

During Christy's second session of OT, they did

 kitchen work.  Christy was in a kitchen they use at Craig that simulates a regular home's kitchen.  They focus on using her vision to locate things she needs to take care of herself.  If she is going to eat some fruit, they make her open the cabinet and get out the can of fruit (read the label) and pretend to prepare it for herself.  They guide her to choose the things she'll need to eat it... can opener, fork, bowl, etc.  It's practice for when they go home and Christy is taking care of herself.

Christy also enjoyed  her Monday massage by a professional masseuse!  What a fabulous treat for her and her body!  She gets to relax and enjoy the pampering and massaging on her muscles that worked hard in therapy all day.  She also gets to relax and listen to music and let off any stress she's got!

You deserve it Christy!! Love you!xoxo

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Hello Everyone!  Sorry we missed you yesterday.  It was a day of rest.  Christy and Don just cruised all day long.  Hanging out and relaxing!

Today, we have two new members of the family visiting Christy.  Cathi (Christy's sister) and her daughter Carly are visiting from Washington State!  Cathi also came to Hawaii see Christy while she was in the ICU at Queens in January. Boy what a difference Christy's made in her recovery since then!  Cathi and Carly are visiting until Tuesday.

I had the pleasure of Skyping with the gang today while they were enjoying Donald's yummy Beef Stew.  Christy was being a comedian and was pretending to barf when he asked her how good it tasted!!  That was funny!  Craig's family apartment is such a great place just to kick back and be normal.  They give you a kitchen and a couch, a dinning table, two TVs, it's GREAT! It makes it easy to hang out, talking story, enjoying family... on a Sunday afternoon.  If everyone was stuck in the hospital this whole time.... it would be too clinical.  Craig looks after the person as a whole and that's great.

During our Skype session, the computer was set on a table across the room.  In my view (from the computer camera) was the dining table where everyone was enjoying beef stew.  I said hello to everyone and chatted with Cathi and Don.  I had the pleasure of watching Christy stand up and walk over to the computer with no assistance!!!! It was amazing.  It made my heart happy to see Christy walking!!!  Christy's gait is still somewhat unsteady, so Donald makes sure he is right there next to her in case she needs some help rebalancing or some stabilization but Christy was doing it all on her own!!  So wonderful!! That made my day!  I can't wait till Christy comes home again!

Tomorrow is back to therapy.  We are on the last month of rehab.  Christy will probably be coming home the last week of may. xoxox

  

Friday, April 24, 2009

In today's Physical therapy session Christy did some walking!  She's walking here with the shopping cart and using it as support.  Someone else was using the regular walker that you've seen in previous posts.  Christy is getting stronger and stronger every day.  

Christy also stood at the ballerina bars today-- not strapped in.  She can stand with her legs so strait now.  And she can stand and straiten in just three seconds!! Look how perfectly strait she's got her legs! That's so much faster and

 straighter than before!  It's wonderful.  Those extra sessions at the standing frame with Dan are paying off! Go Chris!

All of Christy's therapist are happy and impressed by her hard work and progress.  Maela saw Christy three times today!  This is a picture of Christy at Speech therapy looking at  her mouth when she pronounciates.  Malea was doing an exercise with her that allows her to say the whole 

alphabet and say each letter's sound.  Fore example.  Christy has to say... "A", "ahh", "B", "buh", "C", "kuh", "D", "duh"... and so on.  They are also working on slapping the leg with each syllable of the word to pronounciate it better.  This exercise is working well.  Malea commented that Christy is doing so much better with her tongue this week.  I can't help but think that it is because she is 

on the higher dose of Carbadopa-Levodopa (that Parkinson's drug we talked about previously).   Don is noticing that when Christy talks on the phone, she doesn't have to hand the phone over to him so he can talk and explain.  Christy's speech is much clearer and talking on the phone is less of a challenge!  Chris is still working on her chewing!   Malea printed out some tongue exercises for Don to work on with Chris on their free time or on the weekends while not in classes.  

Dr. Shraa worked with Christy today.  Christy's memory is still getting better! He did some memory games like saying a whole bunch of words... 20, I think.  Christy has to name back as many as possible.  She was getting about 5 words, all right, repeated back to Dr. Shraa.  Then

 they would sit back and talk story a little.  After talking for a while, he asked Christy if she remembered any of the words they talked about earlier.  Christy remembered about 4 words again! yay! Pretty impressive!

Occupational therapy did something new today!  They started

 Christy on this machine that has three pillars in the shape of a triangle.  I have a couple pictures here to help with figuring out what this "game" looks like.  Christy has to hit the lighted area with whatever "weapon" she has.   They just worked one of the three pillars today.  Christy had a little bit of a hard time to begin with, but by the end she was hitting like a champ!  She got to LEVEL 5 which is great! Christy has to search for the light on a three-dimensional object and coordinate her tool to hit the right spot to move the light.  It's like a huge light board with different planes.  It's probably stress relieving, too! It makes me think about that game they use to have at Fun Factory where you whack the alligators that come out of their caves.... anyway...

Family services has been so incredibly helpful and "on it" at Craig.  Melissa makes sure she addresses problems with the insurance right away so Don doesn't have to worry about it.  Don will go in front of Craig's Board of Directors to discuss Christy's care and his satisfaction with the Hospital.  They do this with family's at Craig about once every year and a half.  

Keep the prayers going... they work every day at Craig.  Christy is making a wonderful recovery and we're so happy.  XOXOX

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Christy is taking her pills well by mouth!!!  This was one of the challenges to overcome to get closer to getting the PEG out.  Christy was having some bad experiences with bad tastes in her mouth with the pills as well.  

They are concerned that Christy may be loosing a little too much weight, though.  Chrsity is being weighed weekly but is loosing weight.  She was up around her normal weight pre-accident, but is now having trouble keeping it on.  Christy eats pretty good for the most part, but has days where she doesn't eat as well.  Christy is also burning up a lot of calories during therapies.  She is walking and doing aquatic therapies all day long.  

They are also checking some blood work to make sure her electrolytes and other labs are optimal.  

Christy is doing an exercise with speech that is helping her pronunciation.  She slaps her knee with each syllable of the word to slow her down and enunciate more.  It's working, so 

that's great. Her speech is getting better and we're hoping that when she comes home she'll have all of her medications just right for optimal speech and coordination of muscle movements.  Dr. Ripley is working on it.  

There was a mini-meeting for an update today with Doctor Ripley & gang.  They gave an idea of where Christy is now and how things are progressing.  Dr. Ripley talked about her medications again. He's always thinking of the best way to tweak her meds to get her in an ideal position to fight the coordination control problems she's having. 

Christy had an eye Doctor visit today.  Christy was trying on some frames for her glasses.  Christy is going to be wearing glasses now.  Donald had to work with the eye glass worker girls to pick a cute pair out for Chris.  Christy can't see perfectly, so it is kinda hard for her to choose frames independently.  Christy's vision seems to be improving daily.  The doctor asks Chris to follow his finger as one of the vision tests.  Originally, she would follow his finger but loose track of it in the middle, then catch up again.  Today, Christy was tracking his finger perfectly!!!  

Christy is impressing us with progress constantly!  Christy couldn't hardly stretch out her leg when she left Queens to go to Craig.  She was contracted.  Now, if Christy had her knee(s) bent up towards her body and asked her to straiten her leg(s)... she could put it down right away and strait out!!  That's so awesome.  All Christy's hard work is really paying off.

Christy, Donald, Alan, Luis, Luis' roommate & Joe and Gloria all went to dinner tonight

 at Olive Garden.  Don's favorite.  It's so fun to go places we don't have here in Hawaii while on the mainland! It's so awesome that Christy can go

 out to dinner off campus with the gang!!  

Christy is progressing every day and so much of her strength comes from the love and prayers sent to her on a daily basis.  So, Thank you for loving and following every day!  

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Howzit!  Ka'eo here tonight coming at ya straight from the 808!  Just kidding, but this is Ka'eo covering for the Gabster as she has already gone to sleep preparing for another 12 hour shift tomorrow.  Anyhow, Christy had another full day.  Not much new stuff, but a full day nonetheless.

PT was business as usual.  Christy spent some time on the ballerina bars walking today.  As you can see by the picture, she looks like she is doing pretty good.  Damn, her legs look skinny.  Not used to that one because Christy always had very muscular legs.  I am sure after a few more months she will be back to normal.  They also spent some time stretching her again this morning.

As for OT, they spent some time with the independent movements again today.  Christy is getting better every day at being able to dress her self.  She is still having some trouble with her right arm, but Donald says she is gaining more control over it.  He said she keeps it right under her chin because it is more comfortable for her, but as soon as he asks her to put it down she can do so on command.  Dr. Ripley suggested that they give her a shot of steroids in the right arm to assist with the muscle control.  At first Christy was hesitant because she does not like to receive shots.  But, after talking it over with Donald, they are going to talk it over with Dr. Ripley and give it a shot tomorrow.  Dr. Ripley also suggested acupuncture which may be kind of a stretch for Christy because of the needles.

Christy also spent time with Melea, the speech therapist this afternoon.  According to Donald, her tongue is looking a lot stronger.  Christy was in the apartment this afternoon with Alan and Louis and Donald noticed that Christy was licking her lips with control.  She has not been doing that up to this point.  Melea agreed with Donald that she also noticed her tongue is getting stronger.

Tomorrow is another big day.  There is a conference call that is scheduled for 3pm tomorrow afternoon Colorado time.  If anyone is interested in listening in on the call, contact

 Donald on his cell phone tomorrow.  Christy also sees Dr. Keltz tomorrow for her new pair of g

lasses.   On a side note, Donald was showing Christy pictures this afternoon and she was seeing them clearly. She was seeing it clearly enough, that she can finally recognize who the people are in the picture. Up to this point, she would only be able to tell you how many people were in the picture to the right.  More good news every day.  

Finally, Christy has been officially scheduled to be at Craig all the way until May 26.  So, a little more than a month to go and she will be back home with the family.  Damn, the time has gone by very fast since she has been up there.  Can't wait to see her again.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Donald got to enjoy POOL THERAPY with Christy today!!  They both got to go into the pool-  more like a huge jacuzzi-  and do therapy.  They did walking in the pool.  Walking with both a walker and without a walker.  The pool therapy is called hydrotherapy or aquatic therapy.  It's supposed to help with symptoms of musculoskeletal conditions like Christy's.  They use the therapeutic properties of water like buoyancy, and resistance. With her body under the water, the buoyancy helps support Chrsity's weight.  This decreases the amount of weight Chis puts on her joints and hopefully  helps with regaining more joint motion and strength and mobility with more comfort.  The warmth of the water during exercises helps relax the muscles and opens up the blood vessels increasing blood flow to injured areas. Since Christy has muscle spasms and tone, aquatic therapy may be especially helpful!  Plus its fun to get into the pool with your hubbie!!

Occupational therapy continues to be doing arm exercises to treat Christy's shoulder.  This is a exercise machine that Chrsity  has been using.  I don't know how it works exactly, but they are focusing on regaining range of motion and strength especially in the right shoulder.  Remember this was the shoulder blade that was fractured.  

Yesterday Kaeo mentioned that they were going to increase a drug of Christy's to help gaining more control over her speech and motor movements.  The drug is called Sinemet or Carbidopa-Levodopa its a combination drug that is usually used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.  Remember in Parkinson's they have uncontrolled motor movement as well.  This is supposed to help the tongue move better as well, so we're trying it out.  Christy has existing problems with nausea because of her eyes.  Remember when she switched wheelchairs she became more nauseated, etc.  She is affected easily.  A junk side effect of Sinemet is nausea... So we have to wait and see how it affects Christy.   When I was talking to Don tonight, Christy was nauseated.  junk.

We have to get a shout out to Keli'i... since his picture didn't get in either of the two days that he was there.   This is a picture of them in the gym/cafeteria on the mat.  Christy and Keli'i have a special relationship and they were equally happy to see each other and hang.  Keli'i got to witness Christy's therapy at Craig and participate a little.  He even spent the night with her in her room.  

We love you Christy!!!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Sorry peeps, there are going to be no pictures this post. Donald had to take Keli'i to the airport and unfortunately missed a lot of the PT/OT this morning. Nonetheless, Christy had a very full day of rehab and even some fun, relaxing time towards the end of the day.

PT focused on two things today, stretching in general and work focusing on her shoulder. They spent a good portion of the time stretching Christy out in multiple positions. From what they are saying, Christy is getting pretty flexible. The second portion of PT was focused on her right shoulder. They have been working on increasing her range of motion and flexibility to improve overall blood flow to the area. They want her to start using her right arm more, so they have been focusing on it for the last couple of rehab sessions.

Once PT was done, Christy spent some time with the speech therapist Melea. Same as usual as they worked mostly on strengthening her tongue. It continues to favor the right side, but is hindering her speech less and less according to Keli'i.

Throughout the day, Christy was in OT. They worked on independent living types of things. For example, they let Christy dress her self for the most part. They are still aiding her, but she does most of the work getting ready. They also spent a good portion of OT working on her vision again. Mostly similar to the pictures that we posted last week Friday. OT was a little shorter today because Christy and Donald got a chance to have a good long conversation with Dr. Ripley, the "big Doc" working with Christy. He asked Donald and Chris what they thought about pushing the envelope a little with her drug treatments. Dr. Ripley wants to increase the amount of one drug that is supposed to strongly aid in Christy being able to control her movements a little more. The down side to the treatment would be that Christy may feel increased nausea. I think Christy was hesitant at first because of how sick she used to feel when her vision wasn't as good. But Christy being the good sport she is decided to agree and give it a shot. Let's all hope and pray that she does not feel the nausea.

Christy also got a chance to attend an art class that they have once a week. The Doc's call it Therapeutic recreation where they allow the patients to work on arts and crafts as art of their rehab. Pretty cool and Donald said that Christy is really enjoying that part of the rehab. Good to mix it up and get her working on something else besides the daily routine.

Finally, to end the rigorous day of work, Donald got Christy a half hour full body massage as a treat for working so hard. I can guarantee you that Christy was enjoying every second of that massage.

On a side note, Jodi Leong of KITV4 called Donald today asking if it would be alright with Christy and Donald if they arranged for a camera crew to come and film her rehab as an additional follow up story. Donald just has to check with the hospital tomorrow to see if they are OK with it. So, stay tuned and we will let you guys know when Christy may be on the news again.

Good night, gotta get up early. Keep it up Chris, we love you and are very proud of all of the work you are putting in. I think I speak for everyone when I say that you are truly an inspiration.

Sunday April 19, 2008

Nothing to report on the rehab side, but Denver continued to snow again this morning.  It did let up enough that no flights got cancelled.  The kids left Denver this morning and arrived safely back in Honolulu this afternoon.  I am sure that Christy was bummed to see them go, but was happy at the same time because Keli'i arrived for a couple of days.

Keli'i and his family are on vacation in the Bay area, so he took a few days out of the trip to go and spend with Christy.  Hanae's parents decided to take them with them on a family trip to stay at a family friends beach house in the Bay area.  I am pretty sure Keli'i is there for a few days and then our sister Kathy arrives to spend some time with Christy.

Christy and Donald dropped the kids off at the airport this morning and had to wait for Keli'i to arrive.  Christy and Donald got to go and eat lunch at Olive Garden this afternoon while they waited for Keli'i to arrive.  A nice lunch date for the two of them and a chance for some normalcy.

According to Don, Christy is more motivated than ever after spending the last couple of weeks with the kids.  She accomplished the goal of being able walk with some support by the time the kids arrived and now looks forward to the home stretch of her Denver rehab.  She is re-energized and pumped up for her last month and can't wait to get back home to the family.  Keep pushing Christy and we all love you very much.

Saturday, April 18, 2008

Not much to report for the day since there was no rehab done today.   Unfortunately, there are no pictures either to share since they got completely snowed in today.  They spent the final day together in Denver just hanging out in the apartment.  The snow kept them from doing much, but they got to spend a lot of quality time together.

Sunday's post will be similar to this as Christy does not have rehab scheduled again until Monday.

Friday April 17, 2009

Howzit everyone, you got Ka'eo and Gabby combo tonight.  You may be getting Kaeo for the next couple of days since Gabby is working back to back shifts.  There probably won't be much going on during the weekend since she has no rehab, but we will keep you posted nonetheless.  It dumped snow on the Huddy 'ohana today.  Denver got over 24 inches in snow within the last 16-24 hours.  The kids spent some time playing in the snow in the parking lot of the hospital.  Denver is supposed to receive another 24 inches of snow over the next day or so as well.  So, the kids are going to get their fill of snow for some time.

As for the rehab today, Christy spent some time with the light board.  The light board is testing her timed response to a light.  It also tests her motor skills because she has to press the lighted button.  If you remember when I, Gabby was back in Colorado Christy had to do this.  Christy hasn't played the light board game since.  When I watched Christy do it, she needed guidance on where to place her hand almost every single time.  The board is set with a timer, so you have to press the light within so many seconds for it to switch to the next light.  Christy's therapist  had

 to reset the game multiple times the first time.  Today Chirsty was able to hit the lights up to 18 times before she waited too long!!!  That's amazing progress from only getting one or two!!!!!!  I'm so excited for her progression with vision and with sight! Last time Christy could only reach with her left hand, now Christy was punching lights with her right hand too!!! Some of the lights are tall, so it was easier to punch with the left on those, but other than that Christy is ACEing these pretty complicated tasks!! Go Christy!

  Apparently Christy is doing very well with this exercise telling everyone involved that her vision is getting stronger by the day.  Christy also spent some time in the ballerina bars this afternoon working on being able to carry her own weight when walking.  Donald said she is doing very good with both the walking and her vision.

Finally, there were xrays taken on Christy's shoulder blades.  These pitures were taken previously and Dr. Balazio brought them back up for Don to look at.  Dr.  Balazio said that her shoulder is looking good and Christy is doing more and more rehab for that particular shoulder she injured.

Pretty much all good news.  Christy is starting to set goals for herself as well.  She is beginning to challenge herself without pushing from the Doc's and Donald.  Awesome job Christy!

Thursday April 16, 2009

Two shakas and a howzit from the Huddy Ohana in Denver. Ka'eo again filling in for Gabby as she is still not feeling good. I am sure she will feel better tomorrow and you guys can get back to having intelligent banter on this site. Anyhow, got the update from Donald this afternoon even though Danelle spent most of the day with her because Donald was running around Denver looking for some football shoes for Kelsen. Kelsen has already started spring practice.

Christy did even more walking this morning during PT. Looking at the pictures you can tell she is gaining strength. PT got evev more interesting today as Christy started the pool workout that she wound up loving. The pool workout is going to strengthen her entire body allowing her to gain her balance back slowly. They use pool rehab with all sorts of injuries including athletic. In fact, it is used in athletic rehab quite a bit.

Her OT was interesting as they worked on her tongue a whole lot today. As you can see in the picture, they have been using the lollipop to train her tongue to get stronger. Currently her tongue continues to give her problems and fall to the right making it difficult for her to speak clearly. Apparently, they use the lollipop to entice your tongue to move towards the lollipop strenghtening the muscles in the tongue the entire time.

Finally, they went back to the good old core workouts. Looking at the picture you'll see her doing some crunches. Christy is really enjoying having the kids there. They are going to have some more fun this weekend since there is supposed to be a couple feet of snow. They are also getting a lot of quality time to strengthen the family bond which is critical always regardless of the situation.

Keep up the good work Christy!

Wednesday April 15, 2009

Hola mi amigos! This is Ka'eo subbing in for the Gabster because she has had to work for the last couple of days. Sorry we are posting this late, but we neither of us was feeling very good last night.

Christy went through her normal routine this morning of OT and PT. During her PT she spent most of he time working on her walking. According to Donald, Christy was doing avery good job of walking with the walker. She slowly but surely continues to gain more and more balance and strength to support herself.

She also spent time working to knock the cups down. Not sure how it works, but I know the good news was that she is recognizing colors meaning her vision is getting better. She is also gaining more control over her right arm which she has had trouble with up to this point. She finished PT with some good old abs work. Take a look at the pictures and you'll get a good idea of what her days have been like.

Apparently they have been working more and more on her core strength. We all know that is the first place they need to work on before they can work on strengthening the rest of her body. Building the support first is critical.

Sorry for the brief reports, but Donald and Christy have been spending a lot of time with the kids, so they are very brief when we speak to them. The good news is that she is continuing to improve and is pushing herslef more and more since the kids have been there. Keep working hard Christy and we love you!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Christy is doing awesome!! She is walking a lot more with Physical therapy.  She is using the walker for balance and some support for now, but is walking a lot!  Christy is putting great energy into her walking and that is why she is so successful!!  I love that Kelsen and Don are wearing their iheartchirsty tee-shirts and Dylan was wearing hers at the mountain yesterday.  Jody is helping Chirsty position her body the right way so she has the most steady gait.  

Chrsity and Jody are here maneuvering the shopping cart.  the cart is also providing some support for Christy.  Craig has a lot of things that you see in everyday life.  Their goal is to get you back to being independent.  I just found out that the kitchen in the gym/cafeteria is for people who are getting ready to go home.

  They are making their own lunch for themselves.  This insures you have some practice making food for yourself for real life!  

We've got Kainalu a.k.a. camera man at work here.  You can just see the deep concentration on his face!  He's documenting Mom's hard work at therapy!

Christy is strengthening her legs out more and more every day.  Chrsity is even in the position where she's stretching towards a forward bend!!!! Wowzers!!  We love seeing continual improvement!

Today at OT they involved the kids too!  It was the end of the day & the game was Tic-Tac-Toe.  Christy played against the kids and she won the first game! Christy was working hard at the game, and practicing her hand, eye, brain coordination at the same time.   Christy lost the last game, and the group lovingly teased she lost... Christy, on first thought, felt they were teasing her and she got upset and frustrated.  Once Christy got her frustration out, and things calmed down, Chrsity felt really upset and bad for losing control of her emotions and acting out.  In a mix of it being the end of the day and the last therapy session, being disappointed that she lost, putting in a lot of effort, having a brain injury, and feeling as if she was being teased, it came to a peak and exploded.  She felt so bad because it was released around the family.  Needless to say, the family all survived as a team and talked it all out.  

We're sending you all our love and energy Christy!! We love you no matter what!

Monday, April 13, 2009

After a fun fun weekend with the kids, it was back to work today at therapies!  

Christy saw speech and passed one of the test with flying colors.  Malea laid out numbers 1-8 and Christy had to pick them out in order.  She did it perfectly!!  Kelsen spent the time in Speech with Christy today.  Kelsen also spent the night with Christy in her room last night!!  

Christy go up and walked around with the walker today!! She's doing amazing!! Her progression is so fast it's obvious how well she's doing on a daily basis!  Christy also claimed all three flights of stairs at Alan's apartment (there isn't an elevator)!!!!  She just held on to the rail and Don supported her under her arm for balance!! Go Christy!!

Christy is working on her shoulder blade.  Remember when Occupational therapy was doing a total shoulder work up.  They wanted to work the shoulder especially the one with a previous fracture to move normally again.  They are using this tall machine with weights to exercise the shoulder blade.  Christy has to reach out to use it.

Christy went a whole week- 7 days without a tube feeding.  Christy got back up to a normal weight for her around 124 pounds.  When Chrsity got on the scale Saturday (they weigh her weekly on Saturdays)she was only 116 pounds.  Christy has slowly tapered off her eating, so she is receiving supplemental tube feedings for now to keep the calories in her up.  Nutrition is vital to a healthy body and immune system.  It is the source of strength and energy.  

Since Christy was sleeping during her birthday, she really wanted to celebrate it again- awake!!  So the family got a cake and sang happy birthday to Christy-- officially marking her 35th!! Chris was happy!!

Tonight Christy had her massage appointment. It's a professional masseuse that comes from outside the hospital to massage Christy.  Christy couldn't skip her appointment. Leani's (One of the Hawaiian

 Tel Com bosses in Kauai)Auntie and Uncle came to take out Don and the

 Kids to Casa Bonita (remember from picture on the right).  It's this huge show 

and play rooms plus restaurant.  They

 have brave cliff divers plunging from a spectacular 30-foot waterfall into our 14 feet deep lagoon below.

 

There are two game rooms full of fun games. They have live mariachis playing music and cowboys running around!! It's a huge place with so much to do.  Don and the kids had a 

blast!! Thank you so much to Joe and his wife for thinking of Don and the kids.  They have truly been so kind and generous to the family!!

Easer part 3

More pictures to catch us up to speed on yesterday's Mountain event!!  I missed Donald's call tonight and it's too late to wake them in Colorado with the time difference, so I'll catch you guys up on Easter dinner together tomorrow.....

So it looks like this big black conveyor 

belt pulls you up the mountain to the top so you can enjoy the ride down on the snow!!!  So cute, everyone 

lined up ready to ride in their winter gear!!  I want to try that too!! 

Looks like fun!!  

Mom Gail and Christy are lounging and

 relaxing all bundled up at the lodge!  It must be so nice for Christy to get out after

 being stuck at the hospital for so long.   The apartment is a great break from therapy, but this is recreational therapy at its best... and so different from Hawaii!

So I have a picture of the iheartchristy bracelets that are for sale.  They are super cute pink ones.... They are $2.00 each and they can be

 purchased from Christy Jacobson.  She can be contacted at:

email: JLSCJ5@aol.com

Easter- part 2

THE FAMILY PHOTO

So here's Donald and Dylan and gang.  Don's catching all the

 family memories on tape!  Everyone has their tube in toll.    Alan and Luis are the very cute couple standing off to the side!