EASTER Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter Sunday to everyone!! I received a ton more pictures of the trip to Copper mountain yesterday!!! Fun in the snow for everyone!!

Looks like there 

was healthy game of snowball fighting going on by the looks of these pictures!  Fun!!  

And not without lots of love, hugs and kisses.  Chrsity was all

 bundled up too... looks cold.  It's 44

 

degrees Fahrenheit today in Denver! Burr

.  Kelsen is helping Dylan gear up like a good big bro!.

I have to start a new post because the pictures are getting cut off!

Saturday April 11, 2009

Today was a fun day and the whole gang took a road trip and went up to the mountains to see the SNOW!!!  How fun and exciting for the kids and the whole family to play and have fun together again!!  This is Donald (on the far right with the video camera action)  and Dylan and Nalu getting ready to do some tubing down the mountain!!!  You speed down the hill in large inflated inner tubes (the red thing that Dylan is holding) and get an adrenalin buzz that is guaranteed to put a huge smile on anyone's face!!

Look how beautiful these mountains are!!  I think these are the accommodations that you can stay at during your experience....

Creating some snowmen & huge snow balls was on the list of things to do while they were in the white stuff!!  Kelsen and Dylan pose with their snow ball creations.  How fun to just relax and play in the snow.  Everyone is all bundled up in their winter gear!

 This was just a day trip for the family, and they headed back to Craig afterwards!  Everyone is

 loving just hanging out and having some R&R.  We're glad.  It looks like so much fun.  Christy looks so happy to be reunited with the kids again.  Kid therapy!  We love you Christy!

Friday, April 10, 2009

The kids are up in Colorado and helping Christy keep her strength up.  Christy is WALKING!!  With the same walk way that Chrsity took her steps on the other day, she's walking with hardly any assistance!!  I have a little video that Alan sent me, but uploading those videos to the blog creates some kind of problem..... bummers. 

Christy's goal was to be walking by the time the kids got up to Colorado, and she totally did it!!  The kids are elated to see her.  Christy  has tons of company during her therapy sessions!!  As you can see there is never a dull moment!  

Lots of love and fun.  It's been a while since Christy and Donald have seen the kids.  I know the kids are so impressed with all the hard work that Mommy has been doing & it makes them happy to see her walking and talking and eating!  

Everyone is enjoying the apartment & just hanging out!

This is a sweet family photo of the gang!  

Oh, by the way, you may see Gail or Christy wearing these pink bracelets.  They are I heart Christy pink silicone wristbands and they are for sale.  They are pink with embossed maroon writing.  They are $2.00 each and all proceeds go to BOH iheartchristy fund.  

Please contact:

Christy Jacobson

JLSCJ5@aol.com 

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Howzit everyone! This is Ka'eo checking in to see how the bloggers are doing. Actually, Gabby is sleeping as she just slaved away a twelve hour shift at the hospital and she is scheduled for another one tomorrow. So, you are going to have mostly photos tonight as we were not able to speak to anyone up in Denver this evening.

Based on what I saw from the photos, it looks like Christy's rehab went pretty well this morning. They worked on her hand eye coordination this morning. As you can see from the pics, they had Christy shooting baskets to work on her coordination. According to Don, she had a little tougher time with her right arm.

They also spent some more time stretching Christy out today and the therapist were very pleased about the fact that her legs were able to be straightened flat. You can see in the picture that Christy is a lot more comfortable with being stretched out as she is showing less pain on her face

Finally, these last photos are just showing Don and Chris cuddling and resting between sessions. Overall, judging from the photos, it looks like another day of progress for Christy. She wanted to be walking by the time the kids arrived and accomplished part of that with the steps she took yesterday. I am pretty sure the kids left Honolulu this evening and arrive in Denver tomorrow morning. I know Christy and Donald could not wait to see them and will get plenty of time with them over the next couple of weeks.

Keep up the good work Christy and Donald! We love you.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

It's hump day Wednesday!  Christy had another fabulous day at Craig.  Mom Gail was able to call me and give me the 411 today.  

The great big news today is that Christy took 4 steps on the parallel bars (left)!!! She's walking!!  Christy wanted to go even more, but the therapist wanted to stay conservative for the first day of walking in therapy.  Christy is standing with her legs straighter and straighter all the time!!  

During speech Malea made a funny, and she didn't know why.... Christy was working on enunciating words.  When Christy takes her time she can enunciate the words very clearly.  She was proving this in speech today.  Malea was giving her two word phrases at a time.  About the fifth phrase in she said "BLACK DOG"... Christy started cracking up.  Gail started to laugh too.  Poor Malea had no idea what was happening.  Christy went on to explain to Malea that Filipinos in Hawaii were said to eat black dog on occasion.  As Christy and Mom laughed hard, Melea wasn't sure what to make of it.  She wondered if Christy was serious or telling a joke... could it be?  People eat black dog?  It was funny.  It was a good laugh brake from all the hard work Christy's doing.  

Christy ate really well today!  They had a yummy London Broil with a baked potato and gravy all over tonight for dinner.  Mmm I'm getting hungry again!  If the food is yummy Christy is able to eat well... makes sense.  So Christy is on her way to getting that one last tube out!

During OT today they laid out about 5 or 6 things on the table like a bean bag & a Kleenex box out.  The therapist would say the object and Christy had to reach out and touch it.  This game is like the color game she would play while in the standing frame, except this time is with objects.  They are constantly working on Christy's vision and coordination.  Christy would try to do things really fast, and anticipate what the therapist would say.  She hadn't mentioned bean bag yet, so Christy would hit the bean bag when the therapist started to speak.   Christy would also get ahead by using her memory instead of her vision to hit the right object.  She could remember where that object was placed on the table and hit it when the therapist named it.  Pretty impressive memory skills, Christy.. but the therapist called it "cheating"!  This exercise is focused on Christy using her eye sight.  The therapist moved the objects around and made it harder.... Christy is doing so well.  Improvements every day.  

Mom Gail noticed that Christy is well known at Craig.  Staff members and patients are saying "hi Christy" as they go throughout their day.  These people who watch Chrsity's progress are thoroughly impressed by her rapid progression.  They tell Mom how amazed they are by her determination and strength.   

One last thing... there are iheartchristy bracelets that have been made in Christy's favorite color- pink.  They are super cute & cost $2.00.  If you are interested in purchasing one or some please contact Chrsity Jacobson at    jlsCJ5@aol.com   I'll get a picture of them tomorrow, so stay tuned! xo

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hi everyone!  Christy had a full day of therapy starting with Occupational therapy.  They are still focusing on getting ready in the morning in an aim to get Christy totally independent when she dresses and gets ready for the day.  They also do stretching.  They focus on the upper body while Physical therapy focuses on the lower body. 

This is Christy and mom Gail in the gym while Christy is in the standing frame.  Christy is stretching every day and gaining mobility all the

 time!  Look how strait Christy is standing up!! She's making great progress! She'll be walking anytime now!

Mom Gail also got to sit in on two of Christy's speech sessions with Malea today.  Don and the therapist are spacing Christy's therapies with breaks in the middle so that Christy can make the most out of her sessions.  When Christy was having sessions back to back and two per therapy a day, it was getting overwhelming and tiring.  The busy schedule was starting to wear on Christy and affect her energy to participate in sessions.  So Christy is taking breaks and resting in between sessions to build up energy for each therapy.  

Alan and Luis came over for dinner tonight and Christy & Don & Mom all enjoyed each other's company.  Food sounded yummy!  Christy is coming along fabulously and we are so happy that she's enjoying family and therapies both!!

We love you Christy!

April 6, 2009- part II

Got some pictures from Don & more info on Christy as we skyped today!  It's fun being able to see who you're talking to and for them to be able to see you!  I even got to have a conversation with Karen, Christy's nurse while we were on skype.  

So in the basement of the East wing at Craig, they have a car-- this black civic--, airline seats, a standard tub and a regular bed.  They have therapies here to get back to everyday activities safely.  Donald gets an opportunity to move Christy in and out of a car, and they go over things like how to deal with the curb during 

transfers.  I love this picture of Christy rockin' out in the car!    

They started Christy on some new medication on Sunday, and she was able to tolerate being in the chair longer and had less nausea!  Dr. Ripley is doing an amazing job at fine tuning the medications to give Christy the best regime possible.  It's a lot of trial and error because although they know what the medications do, they don't know which of the side effects will come up or how each individual person will react exactly.  They started another medication today called Strattera.   They feel that it may help make her coordination better.  Help her eating and movement of the tongue.  They give it for adult ADHD (attention deficit disorder).  Maybe it helps to focus the thinking & planning of movements that Christy is having a hard time with because of her brain injury.  The coordination improvement was already noticed tonight during Dr. Ripley's assessment! Yay!

Christy's on her way to getting her PEG out!  The last step to getting her PEG out is to take all of her pills well & eat enough calories on her own.  She's gone 5 days without having any tube feeding!  They've been counting her calories to make sure she's getting enough nutrition.  Christy had a junk lunch so she didn't eat so well.  Lucky thing Dinner was better- they had turkey legs!!  Don said they were delicious.  My dad loves those things, too!  They sell them at Disneyland & theme parks... digression, sorry.....

Dr. Ripley also had an outside massage therapist come in and see Christy, so she had her first massage!  Sounds like Chris will be getting massages here and there now.  

I'll be back tomorrow!