Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Furry Chloe.
Here's how Chloe looked when we got her. Her hair was terribly matted and we had to shave her practically bald to fix the problem. Once she gets a little fluff grown back, she'll look great!
Meet Chloe!
So I came home from work on Wednesday, and this little guy was hiding under the kitchen table.
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Actually, it wasn't after I examined her and couldn't find the dog's guy business that we realized she was a girl...
Her name is Chloe. Nina and the boys picked her up from a kill shelter in St. Pete. It's really hard to imagine this dog getting put down. She's a full-bred, AKC-registered Shih Tzu, and her previous owners apparently cared for her, because she's micro-chipped, although she hasn't been fixed yet. Nevertheless, animal control found her wandering around with another dog, and no one claimed her.
The shelter gave us until Tuesday to decide if we want to keep her, at which point we could return her and get her money back. It didn't take us very long to realize she's a keeper. She's already house-trained and very well-behaved, showing no signs of any trauma she's endured. She doesn't bark. Her favorite activity is perching herself on laps and getting scritched. If you stop scritching her, she'll dig her snout under your hand to remind you that she requires additional scritching. She loves taking walks around the neighborhood, and from the first time we took her out, she knew which house was hers.
Seems like we've gotten very lucky...
.JPG)
Actually, it wasn't after I examined her and couldn't find the dog's guy business that we realized she was a girl...
Her name is Chloe. Nina and the boys picked her up from a kill shelter in St. Pete. It's really hard to imagine this dog getting put down. She's a full-bred, AKC-registered Shih Tzu, and her previous owners apparently cared for her, because she's micro-chipped, although she hasn't been fixed yet. Nevertheless, animal control found her wandering around with another dog, and no one claimed her.
The shelter gave us until Tuesday to decide if we want to keep her, at which point we could return her and get her money back. It didn't take us very long to realize she's a keeper. She's already house-trained and very well-behaved, showing no signs of any trauma she's endured. She doesn't bark. Her favorite activity is perching herself on laps and getting scritched. If you stop scritching her, she'll dig her snout under your hand to remind you that she requires additional scritching. She loves taking walks around the neighborhood, and from the first time we took her out, she knew which house was hers.
Seems like we've gotten very lucky...
Friday, July 26, 2013
Mount Carmel
If all goes according to plan, today was the last day mom would be visiting Mount Carmel for rehab. It's hard to believe that it has been only since the middle of May that we even heard of this place. Also, sitting downstairs in the physical therapy area, it is strange to think that mom used to actually live in this place.
Mom expressed her gratitude to her therapists, but we booked it out of there very quickly. There isn't much more to tell, but I thought you might be interested in the last few pics and videos I shot.
This first one was just a grassy excursion - one more time - to give Kelly, her therapist, some piece of mind that mom will once again be able to scamper away into the woods.
Then, in this next one, you can see her making mom trudge up the biggest hill in the place. Sisyphus would be proud.
This last video is just a bit more proof that mom is on her way back to climbing down long flights of stairs like she never, ever has to do.
A few parting pictures:
The window on the second level next to the balcony was mom's room. Now it is someone else's room and let's pray they did not see me taking pictures of it. I am not a stalker of the elderly.
The steamy back patio.
The stairway from heaven. Or to hell. Or just from some storage room down to the occupational therapy area. Either way, it's a lot of steps.
Speaking of OT, here's a final panoramic shot of the OT room. It's janky and crowded, but mom made a lot of progress in here.
Coming soon...Rehab Part II: The Day Institute!
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Underwater Camera!!
Some summer fun caught on the boys' underwater cameras!
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| So this is the best pic of Dave and me together. |
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Messing Around With The Green Screen
Here's a video we did with the new green screen and lighting! Not sure why there's a shadow at the top of the frame - the screen may not have been pulled tight enough.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Lots of News
Monday started out pretty good. When I got here at a little after 9:00 am this morning, Mom had already begun her physical therapy. She had used the "roll-ator", the little blue walker, to walk all over the bottom floor. It was probably close to 300 feet. No sweat.
Then Dawn had her do a balance walk like she did the other day, but this time, instead of using uneven parallel bars, she was using a rail going up and down a ramp. It went very well, and she traversed the 10-15 foot ramp several times, both ascending and descending.
She went to do some steps again, which were difficult today, mostly because she had already had quite a workout. After the steps, Mom was "graduated" to using a cane! It felt good to her to actually be "walking" and she did very well for her first effort.
Also, some big time news here! She has been officially cleared to get up out of bed and use the bathroom on her own. She's been able to do this for a while, but now PT has signed off on it. Also, they are going to encourage her to walk to the dining room for meals. She has to use the walker and needs to be aided by a staff member, but she - in the opinion of her PT - is strong enough to do this on her own.
We went to OT next, after a stop in the room to finish some scratch-offs, and Mom got to do some new things. First, she did the arm bicycle for 15 minutes, which is no big deal by now. Then, she got to make some oatmeal! She had to measure stuff out, get up and get the water, take it to the microwave, get it out, stir it up, and bring it back to her wheelchair. It's obviously a small activity and no huge deal, but for her, it was another step and something new. She did it without any problem.
After we got back from OT, Ray, the physician assistant, came by. Things seem to be just fine. Mom has had some swelling in her ankles, and he said it was no big deal. Another good milestone too - she's officially back off the oxygen. The term at this point is "as needed". She doesn't need to wear it in the room, and we're even going to take the tank off the back of the wheelchair again.
And all this before lunch! She has an appointment with Dr. Fonseca tomorrow as a follow-up to the surgery. We'll let you know how it goes.
Then Dawn had her do a balance walk like she did the other day, but this time, instead of using uneven parallel bars, she was using a rail going up and down a ramp. It went very well, and she traversed the 10-15 foot ramp several times, both ascending and descending.
She went to do some steps again, which were difficult today, mostly because she had already had quite a workout. After the steps, Mom was "graduated" to using a cane! It felt good to her to actually be "walking" and she did very well for her first effort.
Also, some big time news here! She has been officially cleared to get up out of bed and use the bathroom on her own. She's been able to do this for a while, but now PT has signed off on it. Also, they are going to encourage her to walk to the dining room for meals. She has to use the walker and needs to be aided by a staff member, but she - in the opinion of her PT - is strong enough to do this on her own.
We went to OT next, after a stop in the room to finish some scratch-offs, and Mom got to do some new things. First, she did the arm bicycle for 15 minutes, which is no big deal by now. Then, she got to make some oatmeal! She had to measure stuff out, get up and get the water, take it to the microwave, get it out, stir it up, and bring it back to her wheelchair. It's obviously a small activity and no huge deal, but for her, it was another step and something new. She did it without any problem.
After we got back from OT, Ray, the physician assistant, came by. Things seem to be just fine. Mom has had some swelling in her ankles, and he said it was no big deal. Another good milestone too - she's officially back off the oxygen. The term at this point is "as needed". She doesn't need to wear it in the room, and we're even going to take the tank off the back of the wheelchair again.
And all this before lunch! She has an appointment with Dr. Fonseca tomorrow as a follow-up to the surgery. We'll let you know how it goes.
Friday, June 21, 2013
A Few Pics From Today's PT
Another good day today with some more breakthroughs. The first task was to get Mom cleared to get in and out of her own car. She has a follow-up appointment with her surgeon next Tuesday, and we need a way to get her to DePaul. There are multiple services we can hire, but they are quite a bit of money, so we want to be able to do this ourselves. I have no pictures or video of this because I was involved in the transfer. It went very smoothly with absolutely no problems. She is officially cleared to get in her car!
The only other thing she really did today was a few walks on a new type of walker. It's new to her, not some state-of-the-art technology or anything.
She also had a shower today, and beforehand was required to get out her own clothes and stuff from her suitcase in the closet. She did that very well too. I have a feeling it's just a short matter of time before we realize that she is capable of doing many things. One of these weeks, we will have a huge series of breakthroughs as it becomes apparent that she is almost home.
Here are a few pics. Sorry for the blurriness. Many of these were action shots. More later.
The only other thing she really did today was a few walks on a new type of walker. It's new to her, not some state-of-the-art technology or anything.
She also had a shower today, and beforehand was required to get out her own clothes and stuff from her suitcase in the closet. She did that very well too. I have a feeling it's just a short matter of time before we realize that she is capable of doing many things. One of these weeks, we will have a huge series of breakthroughs as it becomes apparent that she is almost home.
Here are a few pics. Sorry for the blurriness. Many of these were action shots. More later.
Today's Progress
I got to the rehab place about 1:00pm on Thursday and Mom was sitting in her bed just hanging out. She checked her oxygen level - 98% - and told me that she had a fairly uneventful and just a little boring time in occupational therapy. There was a lot of taking things off of bulletin boards and putting them back on. It seems like almost every activity in there involves doing something and then undoing it. There may be some larger subtext in there preparing some of the older folks for their eventual unraveling, but for people like Mom, it's just kinda stupid and boring. The silver lining in these dumb little tasks is that Mom has to do most of them standing up, so she gets practice at that.
Soon, she was fetched to come down to physical therapy with Dawn. Dawn is the one she works with the most, but there are several PTs there that help out. Dawn decided to push her a bit more today and Mom made some real breakthroughs.
The first thing she did involved walking up two steps, turning around and walking back down. The last time she tried this, she got a little weak in the knees and had to sit down on the steps before she completed the exercise. Today was very different. She went up and down the two stairs a grand total of four times, meaning she went up and down eight steps. Not consecutively - there was a little breather break in between each pair - but Dawn said that it was the equivalent of eight steps. She is trying to prepare her for the five steps that lead to our front door.
The next series of exercises involved the use of some uneven parallel bars. Mom had done one of these exercise before (the first one below walking back and forth with one arm on the bar) but the other two were very new.
This next one was the first of the new exercises and it involves a little side-step along the bar and back. See for yourself:
Finally, this is the exercise that gave Mom the most confidence and the biggest boost to her spirits. These knee bends are no small feat for her. Just a week or two ago, her knees would have buckled the first time she tried something like this. Needless to say when she got done with this, she felt pretty good about herself.
Soon, she was fetched to come down to physical therapy with Dawn. Dawn is the one she works with the most, but there are several PTs there that help out. Dawn decided to push her a bit more today and Mom made some real breakthroughs.
The first thing she did involved walking up two steps, turning around and walking back down. The last time she tried this, she got a little weak in the knees and had to sit down on the steps before she completed the exercise. Today was very different. She went up and down the two stairs a grand total of four times, meaning she went up and down eight steps. Not consecutively - there was a little breather break in between each pair - but Dawn said that it was the equivalent of eight steps. She is trying to prepare her for the five steps that lead to our front door.
The next series of exercises involved the use of some uneven parallel bars. Mom had done one of these exercise before (the first one below walking back and forth with one arm on the bar) but the other two were very new.
This next one was the first of the new exercises and it involves a little side-step along the bar and back. See for yourself:
Finally, this is the exercise that gave Mom the most confidence and the biggest boost to her spirits. These knee bends are no small feat for her. Just a week or two ago, her knees would have buckled the first time she tried something like this. Needless to say when she got done with this, she felt pretty good about herself.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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