Projects.

We are still trying to get projects around the house done. Mom and Jeremiah spent Saturday working on Dad's bathroom. They got the second coat of paint on and started getting all the trim in place. Mom finally found the cover for the light fixture and got that put back up. Hopefully this project will be finished by next week. Dad enjoys watching all that is going on. He often wants us to roll him in to watch what Jeremiah is doing and to give his support and advise (even though we are not sure what he is saying).

Arm Splint

Dad has a arm splint he needs to wear through out the day. What it does is holds his fingers out and his wrist up so that his fist doesn't become clenched. The PT informed us if it ever becomes clenched, Dad, will never be able to straighten it out again. Before we were informed this little tid bit we were pretty laxed about having him wear it. We would try to get him to wear it for a half an hour at least 4 times a day. The PT said he had to start wearing it 1 hour on 1 hour off throught he entire day. Well this thing hurts. I have seen Dad cry about it a couple times because he was in so much pain. So Mom decided to work him up to it. Every couple days she would add about 5 min more. We are happy to say that yesterday we made it to an hour. So now he has it 1 hour on 1 hour off. He even leaves the parts that cover just his fingers on longer then the hour. We think it is more comfortable for him. We are just so happy to see this progress.

The Downs

This last week Dad seemed to be having an off week. He usually teases at meals, plays with Isabelle and is, for the most part, in a good mood. Well this last week I can't remember him teasing my once and he just seemed really down. We worried he was getting sick. I kept asking if he felt alright and he would always give me his "yeah yeah". On Sunday Mom realized that she forgot to put his anti-depression pill in his pill boxes for that last week. At dinner on Sunday he was very chipper, trying to get Jeremiah to eat the last of the food and giggling pretty hard at the stories I was telling about the kids. It was nice to have him back. It is just hard to realize how important those pills are for him right now. Hopefully in the future he will be able to get off the anti-depressant.

Grandpa's helper

Isabelle has become Grandpa's little helper. When I am moving him from room to room she is trailing right behind be to see what she can do. On most occasions she is the water girl. She carries Grandpa's water jug to wherever he needs it.
Isabelle also can do no wrong (most of the time) in Grandpa's eyes. He usally just chuckles at all the little things she does. As you see in the picture Grandpa loves to have her by him. It is nice that she is able to spend this time with him.

Simon

Today was a great day. My brother Paul called and talked to my Mom about Dad's speech. Since his stroke was on the right side it affected his speech greatly. But aparently music is on the left side of the brain. Paul had informed us that when he was younger my Dad and him were driving and the song You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon came on and my Dad informed Paul what a great song it was and that it was a good wholesome song. So in the past week Paul has heard this song twice, on the radio, and it got him thinking about this memory with my Dad. Paul asked us to see if we had it to play for him to see if it would help. Mom knew where the CD's were and we played it for Dad. You should have seen his face light up. He was lying in bed and he just laid his head back, with a sweet grin on his face, and started tapping his toes. He sang to the beat as well as he could. When the song finished he sighed with satisfaction. It was so great to see him feeling such joy. I plan on playing more CD's for him throughout the day. Thank you Paul so much for sharing your promptings with us.