January 17, 2009

Photo of the day, Saturday

Wow, I guess winter is back in Michigan. It's warmer, mid teens, but really snowy. That's OK, I did my bombing around early today. After my adventures last night, I thought it would be safest that way.

After my men's group the boys and I dashed through our chores and a quick lunch and then buzzed down to Mary Free Bed to watch Holly do some PT. That place is amazing. They have a little city down on the first floor. They have street corners with wheelchair cut outs, shops, vending machines, elevators, home entrances, bathroom set ups, kitchen set ups. They even have a car that they can adjust the height of to simulate pickup trucks and SUV's. Holly actually fried an egg in the mock up kitchen, another friend was there, so the egg was given away as a mini treat. At lunch time, Holly regretted giving away the egg, it would have been way better than her lunch. I don't know, I've avoided being there during meals.

She did great with her exercises and then she tackled the doors and ramps and everything else that the PT person thought would be difficult. She did an awesome job. It was interesting to watch, she'd roll up to the "obstacle", and then have to figure out how to get close enough to do what she needed to do. A lot of our motions are actually learned behaviors. When made to sit down when approaching a closed door, we have to approach it differently. She was physically tired by the end and her leg was a bit swollen from being down so long, but I think that she was mentally tired as well, since each simple task has to be revised to meet her new reality.

Holly recently got on to her blog; Hollisterjfinklefart and left a short note. She's still struggling with typing, but that's to be expected. She's on her laptop, wrong size keyboard, broken wing, really slow computer. She's enjoying poking around on Facebook and her other blogs, but not active typing. I am telling you that so that you understand, she's taking a bit longer to reply to email, but loves hearing from all of you.

I am tired of the hospital shots and so here's an shot of Holly that I have always loved.


The Angels of West Michigan were at work again today. After we visited with Holly, I dropped the boys off at at friends house, that's one. When I got home I racked out on my favorite afternoon nap couch and was quickly in Z land, trying my best to catch up from a long week of stress and long days. The doorbell rang and I stumbled to the door. I swung it open and the husband of a good friend of Holly's was there with his two boys (There's 3 more angels) and the announced that they'd shovel. It took a few seconds for this to sink into my sleepy brain. I offered the use of our snow blower, but they declined and then we chatted a bit about Holly's recovery. I thanked them and then I actually went back to the couch and slept like a baby. I had a twinge of guilt, but I recalled my neighbor telling me how important it is to allow others to help me, not only for my benefit, but for them as well. What the heck, I was really tired.

Here are the boys with their just completed coin collections. Thanks Grampa Smith! These are the state coins and Bob, Ian and Spencer have been working on them since they first started coming out. This photographic evidence should stop them from buying candy bars, hopefully.


Have a great day!
Pat

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good to see friends are kickin in to help, Hay, we can take the boys for you any day/nite if you'd like, too.