Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

Randy had his therapies today. For speech today, Vanessa went over Randy's homework. She said he did a great job on his assignment. Next, she had him do a "quick thinking" piece. She had Randy read the instructions aloud, which stated to give possible answers to each question and to be creative. When Randy started, he only gave one answer to the first question and then went on to the next. Vanessa reminded him that the instructions were to give 4 answers. After the reminder, Randy followed the directions accurately. An example of what the task was: Randy was given the statement "A woman with an empty pram. Why?" and he had to come up with 4 answers. Randy's answers were:

1. To get out of credit card debt, the woman sold her child
2. The baby was very ambidexterous and was able to sccot out of the carriage and away
3. A family had pet monkey and while the woman was walking down the street, the monkeys got out of the pram and ran up a tree.
4. The lady didn't have any way to get the groceries home when she went to the strore, so she took the pram wo carry them in.

One of the homework assignments Vanessa gave him was to go to the yahoo game site and play Text Twist. Randy told her about the games from the website of gamesforthebrain.com that he has been enjoying playing. He has also been playing Word Whomp from pogo.com.

In occupational therapy, Tina tested Randy on his reaction time using the driving simulator. They practiced going from brake to the gas pedal ten times and Randy passed. She also worked on Randy's visual scanning skills through a training video. He had to use the brake and turn at given signals and react to the action signs. The results of that test will be given next time. Tina also tested Randy's strength. She did the squeezing test and the pinching ~ there were improvments. She also tested his speed of putting pegs in a pegboard with both his left and his right hand. His speed had improved from the previous times. So improvements are being made!

In physical therapy, Randy worked on the exercise bike to warm up. He then moved to walking sideways, marching, walking backwards, and crossing of one foot over the other both in front and in back.

Randy and his mom then went to Cass's Halloween party at her school.

This evening, we took Cass around the block to go "trick-or-treating". We made it around our little cul-de-sac and then came back home for the car. It was a bit chilly outside. At least, it wasn't raining! It was cold enough that Cass didn't insist on going around our entire block as she has done in the past.

Back to the eye doctor

Randy had an appointment today with the eye doctor. He now has two eye doctors ~ the one seen here, which is the one that began treated him in Good Samaritan (Dr Baxstrom), and then the ones at the Harborview clinic. They have differing opinions on the necessity of prisms and eye exercises. We have continued seeing them both. I think as long as the prisms and eye exercises don't hurt Randy, they are definitely worth a try.

Dr Baxstrom examined Randy's double vision. It has been improving, but it is still there. To help, he applied what is called disposable prism, which is a tape-like device applied over the glasses. He said it can be removed or changed easily and can be doubled or tipled if necessary. It is the cost-effective way to go rather than having to continuously change the glasses as Randy's body heals. Dr Baxstrom said his goal is to reduce the double vision so that Randy can be weaned off of the prism glasses.

Dr Baxstrom advised Randy that he could go to every other day with doing his eye therapies and he introduced a new one, which is pictured above. The new one involves using string with colored beads. Randy is to focus far away, then on the bead within his hand's reach. If the focus is difficult or he sees two beads, he should touch the bead to get it down to one.

Dr Baxstrom said that Randy's tremors are called ataxia and often happens when the head and neck are held too rigidly and often when concentration levels are very high or when the eyes are moving out of their normal range. Some techniques to help are to 1. Look Softly 2. Breathe deeply 3. Relax 4. Let the task happen. I have noticed that he often gets these at night, right after we turn off the lights to go to sleep. I have been telling him at that time to do some deep breathing and I noticed that when he starts doing that, the shakes immediately stop.

One funny thing happened as I was writing the blog tonight. Randy kept trying to say the word "synonym"and it kept coming out as "cinnamon". I said it for him and he would try again, but it came out the same. All we could do was laugh! He did finally get it out, saying it very slowely.

Randy is 30!

Randy turned 30 today! I think he had a good day. We got up on time to make it to church (kind of. We were a tad late). Then after church, Randy and I ran down to the Apple Store in Southcenter. It seems as soon as we get a new power cord or battery for Randy he drops his computer again and it stops working. I told him this was the last one and if he dropped it again, he would be forced to use Microsoft products. So tonight, he had me carry his computer for him.

When we got home from the Apple store, Randy started cooking the steaks. He did an excellent job with them! His friend Brandon stopped by for awhile and Randy had a nice time chatting with him. Then Carrie, Randy's brother's wife, stopped by and visited for awhile.

We ended the evening with eating up the pumpkin pie. All in all, it was a good day.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Fun

Today, we went to a pumpkin patch by our house and Randy and Cass picked out the pumpkins that they wanted to carve. It is our Halloween tradition for them to carve out pumpkins and I usually sit in the room with them, staying away from all of the mess! They had a great time.

We also spent the day getting all of the stuff that Randy wants for his birthday dinner. I offerred all of the stuff that I know how to cook (such as lasagna), but he insisted on cooking his own because he really wanted steak. His dad is coming over sometime tomorrow to celebrate with us and his mom baked him his pumpkin pie (Randy doesn't like cake, but he loves pumpkin pie).

Cass had a party this evening. She had a lot of fun. Most of the kids were in black costumes as witches and such, but Cass's was quite colorful!

More pictures are on our space on MSN (http://rarush.spaces.live.com/photos/) under the Halloween album.

Speech Therapy and Sunflowers

Randy had speech therapy today. His therapist, Vanessa, noticed that Randy was more wobbly on his feet today as he walked down the hall. She asked him how much pain he was in and he rated it a 6, which is pretty consistent (very little change in the headaches so far).

Vanessa reviewed Randy's homework with him. She advised him that when doing homework, he needed to concentrate on doing 3 things: 1. Be Focused 2. Try to not be impulsive 3. See the main idea ~ the "forest for the trees"

She told him, when reading ask the following questions: What's most important; what's least important; and ask who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Vanessa also went over Randy's planner with him. She commended him for doing a better job with consistently utilizing the planner. He is doing a great job with checking things off of his to do list as he does them and he is accomplishing more of his tasks than before.

Randy did very well on his "think fast" exercises (where he is given a category and has to list 10 things that fit in that category within 30 seconds). He had to list body parts, relatives, parts of a car, and things in a kitchen.

When Randy got home, he hung out in his chair listening to his NPR and worked on getting the seeds out of the sunflowers, which is what is pictured above.

We spent the evening doing what we had done many Friday nights before the accident ~ Randy, Cass and I hung out in the living room listening to "This American Life" while doing our own separate activities (Randy was laying on the loveseat listening intently, Cass was building her sock puppets, and I played a game on my computer). Then we all (Randy, Cass, Randy's mom and me) all hung out in the living room watching the Charlie Brown special.

It was a very nice night!

Oh, and a small announcement for those who don't know. Randy is turning 30 this Sunday. We had a lot going on with it being right around Halloween (Randy and Cass have to do their carving of pumpkins and Cass has a party to go to), but I wanted everyone to know. Not only is it a big deal because it is 30, but we really do have a lot to celebrate this year! So, if you get a chance, shoot Randy an email at Randy.A.Rush@gmail.com and tell him Happy Birthday!!!!!

Therapy Today

In Occupational Therapy today, Tina reappliedthe tape to Randy's left arm and shoulder. It seems to be helping with the pain in that shoulder. She also worked with Randy on his reaction time ~ they played catch with a ball with having to pretend to "put on the brake" of a car as the ball was caught. They also worked with lasers somemore, where she had a laser and Randy had a laser and Randy had to use his laser to chase hers.

In Physical Therapy today, that therapist did a re-evaluation of Randy's strength, balance, and coordination. Randy's left shoulder is improved, but still down a tiny bit. With side steps, Randy's balance has improved a lot and with turning in circles, the balance has improved a bit. She also evaluated Randy on walking up the stairs without using the railing. He did well with going up the stairs. The therapist, Julie, measured the angle of the range of motion on his left foot and found it was 5 degrees better. The range of motion with his left leg has also improved by 5 degrees. With walking, Randy's knees are still a bit shaky. The therapist said that Randy will probably be done with physical therapy sometime in November.

When Randy got home from therapy today, he shut himself in the bedroom and really worked on the class he is taking. He started working through all of the practice quizzes, getting ready for the final exam. When I got home, he said he was frazzled because the quizzes were a lot of work. I think he enjoyed working through them, though. It was good for him.

EEG Today

Randy had his EEG up at Harborview today (EEG being an Electroencephalogram, or brain wave test - it is used to detect abnormalities in the activity of the brain). They were testing for any seizure activity. For part of the test, Randy needed to be asleep or in a very restful state, so they wanted him sleep deprived. So I made it my mission to keep him awake until midnight. I made it until about 11:30 and then just couldn't keep my eyes open. I woke up, though, a little before midnight and he was still awake - so mission was accomplished.

He and his mom headed up to Harborview bright and early this morning. The EEG took an hour and 45 minutes they said they got the necessary information, so he was able to get to a restful enough state. We will get the results of that on November 15th when we go back to the Neurology Clinic. Randy also has an appointment with the TBI Triage clinic through Harborview on that day, but I am a little unclear of what that clinic will do for us.

Randy also went through his evaluation for the Metro Access system today. They tested him on his ability to remember what buses he would need to take in simulated situation. Randy said he didn't do too well on that one. He tried to venture a guess but then had to admit to the evaluator that it was purely a guess. Then they took him outside of the building to see if he could read a map, which he did great with, but then they turned him around to go back inside and they wanted him to backtrack his way back. Randy said it was kind of hit or miss on what he remembered. Once he started on the wrong path, though, he could tell it was the wrong path. They will let us know in a couple of weeks if Randy is approved for the Access program or not.

Then, when Randy got home, he began diggin through things in our garage. He has been fixated on finding a stereo system that he knows he put in there a few months ago. Currently, finding anything in our garage is not a small feat. Things have no organization and we have too much stuff in there. Randy did end up finding the stereo system, though, along with a few other things he had completely forgot he had.

Also today, Randy commented that his double vision was definitely better, which is definitely good news. He did have to go to wearing his patch tonight, though. We went over to the house of some people in our church ~ we had joined a small group (which is sort of like a bible study group. Ours happns to be the 40 days of Community). We had missed the last few sessions because of the chronic pain seminar and so we went tonight to get caught up. Randy walked in with his patch and the Marty asked him why he was wearing it. Randy explained the double vision and Marty immediately began praying over Randy for healing of his vision. So we expect to see continuous improvement in Randy's eyesight. We know there are a lot of people out there praying for him. We know this because of the improvements Randy has had so far.

Randy also bought himself a watch today. For those who have known Randy for quite some time, this might come as a bit of a shock. Randy has not owned a watch since his early teens, outside of a pocket watch I bought him around the time that we were first married. He was a firm believer that cell phones could easily double as watches. He decided, though, that he needed something easily accessible that could tell him not only the time but also what day it is. So, Randy bought a watch. Randy joked that using a planner doesn't do much good if you don't know what day it is!

I told him that there will be a day when we are much older, sitting outside on the front porch that he will eventually build for me, and I will be able to turn to him and say "Life with you has never been boring!"

BBQing

Randy spent the morning at our neighbor's house today. His mom needed to go into the dentist. Since her dentist is rather far away, she went to our dentist, which happens to be a good friend of her dentist. While she was there, Randy hung out at the neighbor's, who was thankfully working from today today. Randy took the time to read some more of the textbook of the class that he is taking. The class ends here shortly and he did what he always did with online classes ~ he saved everything for the last minute!

Throughout the afternoon, Randy worked on his models, of course. He also made dinner tonight. Randy makes excellent burgers.

Then, it being Tuesday night, he took off with his friend Brandon.

Today I started my physical therapy today for my pinched nerve. My coworked today asked if I had brought shorts or some sweats and I kind of looked at him like he was crazy. I informed him that I do not wear shorts, EVER! I have very white legs and would rather not show them off to anyone. I told him I was sure I could move around just fine in my slacks. So I get to physical therapy today and right after the therapist introduces herself, she hands me shorts to put on.

The session went very well despite the wearing of shorts. During her evaluation, she seemed to know right where to find all of the spots that hurt. However, she finished the session up doing some stretches that really helped. She told me that my posture is a big culprit of my lower back problems. I tend to stand mostly on the front part of my foot with my body leaning forward, so she had me working on shifting my weight back.She also gave me a couple of exercises to do that were very similar to the ones that Doug emailed me a week or so ago. Overall, I feel better.

Our Monday

In occupational therapy today, Tina, the therapist asked Randy how the taped worked for him. He said it did help. She did a motor free visual tape, which is part of pre-driving. Tina advised Randy to check with his eye doctor to see when they think Randy will be ready for the driving test. I am assuming that as long as there is double vision, he will not be able to get behind the wheel.

In speech today, the therapist worked on word retrieval exercises. Randy had to name vegtables. He had to name as many as he could in 30 seconds. He was able to do 11.

Randy brought home a large rubber tube that he is to use to do exercises to strengthen his left foot and ankle. He tried to demonstrate at home, but Max and Daisy thought they needed to join in with the fun.

Tonight, Randy and I ran down to the Supermall. His jeans don't fit him all that well (probably from all the ice cream and gummy worms!). So he thought he needed to go to the Eddie Bauer outlet down there. He had a lot of fun going through all of the sales racks and trying on clothes. We ended up spending a lot more time down there than I had planned, but he had a great time.

Togetherness

We went to church today. During the sermon, they played the video of Dick and Rick Hoyt. I had heard their story on Oprah a few months ago. But for those who don't know, I will give a website and tell a brief description. The website is: http://www.teamhoyt.com/index.html. The story: Rick was born in 1962. Due to a tragedy at birth, Rick was spastic quadriplegic, cebral palsy and non speaking. His parents wanted Rick to have as "normal" a life as they could possibly give him. At one point, he was taught to "write his thoughts" using a computer device. Rick voiced his desire to run in a marathon. His dad, Dick, made it happen. He pushes him through the marathons. It was said perfectly in the video today ~ Dick, the father, is the body (it is up to him to push his son through the marathons) and Rick is the heart. The point is togetherness. Rick couldn't do it without his father Dick, and Dick, the father, wouldn't do it without his son.

Ephesians 4:16 says "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every support ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

We weren't meant to go through this life alone.

The pastor pointed out Randy and said "Randy, you can't become strong by yourself". It is so true. Randy couldn't have made it this far without his family pushing the doctors and pushing him to do what is necessary, those who have prayed for him for healing, or those who have emailed him to give him support.

I couldn't have been strong for him without the prayers of all of those out there or the support of all of those who have commented to the blog or called or email me their support.

For those who don't believe or aren't sure there really is a god out there, contact me. I have proof. I can send you the pictures of the car that Randy came out of and send you the events that happened that day ~ a trauma nurse being right there and willing to stop to get him breathing again. Without God's love and "interference" Randy wouldn't be here.

God intended up to work together, to support one another. Christine was there and gave the talents and knowledge that God gave her to Randy and saved his life. Many people were there for us to help us through this time. We are like puzzle pieces, meant to fit together to make things whole. Don't try to go through things by yourself.

Togetherness makes things happen. As the Hoyt's say "There isn't anything in the world we can't go together."

Not much

There isn't much to report today. It was my Saturday to work, so I got up early and headed out. I tried to get Randy up, but it was a futile effort. He was pretty asleep when I left.

When he did get up, he and his dad went out in search of airplane models. They ended up getting one in which his dad flew in many years ago. Randy is excited about putting it together. He has yet to paint any of his models. He simply enjoys the process of putting them together.

It's Friday!

There isn't much to report today. I went into work a little later than usual this morning. I made sure to get Randy up and going before I left. So I got to sleep in a little and for him, he had to wake up earlier than usual.

Randy didn't do much today. He did get in a short walk with his mom. He then spent most of the rest of the day working on his model airplane. He didn't feel very well throughout the day. As soon as I got home, he was asking for some medication for pain. He says he hurts all over.

Randy's Therapy

Here is Randy with his occupational therapist

Therapy, therapy, and more therapy

Randy had all three therapies today.

His speech therapy reviewed Randy's planner. She talked about having Randy set monthly goals and let him know that it is okay for him to change his mind about the goals that he sets. She advised Randy that having 3 main goals to accomplish each day would be a reasonable amount because he does need have some "down time". She then went over some papers she had given him to do. He hadn't finished an assignment where he had to read a paragraph and come up with the main idea, so she had him read the story out loud and re-read the questions. He was then able to pick out the correct main idea. Talking through the questions seemed to help Randy answer the questions more easily. She gave him a sheet of homework to do until the next session.

In occupational therapy, Randy let the therapist know his shoulder was still hurting him so she gave him a little bit of a massage, worked on some exercises, and then gave him some kinesio tape for him to wear on his shoulder to help the muscles be retrained to go back into their normal places. Then Randy and the therapist worked with a rubber ball, bouncing it back and forth between them (see video clip in previous post). They then worked with a board, nails, and colored rubber bands. Randy was given "task cards" and had to duplicate the pattern with the rubber bands, matching the color and the design. It was good perceptual practice and good utilization of both hands in stretching out the rubber bands.

Throughout the therapy sessions, Randy's mom noticed that the harder Randy had to concentrate on a task, the more he seemed to have more "tremors"(the shaking of his entire body, though most noticeable in his head).

In physical therapy, RAndy and the therapist started with the shuttle machine (pictured above). He had to do 20 pushes with both legs and then 20 pushes with each leg separately. Then Randy worked on a balance star where he had to walk backward while hooked up to a stretchy rope. The goal was to walk backward as far as possible, then walk forwards using even steps, then sidestepping. It was very challenging. The therapist also had Randy work on standing with his feet toe-to-heel, and get his balance. It was much more difficult for him to put his left foot in front of his right foot.

This evening was suppose to be the last of the seminars for the chronic pain specialist but we all skipped out on going. I am still in quite a bit of pain from the pinched nerve and didn't want to sit there for 2 hours. This evening, we all just hung around the house. Cass played ping pong with anyone she could get to play with her ~ first her grandma and then Randy, until Daisy got ahold of one of the balls and squished it with her teeth. That is one down side of playing ping pong on the floor! You have to be quicker than the dogs!

Ping Pong

Today, Randy and his mom went and got fingerprinted so they can start volunteering at Cass's school.

Then they headed to Fred Meyer so that Randy could get another model airplane (surprise, surprise!). He got one for himself and one for Cass. Next stop was the dollar store to get ping pong paddles and balls to work on some of his occupational therapy at home.

After Cass got home and finished with her homework, her and Randy played ping pong on the floor. The dogs decided they needed to join in as well, so it ended up being a "keep away" game from the dogs!

Randy also worked on some of his tasks today, which is great. He remembered to sweep the floors and to clean up the floor by his side of the bed which was a big mess from all of his puzzle books and stuff. It was so bad I couldn't even open the closet doors. He did a great job, though, with getting it cleaned up and with reorganizing all of his books by the time I came home from work.

More Therpay today

Randy had a hard time getting up today. His mom was able to get him up just in time for him to have a shower and then head out to his therapies today.

For physical therapy, Randy worked on the exercise bike to warm up, worked on some step exercises and some wall exercises. He also did some squats and worked on marching, walking backwards, and walking sideways. Marsha inquired about pool therapy so the therapist put Randy on the list. I think he will really enjoy that and it will be a nice break up in the therapy routine.

In speech today, the therapist got on to Randy for not doing his to do list. He has even stopped carrying the items over as he did before. I tried putting a sticky note on out bedroom door to remind him to check his to do list, but that didn't work. His response to that was to write on the note "What? You think I have a memory problem or something?". Lately, he seems rather resistant to any suggestions or reminders. We aren't giving up, though. There has to be a motivation "button" to get his buy in with following through with completing tasks and such. My thought was to give a rewards system ~ if he sticks with his tasks and completes them throughout the week, at the end of the week he can "reward" himself with getting another model airplane to build since that seems to be what he is wanting to spend his time on currently. The therapist also suggested that Randy set specific times and set an alarm clock on his cell phone to remind him to complete the task.

The speech therapist also today gave him a worksheet to do. The first instruction on the worksheet was to read through the entire sheet before beginning. Randy ignored this instruction and just began working the problems on the sheet. Well the very last problem contained the instruction to only complete items 1 and 2. So Randy needs a little work on his impulsivity and needs to slow down a bit.

In occupational therpay, the therapist put a hot pack on Randy's left shoulder. It has really been hurting him. The heat seemed to really help it. The therapist also gave Randy techniques to reduce stress and possibly pain. The first was going on a "mental holiday". The second technique was meditation ~ starting with concentrating on your breathing, then imagine your head and neck feel light and floating like a balloon and feel soft, then with each breath the muscles get softer and lighter and loose and more relaxed, then you focus on feeling warmth starting with your neck and having it slowely move to your toes, and then focusing on relaxation of fingers, toes, mouth and tongue and end with breathing deeply.

The occupational therapist also worked on eye tracking. She had a laser pen and Randy had to track it with his own laser pen. Randy had to close one eye to see it, but he did well with this exercise. The therapist also did some exercises with ping-pong paddles and sponge ball ~ they rolled the ball back and forth on the table. This exercise was also working on Randy's eye tracking.

Then this evening, Randy went out with his friend Brandon for their usual Tuesday "hanging out". Randy really looks forward to getting out with him.

Trading Places

Today is going to be a very short post. I am currently in rather a lot of pain. I had to come home early today. I have a pinched sciatic nerve. It started hurting Friday and today got bad enough that I gave in and went into the doctor. I am currently sitting on ice and waiting for the muscle relaxer to kick in!

Randy didn't have any therapies today so he and his mom worked on his exercises at home and then went down to Costco ~ so he definitely got his walking in! Randy, this afternoon, has been working on his airplane models and kind of taking care of me ~ the models are really the top priority right now :-)! He has definitely been enjoying putting the planes together and it makes him use his left hand, which is always good.

That's going to be it for the updates today.

Sunday

Today we went to the Free Will Baptist church here in Kent. The church I grew up in was the Free Will Baptist in Yakima (my dad was the pastor for many years). We got together with those in this and other Free Will Baptist churches for things like camp, so I have known some of the people in this church since I was little. Right after Randy's accident, my dad called the pastor and he came and visited us quite often when Randy was in the hospital and the church people there prayed often for Randy. So today, we decided to visit there and let the congregation see the miracles God has done because of all of the prayers of His people. It was great!

After church, Randy's parents (his dad was in town this weekend because of Cass's birthday party) took us out to the BlackDiamond Bakery, which is Randy's favorite restaurant. Randy ordered a coffee and his mom and I, at the same time, told the waitress it needed to be decaffinated. The waitress found it very funny. When she brought refills, she made sure to tell us it was decaffinated.

Randy spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on building a model airplane. His dad took him to a hobby store and bought him another to do when he gets done with this current one. He is finding he really enjoys putting them together. When they got back, Randy insisted on carrying boxes of apples from the back of his dad's truck to our garage. He did excellent with carrying them and keeping his balance. Those boxes have to weigh about 35 pounds. So there is proof that his left hand is definitely getting better and his balance has greatly improved.

With his memory, he has some good days and some bad memory days. Today seemed to be a good day for memory. Friday and Saturday, though, he would forget things within seconds of being told. Overall, though, I do see improvements in his short-term memory. I know his therapists are working on memory things and his mom and I are both reading different books on improving memory. I know that the memory is the last thing to "heal". We are all working hard at helping him find the tools needed to get a jumpstart on getting there.

Cass's Party

Well, the party was a hit today. Cass had so much fun. I wish it hadn't been so rushed in getting it together to we had time to invite the friends of hers that didn't go to school with her (like Brittney!), but all in all it was a fun time. Since it was a bit chilly outside today, we did most of the things inside. The girls made name tags with their "hawaiian name" and then made leis. They then played pass the coconut and did a little limbo. We did go outside for the relay race since their isn't anywhere in the house where there is room to run. For the relay race, the kids had to put on a grass skirt, a sunhat, and some sunglasses and then run a short distance, come back and take everything off so their partners could put the stuff on. I think the kids had a lot of fun with that. Randy played camera man today. It was a lot of fun.

Randy did great with helping get everything ready. We had a bunch of fruit for the kids to eat. Randy spent the morning slicing it all up.

In the evening, he played a game with Cass and I on the Gamecube for awhile. He didn't do too bad with the game, but normally he would always whomp on Cass and I. Tonight we at least had a chance. His attention span is still rather short, though, so he wasn't able to finish the game. He moved on to working on one of the model airplanes he got.

Randy the Funnyman

Randy today, told me "I don't have a brain injury, I am just a normal 55 year old" in reference to his lack of memory. I found it very humorous.

Today, Randy had to go through testing in therapy today because it was his 5th session.The therapist checked his strength, grip and coordination. There was improvement in all areas and had met all of the goals the therapist had set for him. The goals that Randy set for himself were memory strengthening and improving skills for driving.

For speech today, Randy worked on his planner. Randy said the therapist chastised him for his "to do" list. He does a great job of making the list, but not such a great job of doing it. The therapist suggested that he schedule the task. That is funny that she talked to him about this because this last weekend, I had a big discussion with him about needing to actually do his tasks and I suggested that he use the schedule part of his planner and that he sit down once a week and write in the exact times of his therapies throughout the week and then schedule his tasks around them.

Then the speech therapy tested him with the given task of being given a category and then naming 5 things within that category within 15 seconds. With fruits and tools, he was able to get 5 out of 5. With occupations, wild animals, and planets, he got 4 out of 5. With actors, he got 3 out of 5. Then with rivers, he got 2 out of 5. For homework, Randy is to name ten items within 30 seconds for the categories. Randy really wanted to practice this tonight, so tonight on the way to the store, Cass read off the categories and Randy named as many things as he could. Cass was itching to try to help out with naming them as well.

Tonight, we spent the evening getting the house all ready for Cass's party. This one was a little shorter planned than the first one so she didn't get a chance to get invitations out to everyone that she wanted, but hopefully those that she did invite all get a chance to come. Tonight, we dug out all of the stuff we bought in June for the original party and got all of the decorations up. The house looks all Lua-y. Cass is very excited!

Sunflowers

Randy didn't have any therapies today. He did go on a walk with him mom and worked on his eye exercises. Even though the doctor at Harborview didn't think the eye exercises would do any good, if they don't hurt Randy then we figure, on the chance that the one doctor is wrong in their opinion, it wouldn't hurt to continue doing the exercises.

Randy also worked on his sunflowers. He had planted them shortly before the accident. They are now tall enough that you have to get on a ladder to reach the tops of them. They got so heavy that they toppled over, so he and his mom propped them up with bamboo poles and pieces of wood.

We also went to the second of three seminars for chronic pain. Tonights topic was the very controversial topic of narcotics. This chronic pain clinic does use narcotics to help some people live with their pain. The doctor said that over 50% of their patients use narcotics, but they also work with people that don't want to use them.

We aren't ready to go down this road by any means. We just started taking the new medication and have every intention of giving it plenty of time to work. My hopes and prayers are that the Amitriptyline works for Randy's pain. Our intentions in going to the seminar is to be informed in case other things don't work. We want to know what other options are out there.

In this pain clinic, they only use narcotics that are long-lasting and that can be taken by mouth and that don't provide a euphoric feeling, so they use Methadone and long-lasting morphine. Both of these drugs are rather scary to me. I know there are a lot of people who use them to make their lives livable through the pain, but that isn't the stories that you hear of them. The stories commonly heard are the ones of addiction. The doctor tonight did bring up that issue. He said that dependance happen to everyone, but addiction is rare. His definition of addiction is behavior issues (i.e. willing to sell your worldly belongings to get more). He said the medications are given in a controlled environment and given only to make the road of getting better less bumpy and working towards putting pain in the background instead of having it in the foreground.

It sounds nice, but not a road I want to go down anytime soon.

I think that is it for updates tonight.

Today, Randy saw his other speech therapist, Sohi Oh. She went over strategies to help with word memory such as word association, imagery, auditory input (say aloud what you need to remember), rehearsal (repeating something over and over), chunking (grouping information, breaking things into smaller units), acronyms, and making up a story.

Randy also had physical therapy (see picture). He worked on balance coordination with various exercises. Backwards steps were harder for him ~ he was more wobbly. He worked on a shuttle machine where he had to put a ball in between his knees while doing repetitions. Then he had to push with his right leg and then his left. Pushing with the left leg was much harder.

In occupational therapy, Randy worked on multi-tasking. He had an excel table he had to replicate while being interrupted with needing to send an email and then getting a phone call. Randy did quite well with that.

Tonight when I got home, he was making dinner. He was cooking chicken on the barbeque. I asked him if he needed help or if he was handling things alright on his own. He said he was doing just fine and then informed me that he decided to make Nike's slogan his motto ~ Just Do It!. So that is how he is going to heal and get better ~ just do it.

Randy met Becky

Randy had to go to Harborview today for an opthamology appointment. He was also scheduled to go through the evaluation for the Metro Access, but the opthamologist had put drops in Randy's eyes that prevented him from seeing so he wasn't able to go through the evaluation. It had to be rescheduled for the 25th, when he goes in for his EEG.

In between the appointments, though, his mom took him up to 3 West and he got to meet Becky, Pauline and Carmen. I wish I could have been there to thank them all again for all they did for us. Since I couldn't go, though, I asked his mom to at least get a picture of Randy with Becky. She said it was a nice reunion ~ everyone was crying and everyone had wonderful encouraging words for Randy.

The opthamologist (Dr Sohn) had Randy describe his double vision and wanted to know about the prism glasses Randy was prescribed and wanted to know about Dr Baxstrom (the eye doctor from Good Sam). He said there is a lot of debate about eye therapy and he is of the opinion that the eye exercises don't do any good and that the eyesight, if it improves, will do so on its own.

He checked Randy's vision with eye charts and checked his ability to track light. Randy said that when he was looking left, his double vision subsided a bit. He checked Randy's vision with some prism glasses. He also checked Randy's eye pressure and then recommended that Randy see the neuro-opthamolgist (which we were really wanting him to see). So randy saw Dr Mudumbal. The two doctors examined all of Randy's records from Harborview and they examined the CT scans on the computer screen.

Randy has some nerve damage - 4th nerve palsy. The facial fractures may have caused some scar tissue to form. Dr Mudumbal said that he doesn't think we can get a definitive correction yet because it is still early in the recovery. He said they won't know the total extent of the eye damage until 6 to 12 months from now. They said that at that time, he will be re-evaluated and see if there is a necessity for corrective lenses or surgery.

They said that Randy's eye is having muscle spasms. They put some drops in his eyes to paralyze the muscle spasms and his nearsightedness went away. They will be seeing Randy in 6 weeks. At that time, the doctor will determine if it is necessary to prescribe the drops to Randy. Right now, though, they are wanting to give his body more time to heal.

I admit that I am struggling a bit with lack of patience right now. Randy's eyesight is one of his biggest complaints, second only to the headaches. I was hoping for more answers or solutions today. Throughout this recovery, we have been told often that we have to wait to see ~ wait to see what the mental deficiencies really are, wait and see how much the use of the left side returns to, wait and see how well his eye sight will be. Logically, I know that we are still early in this whole recovery process, but emotionally, it feels like it has been a long time.

I received an email from the RN that saved Randy's life. It made my day! Christine, if you are reading this, thank you so much for your email! This is a picture she sent of her and her "rat".

I have no doubt that God was with Randy that day and had set things accordingly to keep him here with us. Christine said he was an hour late leaving work that day. If she hadn't been there, he wouldn't be here. She commented in her email that Randy must have had a strong force with him or a linebacker for his guardian angel. How very true!

Today, Randy continued to work on drying more fruit. We will be eating dried fruit for years to come!

Randy also talked to the LOA office at Boeing. His LOA expired at the end of September. Randy was able to get it extended. He is looking forward to getting back to work. I had advised him to extend the LOA through the end of the year, but he decided to go only through the end of October and then wants to see where he is at then.

He and I also talked about putting together a set schedule for his days. He is doing great with writing down tasks he wants to do, but is struggling a bit with actually doing them. I thought it might help if he scheduled out his day and put "task time" in there. He is going to give it a try.

With the class that he is taking, they don't have set due dates, so it has been a bit of a struggle for him as well. He has done some of the reading, but I think he needed a bit more structure to the class. The only due date he really has is the taking of the final exam and that is a few weeks off. We were going to try setting due dates for him but then he got very busy with therapies and doctor's appointments. Hopefully, after this week, we can be done with doctor's for a little while and just concentrate on therapies and getting into a set routine.

Randy's Sunday

We had another good day today. We slept in a bit too much this morning and ended up missing church, but it felt great to get sleep.

Randy spent most of the day working on drying more fruit. He took a break so that we could go to the store to get the final things for Cass's birthday party. Her original part was scheduled for the Saturday after Randy's accident. We are throwing her a late birthday party to make up for it. So today we planned the party (our original party was to be outside, but I think it is suppose to rain next Saturday so we had to re-plan some of the games) and got the finishing items needed. Cass is so excited.

We also went to the library today. I got the book "Fighting for David" by Leone Nunley. It is the story of what she went through when her son was in a motorcycle accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. I have had to put the book down a couple of time because it brings back some of the emotions that I felt those first few days, when we didn't know if Randy was going to make it.

I also talked to Mrs Merrill, the wife of the man that Randy shared a room with during his first week on 3 West of Harborview. Her husand is currently in a nursing home but she is hoping that he can improve enough that she can get him into rehab at Good Sam. They need a lot of prayer. He was doing so well while Randy was still in his coma and then he began having issues with fluid on the brain and he experienced a fall and had to have a second surgery. He is now not even able to walk, but the doctors speculate that it is probably due to the fluid on the brain. They are talking of putting a shunt in to take care of that. Mrs Merrill doesn't have family around here and is dealing with a lot of this on her own. She calls me when she needs support and to talk to someone who has been there. I feel very fortunate that Randy has had an amazing recovery process and I have been blessed to have a great support system that includes Randy' mom who has given up the comforts of her life and moved into our crazy house, and I have had a lot of support from old friend and new friends and Randy's coworkers. For those praying for Randy, please say a prayer for Mr and Mrs Merrill as well.

Randy's Saturday

We had a great day today.

Last night, after playing games together, Randy and I got into a cleaning mode and started working on reorganizing our bedroom. Today we finished the task. Randy has been wanting to set habits, such as making sure he puts things in the same place and such to help with not having a good memory. So we moved a little bookcase that has been sitting in our spare room into our bedroom. It would be an easy task except for the fact that the bookcase was full of books. Our house is actually overrun with books. To have a home for all of the books that we currently have, we really need about two more big bookcases. We ended up boxing up some we felt we could live without having around for awhile and we reorganized other shelves and found homes for the remainder of the books. Now Randy is all set up to have one place to set all of his stuff to make it easy for him to find.

We also went to the store today and got Randy a couple of model airplanes to build. He has it set in his mind that he will not be able to fly again so he has decided to build the models for right now. He has also talked about getting into photography again. Randy has an amazing eye for that sort of thing and he enjoyed developing his work. Before the accident we had talked about turning part of the garage into a dark room. We can't really afford to do that at this point, but he decided today to start working on drawing up the plans to do that.

This evening, Randy decided to make dinner. He did a great job of planning and cooking it. He made cube steak with garlic mashed potatos.

Tonight just felt amazing. It was as close to "normal" as we have had since the accident. Randy made dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen afterward (he has always been a very messy cook). We played Taboo together as a family ~ Randy did excellent with both describing the words that he had and guessing the words of other. Even the way in which he interacted with Cass with giving our Max a bath (even though he is the smallest dog, it takes at the very least, two people to give him a bath because he acts just like a cat), it just made it feel like things use to be, before the accident.

We also worked on his daily exercises today.

All in all, Randy had a great day today.

Mr Randy Rush

Randy had a good day today. He slept in until 11 this morning. He says he doesn't feel any differences from the new medication, but I think the last few days he has had less energy and been more tired. Randy worked on his eye exercises this morning, but didn't quite get around to doing the other exercises he is suppose to do daily before his mom had to get on the road to Yakima.

Our neighbor works from home sometimes, so Randy hung out at their house. When I walked in, he was looking pretty comfortable, sitting in a recliner doing logic problems. Cass and I have always enjoyed logic problems, but Randy never sat still enough to do any of those things. Now he is really enjoying them.

He worked some on his exercises and practiced walking around the house a bunch without his cane :-) . He also got up and danced a bit with Cass to the ending song of the Ghostbusters movie. I wish I had a video camera!!

We are going to spend the rest of the evening playing games together as a family.

Starting of Speech Therapy

Randy had a very busy day today! He has his evaluation to start speech therapy at Valley Medical Center today. Randy said the speech therapist asked him a lot of the same things that all of the others did ~ she had to get a baseline of where he is currently at. She had him name objects within a box and he got all of them correct. She had him repeat words and phrases and he did alright with that ~ just had with "l" and "s" in words. She had him name all of the animals that he could name ~ he named 8. She asked him questions such as "where do nurses work", "where do you buy stamps", and "what color is snow" and he got all of them correct. She then had him identify pictures, shapes, letters, numbers, and colors and he was accurate on all of them. He had to name things within the room and his body parts. He got caught up on index finger and he struggled with left vs right. She then tested his ability to follow directions. He did well with even those that had were 3 steps.

She then tested his cognitive ability with questions and organizing of pictures into categories, picking out a word within a list that didn't belong, stating how pictures were alike and different, arranging pictures from smallest to largest. He did well with all of those activities. He also had to state 4 or 5 things in sequence that you do to change batteries in a flashlight.

Things he needs to work on: delayed memory skills, memory for detail, and short-term memory skills.

The therapist also asked reasoning questions about opposites and had Randy complete analogies such as "river is to boat as highway is to....". He did quite well with all of that.

For occupational therapy, his therapist asked him if he had been writing in his journal as she had told him to, and he admitted he has not. She then asked him if he remembered what he had done yesterday and he did okay with recalling what took place. The therapist worked on multi-tasking today by doing things such as working with cards on a table by picking them out and putting together stories with them and then whenever a timer went off, Randy had to walk to the sink, turn the water on and off and then return to finish the task. He did quite well with that.

Next, the therapist had to put numbered cards in numerical order and periodically that therapist would interrupt to have Randy answer random questions and then he would have to return to the task with the cards. She said he did quite well.

For homework, he had to pick a task, plan it out and follow it through. He also has to practice multi-tasking.

We also went to a seminar tonight. It is the first of 3 on chronic pain. Randy just started medication that we are hoping will alleviate a lot of his pain, we are going to the seminars just in case the medication doesn't help. One thing that was said during the seminar was to not enable the person ~ not to over help them. This goes right along with what Randy has been asking for. Over the last few days as I start to do something for him, he has been stopping me and asking to do it himself. He said he feels like we treat him like he is in a bubble and he really wants out.

Not Much To Report

There isn't a whole lot to report today. Randy didn't have any therapies. He did do some of his exercises at home such as his eye exercises. Randy says his vision is improving slightly (the double vision at least), but not as quickly as he would like. Randy also worked on his stretches and worked on his exercise bike. He also continued to work on drying fruit. We have enough to last us quite a long time!

Randy was caught a few times tonight walking without his cain. His balance continues to get better, but without the cane he is still a little too wobbly.

The new medication hasn't started helping with the pain yet, but it is only the third night he has taken in it. I am hoping it kicks in soon.

Randy's Day

Randy had occupational and physical therapy today at Valley Medical.

For occupational therapy, Randy has 4 goals he is working on:
1. To increase his grip/strength
2. To improve his multi-tasking activities
3. To plan and follow through an activity from start to finish
4. To increase his memory

Randy accomplished goal #3 with the planning and making of dinner yesterday.

The therapist gave him math problems to do and gave him the task of organizing a stack of books in any manner that he chose. For the books, Randy chose to organize them by size. With the math problems, in the timeframe he had, he finished 10 out of the 14 math problems. With errors, he was able to self-correct and seemed to do well when he talked himself through the process.

The therapist also had Randy do shoulder shrugs as a strengthening exercise.

In physical therapy Randy worked on the exercise bike and some balance activities.

This evening, when I got home, his friend Brandon was down on our kitchen floor looking at our fridge to try to help with getting the water attached again. I teased Randy about inviting his friend over to put him to work! We didn't get it hooked up but we at least now think we know what the problem is.

I think that is it for updates for today.

Dr Visit Today

Today was a long day! It started at 6:30 this morning for Randy and I. We got up a little after 6:30 to drive the car down to the dealership in Fife to have the coolant leak looked at. They gave us a new 9-7 to drive around today (the 9-7 is the Saab SUV). Randy was excited. He had just been checking one out inside the dealership. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't Randy that got to drive it, it was me. I hate driving big cars. It was very nice inside, but I was very excited to get my little car back this evening!

After dropping the car off this morning, we headed to Randy's doctor appointment at the Neurosurgery clinic at Harborview. I felt a lot more confident with this appointment than I did with the one with the Neurologist from Multicare. The doctor today asked Randy a series of questions. She really wanted to get down to what was different about him since the accident. We talked about the weakness in his left side, the issues he has with his memory, the trouble with finding words, the shakes that come and go, and the constant pain he has in the left side of his head, his neck and his tailbone. We described the happenings of September 5th when we had to take Randy to the ER. She said there is no way to really tell if what happened that night was a seizure. She said it could have been petty seizures because you can be cognizant during those. They are going to do an EEG on Randy in about 3 weeks to see if there is any visible seizure activity or anything out of the ordinary going on. What was funny was that she had said that because of Randy's injury, his brain is expected to show as "not normal" through the EEG and it might not be able to tell us anything. Then, after she left the room for awhile to view Randy's records from Harborview and to consult with an attending physician, she came back and told us that Randy had 2 EEGs done while in Harborview and the 2nd one (which was the only one I was actually aware of ~ I believe it took place about a week after the accident), came back normal. She seemed surprised. She said that since that that came back normal, we should be able to see if anything is out of the ordinary going on now.

She did say, though, that she does not believe Randy had a stroke. She says that what she thinks the other doctor saw was from the initial injury. The recent MRI showed some changes, but she believes the changes were from the weakness and lack of use of the left side.

I asked her about the seizure medicaiton given to us by the other Neurologist. She said that she wouldn't recommend it for seizure medication, but it would work for the pain. The attending physician, however, recommended a different medication ~ Amitriptyline. They chose that medication because the side effect is making you sleepy, which would be great in helping Randy get to sleep at night. They are starting him out with a low dose and they warned that it won't help right away. It takes a few days to get into your system. I am really hoping, though, that it will help with his headaches. I can't imagine what it must feel like to have constant pain and trying to function through that.

The attending physician asked Randy how he would compare how he is now with how he was before ~ what percentage is he now to what he was then if then was 100%. Randy answered with the low 90's. Randy said the biggest detriment he is dealing with right now is his eyesight.

We started the medication tonight. Of course, Randy wanted immediate results, so he was a little disappointed. Hopefully it will kick in soon, though, and start allieviating the pain. We get the EEG done in about 3 weeks and have a follow up visit with the Neurology clinic in 6 weeks.

After the doctor visit, Randy and I dropped his mom off in time to walk Cass home from school and he and I went to pick up the car. The problem with the car had to do with a water pressure valve. It was a quick easy fix and it was covered under warranty ~ yeah!!!!

Then, after getting home, Randy cooked us dinner. He did an excellent job! He said it felt good to be back to doing some of the things he did before.

The Adventure Continues

It was just Randy and I home this weekend. Today, I decided to lie down and take a nap. He said he has some work he wanted to do on his computer so I thought all would be safe. I really should know Randy better than that!

I heard his sister and her friend come in the front door. I figured Randy was visiting with her, so I got up and took my time coming out ~ I went in and took a shower. When I came out, Melinda and her friend were sitting in the living room by themselves and they commented on how they had just let themselves in. Then they asked him where Randy was. I looked at this a little surprised and said "you are kidding right?". His sister shook her head no and asked if Randy was taking a nap. I said "You mean he hasn't been out here?". I think my heart skipped a few beats and I started into the kitchen andthat was when, through the back sliding door, I saw Randy sitting outside visiting with our neighbor on his back porch.