Jerry's Update for August 2nd, 2007

Well today was quite the day, but instead of me telling you.................here's Aunt Boo!

When I got to dad this morning he was working w/Marcia the occupational therapist. He was drinking thru a straw! She gave some exercises for us to make dad do like making him hold his left hand w/ his right. When he did this he started moving his fingers on his left hand. He didn't even realise it. It has something to do w/ the way the mind works. He also needs to pucker his lips as though to kiss and blow in a balloon. That's two separate exercises of course. He was pretty out of it, tired from working w/ Jean the speech therapist and Marcia. At one point he made me cry, he kept talking to mom and offering her cranberry juice, which is what we were giving him. I just kept bringing him back in the moment cause he didn't realise what he was doing. It's good to ask him questions about the family. Jon came and was reading the blog notes to him and so I ask him, who's Jamie dad? My grandson. Who's Sonya? My granddaughter. Is that Jamie's sister? Yes. It's good to let him know what's going on in your life today, etc. It keeps his mind sharp. I showed him a picture and asked who the people were, he pointed at Jesse and said He makes Joseph laugh. Later Gary the physical therapist put him in the wheel chair and took him down to "work out". While gone I went in search for clean linens. We all know how good it feels to get into clean sheets! When he came back exhausted He asked for more juice (thickened). We took off his now red stained shirt and gave a cool wipe down to refresh him. The weather was in the 90's and the building was very warm. We rubbed his back down w/lotion since it's peeling like from a sunburn. He stayed in the wheelchair for a long time which is great. It causes him to use his upper muscles and turn his head to the left. Before getting put in bed I had his nurse put his medication in his right eye. That always hurts him, but it's very important that that cornea heals since his left eye sight is questionable. Well while they were getting dad in bed Jon and I both fell asleep in the entry way chairs. By the time we got in his room he was nearly asleep from exhaustion and they were getting his nightly "cocktail" ready for him. All in all it was a great day. Tough but great. Dad's making lots of progress. Another thing, the dogs came home today. It's very expensive to leave them at the kennel, sor for now there here. Please keep praying and communicating. Funny cards would be great. He definitely still has his sense of humor. Jerry Cohn c/o Sherwood Park 4062 Arleta Ave. NE, Keizer, OR 97303. Love to all, Boo