tuesday evening

happy halloween!

today was a good day. in pool therapy, gen took a step with her right foot all on her own for the first time. in ot, gen worked on raising her arms up, and tonight, she actually started raising her right arm a little! in pt, gen worked on the treadmill. the shots from yesterday haven't kicked in yet. maybe by thursday.

gen dressed up as stephen hawking for halloween. she wore a white button-up shirt with a sweater. she cocked her head over to the right and gave a crooked smile. courtney made her a nametag that read "hello, my name is: stephen hawking," and some fake book covers with the titles of hawking's books. gen also used a computer she got from the speech lab. we type a phrase into it and push a button and it says the phrase with a computer accent. she entered a costume contest. we'll find out if she won tomorrow.

don't forget about our new address:
name, Cabrini House Apt A
c/o Madonna
5401 South Street
Lincoln, NE 68506

jenny- now what do i have to do to get you two into a relationship today?

-joshua

monday evening

susan here. i went back home on friday after moving stuff out of the house. i went to work on saturday, got to visit my family and my cats, saw my church family and enjoyed some wonderful weather. i came back to lincoln today, and was amazed at how much colder it is here than back home. i was also amazed to see how much gen has done over the weekend. she is talking clearer than ever, even without the noseplugs. she is moving her right arm up slightly, working on getting it up to the control for her chair without having someone set it in place. she is helping so much with all the moving we have to do with her. at 4:00 this afternoon gen got four injections in her left leg to help reduce the tone. the doctor used a thin needle like a probe, hooked up electrodes to her leg, used a machine to find where the muscle activity was on overload, and injected the medication into each of four places. the medication is intended to deaden the nerve in that area so it won't be stimulated to make the muscles contract. this will let the other muscles work like they should without having to counteract the overloaded ones. this is hard to explain, but this should start to help in 2-3 days and should last 4-6 months. it should make her left leg less stiff and unmanageable. (the medication is similar in effect to botox, which deadens the nerves and smooths out the area where the nerves are.) tomorrow should be a big day, and we pray for strength and courage to meet each challenge. God has been good to us.

susan
ps jenny: "just a little place i like to call "you'll see."

friday evening

one of the wheelchair-accessible apartments opened up, so susan and i moved into it today. it's not so much an apartment as it is a room with a bathroom attached. boy, is it small. for those of you who don't know, gen was approved for a month of outpatient rehab and housing. when medicaid stops paying for inpatient care, gen will just move into the apartment with us and continue her rehab as an outpatient.

our new address:
name, Cabrini House Apt A
c/o Madonna
5401 South Street
Lincoln, NE 68506

ot- gen had e-stim on her fingers, wrist and shoulders. she is starting to work on raising her arm. she did the arm bike and fed herself. today she told me she almost turned her wrist on her own. she has never done that while feeding herself.

pt- gen had e-stim on her legs. she also did some standing.

jenny- a donation has been made in your name to the human fund.

-joshua

thursday evening

gen did really well in her therapies today. the day started off with pool therapy, and gen did some new things: walking in the pool (with help from sarah), squats which gen did all on her own, and sitting on a weighted bench and having sarah make waves and turbulence in the water so gen would have to work to stay balanced. she did! in ot she worked on putting weight through her arms, leaning on the lower bar of a walker and standing up,leaning on her arms. she also did a new exercise sitting on a mat and pushing a table away from in front of her, using her arms. she had to do this without leaning back while she pushed so she can get used to isolating muscles needed for a job and not throwing every muscle into it. for the same reason, in speech, they sometimes use a bite block to she will have to move her tongue without moving her jaw to make it happen. in speech gen did a lot of conversational work, answering questions and reading headlines from the paper. in pt she got on the treadmill again. she did a great job, holding herself up better than ever. we were happy to have visitors yesterday and today. a good family friend, muriel, from edmonton in alberta, canada came to the midwest for her vacation. she went to joplin and got my mom (gen's grandma "momo") and brought her up here to visit too. we hope they will have a safe trip home. we have been blessed indeed.

susan
ps jenny: gen said you'll never guess what song she heard while she was in pool therapy..."desperado." and she also said "it's not a purse...it's european!"

wednesday evening

we got another week!!

ot- gen had e-stim all morning. we played yahtzee. she turned the cup over to dump out the dice. she also got creamed. she worked with the sander again. she did some writing.

pt- gen worked out on her stomach today. she was able to lift her chest up all by herself. she was also able to prop herself on her arms. this is the first time she's done either of these things. in the afternoon, gen worked on standing.

jenny- and you want to be my latex salesman.

-joshua

tuesday evening

my oh my, what a wonderful day! gen had a "red-letter day" in pool therapy according to her therapist in there. she said gen was supporting herself better than ever, in shallower water (which means less support from the water). gen did some standing and some squats and some rolling over in the pool. in speech, katie said gen's pronunciations (with the nasal opterator) were better than ever. gen did a lot of work making up sentences using one word given by katie. she also made up paragraphs describing how to do different things (make oj from concentrate, wrap a present, decorate a christmas tree, etc) paying attention to pronunciation and phrasing. she did very well. in ot she worked on putting weight through her arms, lifting herself up off the mat in the gym. she was pleased to be able to tell that she was helping to lift herself. she also did some standing with a walker just for balance. in pt she got on the treadmill again, and she did better than ever before. she was initiating some of the leg movement, she was holding herself straight and tall, she did more sets of walking than ever, and she made it to 1.8 mph (average walking speed.) she still has therapists support her on both sides and behind her during this exercise, but they tell us she is working a lot of it herself. each day that we hear the therapists say how well gen is doing, we are encouraged. each day that we see her do something new, we are grateful. we know that God is in control and that He is blessing us every day. we pray for strength for each day, to be able to meet the challenges (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) and to face life with the confidence that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. thank God for answered prayer and for each new day in which to rejoice and be glad.

susan
ps jenny "another festivus miracle!"

monday evening

ot- gen had e-stim on her fingers. this let her open her fingers up all the way. we high-fived. she used the arm bike. she also had e-stim on her deltoids while using the sander.

pt- gen did some standing, with weight bearing on her arms in the morning session. in the afternoon, she did some leg excercises and rolling excercises.

st- gen worked on noseplug talking and stops. she also did breathing tests with the inspirometer and therapep.

kyle and meghan- thank you very much for the halloween treats.

jenny- i can feel his blood inside of me, borrowing things from my blood.

-joshua

sunday evening

not much happened today. the weather was very cold and cloudy. that was better than yesterday when it was snowing and then raining (and cold). gen had us do her arm exercises with her and she practiced talking with and without the nasal opterator (sp?) she is getting so much easier to understand when she speaks. we had a weekend pass to go to the house with gen today, and we had to bundle her up well before taking her outside. she drove her chair all the way to the house with no help from me except getting up the curb (wheelchair access corner). we didn't go to the house till mid-afternoon, so we didn't have a meal, only a snack (cherry garcia ice cream and snickerdoodle coffee.) she was back here for dinner. we thank all of you for your continuing support and concern for gen. we thank and praise God for his continuing love and strength.

susan
ps jenny: "his whole life revolves around superman and cereal."

saturday evening

we all slept in today. gen didn't have a session until 1:30pm. in ot, gen used the arm bike. she did 51 revolutions. she told us afterward that it was much easier today than it ever has been. in pt, did some sitting stretches in the gym. in speech, gen worked on talking with her noseplug. she figured out how to make a "k" sound, which should help her with "ee."

-joshua


jenny- yankee bean, yankee bean, i like my yankee bean.

friday evening

we have completed another week of therapy-filled days and are looking forward to the weekend. tomorrow gen is only scheduled for three half-hour sessions. that will be restful. today gen had e stim for an hour and a half on her arms. at 10 colleen came to our room and hooked up the electrodes, and gen worked on scooping cheerios into a cup and pouring them into a bowl (no milk was involved, just in case you were wondering.) she did really well at the pronation and supination of both wrists. at 10:30 we moved to the gym (still wearing the electrodes) and worked on pushing her arms up and out away from her. there is a device called "the sander" which doesn't really sand anything, but has handles that slide the center panel along a track. you can set it up at various angles, and you can even add weights to it. courtney set it at a very steep angle for gen, to work on getting her arms up that high. at 11 we moved to a table and gen worked on dot-to-dot still using e stim. at 11:30 we had pt, and gen did some sitting, standing and walking (with a regular walker.) we only had three of us helping her walk (short by one person) and it was a little harder for gen and for us. she did a good job and we all survived. gen had ot again during lunch, and she fed herself some of her food. she also held a cup with a handle and drank from a straw. that was helped by the noseplugs (they have a real scientific name but i can't remember beyond "nasal -----"). they helped because they kept all the air focused in her mouth so she could pull liquid up through the straw. without the nose pinched or plugged closed she has difficulty getting a drink from a straw. at 2 katie worked with gen in speech. she recorded gen saying a list of 57 words without the nasal plug and then another list with the plug. someone will be listening to the recording and reporting how many from each list they could understand. at 3 in pt gen worked on rolling from side to side and bending her legs. her second speech session was at 3:30 together with pt, and she was given words and had to use them in sentences. she always comes up with some fun and funny sentences. we all laughed a lot, and then at 4 she was through for the day. whew!!! thank you to everyone who takes the time to read the blog and keep up on gen's progress. we really appreciate the care and concern you all show us. thank you.

susan
ps jenny: "nobody beats me, because i'm the wiz!"

thursday evening

today, gen and i went to blockbuster for an outing. we rented two movies and gen drove herself all around the store.
ot- gen worked on dot-to-dots and writing with her arm resting on the table.
pt- gen walked on the treadmill again today. she did better than she'd done before. this could be because she didn't have the pool session this morning or because of med changes. we're not sure.
st- gen got a cool noseplug.

don't forget, my mom, Sue Godsey, has a wonderful, sweet, older, easygoing, spayed dog who needs a good home. or just a home. whatever. if you have a home, good or bad or in-between, call her at 417.439.1050.

thank you to kari in sweden for the card, lip gloss and barrettes.

thank you to the KUMC staff for the wonderful card. we were thrilled to hear from you all.


jenny- the cool, evening breezes of Anytown, USA.


-joshua

wednesday evening

brrrr! it is pretty cold here now. it has been raining for a couple of days, but tomorrow is supposed to be milder and sunny. gen is scheduled for an outing wherein she will drive her chair in a store, improving her "community skills." that should be fun. today was a full day, even if not one of the busiest. gen had e stim on her arms this morning, and it was combined with recreation therapy. she played yahtzee again, using her stimulated arm muscles to turn the dice cup up and down. she also worked on moving her arms up and down, at an angle out in front of her. she is working up to being able to raise her arms up, but it takes a good foundation of strengthened arm muscles to do that. in pt she was evaluated for some new thin splints for her feet that would fit snugly and would be worn under shoes to keep her feet straight when she walks instead of letting them rotate out onto their sides like they tend to do now. she is still having some trouble with "tone" which is that tensing of muscles that interferes with motion. the doctor has gradually increased the dosage of both the medications she takes for that condition. in speech therapy, gen got to read grocery ads to katie, and katie had to be able to tell what gen was reading. in the afternoon session, gen was evaluated by another speech pathologist who was trying to determine if there is something they can do to help gen keep air from escaping through her nose when she is trying to say letters that need the air to build up pressure in her mouth to make them come out right. (ex: p, b, g, k). there are a couple of devices that would help, and he is planning to try one of them tomorrow morning. it really amazes me to see the creativity of the therapists, and to see their committment to helping people. i thank God for His gifts to us that come in so many forms. i am reminded that when moses was given the instructions for the tabernacle, and when solomon was given the instructions for the temple, they were each supplied with specific men who were prepared by God to have the skill and knowledge needed to follow the instructions and create something acceptable to God. i see therapists working here who make me believe that God placed just the right people in just the right place to accomplish His will for genevieve. i am grateful to God and to those he has put in our lives who keep me thinking of Him and His goodness to us.

susan
ps jenny: gen says "a young girl's strange erotic journey from milan to minsk...rochelle, rochelle."

tuesday evening

pt- gen did some standing and walking with the walker. she also did some tippy-toe excercises while standing. she used the treadmill again this afternoon.
ot- cotreat with pt and the walker. sitting excercises with weight bearing through her arms.

as many of you know, my mother moved out of her house so gen and i can stay with her when we come back home. her new landlord wont allow her to keep her dog, josie. josie is a sweet dog, getting old in years, spayed and very calm. if anyone has room to take her in or knows of anyone who could use a dog, please call my mother, sue godsey, at 417.439.1050.

-joshua

jenny- Serenity Now!!

monday evening

gen had a good day today. she worries about having enough progress to warrant another week, each week. i reminded her that God is in control and that He gave her a spirit willing and eager to meet new challenges from the time she was a little girl. He knew long ago that she needed to be tough and determined. He also knows how long she needs to stay here to accomplish what she needs to accomplish. i pray that we will be allowed to stay as long as it is His will for us to stay. today gen worked on arm strength and movement in ot. she moved her arms up and forward on several exercises. she also worked on supporting herself using her arms more to sustain weight. in pt she had e stim in the morning, working her lower legs and feet. in the afternoon amy had her stand in front of a table...just stand and shift her weight from foot to foot. she also had her move one foot to the front and then move it back, repeating with the other side. then courtney from ot stopped by and said she thought gen was ready to try a walker, using her hands to help support weight. so amy got gen up to a walker, and had her hands on the handles. gen says she was not really supporting herself with her arms, but was just standing on her feet, balancing herself with her arms lightly resting on the handles of the walker. in any case, she is standing better and better, and also using her arms better and better. in speech she got to play a new game, called catch phrase. she really liked it. we didn't use the board and timer, but gen had to try to get katie to say the featured word by her description. this meant gen had to come up with the words and get them out in an understandable form. she did really well. she also did well at guessing the words katie was describing. in the afternoon speech session katie worked with amy from pt and they asked gen questions (what is your favorite food, restaurant, etc) and gen had to answer so they could understand. she did very well and had everyone laughing at her fun-filled spirit and good humor. tonight is monday night football and gen is booing the arizona cardinals (da bears are gen's team). she can boo very loudly. we thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers for gen. she really appreciates the comments and cards she gets, and she is thankful that so many are lifting her up in prayer. we feel the strength that only can come from the faith in Christ, knowing He knows all we are going through and He loves us like no one else can.

susan
ps jenny: gen says "what is this salty discharge?"

saturday evening

saturday...not much going on today. usually gen gets to sleep a little late on saturday, but today was an exception. she only has one half-hour session of each therapy on saturday, but they were scheduled starting at 9:30 today. that's earlier than weekdays except pool days. oh well, it can't be helped. in pt, she did sitting balance with the exercise ball, and stretched farther than ever before. she also stood, helped up only by the therapist and me, and stood still for almost a minute. in speech she worked on making distinct beginnings and endings of words. in ot she worked on writing. all the therapists were different from her regular ones, and they don't know gen very well, so they spend part of their time just figuring out what she can do and can't do...we don't really get far on weekends unless we have therapists that know her. this afternoon leighton and randi got to town, and gen had a pass to leave the hospital and go to the house. we had a great visit and had chinese food for dinner together. they are staying overnight so we will see them again tomorrow. gen is eager to show them what she can do (in the gym) that she couldn't do last time they saw her. we are so grateful for family and friends. God has blessed us with loving people all around us, so we never feel like we have to do this all alone. gen wants to thank connie for the angel in a bubble that she sent. jenny, "i know why we have reservations. i don't think you do. if you did, i'd have a car. see, you know how to take the reservaton, you just don't know how to hold the reservation, and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. anybody can just take them."

susan

friday evening

gen had another good day today.
pt- gen did some leg excercises in the first session. second session, she did some new sitting excercises. she sat on the edge of the mat with her arms propped on a gigantic red plastic ball. she leaned forward and had help lifting her butt off the mat.
ot- gen worked on dot-to-dots, eating, and a new arm slidey-thingy.

-joshua

jenny- maybe the dingo ate your baby.

thursday evening

thursday is one of gen's jam-packed days, so we have been busy since early this morning. in pool therapy gen did arm exercises, standing, taking steps, etc. the steps are a new addition to her pool arsenal. we were barely back to street clothes when the ot was here for the e-stim session. gen worked on computer use with the e-stim today, first with the right hand and then with the left one. she was supposed to have ot for an hour and a half, straight through till pt, but courtney gave her a short break between 11 and 11:30. then she practiced driving in pt. she was able to negotiate the set-up obstacle course in the gym, even with the speed set a little higher than she has ever used. she is getting more and more control over her hands. ot came in again during lunch and helped her work on eating. she did very well at that too. immediately after ot, gen had speech. katie had her work more on emphasizing one word in a phrase (ex: he lives in a green HOUSE/he lives in a GREEN house). she also worked on "g","d","t"...working on making them sound, even when they are in the middle or the end of a word. she also worked on making a noticeable break in sound between words in a phrase (ex: "i'm tired" instead of "imtired").
at 2:30 gen got back onto the treadmill. she went faster today (1.7 mph) and they lowered the amount of support from 35% to 30% of her weight. she walked 6-7 times (she walks a few minutes and then stands still to rest, walks again, then sits to rest.) the first time she did this, she only walked 4 times and rested between each set. she did a really good job of holding herself up and keeping her legs from collapsing. she had another speech session after that, and she worked on loudness and conversation. we had her talk to someone again who isn;t used to her speech, and she understood her. gen's completely wiped out now, and ready to sleep. i'll let her sleep a little late in the morning, since her first session isn't till 10:30. we are so grateful for the blessings from God every day. there is nothing quite like the knowledge that we can trust our lives to Him and can know that He is faithful and true.
susan

wednesday evening

we got another week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jenny- george likes his chicken spicy.

jenn lewis- we got the card. thank you.

-joshua

tuesday evening

today was the busiest day yet for gen. up early for an early breakfast tray, into the pool at 9am (where she did arm and leg movements, standing and spinning). 10am was e stim in ot and she ate some orange sherbet and signed a birthday card for sue (josh's mom, gen's mother-in-law and co-star, my co-mom-in-law.) happy birthday sue!!! she had pt at 11 and practiced driving the chair. 12 noon brought a short break and time for gen to close her eyes for a bit to rest. 12:30 was lunch, continued at 1 with courtney from ot who helped her eat some yummy-looking acorn squash. 2pm was speech, and gen worked on loud/soft, low/high, sustained sound and differentiating between vowel sounds again. we took the last few minutes to go to the office of another speech therapist and have gen say a few words to her to see if she could understand her. she could!! (those who spend a lot of time with gen learn to read the lips, facial expressions, other things that give the sense of the words. we needed to see if she really was speaking more clearly or if we were just getting better at reading her. she is definitely getting better. 2:30...ta-daa! the treadmill! gen said she felt like she could fly. she was hooked to a vest-like thing with straps for the hooks on the treadmill. we pushed the wheelchair up a ramp to the belt, two therapists strapped handles to her feet, and then another therapist turned on the machine and had the vest and hooks lift her to a standing position. she straightened her knees, kept her feet flat, held up her head and held back her shoulders. when the belt came on, the two therapists on her sides held the foot handles and helped her move her feet in a walking rhythm. another therapist was behind gen, making sure she was straight and steady. we did three or four rounds of walking, and halfway through they sped up the belt and also took away some of the support they were giving her. she was getting help with 35 percent of her weight and she was walking at a speed of about 1.6 miles per hour. (1.8 is supposedly a normal walking speed.) picture this: gen on the treadmill, video camera taping the whole thing for training and checking procedures, four therapists helping (one of them was amy who works with gen all the time), josh and i watching, and also courtney and colleen from ot watching, katie from speech watching and ginn the case worker watching. when gen did her first round of walking, wse had a spontaneous round of applause that made everyone in the gym stop to look. it was beautiful! after the treadmill, gen had speech again at 3:30, and she was still able to get out a loud voice and talked pretty clearly to her therapists. finally then the day was done except for dinner and tv. she really did a great job today (this evening she was still working, doing dot-to-dots and moving her hands from down at her sides up to her lap. that is new tonight. wow.) gen wanted me to thank jennifer for the note and the gift card. she wanted me to thank connie for the coin. and she wanted me to tell jenny "well i don't want a broad flat noodle."

susan

monday evening

ot- today, susan and i finished learning a new stretching routine for gen's shoulders. gen worked on eating in her second session.
pt- gen did some standing and stepping today. she also had a session of stretches. we're looking forward to tomorrow and the treadmill.
st- gen worked on "stops" today. d, t, p, hard g are all "stops." they don't require voice and are a little harder.

-joshua



jenny-bras are for ladies. this is a bro.

sunday evening

gen got a chance to sleep late today. she got up at 9:30 and found out that there was a new nurse on duty who had not brought her breakfast tray into the room, but had sent it back, and it was too late to get a new tray with the french toast she had ordered. they sent a replacement tray with cold cereal instead. what a disappointment for her! we made up for it by taking her on an outing to the house again this weekend. it was a beautiful day, warm and windy, and gen drove her chair nearly all the way over there. (we helped her negotiate the street.) we watched football, played cards, ate italian food and drank freshly ground coffee. gen doesn't get good coffee at the hospital. in fact, her assessment of it is "blah". we brought her back early in the evening, and had time for all her exercises and some more dot-to-dot pages. she has very good control of her right hand if her arm is supported up and off the table. we got phone calls today from friends and family, which is just wonderful. weekends are great for catching up (when we have free minutes on our phones.) i gave gen a manicure and pedicure today...part of her relaxing day. she has a very busy week ahead of her, with all her regular therapy sessions, plus the pool therapy two days, and the treadmill two days, Lord willing. her pt thinks gen is ready to walk (under the controlled conditions of the treadmill.) they will have three trained therapists on hand during the hour, and i've got to tell you i am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. this is really big. i have seen prayers answered every single day. i have seen the power of God save gen's life, protect her intellect, restore her ability to move, return her capacity to speak, preserve her sense of humor. i know that whatever is best for us is exactly what God is going to do for us. He deserves all the praise and glory.

susan
ps jenny: gen says "not that there's anything wrong with that..."

saturday evening

in ot, gen worked on writing. i bought her some dot-to-dot books to practice with. gen did sitting and standing excercises today in pt. gen got another new movement this evening. she can turn her hands at the wrist.

-joshua

jenny- you sprayed him in the eyes with binaca?
cherry binaca. it's new.

friday evening

seriously, another week of therapy is over, except the scaled-back saturday sessions, and gen has come so far! therapists who only see her once a week or so can't believe all she can do now that she couldn't do the last time they saw her. so many prayers have been and are being answered every day, showing us the love of God and the care He shows for His children. gen walked again today, doing more on her own than before. each day her legs get stronger. in ot we worked again on a technique for relaxing gen's shoulder muscles so she has greater range of motion. josh and i are being trained to do this (and how not to hurt her in the process.) in speech therapy, gen worked more on loud/soft and high/low vocalizations. she got to use the computer programs again with the hummingbirds and helicopters and graph lines. gen really likes using them because there is a visual display of what her voice is doing. she can make the hummingbirds fly to higher flowers by raising the pitch of her voice. she is also working on emphasizing certain words in sentences, so they make better sense than when she says them all alike. she is driving her chair mostly by herself now. she has better control of her hands, and has started using her fingers with the help of e stim. we are grateful to God for blessings beyond anything we could imagine. we are grateful to all who read this and pray for gen. we are grateful for friends who are there for us, helping in practical ways and offering to help in any way necessary. thanks!

susan
ps jenny: gen says "you know, a muffin can be very filling."

thursday evening

ot- gen started e-stim on her wrists and fingers today. so far, everything that has been e-stimmed has started working on command. we're hoping this stays true with the fingers. she also worked with the arm bike and did some driving.
pt- driving again, outside and through doorways and into elevators. gen did some more stepping. today, i couuld really feel her initiating the leg movements. she's not quite strong enough to do it on her own, but she'll get there.
st- gen was filmed today for a speech therapy training video.

-joshua


here you go, jenny... "Suze!" I mean... Suzie, Suzanne, Suzanna... fine! But there is no way I'm gonna be a "Suze."

wednesday evening

where to start? over the last two days gen has not only been standing and stepping to her wheelchair, but taking steps forward (i mean that literally!) you may remember that in pt we had gotten her to her feet (gait belt plus leg support from her therapist and josh and me.) we had her lean on a table while standing up, giving her arms support while she held herself up. today amy got the idea to have her use the table as a sort of "walker." i held her arms steady on the table, josh and amy helped her move her feet forward one at a time, and gen moved her legs and held herself upright. we went 6 steps forward, took a break (she sat in a regular chair for the first time in a long time) and then we did 6 steps forward again before stepping to her chair. her vocalizations today were fine-tuning the differences between vowels. she was asked to say two words that were very similar, and to make enough difference between them for katie to tell what she said. (ex: mall/mull, fail/fell). in ot we did e stim and worked on pronation, which is the movement gen needs to dip food from a bowl and then move the spoon to her mouth. the wrist turns down and then up. to work on this today, we played yahtzee, and gen held the cup and poured out the dice for each play. this was a big first, for her to turn her wrists enough to do that, especially her left one. she has been eating using her right one, but courtney always helps her get the food on her utensil. keep in mind that things gen can do with e stim take a little time to become something she can do without it. the e stim makes the muscles feel the need to move. when they move, her brain gets the message that this is what it is supposed to feel like and look like. since she is relearning so much, this just gives her brain a helping hand. her ot therapists had a special surprise for gen and josh today: a small replica of their wedding cake, complete with gummy worms, gummy bears and pez dispensers. what fun! we thank God for all His mercies toward us, for gifted and caring therapists here, for loving and thoughtful friends back home. we are blessed indeed.

susan
ps jenny: gen says "i'm sure jon voight misspells his name all the time. sometimes i spell jerry with a "g"...and an "i"!!!

monday evening

well, the anniversary celebration went nicely. josh and gen got to eat dinner and see a movie over at the house we are using. it was so nice to be out of the hospital. i used the opportunity to see more of the town of lincoln. i saw the capitol building, the downtown area and did some general sightseeing while i tried to find my way back home. a good time was had by all. today gen worked with e stim on her arms in ot. she got to brush her teeth and put on lip gloss. in speech she got out some of the loudest and longest vocalizations her therapist has heard yet. she was very impressed. in pt we worked on sitting balance and leg strength, and then gen stood again. to accomplish this we have a gait belt on her and help her to her feet, making sure her heels stay down and her knees straighten. she holds herself upright, but she has a bit of support on at least one side via the belt and the therapist. today we had her take a step forward (by shifting her weight to one foot for her and moving her other foot for her.) eventually we helped her do a sort of two-step shift to get from the mat to the chair without the slide board. her physical therapist is still talking about getting her on the treadmill this week soon. this treadmill is set up so you can roll a wheelchair up a ramp to it, hook cables to the gait belt around the patient, lift the patient and keep them supported while their feet are on the treadmill. we are really hoping gen will get to do that this week. thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement. gen loves to hear the comments on the blog. she said for me to tell jenny, "i choose not to run."

susan