Homecoming

On Wednesday April 8th at approximately 10:45 A M Mary Scovell arrived home at 4325 North 135th Street after seven months of hospitalization. Two men in a van were parked on the street. After we drove into the driveway they promptly followed. You can imagine our concern at seeing this suspicious sight but after boldly approaching them we discovered that they were not FBI, CIA, or worst of all the Mafia! They were from Walgreens and were bearing the first homecoming gifts for Mary, a hospital bed, a walker, and a beautiful new black wheelchair before Mary could get past the living room. Once all these things were set up Mary began to take over. She walked in her walker, sat in her wheelchair and slept in her hospital bed. Her elder sister Sue then took over and started the regimen of physical exercise that we believe will be completely restore Mary's vitality. She will be having home care from an occupational therapist starting today, Saturday April 11th. After a few sessions she will then have out patient therapy probably 3 times a week. This is a big step on the road to recovery and we thank you again for all your prayers, thoughts, and acts of kindness. I certainly hope that I can keep up with the blog a little better now that Mary is here so keep in touch.

Thank you,

Jack & Sue

A new abode

Mary Scovell has just changed her address as of 18 March 2009.

Her new address is:

Rehabilitation Hospital of Wisconsin
1625 Coldwater Creek Drive
Waukesha, Wi 53188

Room 101
Room phone: 262-521-8901
cell phone: 262-844-9355

This is an acute rehabilitation unit that can promise Mary a much more intense, 7 days per week, 3 or more hours per day, rehabilitation plan.

It is a beautiful new facility with lots of therapists, lots of equipment, and a swimming pool.

website: www.rehabhospitalwi.com

Mary is getting better and is capable of walking with a walker and a little assistance. She is putting out a very good effort and we are encouraged that a complete recovery might be possible The insurance company has been giving us some trouble lately and they want to get her out of her new "very expensive" rehabilitation hospital and into our home. Sue and I want her to become as independent as possible before leaving the Rehab hospital. We feel that if she can't get the maximum recovery utilizing the physical therapist's skills it will have a very negative effect on her quality of life for the rest of her life. We are just starting to make a few changes in our house to accommodate Mary when she is released. To her credit she has already made tremendous advances. Today for the first time she both went up a ramp and climbed two steps, turned around and came back down. Those of you who saw her last December know what giant strides have been made. Today is her birthday and tomorrow she retires from MPS and goes swimming in the rehab pool for the first time. She will be coming home in the very near future so it might be a good idea to send any written correspondence to her at 4325 N. 135th St., Brookfield, WI 53005.

Thanks for all your encouragement,

Jack & Sue

Thank you from the late Watsons

Thank you Satine and all the others who have been standing by..... and by..... and by...... waiting for the rusults of Mary's tests at Froedert. These are the tests that Mary went through at the hospital. A whole spine MRI. A CT scan of the abdomin and pelvis. An Ultrasound. A lumbar puncture, and EMG, and a Bone Marrow test. RESULTS: TAH DAH! All her tests were negative and all her numbers were looking good. So they sent her back to the rehab center in Pewaukee to keep on keeping on because, no matter how slow the results, she is making good progress.

Pain and numbness in her lower extremities are disappearing after discovery at Froedtert of hematomas in the muscle tissue in the pelvis which was pressing against the nerves. Doctors stopped the blood thinners and put her on gabapentine.

Mary has made remarkable progress in strengthening her muscles during these last two weeks. She can stand for 3 minutes aided, but without a support sling. She walks 30 steps using the parallel bars with a little support from the physical therapist. She can now push herself in the wheelchair in spite of the painful hemotomas in her left arm from a previous pick line. She's back to reading novels, (one per week), doing 100 piece puzzles and playing duets with Sue at the piano.

Mary will go back to Froedtert for blood work with Dr. Atolah on Tuesday. This time the results will follow more hare like than tortoise like. That's a promise from Jack. Shucks, I've missed doing these myself!

Probes by Froedtert

Monday is always a tough day so why not just go for broke. So Mary's doctors wanted her to have the most active Monday possible so they scheduled X-Rays, MAG, a cat scan, a lumbar puncture, and several blood tests. So....... Sue will schedule a lengthy visit to Froedtert and try to seek out all the results of these tests. Tune in tomorrow for all available results. We should certainly have all the information by Wednesday.

Thanks for everything,

Jack & Sue

The road back to Froedtert

The return to Froedtert! This week end Mary is spending a few days at Froedtert to have some additional testing done since having a few unusual symptoms relating to experiencing ski n tingling and various skin patches on her hands and legs that felt “tough” or leathery. the doctors also wanted to run a series of tests that they hope might shed some light on the problems that Mary developed after her chemotherapy treatments. There are still many unanswered questions that the doctors at Froedtert are anxious to probe. So Mary will be located in the Neurological wing of the hospital for the next three or four days. The doctors were very encouraged by the progress that Mary had made physically since going to the Heartland Care Center. There was even some talk of bringing her back to Froedtert for her physical and occupational therapy in their advanced classes where she might be able to get even more therapy.

I will try to do a better job keeping up with the blog now that the hectic holidays are grinding to a halt. Just keep those heart felt prayers and positive thoughts vibrating the airways and have a happy new year.

Love,

Jack and Sue

the road to Social Security

On Tuesday January 6th Sue and I went to register Mary for Social Security Disability pay.
The visit encouraged us and we hope that Mary will be able to count on this additional support. We will probably not know anything for about two months.

Lots of paper work. Reminds me of teaching.

Keep those cards, letters, encouragement, and prayers coming.

Jack & Sue

progress

On Monday January 5th we were invited to a family council meeting with some of the staff at Heartland. The meeting included Jen, the RN manager, Ashley the Social Worker, Danny the Physical Therapist, Mary, Jack & Sue. We discovered that Aetna Insurance was not being given accurate updates on Mary’s progress. She is making excellent progress. Examples of her progress include: 1. No more need of the hoyer to get to the wheel chair. 2. She can slowly push herself in the wheelchair (this is just beginning). 3. She will start riding a bike using both arms and feet. 4. She has begun to play the piano using an easy reading book. 5. She gets a total of 2 and one half hours of PT, OT, and speech daily. 6. She plays solitaire but so far doesn’t win. 7. Plays Imagineiff and Rumicube.

It's great to keep in touch with the people who work with Mary.

Jack & Sue