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

difficulties

Mary has been experiencing numbness in her right leg for two weeks. On January 3rd the numbness had spread to her finger tips and the palm of her right hand. She is also experiencing some pain in her right leg and Mary has begun to worry about the problem. It's difficult to move up from ground level zero.

Thanks for your support.

Jack & Sue

Therapy, a long road

Since the move to the Heartland Care Center Mary has had daily Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy and it is paying off. You must understand that after reaching the point of zero strength caused by disease, chemotherapy, infections, seizures, 3 months in bed, much of the time being sedated, the road to recovery will take a very long time. We are encouraged by the progress that the therapists have helped Mary accomplish. It is hard to imagine that Mary cannot yet stand without assistance, dress herself, and take care of the most fundamental necessities. But at last we can begin to see the very real possibilities of Mary once again becoming the productive capable human being that she once was. Each time we go to visit she is able to demonstrate new skills and capabilities that she could not perform one month ago. A caring, capable, staff at both Froedtert and Heartland are to be commended for all their efforts and abilities.

Prayers and concerns have been a great support.

Jack and Sue

Christmas Day

On Christmas day Mary was visited by the staid, introspective, meditative Watson family. Jack, Sue, Emily, Tim, Elizabeth, Shane, and Tori. We served Mary leftovers from Christmas dinner while we watched her eat ham, bean casserole, peas, sweet potatoes, garlic potatoes, pineapple, hot mulled cider and Christmas cookies. After these exciting moments we all gathered around the table for a rousing game of imagineiff. We played until Mary was so tired that she had to concede the game. I’m pretty sure that I won but my memory of the game is slightly muddled. Everyone went home feeling all the warm joys of Christmas in their innards.

Merry Christmas from the Watson household.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was capped by an exciting rollicking visit from the Jim and Lee Anne Scovell family with whom anything can happen. Crowded around Mary’s bed were Jim, Lee Anne, Jenny, Shon, Anna , Nate, Katie, Jeremy, Sarah, Brook and Mousse (One of the world’s largest living dogs.) I don’t think that there was much dancing because of the space but I’m sure that there was a lot of singing, good food and good creative conversation designed to raise the spirits. I know that Mary had a great time because she told me that she did and I know that she is looking forward to the next visit.

Merry Christmas