Getting better and better while our life moves ahead…

Niki played tennis in a tournament on Friday and Saturday.  She may not have come away with any trophies, but she did a great job!  She was exhausted, playing in 94 degree heat for 2 hours and it was so good for her to continue playing and doing her best under less than comfortable circumstances.  I was so proud of her. I wish I had more time and wasn’t such a clutz.  I hope that I can find someone that will take an interest in helping her to improve her tennis game.

After the last match, we headed home and packed for another trial stay in a hotel for Grandma.  Hooray!!!  She only woke us at about 3:00, when she couldn’t figure out how to turn on her music and again about 6:00 when she had dropped her hearing aid i the bathroom and couldn’t find it.  She got up and drew a picture of us in the swimming pool, sometime in the night.  But, she didn’t need our help to orient herself in the room.   This is TRULY a triumph!!!  It was only a few weeks ago that she would get up about every hour and need our help, each time.  She IS continuing to improve and she and I have decided to show everyone how this recovery business really works………it IS a RECOVERY, you know!!  ***satisfied little chuckle**

Stefi, Mom and I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Montrose and had a lovely time.  The pool was a little chilly.  But, Mom was a champ and dealt with it well.  We spent over an hour in the pool both last night and this morning, doing exercises that stimulate every aspect of moving and function.  She even worked for several minutes on an exercise machine that used her arms and legs at the same time.  She also sat on an exercise ball and kept her balance the entire time.  I’m so very proud of her and the effort that she’s willing to put forth for herself.  She is a remarkable woman and I’m so glad that she has taken the Power of Positive Thinking to heart and has such a strong sense of self and owning the responsibility for her self.  There really have been very few moments that she hasn’t been up for whatever I thought would help.  In the pool, we played catch with a wet washrag and she is doing much better at throwing with her left hand and arm.  She is walking backwards in the pool, now and keeping her balance.  She can run in the water for at least 2 or 3 minutes at a time.  We worked hard on the understanding of time and the clock, today.  This is hard for Mom.  But, she’s doing so much better than at first.   She is fighting the urge NOT to use her left eye, at all.  So she is wearing a patch over the right eye to keep her from shutting her left eye.  As long as the patch is on, shutting the left eye doesn’t seem to be a problem, at all.  This worries me.  She needs both of her eyes to have the best balance and function.

She still occasionally gets a little mixed up.  I think that she was so focused on trying to make the trip to Branson, that she thought we’d already begun the trip, yesterday.  It was a little disappointing to her when she realized that we weren’t on our way.  She also thought that the only reason we WEREN’T on our way was because she wasn’t ready, instead of the fact that the reunion just isn’t for a couple more weeks.  I think she understands now that if the reunion was NOW, we’d be on our way.  I think she’ll do fine.

Thanks, as always, for your prayers.  I’m pretty tired and have little moments of double, but for the most part I’m hanging in there.  I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.  The girls are wonderful and rarely have to be reminded how important what we are doing is in the big picture.  They know that what they are dong has to be making God smile.

Love you for reading.  Hugs, M