Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Sun. July 5th Recovery: Martin Crane

Friday Jeff was given the use of a quad cane to use instead of the walker. Picture TV's Fraser Crane's father (Martin) with his cane and you have an accurate visual of Jeff walking around the house. Plus it is painted bright yellow. I am anticipating that all these aides will be used at one time or another in our future. Did we go out to see the fireworks? Well we all pooped out. BBQd hamburgers and hot dogs with chili seemed more in line with our mood.

We have a gym mat where he does his exercises. I'm not sure how to describe it, but imagine being on all 4s then extending opposite limbs without falling. Gayle is looking into water therapy for Jeff. One thought was to purchase one of the above ground pools. When you add it up, it seems to be more effective cost and practical wise to find a program vs. the pool.

One side benefit to this is that we are spending more time as a family together. The boys congregate in Jeff's room to watch either the Simpson's or Dodgers. We eat more meals together and do more chores together. We still worry about his jaunts out of the house without us. Tiff takes him out for errands to make him walk. They gradually take longer trips. Judy pops in to take them to dinner. We hope by the end of the month he can take longer trips. But the parental pangs of protectiveness often creeps up. What if he falls and we are not there? Do they know what to do? Of course most of the time we are over reacting.

Gayle is in need of her breaks. Spending all day with the boys sometimes drives her crazy (and vice versa). Her buddies from high school all have these pedometers and the goal is 10,000 steps per day. Her diversion is to reach her daily goal. One of her friends hit 115 yesterday. They did better today with their weekend walk at the beach.

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