Boy, You've Got to Carry that Weight...........

Jon showing Jonathan that Paul's left arm needs the workout. Paul ties his shoes as he gets ready to start.





href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1880/1864/320/excersice1.jpg"> Paul starts with a 2lb weight first.









Jonathan helps lift Paul's left arm







Jonathan supporting Paul









Paul makes his way over an obstacle - there's plenty of those around our house!















On Monday, Paul had his follow up appointment with his neurologist. He picked his blue jeans to wear and as we came down the stairs, he stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and than pointed to his waistline. His pants were almost ready to fall past his hips! I got him a belt and had to put another hole in it so that he could use it. We have a long road ahead of us in this aspect, but Paul did add one more pound last week. I know his activity has really increased, so we will find ways to add more calories. Like I said before, I don't want to hand back one single pound.

The neurologist from Shepherd Hospital was the doctor who was doing the follow up appointment. He was glad to see there was improvement in Paul's memory. He did some verbal tests to see how long Paul could retain different pieces of information. There was significant improvement since Paul had left Shepherd Hospital. He told us to use Alleve for Paul's headaches instead of Tylenol, as he felt that we needed an anti-inflammatory medicine to relieve the pain. He said that with 5 fractures to the skull, Paul will experience headaches. It will remain to be seen if Paul will have them for a long time to come. The doctor wanted to use Alleve before prescribing any
thing stronger. He also prescribed another medicine that is supposed to help Paul stay awake more easily and to be more focused. It is called Provigil. We are to use the sample packet for the week to see if it is effective or not. We used it yesterday for the first time and Paul was able to get by with only an afternoon nap. He not only woke up by himself, he actually started to come downstairs before I knew he was awake. Thank goodness we have creaking floors and steps. I quickly met him and made sure he got down the steps safely. He is at a high risk of falling and I don't want a repeat of last month. Paul also had more ability to sustain a conversation. He actually initiated some of them. We were driving to St. Stephen's to do our walk and he looked over at me and asked "What are you thinking?" I told him I was actually praying and asking God to help me do His will (which I seem to do a lot!) and then asked Paul what he was thinking. He said "Nothing really, just wondering what you were thinking." At dinner, Paul had been resting while waiting for Jon to come home from work and again, just got up and started to come downstairs. He has always waited until we come get him, so he is initiating more. The great part is that his movement is now in the opposite direction............out of bed!!

We did not have any therapy on Monday since we didn't get home until 1 p.m. On Monday evening Jonathan Tarantino came over to help Paul with some upper body strengthening excercises. He wanted to help Paul gain strength in his left arm and shoulder area. He brought 2 and 3 pound weights. Paul's newest thing is to ask questions and when Jonathan asked him to stand, Paul asked why. Jonathan told him he was going to help him with lifting weights. Paul asked why. It was explained to him that he had lost a lot of weight and needed to build up his endurance and strength and Paul said, "You're probably right." He stood up and Jonathan worked with Paul for about a half an hour. The thing that struck me was how gentle and caring Jonathan was as he helped his best friend. He did not rush any of the excercises and patiently explained to Paul what they were doing and why they were doing it every time Paul asked why. This was an act of love on Jonathan's part and the next day as I shared this with my sister Beverly, I started to cry because it is such a beautiful thing God has given us. Pure and simple love to share. It has permeated every day in our lives since the accident, in the most visible ways. I pray that everyone who has been a part of this will walk away with more than we have received in their giving. While I try to convey the impact you have all made in our lives, it is only the tip of the iceberg. You don't have enough time to read all that I could write about the signs and wonders of God's love as He has answered all the prayers for our family. Rest assured, God will show it to you personally some day.

Yesterday, Pam (speech therapist) worked intensively on Paul's swallowing. She did thermo therapy. A metal instrument is kept in a glass of ice until it is freezing cold and then it is used to rub the back of each side of Paul's throat inside of his mouth. I thought it would cause him to gag, but it didn't. That is a sign that Paul's muscles are weak. She rubbed the left side only, since the right side did respond quickly to the therapy. What happens is that after the throat is rubbed, there is a delay in a natural swallowing action. For Paul, the average amount of time in between the rubbing motion and then the swallow was 22.5 seconds. It should be more like 5 seconds. The therapist rubbed 10 times each time, with a total of 10 repetitions. The times were recorded and then an average obtained. It took Paul 61 seconds after one round, which brought up his average score. Most of the reaction times were around 15-18 seconds. The therapist also did magnetic stimulation to Paul's muscles. She will be here today to continue this therapy. While she also works on Paul's cognitive skills, she is concentrating on the throat muslces first so that Paul's muslces will strengthen fully and then he can move on to all cognitive drills. Paul stayed very alert throughout it all and he was the one writing down the times to be averaged. He did not ask to lay down when it was over, which was a first.

The occupational therapist was pleased to see that Paul had added 5 more repetitions to his daily excercises for his upper body. She will be here for 1 to 2 more visits and then she will be done.

The physical therapist did some balancing excercises with Paul, which we are to continue 2 to 3 times per day. She showed me what needs to be done for Paul to advance his ability to be a lot more independent. We will need to make up obstacle courses where Paul will have to step over objects, walk arould them, stoop under them and do it all without our assitance in helping his keep his balance. We will stand by to make sure he does not fall, but cannot touch him as he maneuvers his way around. He will progress to walking outside on uneven ground and even will need to balance himself standing on a pillow, with his eyes closed. A lot of the excercises are to be practiced until he can do them with his eyes closed. It is not having his one eye patched that causes him to be off balance. It is mostly his fear of falling and he will need to do the excercises to strengthen his ankles and to gain a real sense of independence. I have said this before - it is all so very interesting as we learn about how the body works. God's creation - awesome to be sure!

I may well fit the category of looney, but I simply believe that if you look at what is placed in your pathway every day, you can easily see God's love and hand in it. I was refreshed anew yesterday at 5:30. My friend, Dee Huggins (whose son Chip also suffered a severe brain injury 19 months ago) called and told me that one of the visionaries from Medjugorje was going to be at St. Andrews Catholic Church at 5:30 to pray the rosary before the 6:00 Mass. He has been receiving daily apparitions from the Blessed Mary since 1982. He and 6 others have stayed in Medjugorje and have welcomed pilgrims who have come there over these past 24 years and are as simple and humble as they always have been. Of course, I wanted to go and be there with so many others as they prayed for Mary's intercession. I could not take Paul nor could I leave him alone, so I decided I would just be in pray with the others at this same time. I also told my mother about it and at 5:30 we started to pray the rosary, presenting our intentions. I sat on the front porch and the sun was setting in front of me. I was praying with my eyes closed and the sun shining in my face, with a wonderful warmness. I heard the wind starting to blow very hard and opened my eyes to watch the trees blowing. I noticed that there were about 10 birds on my lawn and on the bird feeder, and they were not scared away by my close proximity and the fact that I was praying out loud. It was so peaceful a moment and I know that while we are always in God's presence, I was given such a visual sign of it. It was like all of nature was welcoming our Blessed Mother from heaven. I could not help but have tears of joy running down my face because my heart was bursting with joy. I was thinking of all the people who keep sharing their stories with us, sharing their prayers with us, sharing their lives with us. It is sometimes just too big to hold onto, and I have to release it through my tears. Michael drove up and joined me in the last 2 decades of the rosary and then we came inside and sat in front of the crucifix and prayed in thanksgiving for all our blessings.

It is my prayer for you today that your heart will sing a new song unto the Lord and that you will FEEL THE JOY of the love of God, to the point of bursting! Nothing can fill you like the Word of God or His wonders. May this Lenten season bring you a deeper awareness of God and may our love of Jesus Christ, who has shown us the way of these 40 days, grow more perfectly with each passing day.

Joyfully yours in Christ,
Jon and Rebecca Fidero