6 months on July 5th

I spent last evening shedding a few tears as I went through all the emails I have received since Gord's stroke. Over the last 6 months I have never deleted anything except for advertising etc. Last night seemed to be the right time to start cleaning up things and when I opened my email and checked, I had 20 pages of emails that had accumulated. On hotmail you have to delete one by one so I started re reading all the messages and to my surprise it was like I had never seen them before. So I want to say to all the faithful followers of the blog and all the folks who emailed wonderful supportive messages to Gord and myself, THANK YOU. If I didn't answer you, I apologize. It is interesting that this 6 month marker is so significant to me - and no one has told me anything about how long it would take to adjust to our new situation or anything. I am discovering by myself that 6 months is what it takes to find life again. At least for me it has taken that long. I also have come to terms with the financial outlay that I have to face - and let me tell you, getting sick in the USA is expensive! I also realize that travel insurance companies are happy to take your money but reluctant to pay out claims. It has been a very unsettling time for us getting to some conclusion on this. But it is done. Time to move and simplify our life.
What the future holds is still not known but we will take it one day at a time with a tentative future plan in place with all sorts of alternatives. One thing I do know is that being in this cabin through the Winter is NOT on the list.
So thanks for listening...
Love to you all
Sheila

Summer holidays!!!

I think we are having the best summer weather - consistently - that I can ever remember at the lake. Each day we wake up to get ready to drive up to therapy, the sun is shining for us and the scenery is just spectacular. Or is it just me and my joy at being able to bring Gord home in the afternoons and enjoy the summer evenings - every day. I am hoping this works for us for the summer. The Doctor at the center seems to endorse the idea as this is good for Gord's mental health. Gord has a big smile on his face every time we arrive home and he walks through the door and is greeted by that beautiful view over the lake. What foresight he had way back about 1974 or so when he bought this property and put his heart and soul into building an awesome comfortable cabin that has become our permanent home.

Now that the BIG DREAM (Motorhome) has moved out of the new garage, the ping pong table has now been installed thanks to Steven and Rita. The planter boxes are painted to match the garage and planted with flowers thanks to Mike and Linda. Just pray the deer don't find the flowers tasty for breakfast.

I will post a picture in the next day or so. We are home until the day after Canada Day and then back to work for Thursday and Friday. I kind of like that schedule!

NEWS FLASH:

Our 40 foot Itasca Ellipse diesel pusher motorhome is for sale....time to get things moving....so it is now down in Calgary at Diamond RV. It is in immaculate condition and all the kinks worked out...low mileage....only driven 3 times last summer. Call Glen Barreth at 403-560-3488 if you know anyone who may be interested!!!!!!
Email me at sheilabosch@hotmail.com if you want more information. I can't find a picture at the moment.

ALSO:
Condo in Maui is going on the market soon. Gord has requested this so I am going to follow through. Again, if anyone is interested in waterfront building - 6th floor - fabulous view....call our agent Lydia Pedro toll free at 1 800 451 6759 or email
lydiapedro@era.com
Lydia has pictures she can send if you know anyone who is interested.

Have a great weekend...

Love
Sheila

We are now Wii'ing

Gord has now graduated to the balance board using the Wii Fit program AND tried bowling this weekend as you can see from the photo. Check out the position of the ball....I think he got a strike on this one. Daniel is sitting on the table cheering him on....and in the background you can see this room is the playroom and my desk and very messy library. Herein lies the second biggest project I have...Gord first, then sorting through papers and books. Some day...

I am also showing you one of many cakes Gord will be eating over the next couple of days. We had a celebration on Sunday for Father's Day and the birthday with Stacy, Andres and Daniel. Dale joined us for dinner and we had a great time.

The third photo is the Halvar Jonson Center or Centennial Center at Ponoka taken from the back road in. You can see how remote it is and it actually sits in quite a pretty setting.

Today is Monday and we are home until Wednesday morning. It feels good to just stay HOME and putter. Gord's plan for today is to walk walk walk as much as he can outdoors. I think the rain has stopped for a bit. Hard to believe we are in a drought!

I am going to attempt to paint 4 planters and then actually put plants in them. Wish me luck - I am not the painter in the family - Gord is so I am hoping he will wander over to the garage and advise me.

June 15, 2009

I wanted to share with you all a couple of pictures of Gord in his OT therapy with Angie. Just about every day she hooks him up with electrodes on the muscles in his right arm to stimulate movement. He still cannot make any movement himself but we are going to keep trying. You can see the fingers lifting up in one of the shots. He is getting back to the normal Gord and actually putting some weight on so he looks more healthy. I am also going to try to include a video I took last night of him walking on the parallel bars without touching them. He looks very serious but that is because he is working so hard to concentrate on this task. Have a good day...no, a great day... Love Sheila

The Great Escape

You should have seen the look on Gord's face Thursday when I said "let's go" we're going home for the weekend. I cancelled his Friday classes as he was a little "down" and the only way I could think of to cheer him up was to put the top down in the little car, get him in somehow and go "home". He perked up and when he discovered he could actually lower himself into the car he was ecstatic! We drove home to the lake in 25 degree weather, sun shining, wind blowing through our hair.....heaven.....
Needless to say he now realizes that I can create miracles. Finally.

We are home for a long weekend. One of the first of many during this summer. I have booked him off for his birthday June 23rd Tuesday. He will have the whole weekend, Monday and Tuesday. I thought that was appropriate since this is the first birthday of his new life. Worth celebrating!

We will also be home for the weekend and Mon Tues before July 1st Canada day( we will be home Wed too). So come on over for a visit all you lake people! He loves visitors.

Does anyone know of a ping pong table that is available? We now have a huge garage space available and I thought a ping pong table would be great as it is good balance for Gord and he will be able to play with his left hand. If there is one out there, available and close to Sylvan Lake let me know. We will challenge anyone to a game.

The weather is finally summer and is so inspiring for going for walks etc. WE LOVE the freedom of summer and this area really is so beautiful with all the green fields and rolling hills. We concurred on our drive home yesterday that this is why we live here (in the summer).

And.....if anyone out there has information or experience with sleep apnea please let us know your story. The reason Gord got so down yesterday was because the respiratory therapist came in, and fitted his face with a mask that he is supposed to wear at night. He just went immediately into a funk....boy can he make facial expressions! He was just NOT buying into this idea and I think he was thinking...what more can I deal with???? He hates anything on his face...fear of suffocation. When I took him home we left the machine by his bed at the center to deal with next week. Apparently he has mild apnea and it is "positional"...as in if he lies on his back be stops breathing but on his side he is ok. So guess what....he sleeps on his side now as much as he can.

All for now....hope your weather is as good as ours this weekend.

Love
Sheila

Gord's Goals

Upon our arrival back to Ferintosh House on Monday, apparently it was time to redo our goals. After some thought with Fiona, our physiotherapist, we decided to abandon the wheelchair in about 2 weeks, throw away the 4 prong cane, and work toward walking without support. We will work into it using the single cane over the next while and on occasions where there is uneven ground etc. we will have the 4 pronger for extra back up. The BIG challenge is to be able to walk Stacy down the aisle on her wedding day July 24th with her father at her side independent of a cane. I know I keep repeating that but we HAVE to set goals to keep our sanity. I am going to attempt to upload a short video of Gord walking. Talk soon, Love Sheila

Cozy by the fireplace ..... in June!

I arrived home to a very cold and wet Calgary, drove to Halvar Jonson, went directly to Gord's room to look for him and when he was not around, I started to pack up his laundry and guess who appeared behind me with the most joyous greeting! His 2pm physio had been cancelled and he was free to leave right at that moment....so off we went - two happy people.
Over the weekend Kevin, Curtis and Ralph decided to put Gord's newly created dock (as of last Fall) into the water for us so we can receive visitors by boat over the summer. Believe me, that was the last thing I thought I would ever see again. I am sending you a picture of Gord wrapped in blankets at the top of the hill looking down (supervising) the boys down at the dock. The ladies with him are Donalda and Cheryl. He can now see this from his bedroom. Beautiful!
Gord is doing great. His walking is improving, his right arm is getting a lot of tightening (which is not so good at this point but we will work on it), and his speech is coming along. Everyone that speaks with him remarks on the improvement in his communications. All in all very positive.
Well, it is Sunday and Gord is about to get up from his nap so I am going to light the fireplace since the temperature just dropped from 20 degrees to 5!!!!! This country is truly amazing. Got to stay positive...positive....positive....
Love to all,
Sheila

Excited to get home

Well, I am just about to hop on the plane and head back to Calgary to pick up the truck and drive up to Ponoka. Gord emailed me yesterday and says he is looking forward to my getting there to pick him up. I imagine he has progressed a lot in the time I have been away and we have spoken a few times on the phone. I miss him a lot and apparently he has a tear or two when he hangs up from our calls.
This has been a very difficult time for me but I have accomplished a lot and it was worthwhile coming.
I am sending you a picture of my goal for Gord around Dec. Jan. I invite him to walk this beach with me.
Talk soon,
Love
Sheila