Bob Goes to DBHS Homecoming!

Dear Friends and Fans, (ha!)

As you can see by the pictures, the "Top Brahma" went home for DBHS Homecoming Game. We can't thank Denis Paul (the current Lead Brahma), Susan, and Jon for making it possible for Bob to see his beloved Brahmas up close and personal. What grand treatment he received! We were so moved by Denis's thoughtfulness. Denis had the signboard in front of the school announcing Bob's return and Jon arranged for the cart to drive the Bob down to the field. (Thank goodness, too! I needed the cart more than Bob.) They stopped in front of the stands and announced his return to the crowds of millions and Bob "doffed" his gift cap just like old times! It was wonderful to see old friends who stopped by the end zone to say hi to Bob. It was wonderful! Terri Taco and I couldn't were so moved by the warm welcome given to Bob. He loved watching the game and stayed up, even though it was late. Wow! He was pretty awesome, if I say so myself! Bob and Terry told me that the only bad part was my driving to the game (AND we got caught in traffic). Hmmm! Well, signing off for now!

Much love to all,

Sharon

Terry Taco Talks About The Bob

October 8, 2009

Terry Taco signing in...I'm here for a week as Shadi is in Nova Scotia attending a wedding and enjoying time with her husband Bill.

The time is going so fast, i want to let you in on

WHAT I KNOW.......

1. Bob's smile brightens anyone's day.

2. He's my hero.

3. Bob walks up and down 13 steps to get to their 2nd floor bedroom and study room.

4. He lifts his legs high as he marches and bounces on a trampoline.

5. He walks barefoot on the carpeted hallway walking quickly (almost a run)....watch the video!

6. Bob listens to morning prayers from the Jesuits, Prairie Home Companion and News from Walls Street Journal.

7. 90% of the time Bob cooperates......the other 10 he'll let you know:)

8. Bob has great new team member, Rick, to help & support .....he is so positive and loves the Bob too!

9. Bob is saying more and more full sentences....one i loved....when asked where would he like to fly if he could go anywhere, he replied, "I would fly to Nova Scotia". I think he misses Shadi:)

10. Shadi & Sharon have set up an amazing "DAY" for Bob.....he is making amazing progress.

11. Almost forgot.....Bob walks 1/2 mile around their neighborhood cul-de-sac.

Keep sending your prayers and "CARDS" they both are helping his miraculous healings.

Tomorrow after PT & OT and some rest we'll take on a Diamond Bar football game and then a trip to the condo.......it's a full plate......lovin it!

Terry Taco

Bob,Sharon, Shadi's, and Toddi's Excellent September Adventures!

Stay tuned! This page is STILL under construction! We have LOTS to share about Bob's steady progress. I'll add text later - just wanted to get some good pics of the Bob and Friendout!

Meet Shadi, Toddi, and the Bob!

Hi there!

We thought you might want to see a picture of the newest members of our household: Shadi (my twin), and Toddi (little Hot Toddi Corkrum), our new cairn terrier. Yes, the first photo is of Bob with my twin and Toddi.

Oh, in case I didn't tell you, my twin has 20 years of special education background. Guess what? Many of her students were also aphasic and apraxic. How seredipitous! God works in mysterious ways! Anyways, we're a good tag team. I get Bob up, showered, dressed and fed and then hand him over to Shadi. She shuttles him to OT, PT, ST AND then teaches him the rest of the day. AND, she gives him OT and walks him in Lowes. She keeps the house neat and tidy (including laundry). Then, we trade off when I get home and I cook dinner, clean up, get Bob ready for bed and prepare Bob's bathroom for his morning shower (non-skid mats, towels, bench, scrubbers, shaver, waterpik, toothbrush), lay out his clothes in the sequence in which he dresses, and set the table for breakfast so that he can serve himself. (Everything has to be prepared for one-hand use.) We have a pretty workable system - I get up at 5:30 and we're dressed and downstairs by 6:50 am. Did you notice that I said downstairs? YES! Bob is able to go up and down the stairs with an escort (me or Shadi).

Toddi joined our family the day after Josh took his dog back to New York. I was so sad and just a tearful mess. So my sisters, the Witches of East Highland, did their thing and found Toddi through a cairn rescue. She's two and simply adorable and yes! She is the queen of the house. Somehow, she seems to know that Bob is injured. She barks when he gets out of bed and I'm not close by and she follows him when he walks around the house.Toddi loves her some Bob and Shadi. So do I!

Here's a photo of Bob with Jeanie and Shadi (2 sisters out of 3).

Enough for now! Bob's sawing logs and I need to get ready for tomorrow, but stay tuned! I have lots to tell you about Bob's adventures and progress. I promise to be more current. Thank you all for your cards, emails, calls, shout-outs. We realllllllllly love them and appreciate them. I'm sorry for not getting back to you but know that I love hearing from you.

Warmly,

Sharon and the Bob . . . with Shadi :) (Can you tell us apart?)

Why Me? Who Knows? (video of Bob walking)

Dear Friends and Fambly,

You're probably wondering where we've been???? Sorry, we've had some major changes in our lives and that's kept us pretty busy--too tired to write. I returned to work on August 31. WHAT? You know the song, "We work hard for the money??" Well, while money isn't the end, it does pay the bills and provides insurance and we are very grateful that my company allowed me to stay home with Bob this long. It was a very difficult decision since Bob is still in the initial phase of his recovery and I couldn't have done this if my twin hadn't moved in to take over Bob's caregiving, speech, OT and PT during the day. Bob and I are forever indebted to Shadi and Dr. Bill Letson for allowing Shadi to take a "leave of absence" from your home in Korea to help us.

Yes, my twin, Shadi finally arrived! She flew in on a westerly and settled in a little over a month ago to help me with the Bob while I returned to work. Thank God, she's here. Two things: caregiving is HUGE (who knew) AND the quiet in the house all day, except for my being "nagging teacher" and my mindless nattering (which was beginning to annoy me, let alone, the Bob) is overwhelmingly quiet. I'm used to making ALOT of noise and having Bob at least say "um hum" or "let's think about it, Sharon", or anything to acknowledge my deeply philosophical nonsensical observations.

Shadi's presence and work with Bob has made the world of difference for us. Before her arrival, I felt like I was holding my breath every day, waiting for this bad "movie" to be over. I was so sad and though I really, really tried to be happy and upbeat, my heart and soul was heavy. I missed my old Bob, I missed everything that was. Okay, well maybe there were a couple of things I didn't miss like taxes, but I did miss almost everything else. You see, although small miracles occurred every day, when you're deep into recovery and caregiving work, we couldn't see them clearly, and my oh my, it felt like we were moving at a snail's pace.

Speech is still Bob's challenge (or pain). We are so hopeful and positive, however, because he is generating more language. It is still difficult and my heart aches as he struggles to find the words. Before Shadi arrived, he couldn't stick with a thought or find words. Shadi works with Bob for 2.5 hours of intensive speech/language aphasia and apraxia treatment and OMG, what a HUGE difference! When she arrived, he mostly said "yes" and "no". Well, now, he is learning to string words to make sentences. And guess what? Bob and I have meaningful conversations every night when I tuck him in bed. It isn't the style of conversations that we had before the stroke, but it's way more than yes/no. I'll lie beside him and hold hands in the dark and we talk, really talk, about our feelings and memories. I cherish those 20-30 minutes every night!Now, he'll try to work around the words until he finds what he wants to say. The other night he asked me, "Why me?" and honestly, I didn't have a good answer except what he would have said to me, "There is no good answer. I don't know why it happened to you, to us. It is what it is so we just have to deal with it." But I would be lying if I didn't say that I had to fight to hold back tears.

Here are a few Bobisms:

• Upon my commenting that he seems to be speaking a little more and asking to what he would attribute the change, he said, "I would cite Shadi".
• Today, in response to my blubberings about missing the dog, Bob said, "I am sad but I am all out of tears."

PT and OT are still going fabulously: His PT has him walking without a cane during PT. It's scary for him but he just trusts and does. I love him so much for his wonderful spirit.

Oops! Have to start dinner. More later!

Bob Speaks!

To all of Bob's Friends and Family:

Spontaneous recovery of speech following a stroke is a miracle to behold!  Bob's brain's language center is beginning to awaken and daily we see improvement in his speech production.   He attends Speech Sessions once or twice a week with the rehab therapists, BUT he has 5 days of 2.5 hours intensive language with me daily and I'm here to tell you that he is making positive progress.  He is immersed in a language and laughter rich environment with ALL of the sisters here now and while WE have to be conscious to speak slowly and to allow Bob lots of opportunities to speak (this is real work with the Chambers sisters constantly talking, but we're working on it), we have noticed more from Bob each day.  He, of course, doesn't see the difference because he wants to have full, deep, philosophical discussions and conversations, but those days will come and they'll come soon, I know because there is no order of difficulty in miracles.  The other thing is that once he returns to those professional, philosophical or political conversations he'll have to find other speaking buddies, because we like to talk about beauty products, shoes, hair, cosmetics, etc., and those other subjects are Oh-so-boring to us mental lightweights.   But for now, he's learning a lot about girl stuff.  And yes, we let Bob get in words in between the female verbal din.  I wanted to share with you all some newsworthy, unadulterated, Bobisms spoken by the Bob over the past week:

After breakfast and before going to therapy:    "I desire to have my hair coiffed".

In response to a question he didn't understand:  "Perdone?"

When his answer is "no", be begins his statement with "Au contrair".

To Jeff walking around while all were waiting for him to sit so we could begin to eat dinner:     "Jeff, I wish you'd get off your .... high horse".

Upon being rudely awakened from slumber and noticing that Sharon and Izumi were not in sight:    "Is Sharon's dog alright?"

When I asked Bob if he needed anything:  "Yes, I would like a drink".

Following a particularly tedious session with the Rehab Speech/Language Path at Loma Linda and on the drive home:   "Shadi, I would like to vacate -- no -- postpone our speech today and play games".  (We have speech on top of speech but games sounded more fun!)

To the particularly tedious rehab speech path who wouldn't stop perseverating about 'root crops -- potatoes, beets, carrots, etc.':  "I wish you would get off of that".  (I was thinking the same).

In response to Sharon's enquiry about her uncombed hair style:  "It sucks".

In response to Sharon's greeting to Bob 'Hi pee pee':  "Hi doo-doo".

To his Angels, the physical therapist and occupational therapist:  "I just want to tell you thank you for everything."

So, Bob  is beginning to initiate speech -- slowly, yes, but more each day.  These are Bob's words spoken in context, semantically and syntactically correct, and with no prompting! Hooray! Your prayers are helping.  I see Sharon regaining trust in the Universe as she observes the miracles of Bob's recovery and I see Bob regaining his sense of self and confidence that he is recovering.   Their love for each other is undeniably beautiful and healing for both of them.

They spent the weekend relaxing with Saturday being a day of beauty and spa -- two hours of massage and range of motion for Bob and hanging out at the resort pool with the family including Terry Taco who is a wonderful support for Sharon and Bob.   Thank you to all who continue to support and love my twin and brother-in-law.  We couldn't do it without you.

Yes, Bob, It's Really August!

Dear Friends, The last week was a yo-yo week for us - lots of ups and downs. Bob is recognizing that progress is s-l-o-w in coming (it's only been 3.75 months but feels like a lifetime). He's walking short distances with his single point cane but his therapist told him that she 

wants to break a habit that's starting (a limp) and that he'll need to strengthen his right hip and practice form on the walker again (he doesn't want to go back to the walker). He saw that as a back step and coupled with negligible (in his eyes) improvement in 

speech, he was disheartened and broke down for the first time since his stroke and that made me cry too. I can only imagine if it was me who was going through this and I couldn't talk and how I'd react (a raging crazy woman).

     The good news is that Shadi arrived and is helping me and she's supplementing his speech lessons daily (he was tired of me) so god-willing, we will see bigger changes. He just needs a few miracles in speech and soon!

     PT and OT are going strong and he's making big progress (I've included a couple of pictures from his therapies):

• Bob walked up and down a flight of 17 stairs not just once, but twice during PT. I was a wreak and exhausted for him.
  
• He is learning to do "fall recovery" (get up from the ground). More exhausting! Shadi needed a nap after witnessing that.
  
• He's getting more movement from his biceps and triceps -small but important. They're reviving! 
  
• You can see that his new hand/arm brace arrived and that helps to flex his hand so that the hands and fingers won't freeze.
  
• Bob getting his first drink of water from the water fountain at OT (with lots of assistance, of course).  
• Putting his arm around me for the first time in 3 months. We (Bob, his OT, Shadi, and I) all burst out crying at that accomplishment.  
• Bob opening a cupboard door (with assistance, but still a first).
  

     

After that peak and valley week, I figured we needed happy times and hauled him down to my sister's (in San Diego) for the weekend where he got two massages, which I think, uplifted his spirits. (He did say that the best part of the weekend was "getting on the mat" and he invited Jeanie up to our place and told her to bring the mat.) We went to dinner on Coronado on Friday night and saw fireworks on the bay and then to dinner in La Jolla on Saturday night. Oh yes, Bob was a wreak from my driving--and I mean an anxious mess! Go figure? The Witches of East Highland (my sisters) are super (as you can see in the photos). Sonia is demonstrating the new Hoyer lift (how we get Bob in and out of their pool. Whoo-hoo!

      I'm grateful for his resilience. He just pulls it back together and takes another step forward.  Please, please, pray for his speech to improve ALOT and SOON!  Pray for speech recovery!

Love to all,

Sharon