Trust

Not sure if I ever described how we cut Ada's finger and toe nail, but it was not an easy task until now.
With her using the iPad, I had asked Karec to see if she can cut Ada's nail, just the index finger nail. Karec managed to do that, but just one. So I asked Stacy if she would be able to do so with the rest of the nails. Stacy closed the door behind her. It is her way to tell Ada that mom won't get involve. She did it. Hum... how about her toe nail? Stacy closed the door and she got it done.
The next day, I asked Stacy if she would shave Ada's arm pit. This is the ultimate test because she won't let anybody touch that area for a long time. Guess what? It's done.
I remember the old saying about Trust. It is something you earn. I think Stacy just earned it from Ada. At the same time, Ada had learned about Trust again.
And we shall live happily together again.

Love, Laugh, Eat and Sandy

Sorry, I haven't written for a while but all are good for Ada. She is as happy as she can be. She smiles and laughs a lot. She gives us kisses and let me hug her . Oh, I really miss hugging and kissing her, it had been a while. Now that is is getting colder, we like to stay in bed, cuddle and laugh together.
Last month Ada's aunt came from Thailand for a visit. I had a chance to attend a Polymer Clay Retreat at Mammoth Cave for a few days and I had a great time. Ada received an early Christmas gift; an iPad, and she loves it. Be able to tab on the screen with her finger is much easier than pushing the button. She has been playing spelling game and memory game. Not that she can spell yet, but she is able to match the letter by dragging it to the right place. She also like to watch me solve the Art puzzle. Those painting from Picasso seems to catch her attention. We did took her to the Museum but she did not seem to care about those paintings. I think looking at it from the computer screen must be different since we are not sure if there was any damage to her eyes. Technology is great, isn't it?
She continues to eat Honey Nut Cheerio. We add some V8 and baby food through her tube. her favorite is pea and green bean. LOL, good thing she doesn't have to taste it.
And one day Sandy called, he wanted to visit Ada, so here's Ada and Sandy hanging out. They were in Spain at the same time and travelled together with other students while they were there in Seville. Sandy showed us many pictures of Ada and she looks pretty and happy. Sandy will send me a copy and I can't wait. She was happy to see him, I think. Never know how much she can remember, so if you have time, just come by and say hello.

Ada is doing well with her Speech Pathologist, we will have more sessions next year and we might get to see her twice a month even. I got into trouble last time because I was laughing at Ada. She pretend not to understand what she was told to do. I can see Ada tried not to laugh. Oh, well, it was so cute and I can't help myself.

She is happy and I am happy, can't ask for more.

On the sad note, my friend, Ting, who lives in Australia is not doing well. Ting always leaves a comment, kind words, words of wisdom and encouragement here for us. Now she is fighting with cancer and Chemo and I wish I could be there at her side, holding her hand. Hope you feel better soon Ting.

P.S. I just found a picture of Ada, sandy and another girl. They were in Morocco.

PT

Miss Ada walking with new rolling cane. Still need a helping hand but she likes it, I think. We will order one for her. It should be fun for her to walk around the house. Her PT and I came up with the plan to bribe Ada with Reese's pieces for each lap she walk, it did not work. Ha...ha.

Then we went outside for a bike ride. She still try to figure it out, but did paddle around the parking lot a few time. There is a handle to control the front wheel. A few adjustments need to be made before it works for Ada.

After all the hard work, we stopped for lunch at McDonald. We sat in the dinning room and Miss Ada ate a handful of French Fries. We break it into small pieces, but I am glad she wants something else beside Cheerio.

Oh, last nite, Rachael and Stacy took Ada to the movie. We thought watching "Jackass" would be fun enough to keep Ada in her seat for an hour and a half, but she was done after an hour. We will try next Tuesday, $5 movie pass, may be they can watch the second half of the movie.

We are trying to take her out more. We plan to visit the zoo this Friday, they will let the caregiver in free with disable person. Children Museum, on the other hand, wants me to buy Family Plus membership. Well, there are many other places we can visit.

Auction for Ada - Round two

Round Two will start tomorrow.

More information @ www.silastones.blogspot.com

Thank you

I can't believe it

Today we took Ada to see her PT. Her nurse was with her while mom and dad were talking with the Nuero Psychologist. It is a crucial time to get everyone together, be on the same page, same schedule, in order to help Ada continue making progress. I am so glad that dad went with us today. The plan is to do fun things with Ada, to make her laugh and learn at the same time.
There are many things that Ada would do with her nurse but not for me. For example, she will pick Cheerio from the cup and eat it herself, but I have to give her Cheerio by hand or she won't eat it. I always tell Ada's nurse that I don't believe it.
And you will never guess what she did today. She got up and walked with the cane. Yes, the cane, with her nurse holding on to her. It is not a typical grandmother's cane, it looks very high tect, with 2 big wheels in the front, 2 small wheels on the back. It let her push and walk with much more control. I did not see it, so I don't believe it. :)
Now we are going to PT every Wednesday. Yeh. Everyone is so excited about Ada's progress.
We also took her to Healthplex to walk on the tract. 8 laps equal to 1 mile. She is able to walk 3 laps now. We still use Guess pass but it would be nice to be able to get her to walk there everyday, especially when it is cold.
So, if you don't have a chance to bid on any preties yet, I will have a couple of round for the Auction later. Anything help

Auction for Ada - Round one

Dear Friends
Thanks everyone who participated in the Auction for Ada last year. After, successfully, auction off have of the donated items, I realized that we paid almost 25% to Ebay. I decided to run the auction myself through my blog www.silastones.blogspot.com. Here is how you can participate.
If you would like to bid on an items, or items, you can send me an email silastones@aol.com, to tell me which item you want to bid on and how much. i will update the highest bid as it come in and will email back to you as well.
There will be a couple of rounds for auction and each will last 2 weeks. I will then contact the person with highest bid to make payment arrangement. A small shipping fee will be added to the final bid as well.
If you have any question, please do not hesitate to email me.
And if you can help spread the word through your friends as well, I would greatly appreciate it.
The Auction will begin on Saturday, September 25th, 2010 at noon and will end on Friday, October 8th, 2010 at noon (Central time).

New feeding tube, new ER

Early this month, Ada' s feeding tube came loose, so we took her to ER. It was not busy and now, instead of putting the temporary tube in her tummy, the can put a new G-tube in there. Ada has G-J tube so we have to take her back later during the week because it was a holiday weekend. The doctor came in to replace the tube and we got out of there in a record setting time; 2 hours.
Later that evening, her new tube came out again, so we went back to ER. This time we met Nurse Ann who is Ada's ER guardian angle. Ann was so happy to see Ada, she doesn't work on the floor but doing administrative work in ER. She get a new tube and pulled a doctor from somewhere to put it in. I knew he was not ER doctor because he was wearing red shirt. Anyway, we got out of there in 45 min. Amazing, isn't it? They also have different size cuffs for the blood pressure machine and it didn't beep that annoying noise. Another thing I noticed was there was a time sheet right in front of each room where the nurse has to sign every half an hour. This way no one would be left unattended for a long period of time. How genius is that? Wonder if Ann has anything to do with this.
Next week, Ada will go back to Therapy, dad and I will go talk to her Neuro Psychologist. We now have a team of therapists and doctors who will come up with a plan to work with Ada. Everyone is so excited to see what Ada can do now.
She continues to make progress, smiles and laughs a lot. Her Speech Pathologist told us it might be time to introduce the sign language to her (and to us).
We take her out as much as we can. It is still warm here but soon it will be Fall. I am gearing up on putting the rest of the donated items on auction. Hope we come up with enough money so we can get membership to the zoo and Healthplex so she have a place to go walk in Winter.

Sunday afternoon

Just a few pictures of Ada enjoying herself in the garden at IMA.

Back off

We went to see Neuro Psychologist at Rehab Clinic a few weeks ago. Everyone there was so excited to see Ada. After a long conversation, I told her that Ada can express more emotion; angry, frustration and fear, and that she always look for me when she get frustrated with something, so I always get the worse of her. Dr. suggested that I "back off" and be her mom and try not to be her therapist. I should try to get out of the house more and let Ada's nurse work with her, which usually works better when I am not around anyway.
My problem is I just can't leave her alone, always thinking that there must be something else that I can do. Since she does not get therapy except with Speech Pathologist once a month, I feel like it is up to me to help her, work with her, but may be I am wrong. In order for me to be able to take care of Ada for a long, long time, we need a break from each other.
It is not as easy as it sound, but I am thinking about moving my work table which in front of her room some where else, so I can be away when I am suppose to be away. May be I can use the room up stair when Archie moves back to Bloomington.
There are a few problems that we have to deal with this past month. First, she doesn't eat that much Cheerios like she used to, so I have to replace it with something else, second, what goes in does not always comes out. Then she has the red eye that we thought from her scratching it but it went away then came back for a day, then went away again. Always something.
Other than that she continues to boss us around and we love it when she does that.

Grant

Grant, I might say, is the only guy friend who still visit Ada. He visits when he comes back to town, from Afghanistan. Grant's mom is a good friend and genius hair dresser, she can cut my hair, (Seriously, it is not an easy task). Ada gives him a big smile and he makes her laugh. Grant got transfer to Japan which will make us sleep better at nite knowing that he is no longer be in the war zone.

Last week, Rachael and I took Ada to the movie theater. We are not sure how long she is going to sit there, so we picked the movie "Toy Story 3". Ada likes the preview, she laughed and smile d up until 3/4 of the movie, when it was kinna sad and not so excited, she pointed to the door. I took her out, walked around then went back in but she was not happy about it, so we went home. Not bad though, she was in there for more than an hour.

Ada starts eating more and more Cheerios, but I still have to give it to her by hand.

Early this morning, I heard Ada laughed, I turn around and she was still sleeping.

Must be a good dream.

Concert at New Augusta North

Mr Staubach wanted to bring his Orchestra to play at our drive way again this year, but it had been raining and storming almost everyday, so I told him that we will bring Ada to school instead.

First, we settled Ada in front of the kids but she signaled us that she did not want to be there, so we moved her to the back. She was smiling and laughing the whole time. After each songs, we applauded, and Ada tapped her right hand to her right leg. This was new and I think she really enjoy the music.

The kids were so good and I am happy for Mr. Staubach that he was able to teach such wonderful group of kids who will play and enjoy music for the rest of their lives. What a job he has! I hope he can continue teaching forever.

Look, Ada is smiling.

This month, however, had been difficult for us, caregivers. Ada had learned to express herself more and more. She is scared, grumpy, moody and angry. Those are good signs. Also the night before I left for Milwaukee, she grabbed a piece of puzzle and swallowed it. She was choking really bad. She was trying to swallowed the purple letter "O"., imagine that ! After that she doesn't eat much. Well, she doesn't eat very much Cheerios as she used to, so we have to give her more formula. She also sleeping or napping a lot. Sleep is good, right?

We also went to see a new doctor who is an expert in Brain Injury, and I have to say I really like her. She asked questions, observed Ada real close and makes a recommendations that we should hold off on PT, OT and let get help from Neuro Psychologist first. May be we be able to help Ada with all of her emotion issues.

Ada is making steady progress, slowly at a snail pace. She is trying to get ahead of us, it is hard to catch up with her. I am exhausted and tried but never lost hope.

How far can she go, or become, we have to wait and see. Please stay with us, I just can't do it by myself. Your friendship and your support had help me to get up every morning.

A visitor

Today I moved Ada's bed out of the way and pulled up her chair next to the window. There is a bird feeder outside and hungry birdies come all day for food. They come early and make so much noise.

Not only birds come, today we have a small visitor. I put a table outside next to her window and plant some flowers. Look at the squirrel peeks through the planter.

He walks around the planter looking for seeds that I dropped on the table earlier. He even peeks through the window. Ada was amused and she was enjoying his company. I left a few nuts near the window. I hope he came back.

We took her downtown today. Walking along the canal then crossed the White River to the Zoo. There are gazillion kids at the zoo. We will go back some other time.

Ada has a few issues this week, she is grumpy and does not sleep well. We took her outside as much as we can. Mom needs to go for a walk too. The drawback is that Ada knows we will put her on wheelchair and push her around so she doesn't need to walk. Still struggle to get her to walk 10 rounds around the house everyday.

Other than that, she is healthy and happy. :)

Mrs. Fox at IMA

Last week when we visit IMA, we saw Mrs. Fox and her pup down from the bridge. Amazing! Today we just learn that she has 4 puppies. But they were mowing the lawn today, so we did not see her.

Here are picture of Ada in front of flowering tree. She and her nurse are my "Look out" while I snipped some of the tiny flowers and put them in my sketch book. I have a project in mind and will use some dried flowers. Each week, there will be new blooms and the garden looks different. Glad that we have such a place near by and can go there everyday.

We also went to see handsome, Dr. Dave' today. Ada was happy and laughed a lot. I'm sure Dr. Dave' was delighted to see how much Ada has improved. he saw her 2 months after the accident and it was not a pretty sight. he recommended us to see another doctor who specializes in Brain Injury. Can't wait to hear what he has to say.

Being outside

We are taking advantage of the nice and warm weather by taking Ada outside everyday. Either a walk around the neighborhood or to the park. Yesterday we went downtown and walked along the canal. We parked under State Museum and walked all the way to 10th St. and back. I wonder if Ada would sit still in the paddle boat. Next time we will walk in different direction across the river and visit the zoo.

Ada continues to make her snail and steady progress. She always in a good mood, laugh and bossing us around. She is getting good at those puzzles.

She seems to sleep and nap a lot more, which is a good thing for the brain to rest and heal. Rachael is still coming every week and Katherine also visits often. Abby is getting married so she must be very busy. Hope to see more of Ada's friends soon.

I start adding Teddy Gram, Yogurt pieces and tiny, round Japanese cookies into her bowl of Cherrios and she eats them all.

Her favorite TV shows are Spongebob, iCarly and Family Guy.

I am thinking about starting the backyard project. I want a small garden and a place for Ada to sit outside when we can't take her to the park. Will post an update on that later.

Saturday in the Park

We took Ada to IMA since it was so nice outside and Arthy who just start his job last week wants to spend time with his sister. She gave him a kiss the other day and while we were cleaning the basement, I found Ada's old homework. She wrote a very nice things about her brother. She said "I think he is like an angel from up above when he's not acting like a little brat!" if you know Arthy, you'll know what she means.

It was nice having him there pushing Ada's chair, even though he was texting while driving, it is getting harder for me to do that. Ada has gained some weight during winter but she looks good and healthy. I just need to exercise more.

The IMA garden and ground had been our favorite place to visit for many years.

Last picture is the"Forget-me-not". Those tiny little flowers are so cute and so blue. Don't forget Ada, come visit her sometime. Oh, did I tell her that she open her left hand and gives up Hi-five? She is working on it and that's a great news.

One Fine Day

Today we took Ada to her appointment with Dr. Segal. He was not in the office but his intern was there. last time Ada was mad at him because he did not say hello to her. I think he was new and did not read her chart, which is about 3" thick. This time he came in, said hello and shake hand to her. Ada smiled. He must had done his home work because he asked what did she studied at Indiana University.
Oh, while we were waiting in the lobby, a nice young man asked if I remembered him. I thought he was Ada's friend, but he said he is an EMT and took Ada to the hospital one time. he was so excited to see her. he kept saying "Oh, she looks so good" and he will also tell all his friends. I don't know about those EMT guys. I don't expect them to remember everyone they have to pick up, but they all seem to remember Ada. Let face it, for 6 months after the accident, she was wearing pajama all the time, had her head half shaved or whole, had cast on her right feet, and half conscious most of the time. I wish I could go back and give them hugs. Those guys and girls did took good care of Ada. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We got done early so we went to visit folks at American Village Nursing Home. Everyone was happy to see Ada and Ada smiled, laughed and shake hand with all the nurses and therapists. Miss Florida, who took Ada's room was happy to see her and the 104 years old lady across the hall already passed away.
Really, I though I have to live there with Ada for a long, long time, but we ended up there for 3-4 months. Lots of good memories there. We will visit more often.
Ada starts moving her left arm and left hand more. She gives us nuggle and try to open her hand for high five. She is working hard on that.
She is completely off Bacrofen and she is doing good, so far.

Making progress

A trip to visit Speech Pathologist always bring a smile as well as tears on my eye. It is so good to see Ada response to the game board, toys and devices that help her to communicate with us. Yes, she can pick up the picture of Cheerios from the board and give it to us when she wants Cheerios and she also picks up picture of the toilet to show us that she needs to go to the bathroom. We also have a device, like a recorder, with a button to push (like the "Easy" button from Staple), and it will say "Come here, please". When she needs me and I am not in the room, she can call me and I will be there. We also record the greeting so she can use it to say "hello" to her friend who visit her.

Overall, she is very happy, she laughs all the time and make us happy and laughing with her. She is able to pay attention and has an eye contact when we talk to her. I think she is studying how we talk. Sometime when we sit and watch TV, she will tap on my arm and make a sound "Umm" from her throat.

There are a few changes here. First, her old nurse is going back to school, so we will have new one. Second, we went to see Dr. Dave' and he wants to take Ada off of the Baclofen. Humm, I thought she has to take that for the rest of her life, but we will gradually wean her off and she will take more Amentadine which help her to be more alert and focus.

I start reading her some children book with lots of pictures. We also do puzzles. She is very fast with locating the A B C on the Alphabet puzzle make me wonder how much she remember them. We shall see.

Here are a few pictures of Ada. Sometime I posted them on facebook.

Laughter is The Best Medicine

Just want to make a quick report that Ada has been sleeping through the night without any medication for 2 weeks now. So, no more groggy, no sleepy and no grumpy.

It had been 2 years since the accident. Just think about that time when she was in the hospital, fighting for her life, and now she is laughing, smiling, walking, eating and she even gives me a kiss. Daddy gets a bigger kiss, of course.

We are working on bathroom training. She is more aware of what is going on and is able to let us know. She starts pointing her finger to the TV remote control and I assume that she wants to watch something else. Her favorite show is Spongebob Squarepants.

Ada's morning walk

sleep

Sorry I haven't written for a while. There is so much going on and with all the snow and bad weather, it is hard to get everything done when I wanted too. Also every time I mention that Ada had been sleeping well, next thing you know, she started waking up at 4 am. So, we have been struggled with her sleeping. I got new prescription for her to help her sleep. As soon as the medicine gets into her system, she looks so sleepy. We put her to bed and 4-5 hours later, she was up and want to get out of bed. Mom did not get much sleep either. So we increase the med only to find her to be sleepy during the day. But, keep my finger cross, she had been sleeping well without any medicine for a few night now.
We went back to see Speech Pathologist, finally. She was pleased with the way Ada can pick up the picture of the Cheerios from the board and gives it to us. We hope that later on she can learn to pick up others pictures of things that she wants and let us know. So far, so good. The therapist also put Ada in front of the computer and played some game. The Red button was connected so Ada can push it instead of using the mouse. It is not easy and she looked back at me and tried to get away but she did finished 3 games so we are going to purchase the game for her soon.
She also continue to walk around the house and we let go of the walker so she can learn how to balance herself (we still walk behind her). Hopefully it will be warm soon so we can go outside more.
I think Ada has a few basic needs; eat sleep and change. So far she is able to let us know what she wants and that has made her very happy.
She lets me kiss her a lot more and she also kisses me back. I am so long for that. She also makes longer eye contact and pay more attention when we talk to her or play with her.
Mom need to catch up on her sleep and her works. Dad is still out of town. Ada and the dogs miss him a lot. LOL

New Augusta Public Academy - North

Mr Ed Staubach, an Orchestra teacher from New Augusta Public Academy - North came to deliver a big card made and signed by his students, along with a check from their fundraising. Mr. Staubach taught at Pike High school before he came to New Augusta. He taught all my 3 children. Ada, in particular, had a privilege to play violin for the "Crimson Red" while in High school.

Mr. Staubach came to see Ada quite often. He was very pleased to see her walk out of her room (with her walker). It means so much to our family that he still care about Ada and so do his students at school. I'm glad they still have music program at school. and how lucky they are to have such a great teacher.

Ada is happy and laughing a lot. She likes to watch "Spongebob" and "Family Guy". They were her favorite shows before. A few problem with her sleeping pattern, but we are working on that. Can't wait till it gets warmer outside so we can take her out for a walk. Ada also using her hand jester to tell us what she wants. Even though we have to guess what she really wants, it is the good sign.

We also watch MJ's video "This is it" and Ada likes that too.

Thanks again, New Augusta -North

A calm after the storm

We have been dealing with Ada being grumpy and restless and sleepless for a few weeks. Quite stressful for the caregivers, I might say. It is hard to tell whether she is in pain or she wants something. There are a few things that happened though. First, she still sores from her broken arm. Second, she had bladder infection. Third, the feeding tube that came out. Forth, she was grumpy before her period. Fifth, must be a "storm" in her head that keeps her from getting a good sleep.
She had many "storm" before. The first time was a month after the accident when she was shaking and sweating like crazy and she did not get much sleep. A few minor "storm" after that. This is not a medical evaluation by all mean. Just me and my opinion.
We asked her doctor for medicine that will help her sleep. It is a strong med, one that would knock me out for a day or two, but it wasn't work on Ada. And if she did not get enough or good sleep, she will be grumpy and not able to concentrate. That apply to me too, since I am sleeping in her room.
Finally, this past 2 nights, we had good sleep and she is back to be happy and giggling again. There is some good after the storm. Some new skills, new things that she can do.
Karec and I can rest a little bit before the next "storm" come.
V8 is a good thing. I gave Ada 2 serving a day. I tell her it's time for "Bloody Mary", and she smiles.

Happy Birthday, Ada

We had a Birthday open house yesterday for Ada. She is turning 25 and it's time to get friends back into her life. Rachael has been a big help. We weren't sure how many people will come. I was hoping for 30, may be.
May people came, mostly Ada's Friends, my friends too. Between cooking and serving food, I showed off my jewelry and sold a couple of things. Rachael and Karec were taking care of Ada. She gave us big smiles, laughed, shake hand and basically looked very happy.
Lots of love, lots of present. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The food was ok, I could have done better, next time.
For those who cannot come yesterday, you can still come and visit Ada at home. She loves to see other people beside me.
Last week I join a group on Flickr called "Ring a day". We have to make a ring each day and post the picture in the Flickr page. here is the ring I made yesterday as a tribute to my Cheerios Queen. She still eats Cheerios, lots of them.

Pictures from Ada's BD party are posted on my Facebook page.

Happy, again

After a few hospital visit, Ada is back to normal routine. In the morning, after shower, she walks around the house, stops at the fridge to look at some, then let go of the walker when she walks pass her room. I finally have to cut out a soft wrap with Velcro to put around her wrist. Once she learns that she cannot let go of the walker, she just proceeds pass her room. She still enjoy her Cheerios with a little bit of Dried Yogurt piece (baby food). V8 seems to be the answer for the trouble she has in the morning. Only if she can sleep in a little bit because I like to stay up and work after she goes to bed and she is up at 7 o'clock every morning.
For me, I learn to "not thinking too much" or complain about "same problem, different day" like my friend put it. Taking care of Ada became a routine. I just do it, because I love her, not because I have to. I learn to leave home during the day or go up stair to take a nap. (Oh boy, do I miss my bed). I search the Internet for the answer, for the connection with other TBI survivors and caregivers. I sit at my table and work on my things. I don't get angry if I had to take care of Ada all day. I am stronger and healthier by lifting and transferring Ada. Communication is much better, both way. I am sure, someday, Ada can figure it out. I just have to be patient. Ada talks with her eyes.
I love all friends on Facebook, whom, most of them, I've never met. They always there, giving me kind words and encouragement. Be friend with me on Facebook; Ponsawan Sila.
Ada's Birthday is coming up. We will have a party this Saturday. Can't wait to see who will be here. At least the weather is going to be fair.
Archie went back to Bloomington. He needs to get on with his life. Arthy is still around. He sits and play with Ada more. She also likes his company.