4th of July

Happy Fourth of July,

This summer Tania has been able to travel on several short (two to four days) road trips.  One trip to Eastern Nebraska was a 40th college reunion with her classmates from Love Memorial Hall.  We have also gotten away to Aspen, CO and Sidney, NE to spend time with family and friends.  As we ate dinner at a restaurant this evening, I reminded Tania that the last time she was walking with a walker and tonight she only had a gait belt so I could help her with balance.  Enjoy the Holiday.

Rollie

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day!  Tania and I spent the morning at Laycee's (our daughter-in-law) college graduation from Metro State University.  The ceremony for the approximately 1800 graduates was on the athletic fields in downtown Denver.  The weather was chilly so we dressed accordingly.  We enjoyed the day that included fifteen people for lunch.

Tania's primary home care aide is off work for a while due to medical issues so we are scrambling to cover the days I am at work.  Tania is still participating in various therapy sessions, but progress is slow.  We hope you enjoyed your Mother's Day.

Rollie

Palm Sunday in Highland, IL

Tania and I took our first airplane trip with just the two of us since the summer of 2009 this weekend as we flew to St. Louis to stay with good friends in Highland, Illinois. Unlike Colorado, spring has come early this year in the Corn Belt and the trees and flowers were beautiful. We worshiped at Highland Community Church and saw many friends from when we lived in this area fifteen years ago. Tania continues to make slow progress, but she would say that she still has a long way to go. It has been great fun visiting with dear friends on this "get away weekend" trip.

Rollie

40th Wedding Anniversary

Tania and I celebrated 40 years of marriage with a wine and cheese open house this afternoon. Our daughter, Tara, and Tania's home care aides (Mary and Jacquie) were hosts for a fun afternoon of visiting and reminiscing. We were blessed to have neighbors, friends and family join together to celebrate the occasion. The afternoon was even more delightful to watch the Denver Broncos win (as the underdog) their first NFL playoff game in many years. The attached photos with our granddaughter Saydie capture the before and after look of our anniversary celebration.

Rollie

Christmas Eve

'Tis the day before Christmas and with the blast of 18 inches of snow received a couple of days ago, it will indeed be a "White Christmas". In addition to the usual December activities of preparing for Christmas, this year we also attended my Dad's funeral and my niece's wedding in Nebraska on successive weekends. Tania did well traveling to Western Nebraska by car and to Eastern Nebraska by plane. She enjoyed visiting with family and friends. The photos show a visit with Saydie and Santa, as well as the cousins that attended my Dad's funeral.

Have a Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Rollie

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

For the first time in four years we were able to enjoy our time-share condo in Avon, CO this past week. Although Ryan had to work on Thursday, we were still able to have a family Thanksgiving dinner when he got off work in the evening. As shown in the attached photos, Tania helped a little with the food preparation, but she much preferred spending time with Saydie viewing photos stored on the i-pad. Tania continues to keep her left eye closed for much of the time and she is going to receive a special contact lens this week that will hopefully help correct her vision handicap. She is also continuing with physical and speech therapy. She has started to help me with our sizable Christmas card list and home decorations to get into the Holiday spirit. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Rollie

Travis and Laycee's Wedding

Yesterday afternoon in near perfect weather, Travis and Laycee were married in a beautiful wedding ceremony in Pueblo, CO. Tania stood up in front of the assembled friends and relatives and read a portion of the Bible's love chapter in I Corinthians 13. Following her first dance with the groom at the reception later in the evening, she received a standing ovation for her recovery progress that allowed her to enjoy the privilege of dancing with Travis at his wedding. We continue to be amazed at the healing miracle she is experiencing.

Rollie

Summer Vacations

Today as we remember the horrible events of ten years ago on 9/11, I thought that it was probably time to update the blog on some of our summer activities. Two years later than we had planned, we were able to enjoy a train ride through the Royal Gorge in Southern Colorado. We then spent a week in a condo in Steamboat Springs. Tara spent three nights with us and my cousin and her husband from Wyoming also spent three nights with us. Last week we took a plane ride to Spokane and drove into British Columbia for a few days to enjoy the scenery, orchards and wineries. After a couple of tasting room visits, Tania informed me that at the next stop she wanted her own glass instead of sharing one. Now that we are back home, it is time to focus on therapy, Bible studies and Travis and Laycee's upcoming wedding. Tania's recovery is continuing to show progress, but it is easy to grow impatient and want improvement to come more quickly.

Rollie

House Guests from Illinois

This week Brian and Linda have been staying with us on their vacation from Highland, IL to Colorado. While Brian played golf, Tania and Linda have been catching up since it has been 14 years since we lived in Illinois. They enjoyed shopping for clothes, traveling to therapy sessions and nice dinners with husbands, our kids and Saydie. Although it is slow, Tania's vision is gradually improving with her newest pair of glasses and with daily eye exercises. At Tania's six month appointment with her neuro doctor yesterday, she was told that she was making good recovery progress and that one of the meds could be reduced by a third. We are most thankful for the good report and for the great visit with close friends.

Rollie

Father's Day

This was an eventful weekend as Travis, Laycee and Saydie moved in with us for a couple of weeks until the closing date on their home purchase. Since their apartment lease expired on Saturday we are enjoying more time with them than usual. Ryan also came for a visit this weekend and returned to Avon this afternoon. Tara is planning to spend a few nights in a bedroom at our house this week as she has hardwood floors installed. So, our usually quiet home is going to be much more active for the rest of June. We had a cookout at home on Saturday night and enjoyed a meal at a restaurant for lunch on Father's Day. Saydie received a new outfit from Turkey from her other Grandma who returned from a Mediterranean cruise yesterday. Everyone smiled and laughed at her gypsy outfit. Tania's stamina is being tested, but she is thoroughly enjoying all of the activity (and commotion). She is spending a fair amount of time with a Bose headset listening to books on tape.

Happy Father's Day!

Rollie

Memorial Day Weekend Road Trip To Nebraska

Tania joined me on a six day road trip to Eastern Nebraska starting the Sunday prior to Memorial Day. She stayed with her sister while I travel into Iowa for business. The attached photos include her sister, friends from high school, aunts, close relatives and a good friend in Lincoln, NE. Tania's stamina is improving as she was able to stay up until about 9:00 p.m. visiting. She is getting accustomed to her new glasses, but is still struggling to see out of her left eye. Now that the weather is better, she is taking longer walks near our home. Have a good summer.

Rollie

Mother's Day

Tania enjoyed Mother's Day by attending church and having lunch at Tara's house. Tania was resting on a sofa at Tara's house when granddaughter, Saydie, arrived and crawled up besides Grammy for some "reading time". After several weeks of cool weather, today was beautiful with temperatures in the 80's.

Tania is scheduled to start vision therapy tomorrow and hopefully her new glasses will be ready later this week. This afternoon she walked (using a walker with four wheels and handle brakes) approximately a quarter of a mile. She is still enjoying books on tape from the library.

Best wishes for a happy Mother's Day.

Rollie

Saydie's Two Year Old Birthday Party

This evening Saydie came to Pa Pa and Grammy's house with her parents and Aunt Tara for a cook-out to celebrate her second birthday. She was much more energetic opening presents for her birthday than she was at Christmas. Her vocabulary is increasing daily and it was fun to hear her say "Wow" when she was opening her presents.

Tania enjoyed the evening and celebrated by staying up until almost 9:00 p.m. She is continuing her speech and physical therapy four times per week, but we are currently looking for a new individual to provide occupational therapy. She was fitted today for her fifth pair of glasses that have prism, bifocal lens. We are hopeful that new glasses will improve her vision and allow her to keep her left eye open more of the time. Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers for healing. Have a wonderful Easter this coming weekend.

Rollie

A Long Weekend in San Diego

This past weekend marked the one year anniversary of Tania's release from Craig Hospital. To celebrate we booked a trip to San Diego on Southwest Airlines and stayed two nights at John and Mary's home (Tania's first cousin) on Coronado Island. We learned the hard way that a lap child needs a birth certificate to board...I had to purchase a ticket for her at check-in counter.

Tania had a good flight and I was glad that she could nap since I got her up about three hours earlier than she usually does on Saturday mornings. We enjoyed meals and time visiting with family and friends on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. On Monday morning Tania was able to feel the sand on her feet as she took a walk on the beach. A lady on a walk agreed to take the photo shown above.

The trip back home went smoother as we had Saydie's birth certificate faxed to us. However, Saydie was tired and showed us some of her two year old attitude until she fell asleep about half way through the flight. The trip was encouraging that Tania is getting stronger and is able to enjoy limited travel again.

Rollie

Happy Valentine's Day

This morning Tania and Jacqueline (her ResCare HomeCare aide) hosted the neighborhood Monday morning Bible Study group. The event started with a brunch that included an egg casserole that Tania and Mary prepared on Sunday afternoon. Tania enjoys opening our home and showing hospitality especially when some Valentine decorations can be brought out of storage. However, when the event was over, she needed to rest to recharge her battery before I arrived home from work.

She received the latest update to her glasses last Thursday that has prism lens to help minimize double vision. They seem to help significantly with distance vision, but are not very effective for seeing items that are within a few feet of her. Consequently, she is still keeping her left eye closed much of the time. We hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Rollie

Sunday Afternoon with Our Kids

Ryan decided to take a break from moving snow for Vail Resorts in the mountains this weekend and came to visit for a couple of days. We also invited Tara, Travis, Laycee and Saydie to join us for dinner since it had been about a month since we were together for Christmas. Saydie continues to grow, talk more and is a very active almost two year old. She and Tania were both dressed in green and had a lot of fun together this afternoon. Tania is no longer using the wheelchair on our main level at home, but instead is using a walker that also has a seat for resting when she tires of standing. Tomorrow she has an eye appointment and we are expecting to have yet another change (the fourth one) in the lens for her glasses due to continuing double vision challenges. We are still seeing healing and recovery, but it is slow.

Rollie

Reduction of Meds

This past Monday I took Tania to see her primary care doctor. It had been four months since our last appointment and Dr. Spies was pleased with Tania's recovery progress. In fact, with my encouragement she agreed that Tania could discontinue three of the six prescription meds she has been taking this past year. Tania is continuing physical therapy at the gym, the pool and at home, as well as speech therapy once a week with homework assignments. Her interest in reading continues to increase, although it is usually with her left eye closed due to double vision challenges. We are praying that her healing continues.

Rollie

Thirty Ninth Wedding Anniversary

Tania and I celebrated our thirty ninth wedding anniversary yesterday by attending a lovely Holiday Party with a cruise theme sponsored by CoBank. Tania enjoyed getting dressed up in a new outfit and stayed up until 9:30 p.m. for the special occasion.

Tania's new glasses are helping her to see better, but she still is inclined to close her left eye frequently to help bring objects into better focus. She is beginning to use the mouse pad on the computer and wants to spent more time reading. In fact, last Tuesday as I returned from the airport at about 7:00 p.m. she wanted to sit at the kitchen table and read for another hour before heading up to bed. She also received good reports from her speech and physical therapists this past week and we are continuing to be encouraged by her progress.

Have a great new year in 2011.

Rollie

Celebrating Christmas

Tania has especially enjoyed Christmas this year as she has little to no recollection of her trip home from the hospital for a few hours last Christmas. Shortly after arriving back at Craig Hospital last year at this time, she fell and had to spend more time in surgery and intensive care. She continues to have low stamina, but she will rally when the mail arrives with additional Christmas cards. She is doing a good job of reading on her own with very little assistance, but it is usually with her left eye closed as she is still having problems with double vision. We hope to get her glasses back this week with the third set of lens as we attempt to dial in on the appropriate vision correction solution.

Another sure-fire way for Tania to rally is for her granddaughter Saydie to come for a visit. Last week Tania and her care-giver went Christmas shopping and came home with a large box containing a car that they expected me to assemble. I finally accomplished the task on Christmas Day after approximately four hours of wrestling with plastic parts that refused to be assembled per the instructions. Yesterday as the family gathered together to celebrate Christmas, everyone got their turn at pushing Saydie in her new "ride".

Rollie

Vacation in Arizona

After three weeks of therapy at Spaulding Rehab Hospital, Tania was ready for a vacation road trip to Arizona to visit family and friends. The therapy sessions were very helpful, but they only wanted to schedule her for three weeks. Next week she will resume therapy with the folks she was working with prior to starting the short term program at Spaulding. On Monday she is also scheduled to see the eye doctor again as the glasses are not helping her vision much.

The Phoenix weather was wonderful and it was great to see Rollie's Dad and Ann along with several other cousins. Tara joined us for a few days and Tania's sister, Sonia, took a Southwest flight from Omaha to join us for five days. Have a Merry Christmas next weekend.

Rollie