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