2001
Editor's Note: Beginning with the first January posting, the Cherylin Web Site will be formatted a little differently. We'll be posting each entry ahead of the last one, so that the most current posting is at the top of the page. We also intend to just continue adding entries to this page, rather than having separate pages for each month as we have done in the past. Thanks for your continued interest in Cherylin's healing process. Your concern has meant a lot to us. -- Dick & Lynette Tibbetts |
For us, it’s a privilege to spend a few days with Cherylin, and to see for ourselves just what kind of progress she’s been making in recent months. As Bob has told us, she is indeed more alert, keenly aware of all that is going on around her, and very obviously a mental participant in all conversations in her range of hearing. Although her sense of balance is still somewhat uncertain, it certainly is a lot better than what we observed when we were last here in March of this year. We still think it’s prudent to be with her when she is walking with her walker, or climbing the short flights of stairs in her house, but she require virtually no assistance, except that because of her impaired vision, she needs someone walking along to tell her in what direction to redirect her walker, in order to avoid colliding with minor obstacles. Her vision is noticeably more inadequate than we observed in any of our previous visits in the last year or so. None of her doctors seem to know why…
She goes to PT sessions once each week, with a physical therapist who is a friend of Bob’s, and who is providing these sessions as a personal courtesy. He can see that she is improving because of the therapy, even though the previous PT’s had pretty well decided that whatever they were doing with and for her had reached a plateau of effectiveness, beyond which they could no longer justify (the costs of) continuing therapy. In addition to the weekly PT sessions, her in-home caregiver, Loretta, sees that she goes for outdoor walks up the street to a nearby park every day, or that she rides the exercise bike in their family room whenever the weather is too cold outside, or rainy. This month, she’s done the indoor bike exercise about half the time, and the outdoor walks the other half.
Readers of the Web page know that another area of concern is her failure to initiate verbal expression. She pronounces words easily, and answers specific questions with short two or three word phrases, but does not often initiate these verbal expressions. Loretta uses the speech therapy manual to give her spelling tests – she handles the spelling of almost all words very easily; she seems to have a big vocabulary, just as she did before the accident. (Of course we have no measure of how big, or of how the vocabulary size compares with the previous baseline.) But we’ve been a bit puzzled at how we might stimulate her toward more spontaneous expression of the thoughts that we can be quite sure are circulating through her mind, awaiting verbalization!
So this week we’ve been talking with Cherylin about how much we’d like to hear her express more of her thoughts in actual words, rather than relying on shrugs, nods, or other non-verbal modes of communication. Often I give her choices of two things on which she needs to express a preference, and then remind her to answer me in a short complete sentence. For example, (Jud to Cherylin) "Do you want to sit in this chair or lie on the couch?" Her expected format of reply would be to say either "I’d rather sit in the chair," or, "I’d rather lie on the couch" … or some reasonable variant of those brief sentences. She’s been very cooperative in this coaching approach, and we think it may be expanding her habit pattern of response. It isn’t really spontaneous, of course, but it may be a step in that direction.
When I suggested that strategy to her for the first time, I asked her if she would try respond in actual short sentences instead of the variety of grunts and shrugs, and she nodded… so I said, "Well, then tell me in words." Her response, "Yes, I’m going to do that"…! When Loretta goes through the exercises with her from the speech therapy manual, her response to questions is correct, appropriate and prompt -- indicating a high level of mental acuity and quick understanding. She usually remembers standard stuff like her address, her age, birth date, and other questions about family, but sometimes can’t remember things she’s just learned recently. Today after church, for example, one of her friends asked where Angela and Kelly are living now. She couldn’t quite remember to say "Lincoln, Nebraska" … but when I filled in that information for her she said "Oh yeah, Lincoln", probably a bit embarrassed about not knowing when asked.
We’re delighted that Loretta is so diligent in continuing some of these exercises with her (both the physical exercise and the drills from the speech therapy notebook). Loretta has been a wonderful blessing to Cherylin, and because of this, to the whole family. She shows a loving spirit of caring concern for Cherylin in each of many situations.
As is her custom during these visits, Arlene found some new clothing items for Cherylin to keep her presentable when she goes to church or to other excursions outside their home. Cherylin seems to appreciate these stimuli to her female psyche, even though she can’t appreciate the color or styling detail as much as before because of her reduced visual acuity. Arlene describes each item to her, and tells her what matches what, and why she chose a certain style or fabric, so that helps to fill in the deficiency caused by her limited vision. Usually it is a matter of finding the items in a store, bringing them home to try on Cherylin, and then exchanging them if the fit or color is wrong. Actually taking Cherylin to a store for shopping purposes would not be too practical – it’s not the right kind of exercise even though it tires her, and it’s easier to handle it as described above.
Again we find a lot for which to be thankful – we mentioned Loretta’s diligence and loving spirit, Bob’s love and respect for Cherylin and his constant quest for ways to make her life more pleasant and interesting – but in all of these blessings, we find God’s hand bringing resolution to each little problem, and kindness to the hearts of all concerned. What a wonderful team He has assembled on Cherylin’s behalf..! And He has provided continued inspiration and strength for each of these players on the scene. -- Arlene & Jud
September 23, 2001 (from Jud Klooster - posting #129)
We are apologetic to readers of the Website, for the unprecedented hiatus in our reporting-I note that our last entry was in June…! When we see little change from day to day, or week to week, it's a little hard to get started when there
seems to be little new development to report. However, Bob tells us that there is a continuing improvement in her awareness, and thus in her cognitive ability. Some days she seems to make more effort to talk; other days she responds to inquiries, but with a lesser effort to initiate her thoughts in sentences.Last Friday, she was at the physical therapist appointment, and the PT came by to see how she was doing, and
encouraged her to go faster, work harder, etc. Cherylin responded to these suggestions by telling the PT to "Go take a hike!"….! Bob has been working to sell their house, and to find one closed to his office that is all on one level (instead of the three-level house where they now live. His first effort was nearly complete, but was aborted due to a variety of market situations. But he feels that God is in charge, just as He is in all other aspects of their lives. With this constraint in mind, Bob hasn't been too depressed when some of his efforts don't bring immediate results. He thinks this whole experience has stimulated tangible growth in his own walk with the Lord. What a guy, we keep thinking! Angela has moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she has a new position in the Development Office of Union College. She seems delighted with this new opportunity, and is busy getting settled in her new "digs". She and her dad gave a joint presentation on the topic of how people handle personal tragedy, in the Miamisburg SDA Church. (Miamisburg is a suburb of Dayton.) Angie had written an essay on how her own perspective has changed; when Bob read it, he could see how well it would fit into his sermon! We've listened to an audiotape of their presentation, and we'll soon put it onto the Website, so all our readers can share in knowing how this experience has contributed positive growth in Angie's own travels on the Christian pathway.To help her with her move from Dayton to Lincoln, Gina (Angie's aunt) flew from California and helped her drive a U-Haul truck, towing a flat-bed trailer with Angie's car on it. They handled the whole trip (more than 1500 miles, I think) very well, and Gina will fly back to California on Tuesday. Gina is married to Tim Peach, Bob's brother, a San Bernardino attorney. Their daughters, and the Ohio Peach girls, have been close friends since their early childhood.
We rejoice in the privileges of family in all of these events, and in God's love in each of their hearts. May His Spirit bless each of you readers, as He has blessed all of us. --Arlene and Jud
June 18, 2001 (from Jud Klooster - Posting #128)
Another two weeks since our last report! And we think, several interesting things to report. Cherylin has had no seizures since last November; however she has had some nausea incidents when she rides very far in an automobile. We don't know just what relation there may be to the fact that she is completely off of the Depakote (anti-seizure medication). We're continually charmed by Bob's resourcefulness in thinking up ways to keep Cherylin involved the world around her. In time for Father's Day, we received a letter from them, wherein Bob had developed a list of questions to stimulate Cherylin's comments, and then written in on this typed list her answers, and any comments from him that were necessary to further clarify her responses. Maybe he did the list on his computer, so he can print multiple copies for subsequent use (like future letters from the two of them). Among these were the comments, when he posed the stem of a "question", The next thing I'm going to do is_____________; she completed this sentence by saying "look at your brain"…! What I really enjoy doing
is__________; her response was "talking on the phone to you." What I'm looking forward to doing in the future is____; she said, "taking care of the children." Bob said, Terri's children? She replied, "Yes." Numerous other responses were significant, although some were a kind of confabulation, warping the facts a bit, like the idea of taking care of Terri's kids in Ohio, or "looking at your brain" But her responses were quite clear, distinct and immediate, and in most cases appropriate to the questions posed. Bob reported an interesting observation by the physical therapist with whom she does her exercises, usually on a twice-a-week schedule. The PT has a harness that she wears which is loosely attached to a ceiling hook above the treadmill. That way she can walk the treadmill without fear of losing her balance. She does this so confidently that her PT says he can hardly tell that she is a brain-injury-recovery patient. The most distinctive aspect of his comments was that when she is in that hook-up walking the treadmill; he would NOT be able to discern which of her feet and legs (right or left) was the impaired side…! When Bob was ready to address the letter they wrote together (above), he spoke the street address as he wrote slowly, 2 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 1 … and Cherylin, without prompting finished the address for him, saying Crestview Drive, Loma Linda California 92354. We greedily seize on each of these tiny evidences of her advances in cognitive function, even though we still are disappointed in the regression of her visual acuity, and the fact that her uncertainty of balance does not seem to be improving, as yet. One can hardly imagine just what God has in mind for her future continued recovery, but we continue our trust the He will work out her future in His own way, and that someday we will see the wisdom of that pattern of recovery. I guess you could say, in a more secular description, that we remain "incurable optimists"…! --Arlene and JudJune 2, 2001 (from Jud Klooster - Posting #127)
We've neglected you dear readers of these reports about Cherylin's recovery -- our last one appears to have been posted on the Website on
March 27…! When there isn't a lot of new detail to report, it easy to put off the little task of generating new copy. Bob does observe that her level of mental awareness seems to be progressively (and very gradually) improving, but notes that her uncertain balance has not changed appreciably. Likewise, her visual acuity continues to be at a reduced level -- probably not getting worse, but surely not showing improvement. When Clara Peach called last Sunday morning to get her weekly report on Cherylin, she learned that Cherylin, after her morning bath, had decided that she'd rather take a nap, instead of coming down for breakfast, as would be her normal custom. Bob doesn't press her toward anything like a rigid military discipline on such matters, so Cherylin got her nap! She did, however, talk to Angie and Kelly during that morning sequence. When Kelly called home, just before her recent trip from Lincoln to visit her parents, she noted that Cherylin remembered quite spontaneously that Kelly's friend, Ryan would be coming with her for this visit. And last Friday evening, while Kelly was home for those few days, after supper, Cherylin pushed her chair back from the table and announced that "I'm going to clear the table, take the plates and cups to the sink and get them ready for the dishwasher." -- a pretty long sentence! They encouraged her, since that's an instinct Cherylin often has shown (wanting to clear the table after meals); however, they accompanied her closely as she walked to the sink with dishes in one hand and the other guiding the walker… realizing how easy it would be for her to lose her balance and fall. Net outcome was that she really didn't do much of the table-clearing activity, but her family tried to leave her feeling support and appreciation for her efforts to be useful. A rather delicate line to walk, I would say, but they did it with grace and kindness.Clara reported that the whole family (Angela, Kelly, Bob, Cherylin, and their guest, Ryan) went to the Reinsch family's home for Sabbath lunch after church. We are regularly grateful for the devoted friends who continue to show such a loving interest in Cherylin and her family, and who do such thoughtful things to make her life interesting. These friends keep up the custom of arranging for one or two of them each Sunday to spend the afternoon with Cherylin (from about 2 p.m. to 4 or 5 each Sunday), to bring interest to her activity pattern, and to give Bob a chance to get some household chores done, or to go jogging or do errands. When he's the only one home on weekends, he can't do these things, because he (or someone) needs to be with Cherylin each waking moment to steady her if she tries to get up and walk… which she likes to do each time she hears the doorbell or phone ring. Without the ministry of these friends, Cherylin's care would be extremely confining for Bob. So we have many things for which to be thankful, not the least of which are your prayers for her continued progress. - Arlene and Jud
March 21, 2001 (From Jud Klooster - Posting #126)
During our recent visit to Ohio, we had an opportunity to do a "reality check" (about Cherylin's recovery status) on those perceptions that we
had previously derived from phone conversations with Bob and Cherylin, Angela and Clara. We concluded that they had given us a very true picture, that the descriptions of her heightened awareness, her reduced visual acuity, her difficulties with maintaining good balance when standing or walking, etc. were indeed very much as described, no matter how much we might have wanted to believe some more favorable picture! Since we've been home, our "spies in the camp" (see above listing!) have provided us with some things that please us, and very little to disappoint! The other night, Angie told us that "she's getting brighter and brighter"…! Bob has commented on her increased awareness of everything about her, and indicated that she offers bits of conversational response to assorted stimuli more readily and more frequently than before. He also tells us that her balance seems steadier. We've been focusing our prayers on these very aspects of her recovery pattern-isn't God thoughtful to reward our prayers with these increments of progress? The care schedule has changed a little bit, but really in a beneficial way. Rather than having two caregivers working eight-hour and four-hour shifts to cover each day, they've arranged for Loretta to work four ten-hour days (Mon.-Thurs.), and then for Kathy, a new lady on the scene, to work Fridays. Bob seems pleased with this modification, even though it reduces the number of hours covered each day from 12 to ten. He's favorably impressed with Kathy, and Loretta seems to like having her full-time work confined to four days. She lives clear across Greater Dayton, so she's glad to have two less trips per week to make through traffic. Probably the change was triggered by the fact that Malinda (previously her afternoon in-home caregiver) finished her educational program; this makes her eligible now for the next higher level of nursing licensure. So some change was indicated, and Bob had been studying just how to handle this problem/opportunity for several weeks, in anticipation of Malinda's graduation.The Kettering church family and numerous other friends continue their pattern of Sunday afternoon visits to brighten Cherylin's life with special events, either within her home or sometimes on little excursions to shopping malls, museums or other attractions. Last Sunday, for example, Dr. Marshall Wareham and his little daughter, Elizabeth, came over to spend the afternoon with her, and for Elizabeth to play her violin for Cherylin. This is the delightful little girl who regularly makes crayon drawings in church and presents them to Cherylin at the close of each service. She really has quite an accomplished level of violin performance for one so young, and Cherylin has been part of her cheering section as Elizabeth's musical skills have continued to develop. Prior to her accident, Marshall and Cherylin played together in the bell choir and sang in the chancel choir at the Kettering Church, as well as in seasonal "massed choir" events involving several churches of the Dayton area.
We are continually impressed with the wonderful blessing that Bob and Cherylin enjoy: "to have such friends"! And we appreciate so much the constant interest of the many readers of this website, and your prayers for her continued progress. What a joy you all must be to God who loves for us to pray, and to count on Him for his answers! -- Arlene and Jud
March 1, 2001 (From Jud Klooster - Posting #125)
Today we write from Dayton, in Cherylin’s house. We’ve been here a few days, enjoying pleasant weather (for Ohio…!) and the privilege of seeing Bob, Angie and Cherylin again. We are here to be with Cherylin while Bob is gone to a retreat in eastern Tennessee at a facility for pastoral counselors. He’ll have a little time for recreational pursuits (such as hiking) as well as the more programmed parts of the retreat … a good change of pace from the tightly scheduled events of his regular pattern of life here.
We flew here last Thursday, so we’ve had about six days with her. She seems to us to fulfill Bob’s description that she is more mentally aware than ever before since her accident; that is the good part of the news. We also are forced to agree with his appraisal that her visual ability has regressed dramatically. Her doctors have pretty well agreed that she is "legally blind"; however they have not made that a formal pronouncement. She does have some perception of what she sees at a distance, but her near vision is not dependable, even to the extent of steering her walker through a doorway.
Cherylin’s sense of balance is pretty precarious; this may be related to her loss of visual acuity. However she isn’t quite as "tippy" as she may have been a few weeks ago, perhaps due to carefully titrated adjustments of her medications. We still make sure someone is close by whenever she tries to move from any seated position to the challenges of standing or walking. It’s heartening to watch her climb the short flight of seven steps from her living room/family room level to the bedroom level—once she grasps the assist handrails on each side of the stairs she moves up with confidence and strength, and without assistance. But the moment of transition from her grasp of the wheeled walker to grabbing the handrail of the stairs (or vice versa) is critical; her uncertainty of balance is quite evident during that little bit of process. Coming down those same steps, is a bit more daunting, and she does it more slowly. So would I…!
In previous reports, I’ve described the motion detector system that Bob has rigged in her bedroom, to warn him when she sits up or tries to get out of bed. Lights come on and a chime similar to a simple door chime rings at the slightest indication of her movement. While he is away, I’ve been sleeping in her room in the twin bed across the room, to be ready to help her if she awakens and needs to be guarded from falling as she walks from her bed to the bathroom. Fortunately, it’s been easy guard duty … she’s slept through the night each of the nights I’ve been "on watch." Each morning Loretta, her day care nurse, has been the person to awaken her and get her started on the morning routine. That’s good news for Cherylin, in terms of fluid balance and bladder control… and it makes me feel like a young father whose baby has slept all night instead of awakening him in the middle of the nights for a change-and-feed routine!
Each day, she gets some form of PT exercise. Although the regular pattern of therapy at Miami Valley Hospital has been discontinued, Bob has arranged for a physical therapist who works for the College (Kettering College of Medical Arts) to work with her two or three times a week. Loretta takes her there for a midday appointment and brings her back. On the days when she doesn’t go for this physical therapist’s attention, she rides an exercise bike here at her house with Loretta’s close attention. Loretta told me today that she was pleased to be able to help Cherylin walk into the PT facility with her walker, rather than needing to be transferred from the car in her wheelchair. Loretta also mentioned that Cherylin rode two miles on the bike forward and then two miles pedaling backward… the physical therapist tells her this routine exercises a different set of muscles than to do all the pedaling in a forward "direction."
In the afternoons, Malinda takes Cherylin to the piano and helps her attempts to play tunes with which she is familiar. Readers will remember that Cherylin has impaired control of her right hand and arm (because of the left-side brain injuries); predictably, then her left hand does many things better than her right, even though she is historically right-handed. Arlene has joined these afternoon piano efforts: sometime Arlene will play the right hand (melody and alto harmony) and Cherylin will do her best to handle the bass and tenor parts with her left hand. Remembering her previous skill on an organ or piano keyboard the results of her present effort are pretty dismal. The problem seems to be two-fold: she can’t see the keyboard when making the long reaches from one set of chords to the next, and her brain is (apparently) slow in sending signals to makes her hands do what she knows she wants them to do. Obviously this leads to frustration, and makes it important not to insist on pursuing these piano exercises too long at once. But there seems to be at least some enjoyment in the piano exercises, so of course
our emphasis must be to "never give up".The apparent slowness of brain signals probably is a factor in her limited speech development. It seems not to be a lack of vocabulary, or of thoughts needing expression; rather it seems that she finds it difficult to get the words formed and for her mouth to keep up with the flow of thoughts. Recent example: yesterday evening while we were sitting together awaiting the final preparation of the evening meal, I asked Cherylin what were the things she liked best that had happened during the last few days. She thought a brief moment, and then began to talk: "Well, the dinner we had for Bob’s birthday, and the Church service last Sabbath…" and then she continued with an additional paragraph full of sounds I could not understand (except for an occasional word or two). I could understand enough of these words to know it all probably made sense to her, and would have to me if she could have articulated these thoughts a little more deliberately. We pursue questions like this from time to time, so to stimulate conversation beyond the yes or no answers that are all too easy for her to give.
Sabbath afternoon, Arlene was playing familiar hymns on the piano … we were delighted that Cherylin could name each one, just from hearing the melody. Following this, during our evening worship, Bob was playing his guitar for our singing together. Cherylin joined quite spontaneously with nearly every hymn, singing the alto part in good harmony, and with an impressive memory of words, even in second and third verses of each hymn. When Arlene was looking for a particular (less commonly used, we thought) song, Cherylin volunteered the number where that hymn would be found [There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in This Place – No. 262 in the SDA Church Hymnal]…! And we hadn’t even asked her… she just heard us talking about it. So, we have much for which to be thankful: your friendship and continued interest in Cherylin, and your prayers on her behalf are certainly high on the list of our blessings! -- Arlene and JudFebruary 24, 2001 - A new letter from Bob Peach was posted to the site today - it is the Peach family Christmas letter from 2000. Please click here to read this letter.
February 19, 2001 (From Jud Klooster - posting # 124)
In late January, we learned that Joy Henry (who has been Cherylin's morning daycare lady for the last several months) will be leaving her active role as a caregiver because of impending knee surgery she was to have soon. This was a source of concern, since the continuity of care is disrupted whenever such a change is necessary, and of course one has natural concern about the characteristics of the "new" person who will assume the duty. We think Cherylin has had splendid care, particularly in terms of the "TLC" sensitivity of each of her daycare nurses. So although we were sorry to see Joy having to be sidelined, all of us were delighted when it became possible for Loretta to come back to work as Cherylin's morning shift caregiver. She is a clearly superior lady among people of this occupation, and has taken a very personal interest in Cherylin's well-being and progress. Readers of this Website will remember that Loretta was Cherylin's principal (morning) daycare nurse for many months when the in-home nursing care was first established (November, 1999). She had to give up this position for a time, because of some health problems she had encountered, but now is back, much to our delight…!
We learned from Bob and his mother, Clara, that Loretta was quite shocked when she first came back to work, at the degree of regression Cherylin has experienced in two areas of concern: her lessened visual acuity and her increased level of precarious balance when attempting to stand or walk. She called Michelle Alexander, who coordinates the in-home daycare, to ask whether there was something she wasn't "doing right", or what they (the in-home caregivers collectively) may have been omitting that might account for these changes. Michelle assured her that that the changes were not associated with flaws in the home-care, and that Cherylin's doctors were pursuing tests to see what could account for these changes, etc. The doctors' hope was, and is, to develop a treatment strategy that could address these issues and effect improvements in the areas of regression.
On the plus side, Bob mentioned to Clara in a recent phone conversation that he thinks Cherylin's mental acuity is increasing (slowly, ever so slightly, etc.). A recent occurrence illustrates this possibility: Bob was visiting with his mother by phone, and handed the phone to Cherylin. In her characteristic way, she listened and responded to Clara's comments for a little while and then said to Clara, "…now I'll give you back to Bob." (She often does this when she doesn't want to pursue additional conversational efforts further.) Bob took the cordless phone Cherylin had been using and started to place it back in its cradle ("hanging it up"); he still had on the headset he wears when any of us call, so he can have his hands free while he or Cherylin are talking and listening to callers on the phone. But when Cherylin saw him about the "hang up the phone", she objected forcefully, "No! No!… don't hang up!" Apparently she didn't realize that his use of the headset kept the line open, so Clara was still very much "there." But her concern is one of many tiny indicators that attest her keen awareness of what's going on around her, even when she doesn't offer very much active initiative in conversation.
This week we will go back to Ohio for about ten days, to be with Cherylin while Bob is away at a retreat for counselors. He is very attentive, faithful and loving in his care for Cherylin, always thinking ahead about ways in which he can make her life more interesting and less tedious. But even the most conscientious caregivers need a change of scenery, from time to time, and it is our privilege to help facilitate such brief periods of respite for Bob, by going to be with Cherylin. And of course, each of us parents knows what satisfaction we get from "visiting our kids"…! We may have a little more to write about when we are there to make on-site observations; for now, we will sign off with profound thanks to each reader of these reports for your continued interest in Cherylin and your prayers for her recovery. God is good, and we trust His care implicitly, as I'm sure each of you readers has learned to do! --Arlene and Jud
January 8, 2001 (from Jud Klooster - posting #123)
In our December report, we noted Dr. Horn's observation that Cherylin should be seen by a physician who specialized in epilepsy. That was accomplished about a week ago, and the tests this doctor recommended were done at that time. The concern was that possibly the shunt that helps to avoid an excessive build-up of pressure in the cerebrospinal system may not be "working well." The shunt is a tube that was placed months ago inside her skin connecting the cerebrospinal spaces and allowing a trickle of fluid to drain into the peritoneal spaces in her abdominal cavity. If that drainage route is obstructed there is a possibility that some of the present symptoms (loss of balance, loss of visual acuity) could be a result of that malfunction.
The test strategy was to have the speech and physical therapists do a careful evaluation just before, and then again just after, a spinal tap which took away some of the cerebrospinal fluid. If any substantial alterations of the above difficulties (balance, speech) were to be observed during that period, it could indicate that the shunt is not working properly, and that perhaps it would need to be replaced. It's important that these pre- and post-evaluations be done as close as feasible to the event of spinal tap, since the body produces a liberal amount of new cerebrospinal fluid each day.
Reducing the volume is only a temporary fix, useful to the test, since the amount of fluid removed is replaced within a few hours. The two ladies who have been most regularly involved in Cherylin's therapy, Michelle Alexander (ST) and Diane Doucet (PT) did the pre-op evaluation last Thursday evening, the spinal tap was done Friday morning, and then Michelle and Diane did a post-op evaluation Friday afternoon. Their conclusion was that they could see little or no difference in her behavior characteristics before and after. That's good news in a couple of ways: good to know that the shunt is probably achieving its intended use, and good to know she won't be subjected to the surgical experience of re-doing it. But maybe not so good news, in that improving the shunt function is now not a viable therapeutic option for improving her vision and balance. Other tests may reveal other strategies…
Her friends at the Kettering SDA Church have been very diligent in coming over to entertain her on Sunday afternoons, thus giving Bob a little time off from the regularity of her care. He can get a little exercise and some other chores done, whereas when he's there alone with her on the weekend days he really has to give her his full attention, to prevent her falling and similar mishaps. Judy Maguire and Sheila Haynal came over the week before Christmas, and took Cherylin shopping at the Fairfield Mall, one of her favorite shopping haunts. They took her to see Santa, and have her picture taken with him. When she came to the head of the line of his (mostly children) visitors, he asked her, "Well, do you have a list for Santa?" Her reply, "Yeah, do you have about an hour?" We always get a kick out of hearing these little moments where her typically saucy personality peeks through and becomes apparent.
At church this last Sabbath, Bob let her sit for a little bit while the crowd was clearing from the sanctuary, as their custom is. People come up to say hello, and see how she's getting along. One less favorable note-- her vision has deteriorated enough so that she doesn't always recognize the friends that she's known for years, and whom she has easily recognized in earlier encounters of this kind. So Bob has taken to the technique of telling her who is approaching, so not to leave her with the embarrassment of non-recognition of her friends and acquaintances.
In Clara's weekly phone call last Sunday morning, she asked Cherylin what she had been doing, and she said, "Well, let's see-- last Sabbath we ate lunch at Christopher's…" Bob tells us that she is keenly aware of the conversations that go on around her, and that she participates in these exchanges with occasional words and phrases, and even more often with shrugs, nods, shaking of her head facial expressions of agreement or distaste… these features of her behavior continue at a strong level, not indicating any regression. It is mainly her lack of dependable balance, and her reduced vision capacity that indicate some backward steps. Bob has been a super companion, tending to her needs and interests with loving care, and with a strong sense of prospective anticipation. When we comment on our appreciation for these qualities, his most common rejoinder is, "Well, I love that lady…!"
Kelly left yesterday morning to drive back to her college at Lincoln, Nebraska, as a part of a caravan of students who had come east from Lincoln for the Christmas holidays. She's enjoying her work there, both in school and at the part-time job she has in a computer graphics studio downtown.
We hear that Angela has taken a job offer that was recently tendered to her, and that she's enthusiastic about this new position, partly because of the kind of work and the opportunity for training she will have in this employment. We don't know much more about that, at this writing, but no doubt additional details will surface…
More and more, our attention is focused on God's way of handling these details of our lives, and responding to our prayers… and on our understanding of His plans for us. We thank all our Website readers for your continued prayers of Cherylin, and for us. May His grace surround each of you daily, and make your lives glow with His presence. --Arlene and Jud