Wednesday morning…
K: Who is here visiting?
C: Your brother
K: Yep! Well, actually, he and the boys went to Seattle.
C: Oh sad. I wanted to see them.
K: They’re only gone for the day, they’ll be back tonight.
C: Yay!
A few minutes later…
C: Who is here?
K: You tell me
C: Your brother and sister?
K: Yep!
C: What are their names?
K: You tell me
C: Uh…Juan and Crystal?
K: Good job! And, what about the kids?
C: Hmm…Cameron and uh…Ciera
K: Nice, and who else?
C: a girl…Tiffany?
K: There is CJ, Cameron, Caitlin-
C: Yeah Caitlin!
K: and Ciera
Yahooo!! This may seem like a very simple conversation and no big deal, but it’s HUGE! Cale’s memory is getting so much better! Now sometimes he can eat a meal and 10 minutes later not remember that he ate or I can tell him a funny story and we can laugh really hard and 5 minutes later when I bring it back up about how funny it was, he’ll have no idea what I’m talking about. But with lots of repetition things are starting to stick. When I had asked him who was here, he had just woken up and remembered who was here. He’s starting to lay down new memory-slowly, but it’s happening! That is a miracle! Not to mention, that’s a lot of new names that he’s hearing!
About 15 minutes later…
Cale was getting dressed and had buttoned his pants while lying on the bed. They were way down on him so his boxers were sticking out; I told him he needed to pull his pants up and he told me they were. K: "What are you now, gangsta?" C: "Yeah, What up dog?" Haha! He cracks me up! I laughed so hard at the way he had said that…so of course we had to go show everyone else in the living room. Cale went out to them and said, “Yo, what up dog?” After all the laughter…the pants were fixed! ;) I love that Cale still has the ability to be his crazy silly self and very easily cause a whole room full of people to smile and laugh…some things never go away. :)
The guys decided to spend Wednesday in Seattle because my nephew is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan. Cale had to stay back because of therapy which was a bummer and the ladies had fun getting our toes all pretty (kind of sounds funny being put that way). We also had time to browse a second hand store, which I love doing. My niece found a gigantic pair of sunglasses that we all had many laughs over! I was searching for a few things for a new project and two guys passed the aisle I was on. I didn’t see their faces, but one of the guys sounded like Cale. Instantly my tummy was full of little butterflies! It brought back time after time that I would constantly have the butterflies from hearing Cale’s voice, a tender kiss he would give, or a way that he would look at me making me feel like I was the only woman for his eyes. It was one of those moments that I will tuck away in a little treasure box in my heart and pull out in the moments that are rough and bumpy and will be reminded of the sweet precious kind of love we share.
While we were all out having fun, poor Cale was feeling yuckier by the minute. He wasn’t able to participate in therapy because of how he was feeling and ended up sleeping a good chunk of the day. He had a low grade fever and some extremely disgusting discharge from his nose. He was so tired and just really didn’t feel good. I wasn’t able to get a hold of the doctor, but finally yesterday I was able to speak with his doctor’s nurse and she helped with ideas for what to do right now. If he’s still not great Monday we’ll make an appointment. He seems to be doing better, so we’re just gonna pray it stays that way!
Wednesday night we had a BBQ with the whole family. The kiddos were in the yard playing with a ball and at one point brought the ball to me and said it touched poop. Aunt Leena had to save the day and do some scoopin’ around the yard. I stopped while on the back side of the deck and just watched and listened-beautiful. I think the Lord allowed some of the challenging times when I longed for and for brief moments get lost in day dreams about life at home while Cale was in the hospital because when they come now, I’m overflowing with thankfulness! That was one of those moments. Thank you sweet Jesus for the blessings!
On Thursday we were hanging out and having a pretty chill day. Caitlin and I had something really fun planned (that will have to wait) and we had been thinking so hard of something that Cale could go do with the guys. The thing is it is very hard to find things for Cale to do that he enjoys and that he can do. He’s mobile, but not mobile enough. He’s aware and can follow conversation, but not well enough. He can join in on the fun and tolerate activity but he can’t tolerate enough. I’m not saying this to complain or say that Cale isn’t doing great-because he is, but just to say that there are so many limitations still that I don’t even think about sometimes. This makes it hard to have people over to visit, to watch a movie, to relax, to go out on the town. It just does. It’s a reality that I’m daily praying will change and begin to open up so many things that he can actually enjoy and not just for 15 minutes. Praying! My brother did finally come up with an idea to get a remote controlled car. We bought a cheap one which wasn’t the best for what we had in mind outside, but it works well for being in the house. He still can’t tolerate it for long periods, but it’s something new.
By the time this gets posted, we’ll be in CA! Our family reunion is this weekend and for the first time, Cale gets to go! The first one after we were married, he was in AIT and then the second one that I was able to go to after we were married he was deployed. We’re driving down I5 as a convoy and having many adventures! Family is fun! Part of our fun includes walkie talkies…!
This is my second time typing out this post because when I was just about done on the last one, my computer decided to turn off and do an update…lost it all…bugger.
All done now! I’m sure we’ll have a whole bucket full of more stories to tell after we’re done with this trip! :)
Ok…so, I ended up getting this awesome video of Cale dancing and singing. He’s holding a walkie talkie because each car had one and then we gave him the spare to have fun with. He loved getting to hold one and for parts of the drive, he just held it by his ear. He was so tired, but couldn’t sleep in the car so his eyes stayed closed and he was at a point that he was about to shut down and this song recharged him! :)
Boy, he looked like he was really rockin' out. What fun!! Aren't we glad Father only gives us one day at a time...sometimes, one moment at a time is all I can handle. I love you and continue to trust Father for you and your sweet husband. Marion I look forward to hearing about your family reunion. :)
ReplyDeleteparker started to dance as well.lol
ReplyDeleteROCK ON CALE! ROCK ON! LOVE LOVE LOVE this post. When I think of a year ago and now what he is able to retain and sing my eyes are filled with tears with promises kept and promises yet to come..Love you both.
ReplyDeleteJean and Charlie