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Thursday, August 11, 2011

a therapeutic non therapy day

This morning Basil woke me up at 5:15am to go outside. Cale had no therapy today, so I had already told him I was going to let him sleep in. Well, after letting Basil outside, I decided to head back to bed myself! I ended up sleeping until about 8 and Cale stayed in bed for another hour after that. It was so nice to take the day slow.

After we were up and going we took a trip to Aqua Tropics; a pet store close by. I used to go there when I was a little girl with my dad and while Cale and I were dating we would go in and just walk around. I haven’t been in in several years and while out driving yesterday I saw the sign and thought Cale would probably love going! Emily has been staying with us and decided to come along. We saw all kind of animals/creatures and had a blast!

It was quite the work out for Cale because he had to squat down quite a bit to see everything. At one point we tipped over and he ended up spread on the floor, but we recovered and all was well!

These Guinea Pigs were so cute!


This little guy posed for us :)


Uh…this was us looking at all the snakes. You can tell what we each thought about it…


Cale was showing the turtle that he was bigger than it!


We were checking out some really neat frogs!


When we finished up, Cale was tired! It took a lot out of him, but he tolerated everything and enjoyed it! I thought he was going to want to rest once home, but instead I cooked him up some lunch. Then again thinking he would want to lie down, but he still said he didn’t need to.

So, we went to the church and he did his drum lesson with Sonny. Usually I would drop him off and then he’d walk back with Sonny, but today I wanted to see how he did. The sessions right now are 15-20 minutes so it’s not much time away anyways. I loved getting to watch Cale drum! When we’re practicing at home, it’s so different than seeing him try so hard with Sonny sitting there. I was really impressed!
Here are a couple videos of part of the session…





After getting back home, I was sure he was ready to take a nap, but again he said no! I had him make the choice of elliptical or the bike and then I took the other. This system seems to be working good to get him more motivated. He just needs someone else working out with him-and that’s what I need too!

He was sweating and done after 7 minutes so we sat outside on the shade to cool off. It was nice sitting next to him and relaxing. We talked about what we had done so far for the day and then what our plans for the rest of the night were going to be.

I love our deck and all the flowers. Each hospital we were at had an area outside with places to sit and always had lots of flowers. I remember sitting in the garden at Palo Alto thinking about how amazing it would be if I could take that area home with me. Well, I wasn’t able to do that, BUT I’ve tried to recreate a similar place that’s outside where I can get fresh air and rest.

I’m not sure if you remember, but last year around this time, we came up with birthday goals for Cale. Here were our two goals last year…


This year the 3 goals to meet before his birthday are:

Take a shower all by himself
Walk without his cane for a full day
Be able to stay at home alone for an hour

All three are things we’ve been working on, and even though it might be a stretch, I think he can do it! We’ll be setting up the board tomorrow!

Please continue to be praying for Cale’s memory. Things get pretty interesting around here because things happen that he doesn’t remember and then he thinks I’m lying! For instance, a couple that we know spoiled him the other night and dropped off some Mt. Dew. Now, pretty much I don’t keep it in the house-at all. Since it was a gift I’ve been letting him drink some here and there. Today with his lunch he drank a whole can, but about an hour later he wanted Mt. Dew. When I told him he had already had some, he didn’t believe me! He honestly thought I was lying to him. This happens over so many things! I end up looking like a liar quite often and this makes him upset at me.

I can’t imagine how he feels with me saying something did happen and he has no memory of it at all! It’s just one of those things we’re learning to work through.

Tonight we played a new game that is tough, but is so good for him. He has to work with colors and pattern. We ended up having to cheat a little, but that was ok! :)

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~MM

4 comments:

  1. I love reading your updates. So many changes, so many challenges but with God in your corner and your thousand of prayer warriors anything is possible!

    I am going to post that quote as my status. A successful marriage is one that you work on day in and day out but it is completely worth it!

    Much love.

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  2. I found your blog through the InCourage Community. I am inspired by your beautiful love story. Yes, a successful marriage takes work, but is so worth it. God bless you and Cale.

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  3. Thanks you two for your sweet words! They always encourage me! :)

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  4. Yes, marriage takes work, even after 33 years. YES!! It is so worth it. I get to see changes in my honey (me too!!!) that make me smile. I am so thrilled about Cale's drumming. I have to admit, it would drive me bonkers listening to practise times, though. About the Mt. Dew thing, is there some way you could take a picture with your phone or something, of him drinking the Dew, and just show that to him. I guess iwas thinking of 50 First Dates. I love you, Marion

    ReplyDelete

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