Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

New Year's Eve started by Larry and I turning off the alarm and sleeping in until 8:00 a.m.  Then by the time we had showered, prayed, read, and eaten breakfast it was almost 10:30 a.m. so we decided to go see Nathan before we went to the gym.

Nathan was in Physical Therapy.  He was doing a leg exercise when we entered.  You could tell he was not happy.  He stopped and just sat there.  I asked him if he needed to do more.  He told me that he didn"t know that he was waiting for her (the therapist) to tell him.  She, of course, was waiting for him to do some more leg moves.  Then they took him to try to walk.  He got really agitated because they wanted to hold onto him and he told them he could walk 196 ft at the VA and did not need someone to hold onto the walker and him so tight.  They have a belt that they put around him so that if he falls he will not crash that they hold on to.  I could tell that they had only planned for him to walk across the room but they revised the plan when he told them how far he could walk.  He is walking really well.  He is able to hold up his body much better than three months ago.  He walked to his chair and then they all closed in on him again when he wanted to sit down and he got angry with them.  He was ranting about how they do not need to help him.  I reminded him that he need to talk to them politely.   He then started ranting about how they do not tell him when they want to have therapy and that he needs a schedule.  He was very belligerent.  And told them this several times although it seemed to me that the original reason was that he didn't want them to get so close.  He repeated himself several times and Larry and I tried to calm him down and explain that he could talk to them instead of yell.  He told me the day before that people think that he is yelling when he is just talking.  I told him to remember that and that this was one of the times that he was yelling.  He finally started to calm down.  I said to him is therapy over or are you going to try to do something else?  He sat there for a few minutes and decided that he wanted to do more.  So they took him to stand by a table device to help him stand.  He calmed down there and began to ask questions about the view he could see from the window and to talk about his hands and their limitations.  When he finished standing he apologized to the therapist.  She told him that she was sorry also but that he had to realize that this was her first time with him.  I think that he is just having a hard time adjusting to the change of facilities and he wants everything to stay the way it was at the VA.

We went back to the room and talked for a while and then Larry and I went to the gym to exercise and to get lunch before we got back to the care center to celebrate New Years Eve. Nathan went to lunch.

I have been reading the book Les Miserables as I walk on the treadmill at the gym.  It is fascinating all the things that happen in the book that did not get included in the play and movie.  On this day I read about how he confessed and left but unlike the movie there were consequences and he was caught and tried and went back to prison at Toulon before he got Cosette.  He had to escape from prison again before he could go and get Cosette.

Nathan snacking and playing monopoly

We have been trying to do the Weight Watchers Simple Start.  It is different from regular weight watchers in that you can only eat certain foods but you can eat all you want.  I like that I can eat all I want to but it is very restricting on the foods you can eat.

We got back to the care center at about 3:30 p.m.  After talking with Nathan some and getting help from the Dietician at the care center, so we could have a table to play on, we began to play "Dr. Who Monopoly".  That is the version that Nathan and his family own.  I asked him if it was he or Sara that first got so excited about Dr. Who.  He said that he had started watching it when he worked on the border with the immigration fence.

Larry waiting for a player to move

We played for about two hours before it was time for Nathan to eat.  We had brought our own food because we became aware that we could not eat with Nathan because of calories.  We ate some of our food while Nathan ate his.  He has a man that sits at his table and every time we have been there he is on the right side of the round table from Nathan.  We had positioned the Monopoly table so that Nathan could just turn around and eat where he usually does.  This older man began inching into where Nathan normally sits.  He was making it so that Nathan could not sit at the table without going completely around about 4 tables.  I asked him if he would move back so Nathan could sit at the table.  He said nothing and did not move.  I had to leave for a few minutes and Larry said that while I was gone the CNA had asked him to move and he started shouting that he had been at the care center for three years and he was not going to move for anyone.  I got the impression that unknowingly Nathan had taken over his position at the table when he arrived and the man was upset because of losing his territory.  Fortunately the other man at the table moved to the right and Nathan was able to move in there and eat.

Larry rolling the die

Shrimp is one of the foods that we could eat so Larry got us two shrimp rings.  We ate one and shared one with Nathan.  He said that it was fun.  We also had popcorn but that seemed to cause Nathan some problems.  We had fruit like apples and pears and bananas and Dr Pepper diet caffine free for all of us and Nathan ate some of his after eating dinner.

We resumed our game and played and watched the ABC Dick Clark's New Year's Eve party with Ryan Seacrest on the big screen in the dining room.  I got ahead really soon and seemed to have lots of money.  I was even able to buy houses for two different monopolies before Nathan got tired at 8:30 p.m. and wanted to go to bed.  He always gets up about 6:00 a.m. so he is tired by 8:00 or 8:30 p.m.  We cleaned up and told him good night and went home to the house here.  We watched a Bones and then went to bed ourselves.  We are getting in a rut but we like it.

Wednesday started about the same and continued for the morning into the afternoon.  When we got back after lunch Nathan had just got out of the shower.  He had been on a walk earlier with the Bishop of the ward trying to figure out if he could ride in his wheelchair to church.  There is sidewalk about 1 mile of the 2 miles it is to church.  They had surmised that he could turn into the Residential neighborhood that was across the street and find side walks there.  Later Larry went and drove through the neighborhood and found that there were not more sidewalks and that it was further that way. But Nathan says it is not so busy in the residential and he could ride on the street so he is still considering it.

He also was wanting to get registered with the Viatran a bus for handicapped that only costs $1.75 one way to ride.  He looked it up on the Ipad and showed us the application.  It sounded like a good alternative to the taxi but then Larry noticed that it does not operated in Windcrest and that is where the church is.

We talked for about 2 and a half hours about this and that and finally it was time for Nathan to eat(6:00 p.m.) so we told him we would go eat and come back after we ate.  Sometime during the afternoon we noticed on Facebook that Maren and Landon were flying out to Utah on Thursday.  So we decided we will have to go home a little faster so we can see them.

When we got to the house the door would not open and anything we tried did not work so we texted Sara and asked her what she thought we could do.  After offering us several suggestions all that did not work she said that she could not help us.  Somehow we had looked the doorknob lock and the security alarm will not work to unlock that and all the keys she had left were locked in the house.  We had no choice but to call a locksmith.  Larry found one on his phone and called they said that they could be there in 15 minutes to a half hour so he told them to come.  In the meantime I went to Wal-Mart because I had to go to the bathroom and it was the only place I could think of.  I was also hungry so I bought some bananas and Dr. Pepper and Clementines and then went back.  This way Larry did not get low blood sugar and I was not hungry.  They finally showed up but by the time we got in and had eaten it was 8 :30 p.m.  I tried to text Nathan to tell him what had happened but decided that he was in bed.  He saw it in the morning but I felt bad that twice now I had told him we would come back and then did not make it.

This morning started out just like the last two days except that we got up at 7:00 a.m. and it was colder and windy today.  We got to the care center about 9:30 a.m. and Nathan was talking with the Speech Therapist.  Apparently she is working on helping him to pass the swallow test for thin liquids and she had given him some water.  He told me before that they had determined that he could drink milk without the thickener.  Larry and I were worried about who "they" were so we were relieved to find out that it was someone who knew what they were doing.  She also mentioned that they had talked in meeting about Nathan wanting a schedule and not wanting therapy after dinner.  Nathan said that he would give them until Monday to implement it before he talks to them again.

We talked to Nathan again for awhile about a lot of things.  He is getting very articulate and bringing up a lot of bigger words.  Before we knew it it was time for Nathan to eat lunch so we headed for the gym.  I ended up reading a lot more from Les Miserables today and so I did the elliptical longer and walked longer on the treadmill.  It was the part where they explain why Marius was with the rebels which is not explained in the movie.  Then we went home and ate and watched an episode of Bones.

While we were home Judy called and said that John had had a mini stroke called a TIA and so they would not be coming over tomorrow to stay with us like we had planned.  It is worrisome because when Larry looked it up online it said that often it is a precursor to a stroke.  This time his face became numb but he was not damaged in any way.  Too close to home for comfort.  We will stop on our way home but we will miss visiting with them here. 

When we got back Nathan was reclining in his chair and watching an episode of Dr. Who on his Ipad.  He sat up and we began to talk.  I was tired and started to yawn and pretty soon he was yawning too.  I suggested we go for a walk outside even though I did not want to go far because it was still cold and I had left my jacket home.  Larry said that he was going to go and wash the car.  So, Nathan and I went out the front door with him.  It wasn't too bad in front so we determined that we would go around the care center.  We went to what I think is the south and when we got to the end of the building it was much colder.  As neither one of us had jackets on we decided to be whimps and go in.

We began talking again and Nathan kept yawning and I kept wanting to lay down on the extra bed.  After a while I suggested that we both rest for a few minutes.  He leaned back in his chair and started his movie and I lay down on the bed.   A little while later I heard Larry come in and Nathan began talking to him about getting him some restaurant food for tomorrow.  I listen to that for a while and then I hear Larry say you should show that to your mother so I sat up and asked what.  They showed me that they had figured out that Nathan could practice standing by standing up to the dresser or standing up to the bar in the bathroom.  They had a good talk.  I thought it had been about a half hour since I laid down but they informed me it was an hour and a half and that it was time for us to go home and eat and Nathan had to go to dinner.  I was thinking I should go to sleep more often as that is the most Larry has talked to Nathan in all the trips combined probably.

On the way home I noticed that Kirsten had messaged me on Facebook, about the time I had gone to sleep, wanting to know if we wanted to skype .  I talked to her for awhile there and told her to message Nathan.  Then about that time Nathan texted us to let us know that he had found Larry's phone still there.  I told him that Kirsten wanted to skype and had probably messaged him on facebook so he said he would contact her.  He did and he said when we got back that they had a good talk.

We went home and had a yummy dinner, watched Bones and then went back to the care center but Nathan was already in bed.  He had his Ipad on his lap and I asked him if he wanted me to move it.  He said that he always sleeps with it so he can play games in the morning while he is waiting for help out of bed.  He has been saying that it is hard to roll over in bed.  Now I know why.  It has nothing to do with his limbs being stubborn. It is his Ipad lol.