Homecoming

Mom will return to California on Saturday 9/27. She is looking forward to her homecoming. In the midst of our post hurricane time, Mom saw a neurologist at TMH who gave her lots of good news about her recovery. She also had an MRI which showed no additional blockages or AVMs. Good News! She still struggles with her clumsy right hand, which makes writing and computer usage difficult, but she is persevering!

So, this concludes our Julia's Brain Blog. Thank you all for your support and love for us and especially for Mom! We could not have made it through without all of you!

Mark, Alissa, and Gaylen

All is safe

The Kimbell clan weathered the storm well. Lots of rain and wind but no damage to the house in Houston. Gaylen did say she managed to get some sleep on Friday night, though not a ton. Many of the houses on Gaylen's block did suffer damage -- fallen chimneys and blown roof tiles. They are with out power in Houston and have headed to the farm house which does have power. At last word, Gaylen thought power would return on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mom and Gaylen are looking to spend a few days at the time share in San Antonio the first part of the week. Mark was able to come home from Methodist on Saturday afternoon to get some rest and then has headed back up to Methodist on Sunday. All is well.

IKE

Well, the news is interesting. Ike appears to be headed to make landfall just south of us, and may pass directly over Ft. Bend County where I live. Mom is busy at home watching the weather reports, which are basically asking us to shelter in - or "hunker down". The storm is projected to hit overnight Friday and be passed through by Saturday evening. Any damage will come from wind, not from flooding.

Mom's neurology appointment scheduled for tomorrow is now rescheduled and work is canceled for me - they are sending us home at 3 pm. Nothing about this summer will seem typical - glad that my mommy's with me through this one, though!

Alissa was scheduled to come in this weekend, but Southwest has canceled her flight. That stinks, because mom and I were both looking forward to her arrival.

When she wants to shop.....

When Mom is worrying about wearing the "right" clothes to the doctors and therefore wants to take a trip to the mall in the middle of a 90 degree day, you know she is feeling better!

Mom has completed two sessions of physical therapy at our local PT office and is doing very well. We have started in earnest on her at home program, three times per day, and it's paying off. Mom was actually walking spryly to the stairs last night without walker, I think for the first time, not actually THINKING about the fact that she was walking. It was the first natural, unconscious walking she's done. I can safely say that Mom's favorite part of the day was her first real standing up shower in 6 weeks. She felt great.

The return to California is slated around 9/26 when Mark M. will fly out and bring Mom home. This will hopefully give mom plenty of time to do her rehab and physical therapy so that she can live without any hired help when she gets to her house. We're also slated to try and see a neurologist at Methodist this week and get Mom's MRI done. Her primary care physician is still concerned that she is experiencing dizziness without the Scolapine patch on.

Momentum is not your friend.....

Mom continues to improve every day. She had her first physical therapy appointment on Tuesday and returns Friday for more. She had hoped to be given a cane, but the therapist said she was not quite ready. However, she is moving around the house without her walker and has increased her time walking outside (yes, it's very, very hot!) to 40 minutes. Sometimes, though, she goes too quickly and has to catch herself - a quick reminder that momentum is not yet her friend! I guess that is why she doesn't get the cane yet.

We had a weekend full of shopping, a trip to the farm, and games. Mom is great to play scrabble with because she has such a great vocabulary and can catch Mark when he tries to play words that are not really words. This works out best for me. Last night, Ben and Luke taught her to play Yatzee! This is a good recovery game because you have to roll the dice, count, use strategy and write small numbers....

Her hand eye coordination continues to improve on her right side - though I know this part is progressing more slowly than Mom would like. We are looking at Mom returning to CA either the weekend of September 14 or September 26. Our goal is for Mom to be able to live independently when she does return so she doesn't have to hire help in on a full, or even part time, basis. We will keep you posted!