Man About Town

I'm sitting here with Tim at the start of game 6. Schilling looks sharp, but a couple of big sticks have fizzled - Manny and Lowell leaving the bases loaded. Maybe it's time for an unexpected redemption for the poorly performing JD Drew. Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it. There it goes! Backbackbackback - it's outta here into dead center, about 380 feet. So, I'd say we're off to a good start.

Tim had quite a good couple of days. Jancy was feeling the need to spend some more time with her brother, so she arranged a sub for Saturday's shift and headed out on the bus. She met Tim and together they went back to the Galleria Cambridge Side. I fear that Tim is becoming a mall rat, but as he says - "it's something to do." He can get around inside the mall and it sure beats hanging around the hospital. After they got back to Spaulding, Uncle John came down and escorted Jancy back to the apartment, where she spent the night alone.

Today, Tim (in his power chair) and Jance took a hike up into Cambridge to visit Sara, a former ninth floor mate who was transferred to a skilled nursing facility, about 2 or 3 miles out Cambridge Street. As you can see, he's becoming more independent and comfortable in Boston. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's again, so we'll head somewhere for sure.

Just after we arrived, Tim had a bunch of visitors, all from Monument Class of '06 - Allison, Jess, Emily and Sandy spent some quality time with Tim and Jance while Amy and I went for a walk.

Finally got a chance to catch up with Tim. First some clarification on Thursday's walking episode. The news is better than I had understood. You may recall that Tim had used the walker using only an ankle brace instead of the full length brace on his right leg. The "improved" report is that Tim did not need assistance moving his right leg - he did it all himself. Man, I need to see this one of these days. He thinks that he managed to walk around 100 feet, and at some point he took his hands off the walker and was able to stand unsupported. Things are really starting to heat up here.

Friday's session on the Locomat was significant as they made an adjustment and increased the amount of work that Tim's legs would handle. They are both getting stronger.

Communication from the outside world included a Halloween care package from Katie, Nigel and Art, and I'm happy to say that it included some fresh fruit. Tim was very excited to find a hand thrown pottery from Nigel himself. Also, a nice letter from Butternut boss Judy that included an interesting commentary on the managerial prospects of the New York Yankees.

So here we sit, damning the necessity of 8:30 starts in the playoffs and wondering how long we can last. We'll see.

Manny Causes a Stir

The longest RBI single in history prompted Tim to give us a call. Not happy with that call by the ump. He had given Amy a between-innings chat back in the first, and now it was my turn.

Brief report, but big news both times. He stood up again with the walker. But this time, he used an ankle brace instead of a full leg brace, and really felt strong, needing less help with moving his right leg. The other development was that he dressed himself completely this morning.

Amy and I had a nice meal this evening, prepared by our friend Cathie, a semi-retired caterer from Stockbridge. She's been bringing us a meal each week, and it's always wonderful and something we look forward to. So many people continue to reach out to us with assistance in getting things done, making our BerkshiresBostonandBack schedule bearable. I'm not sure if Kelly and her kids knew that their offer to mow our lawn would result in so many mowings, but they keep coming back, when we're not home and our lawn continues to look good. For me, it is absolutely wonderful knowing that I don't have to make time for that chore every week. Tina is still walking SamBone, poor dog who doesn't get her share of the love lately, and the Thornes keep her fed while we're gone. We appreciate all of the help we're receiving and we don't take any of it for granted. It all adds up to allowing us to spend time with Tim and to keep our affairs in order. Thank you.

Audi Inspiration - # 9

This is the last of the quotes that I found in the Audi book Tim received a couple of months ago. It's a good one:

Passion will take you places where reason doesn’t dare.

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I'll need to find some good filler material for those nights that are a little light on activity. That said, Tim was brief tonight on the phone, but his voice was clear and strong. He got over last night's game and had a good day today. During his Locomat session, he felt that his knee was responding a bit - "snapping back into a locked position" was how he put it. And, he's pretty sure that one of those languishing muscle groups - controlling some right ankle motion - is starting to make a little noise.

*

So, that's it for tonight. We talked a little baseball, and he's off to bed in order to be well rested for tomorrow's nail biter.

This Year's Model

Some good news and some no-news for Tim today. He was supposed to get another opportunity to stand with the walker, but something went amiss with the scheduling and it didn't happen. Too bad. Between us, Amy & I had managed to convince Tim to let us take a picture of him so we could see this momentous event and share it with you. So, no news there. Maybe next week.



However, Tim's power chair was delivered today - it had been ordered about six weeks ago. Tim likes it, and he let me know that he was able to transfer himself from the power chair to manual with no assistance. Here's a picture of him telling me about the new chair just after it arrived.


After Amy left (and returned home a day early), Brigitte came down for a visit, which is always well received.



As I began this entry, I was going to mention what a great pitcher's duel we had going on. But, when a knuckler loses it, he usually loses it big. Too bad, and I'm sure Tim is not enjoying himself this evening.

Tim has always done well on tests

Just pulled in to WS, arriving top of the seventh. Varitek cutting the lead in half and Westbrook getting yanked. It was interesting listening to the game all the way home, switching between various AM stations (including one out of Chicago) all the way back. Doesn't look like I'll make it to the end of tonight's game, but at least it's moving in the right direction.

Our day started off with some visitors. Fredo came in from Holliston to say hello to Tim, Amy and me. Nice to get caught up. Fred was happy to see the changes in Tim live and in person. A little later Grandma and Grandpa came up for a weekly visit - Monday instead of Thursday so that Amy & I could spend some time with them as well. Bolstered by all that love and caring, Tim headed back to work.

In PT today, Kevin performed some "tests" on the muscle groups in Tim's legs - there are ten groups in each leg. As might be expected, the scores on all the groups in his left leg are at or approaching level 4, one level below normal strength. The right leg score was much more exciting. The last time they took a look, only two of the groups had any kind of activity. Today, it was reversed - only two muscle groups were registering a zero - the others were at 1 and 2. Later, Tim showed us what that meant by lifting his right leg, both while lying in bed and sitting in his chair. I'm trying to get him to do another YouTube video, but I'm getting some resistance there. A tangible benefit of this increased strength is that, while lying in his bed, he can "bridge" his back - lifting his butt and hips several inches. This motion allows him to pull on a pair of pants. And so it goes - day by day he gets stronger.

Couple of interesting things in the mail bag today. Aunt Merilyn sent yet another card with the news that her grandson Noah was in town from Montana on his way to Malaysia and the whole family was gathered together in Ashville, NC. One of the coolest packages to have arrived in recent memory was from Deb Jo. A laugh-out-loud funny, sentimental, stream of consciousness note assured Tim that many people are thinking of him and pulling for him every day. The note was accompanied by a CD of her favorite tunes - Santana, Van Halen, Stones, Led Zep and others. I tried to sneak it out, but Tim was on to me. I think Deb may have won some new found respect from Tim with this line:

"You may ask 'Why so much Led Zeppelin at the end?' To that I would say 'Why would you ask me that? I am Deb Jo. I am all about the Zep."

I can't wait to listen to the mix, the play list looks great. R.L. Burnside indeed.

So, that's that for tonight. Tim's settled in to watch the game with others on the floor. Hope they can pull one off out on Lake Erie.

Cookin' at Spaulding

This particular day started off as innocuously as could be imagined. Last night's game kept us all up to varying degrees of "late," so we trickled down to Spaulding one by one, and began to plan the day. Jancy needed/wanted to do a little shopping and Tim seemed to think that was as good as any reason to leave the building. So, we finished up a few odds n ends, like organizing Tim's space - including packing up some gear that's no longer needed; his collar and the stabilization boots that prevented drop foot while he was sleeping. All signs of progress.

I couldn't believe I had signed on to go to a mall - Galleria Cambridge Side - but off we went, Jancy handling the pushing. Once we got to the mall, which is a quick walk past the Museum of Science, Tim provided his own power and maneuvered through the crowds quite nicely. We went here and there, hung out in the Food Court for a bit and got Tim's hair cut. He also did some research on some camera accessories he's interested in and spent a good bit of time in the Apple Store. A good day.

Amy and Tim headed back to Spaulding, while I took Jancy to South Station to catch her bus back to Lee (thanks Phoebe and Chris for picking her up). We ran into Uncle John on this part of our journey, but as we were running late, had just a few minutes to catch up.

This is where things start to get a little funky. Turns out there's a new patient named Morgan whose sister knows Dane Cook's publicist. Today, Dane came up to the ninth floor to visit Morgan and spent time with other patients and staff. Quite a ruckus, let me tell you. I'm glad that he didn't read my review of his latest movie earlier on this site! He was funny, gracious and generous with his time and definitely gave everyone on the ninth floor something to remember.

That took a bit of time - Amy was willing to take some pictures while I watched the Pats whup up on the previously undefeated Cowboys. After it was all over, Tim's spot was a bit of a gathering place as folks came by to look at the pictures on his laptop. After our weekly sharing of local news - mostly an article about Shurika and Thalia involved in recycling at Monument - A & I headed home.

But this trip was not to be swift. Our timing coincided with the end of the last performance of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. As we walked by the back of the Garden, we met the Ringmaster, who was about to lead the elephants and other animals on their walk back to the train in Cambridge. The circus is on a two year, 80 city tour, and they had just done show number 700-something. So, we stuck around to see what would transpire. We talked a bit with the Ringmaster - Chuck Wagner - who is actually a veteran stage actor doing his first gig with the circus. Earlier in his career he had performed in "Kiss Me Kate" at Berkshire Theater Festival. For more about him, click here:

http://www.ringling.com/explore/136/stars/cwagner.aspx

He does a little double duty and leads the walk at the end of the run. We took out our camera, but in the dark with our failing eyesights, we couldn't figure out how to turn the flash on, so these images aren't so great. Too bad, it was kind of cool.