Following Jerry

New Experiences

2011-04-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

Jerry started taking classes at the community college in the first week of February. Our schedule was a bit grueling with school Monday through Thursday, SCI-FIT in Pleasanton Friday and wheelchair soccer on Saturdays, not to mention homework. The drive to school is about 45 minutes, too far to drop Jerry and come back home so I am taking classes at the same time as Jer. I'm loving it, I have a golf and a fitness class, it's a great break for me. The first hurdle to overcome was how Jerry was to manage homework assignments, the first homework assignment was a bit overwhelming. We purchased software that allows Jerry to do calculus using his voice activation software, it's been challenging for him but he's figuring it out. Jerry really enjoyed his history class and liked the teacher very much. In the 4th week Jerry had an issue with the teacher and dropped the class. I encouraged him to stick with it, not let the teacher get the best of him however he felt he could not work with a teacher that was so unreasonable. Jerry has special accommodations for test taking, he takes tests at disabled student services where a scribe will write his answers. He showed up for class on Monday and found that there was to be a test however he didn't have the chance to set up the time with a scribe because he was unaware of the test. Jerry asked if he could set it up for the next day and the teacher would not allow it. The teacher explained the test date was in the syllabic (handed out the first day of school), he told Jerry he would have to take a zero and be more prepared for next time. The bottom line is Jerry is just trying to figure out how to be a student as a quad, he took classes he thought would be easy, he didn't need them. The purpose is to work out the kinks and figure out how to manage. As a mom I was ready to march in and have a little chat with that teacher however Jerry would not allow it, Jerry did make a complaint in disabled student services.

Jerry is playing wheel chair soccer (power soccer) on Sundays and enjoying it very much. He plays on a co-ed team with others with different disabilities, some have MS, MD and spinal cord injured. Jerry's wheelchair is not good for the sport it's far to slow so in the beginning it was very frustrating for him. The coach has a few extra chairs that people have handed down and offered one to Jer. It took about 3 weeks to modify the chair to fit Jerry's needs, this weekend he was able to control his new chair with almost no issues. The team had a tournament in Santa Barbara last weekend so Dennis and Jerry made the long haul. This was the first time since Jerry's accident that he has traveled in a vehicle for more than 2 hours as well as a first for staying in a hotel. Jerry fared well on the drive and slept fine without the alternating pressure mattress. This was a good trial for travel, our next trip will be a little more challenging as we'll be flying to Atlanta GA in July.

Here's a little taste of power soccer:

God Bless!

Katie

Quick Update

2011-01-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

I think we may be getting closer to addressing the nausea issue for Jerry. Although we've not discovered the root cause we have found a medication combo that eliminates about 85% of the nausea. Jerry feels better physically which improves his mood and outlook on life greatly. I hope this remedy holds up, Jerry builds a tolerance to medications very quickly within 2 to 4 weeks. For now the pain, nausea and emotions are all being managed successfully.

Jerry begins classes at Cabrillo college in about 3 weeks, I think he's excited yet very nervous at the same time. Originally Jerry was going to sign up for a history class to learn how to be a student as a quadriplegic, the biggest concern being how to manage homework. Jerry decided that one class was not enough he really wanted to take calculus as well and so signed up for the class. Now Jerry is becoming increasingly more nervous about being able to handle 2 classes and is wavering on whether or not to drop calc. I reassured Jer that there is plenty of time to drop a class and he should at least give it a shot. He could attend 2 or 3 classes and then determine whether or not he can handle it, so for now that is the plan. Since I am driving him to school and don't have time to come home, I've decided to take some classes as well. As a new student I got to register for classes last and thus all the classes I wanted to take were full, so I will be taking a golf class this semester. I'm excited and hope to improve my golf game immensely.

In my last post I mentioned Dennis being in a band and encouraged all locals to join us at the next gig. I just wanted to let everyone know that Dennis dropped out of the band. Maybe he will pick it back up at a later date but right now it's a little too complicated. I assume the scheduled shows have been canceled, unless they were able to pick a drummer.

I still have lots of t-shirts, if you were planning on purchasing I encourage you not to wait we are limited on sizes.

Much love,

Katie

Happy New Year!

2011-01-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

Happy new year, may God bless you today and everyday of this upcoming year.

There has been a couple of changes to this site I'd like to point out in case you haven't noticed. First we have reached $9,557 for the China fund, at just under $10,000 we are almost 1/4 of the way to our goal of $40,000. Secondly there is a new page for t-shirts, to view the new page you can click on the "T-Shirts" link above or click on one of the t-shirt images on the right. Sizes are limited so be sure to order your t-shirt early to ensure you get the size and color you want. We need to sale 27 shirts to break even but my goal is to sale all 100.

Some of you may know that Dennis joined a band, on January 1st the band had their first gig at Don Quixote's in Felton (Tunes for the Troops) , the band did great and sounded awesome. The proceeds from the concert went to the Army Blue Star Moms who put together packages for the troops. Originally they called the band Curtis, Yadon & the California Kingpins but they had to change the name, I think California Kingpins was already in use. The new name is Love Creek, sorry guys that name has gotta go, ya might want to go back to the drawing board on that one. We would love to see all you locals at the next show Britania Arms in Aptos Saturday January 22nd and Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale Friday February 25th. You can listen to a couple of their tracks by clicking here. Jerry went to the movies with his buddies but was able to get to the concert in time to see them play. I caught many glimpses of him laughing and having a good time but I think he was laughing at me on the dance floor, ahhh well what are ya gonna do?

Jerry's two year anniversary was January 2nd, it was a day like any other. We chose not to acknowledge the day as a reminder of a tragedy or give it merit. We went about our routine as usual and didn't talk about the anniversary of his accident. I know to some that may sound like denial however I don't see the point in dwelling on the date that marks a tragic event. We live with sadness for Jerry's loss of mobility, Jerry struggles daily in accepting his new reality, we need to look for the positive not dwell on the negative. So the day came and went as any other day.

Jerry still struggles with nausea on a daily basis but does his best to be functional in spite of the fact, some days are better than others. Jerry continues to go to therapy at SCI-FIT two days a week and we are looking to have someone come to the house to work with Jerry three days a week. It would be great to get someone to come to the house to do range of motion, standing frame and FES bike, to give me a bit of a break.

Jerry begins school in February he'll be taking a history and a calculus class at the local community college. Cabrillo college is about 45 minutes from our house, it's pointless to drive him to school and come home so I'm taking a golf class. I'm excited for Jer and hope that he will not have much trouble figuring out how to be a student as a quad. Calculus homework may be challenging not being able to write out the equations however he has a calculus software that may allow him to work on his homework.

We have a busy day today the visiting nurse was here this morning to check Jerry's INR, he should be able to get off the blood thinner Coumadin by the second week of February. Jerry has a doctor appointment in Santa Cruz at 2:45 and my friend Cheryl and I are going to see Willie Nelson in concert tonight at 6:30. It's going to be a bit of a push for me to get through Jerry's appointment, drive 40 minutes home from Santa Cruz to drop off Jerry and be back in Santa Cruz by 6:30. Dennis and Jerry are going to the San Jose Sharks hockey game tomorrow night they're pretty excited about that, I hope they win. Go Sharks!!! That's all for now I gotta get rollin.

God Bless!

Katie

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, remember to stop and give thanks to God, appreciate your loved ones and don't take life for granted. We never stop to think about the things in life that make our life manageable until it's gone, only then do we realize how precious and fragile life is. I'm guilty, I never gave much thought to the things that make my life easy, the ability to walk, take a 5 minute shower, scratch my head when it itches, feed myself, bend my fingers to grip something, write or type, turn my body over in bed to relieve pressure from being in one position for too long, driving and on and on; until my son was no longer able to do these things. I appreciate now all these things that I'm capable of just to be functional through the day but I would give it all up in a heartbeat if I could give Jerry these gifts. I still pray God will heal Jerry and restore him to health, I will never give up hope that he will again be able to do the simple things in life that make life easier.

We have a family tradition of delivering homemade cookies to all our friends on Christmas eve. Our family loads in the car and drives to deliver to about 25 homes in the valley. This year started out great we decided to take the suburban so Jerry could sit in a regular seat in the car instead of his wheelchair. Jerry felt good when we loaded him in the car but by the time we hit the 6th house he was very nauseous, and couldn't go on. Dennis dropped Jerry and I at home and then continued on delivering cookies, I hope you recipients enjoy the tasty treats.

My family came to visit for about a week and we celebrated Christmas a week early. It's the first time in several years that we had most of the family together, I enjoyed it very much. There was about 20 of us, my house is not that big but we managed to all find places to sit and visit. We missed you Mark and Brandon, Robert & Phil, Dave, Vince & Rena. I'm planning a summer family camp out so mark you calendars now. Having already made the big Christmas dinner last week, I've decided tomorrow I'm not doing anything but enjoying the family, so Chinese food it is, another first.

Well good news, the followingJerry t-shirts are done. I picked them up a few weeks ago and so wanted to get them on the website before Christmas. With preparing for the family to come, having them here a week, getting all my Christmas shopping done, wrapping etc. I either didn't have time or was too exhausted to get the shirts posted. It certainly has been a whirlwind of a December, needless to say the t-shirts are now available. We have blue shirts with white lettering and white shirts with blue lettering for sale $18, the proceeds will go in Jerry's China fund for stem cell therapy. You can click the link on the right side for more info or to place an order.

Merry Christmas to all!

Katie

2010-12-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ours was great. Josh came home from San Diego it was so nice having him home. I got most of my cooking done on Wednesday evening so we spent much of the day relaxing and watching football, I even got do my cross stitch. It was a very quiet and peaceful day.

Not much has changed since my last post, Jerry still struggles with nausea on a daily basis. He's lonely and some days the sadness is overwhelming. The great thing about holidays is Jerry's friends come home from college. The boys took Jerry to the movie to see the new Harry Potter movie, he enjoyed that very much and Issac dropped by to visit for a couple of hours. It helps to distract him if only for a short period. A friend of ours Rob gave Dennis and Jerry San Jose Sharks tickets, so the boys got out of the house and had a great evening watching hockey on Tuesday, it was a bummer the sharks lost but the boys had a good time none the less. Thanks Rob!

Good news the t-shirts are in production and should be ready for sale soon. Jim from Sports Embroidery Center has done an awesome job designing the shirt and has given us a sneak peak, (see image below). We will have the blue shirts with white lettering as well as white shirts with blue lettering. The image below is the back of the shirt, the front of the shirt has a smaller logo over the pocket area and Jeremiah 30:17 on the sleeve, the shirts will be sold for $18. I was nervous about investing too much money and not being able to sale all the shirts so I only have 100 shirts, 50 of each color which breaks down to about 10 shirts per size. So if you know you will be ordering shirts you may want to do it earlier rather than later to ensure we don't run out of your size. You can pre order shirts if you like by sending a check to the address below, please be sure to include: how many shirts your ordering, size, color, ship to address and phone number in case there's questions.

It's time to get Jerry ready for SCI-FIT, thanks for the prayers, love and support.

Katie

162 McPheeters Cir

Boulder Creek CA 95006

A Night Out

2010-11-21T22:23:00.000-08:00

Dennis and I were able to get a much needed break last night and spent the evening out. We went to see The Pat Travers Band at the Brookdale lodge, they put on a great show. PT was one of Dennis' favorite artists, he saw him sometime around 1982 so he was excited to be able to see him again in such a small venue. The base player wore a followingjerry bracelet for a portion of the show and I slipped a bracelet on Pat Travers wrist at the end of the show. It would be kinda cool to have someone famous join the following Jerry community. Maybe they would be willing to do a benefit concert to help raise money for Jerry's trip to China for stem cell therapy, that would be SWEET!!!

Jerry had a rough day today, his nausea was at its all time worst and he spent the majority of the day sleeping, he seems to be feeling better this evening. We are watching the football games that we tapped earlier today, Jerry and I are going head to head in our fantasy football league. I think he might kick my butt.

A few days ago Jerry tried to use his adaptive utensils to feed himself, we discovered it's to soon, he was not able to scoop food onto his spoon. I look forward to the day when he can feed himself, I think he will get there it's just going to take some time.

I've finally got around to ordering t-shirts, I'm excited, I think they are going to be really cool. We decided to do blue shirts with white lettering like the bracelet as well as white shirts with blue lettering. I will get pictures on the site just as soon as the shirts come in.

Thanks for keeping Jerry in your thoughts and prayers.

God bless,

Katie

Getting Stronger

2010-11-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

The FES bike has been very beneficial for Jerry but like most kids his age he'd rather be doing something else besides working out. I can't blame him for that matter, heck I feel guilty, he works out more than I do and I have no excuse. I'm so proud of Jerry and how hard he works. The video below is Jerry doing the FES arm cycle, just ignore the stack of pillows on the unmade bed ;-), I guess I should have cleaned his room a bit before shooting a video.

Jerry's arms continue to get stronger, his left arm has been more dominant in the past however the right arm is starting to catch up. A few nights ago Jerry wanted a candy bar, I'm on a diet and that's a little torturous to have a candy bar in my hand and not take a bite. I decided if Jerry wanted the candy bar he was going to have to feed it to himself, I was halfway messing with him I would have fed it to him if he could not. I put the candy bar between his fingers and much to my surprise he managed to lift it and take a bite. I was so excited I made him wait to eat the rest while I grabbed the camera. As you can see by the expression on his face in the video below he hates it when I take pictures and video especially when eating. I know he hates it now but it's important to capture these milestones so when he looks back he can see how far he has come. This was way to huge not to share with you all.

With the discovery that Jerry could feed himself the candy bar the thought came to me that maybe it's time to get adaptive utensils and begin to try feeding himself his meals. I purchased the utensils online and I gotta say once again I'm appalled at how the handicapped are taken advantage of, it's sickening. 1 plate, 1 fork, 1 spoon and 1 cup, plastic, nothing that special, $70. Unbelievable!

The plate has rubber tabs on the bottom so it won't slide, it also has a rim all around it so the food cannot be scooped off the edge. The fork or spoon can be strapped to the hand and is bendable to angle it the way Jerry needs it. You never stop to think how many muscles are used for the simple task of feeding yourself. Jerry has one muscle working for him, the bicep, he can bend at the elbow to lift his forearm but cannot lift the arm from the elbow to the shoulder. Jerry doesn't have any wrist or hand control or wrist rotation. Feeding himself may still be to early and be more of a frustration then he can handle right now but he'll never know until he tries.

God bless,

Katie

Back to Normal

2010-09-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

Things are finally getting back to normal in our house after a hellish six weeks, Jerry has almost recovered fully and is feeling a little more like his old self. It's going to take some time for Jerry to gain what he's lost over the last six weeks, his muscles have lost some tone, his tolerance for being in his wheelchair has gone way down, his blood pressure drops more now then ever and the FES bike causes his heart to race after 10 minutes. These are disappointing set backs that should improve over time. The good news is Jerry started back at SCI-FIT this week getting the much needed workouts with an amazing crew, it's good to be back but I'm still hating the drive. More good news, Jerry's right arm is getting stronger, he can move his right arm as much as his left arm now, the only difference is the right arm fatigues quicker.

That's all for now, I have to get Jerry ready, it's a SCI-FIT day.

God Bless!

Katie

T-Shirts Anyone?

2010-08-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

We are brainstorming ideas of ways to generate more money for China and thought t-shirts might be good. Before we go and put out a lot of money to have shirts made we thought we would poll you all to determine if there's an interest. The t-shirts would be $20 which includes shipping and would have the logo on the front breast and maybe the website in the back bottom as seen below. If you think you would purchase a t-shirt could your leave a comment answering the questions below. Answering the questions does not commit you to purchasing, it will help us determine if there's enough interest to proceed as well as what colors and sizes.

1. Would you be interested in purchasing a t-shirt?
2. What color t-shirt?
3. What color logo?
4. What size would you order?
5. Do you have an interest in designing the t-shirt?

Home At Last

2010-08-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

The ultrasound came back normal which is good news, the chest x-ray taken this morning shows no increase in fluid in the lung, more good news. The doctors can not conclusively say the pulmonary embolism was a false positive so they will be treating Jerry with the blood thinner coumadin for another 3 months to be on the safe side. The best news of all we are home at last, hallelujah.

Jerry spent about 3 hours in his wheelchair today, he also attempted to ride the FES bike but was only able to tolerate about 10 minutes. It's difficult for him to sit straight up he still has fluid in the pleura which makes it difficult for him to breath, he can't tolerate being upright for more then 10 to 15 minutes. While we were in the hospital Dennis installed the ceiling lift over the bath tub. After a much needed shave Jerry was able to relax in the jacuzzi tub for about an hour. It was so nice being able to get Jerry in the tub by myself with very little physical exertion. Jerry is a happy camper resting in his own bed, watching football.

Good to be home!

Katie

Diagnosis Confusion....

2010-08-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

The situation with Jerry is getting a bit confusing, as much as I like the doctors I have to wonder if they're qualified to solve this puzzle. We have 3 pulmonologists, 1 neuro specialist, and 1 hospitalist on the case all of which are scratching their heads, saying nothing about Jerry's case is textbook. Their diagnosis is just not adding up and they're beginning to question themselves with regards to the diagnosis that they've made thus far. Two of the doctors have explained to me how they came to the conclusion of a pulmonary embolism, all of which is very detailed but made sense why they would come to the conclusion of PE. I don't have the energy to write it all up, the bottom line is now the doctors are thinking the original diagnosis of PE and the diagnosis of lung infarct may be wrong, it may actually have just been a pneumonia all along. They want to run a series of tests to try and determine weather or not Jerry actually had an embolism so they can determine weather or not he needs to continue taking coumadin. This is all kinda good news bad news, the bad news being misdiagnosed causing worry and stress and Jerry taking a dangerous drug unnecessarily, the good news being pneumonia is a much less serious diagnoses and recovery then pulmonary embolism and lung infarct. So here we are in the waiting game, waiting for them to come up with an accurate diagnosis.

Jerry had another chest x-ray yesterday which showed no change in regards to the amount of fluid present in the pleura, this is good news he's not continuing to build fluid. Jerry is scheduled for another chest x-ray on Sunday and possibly an ultrasound of his arms, legs and heart today. That's all for now, we'll keep you posted.

xoxoxo

Katie

Update

2010-08-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

It looks like we will be staying for awhile at Dominican. Jerry had a chest x-ray this morning at 6am, a little early for us late risers. The x-ray shows the pleural effusion is again taking on fluid in addition the pulmonologist now believes that the lung infarct was not an infarct at all because an infarct would not cause so much fluid. The doctor believes that what they thought to be an infarct is actually a pneumonia. The plan is to do another chest x-ray tomorrow, if the fluid increases again then the doctor will do another thorasentesis (remove the fluid) with the assist of an ultrasound. The ultrasound will assist the doc in finding the precise spot to insert the drain.

If you've been following along with what's been going on then you should be familiar with Jerry's INR. If you remember the INR should be between 2 and 3, however last week the INR was 4.6. This means that Jerry's dosage of coumadin was way to high. Jerry was taken off the coumaden to bring the INR down and now his INR level is 1.7, so starts the process over of finding the right medication dosage for him. Jerry goes back on coumadin today and won't be released until his INR level is between 2 & 3. Between the INR and monitoring the activity in the lung we are expected to be here at least through Sunday. :(

I'll keep you posted,

Katie

Back in the Hospital

2010-08-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

We're back to our tiny little closet, sure haven't missed it, by that sarcasm I mean Jerry was admitted back into Dominican Hospital. We'll start with the good news the MRI results showed no evidence of a Syrinx, thanks for all the prayers.

Monday started with getting Jerry through the morning routine and ready to go to Santa Cruz for the MRI. The weekend was hard for Jerry his pain increasing and not being managed so well with the pain medication. Jerry was having a difficult time sitting upright for more than 2 minutes, he couldn't breath and was close to passing out when he tried. After getting through the MRI we headed to see Jerry's doctor who was able to ease our mind with regards to the syrinx but it was a rather upsetting visit. While viewing the MRI with the doc we were able to see the damaged area of Jerry's spinal cord. I was shocked to see the difference in size between the healthy cord and the damaged cord. The doc explained that the spinal cord atrophied just like muscles can atrophy, I didn't know that could happen and seeing it on film was rather shocking. I couldn't contain the tears as hard as I tried, even writing this the tears return. It's gonna take a miracle, so please keep Jerry in your prayers.

Jerry's doctor was concerned so he sent us to the lab for some blood tests and on to Radiology for another chest x-ray. The chest x-ray taken Monday was significantly different form the x-ray taken 4 days prior so Jerry was admitted once again to the hospital. The x-ray showed a significant amount of fluid in Jerry's right lung the lung that had the embolism. The official diagnosis is "Pleural Effusion" you can click on that for the clinical definition. The simple definition of pleural effusion is an accumulation of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity. Thoracentesis is the procedure the pulmonologist used to remove the fluid from Jerry today. I was able to be present for the procedure and I gotta say that needle was gnarly. I was astounded with the amount of fluid they drew out, 1 1/2 liters and they didn't even get all of it. Another chest x-ray was performed directly following the thoracentesis which showed some fluid remains. My understanding is they will do another chest x-ray in a couple days to determine if the fluid is building again.
The cause of the pleural effusion is yet to be determined however the pulmonologist believes the lung infarct developed an infection. The good news is Jerry feels so much better with minimal pain after the removal of the fluid.

So here we are again anxiously awaiting to go home, desperate to get Jerry back to health, we are hoping to be released by Thursday.

Thank you everyone for keeping Jerry in your prayers, we appreciate the support and warm wishes.

Love to all,

Katie

Somethings Not Right

2010-08-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

We were so ready to be released from the hospital on Friday last week, some nurses were great, others not so much. The room was about the size of a utility closet, the hospital didn't have adequate supplies for Jerry's care, which had to be brought in from home. It's just so much easier to care for him at home so it was a blessing when he was released or so we thought. Jerry has not been doing so well since diagnosed with PE (Pulmonary Embolism), his pain is not being managed so well at home. The first four days at home Jerry did well, he had to double up on pain meds but for the most part he felt comfortable as long as he was taking his meds. Tuesdays blood test showed Jerry's INR level to be at 4.6, if you remember it's supposed to be between 2 and 3. Jerry was taken off the blood thinning medication Coumadin for a few days until his INR drops back into range. Wednesday things started to go down hill with pain management and difficulty taking deep breaths, by Wednesday night a fever set in. After consulting with Jerry's doctor Wednesday night we were instructed to be at the hospital in the morning for a series of tests which included a chest x-ray, x-rays of both shoulders and an MRI of his C-Spine. Unfortunately the MRI machine was broke so we will be getting the MRI on Monday, the shoulder x-rays came back normal however the chest x-ray shows a "lung infarct", you can click that for a clinical definition. A lung infarct basically means that the lung tissue that the clot attached itself to died from lack of oxygen and blood flow. The doctor believes that the pain in Jerry's right arm and shoulder are a result of the clot and infarct however he wants an MRI to rule out a "Syrinx". In layman's terms a syrinx is a cavity that develops in the spinal cord and has spinal fluid filter through it. The syrinx can expand and put pressure on nerves or damage the spinal cord. Jerry's symptoms are consistent with a syrinx, I pray that it's not, I want to get to the bottom of the problem but I don't want it to be serious. If we cannot manage Jerry's pain at home then his doctor is going to admit him back to the hospital and we so don't want to do that. Jerry's been in bed for two days with limited activity to avoid a flare up in the pain, sitting in his wheel chair only intensifies the pain. It's sort of a catch 22, being idle in bed makes him feel a little better but puts him at a higher risk of pneumonia.

On a positive note Jerry was able to use the new FES bike three times since he got home from the hospital last Friday. I'm excited for Jerry to be able to get into a normal routine using the FES bike, we just need to get him healthy first.

I feel a little sad, missing my son Josh, he moved to San Diego on Tuesday. Josh will be attending UCSD to work on his masters for civil engineering. I'm very proud of him but will miss him all the same. Dennis left on Tuesday for San Diego to help Josh move and didn't get home until late Friday night. It was a little rough not having much help with Jer especially when the power went out Thursday morning at 3 am. Jerry has an alternating air pressure mattress which requires electricity, without it the mattress is as flat as a pancake. I waited a few minutes hoping the power would come back on but decided I had to get Jerry off that mattress, so I loaded him in the Hoyer lift and transported him into my bed. Just as soon as I got Jerry settled in my bed the power came back on and seeing as how Jerry was not to thrilled about sleeping in my bed and would be more comfortable in his own bed, I loaded him back in the Hoyer and transported him back to his own bed. Needless to say I think I got about 4 hours of very broken up sleep, I'm still feeling a little tired. It's good to have Big D home.

That's all for now, I'll keep you posted about the MRI and doctor appointment on Monday.

Oh by the way, great news we are now close to raising $8,000 for the China fund. I added an image so you can watch the thermometer climb on the top right corner.

God Bless!

Katie

A Great Day At The Ballgame With The San Jose Giants

2010-08-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

We had such a blast on Sunday, for those of you who went to the San Jose Giants game, you all ready know it was a great game and a wonderful time all together. The only thing that would have made the day better is the Giants winning the game. For those not able to make it, the Giants lost to the Modesto Nuts 3-2. I'm so thankful that Jerry was out of the hospital and felt well enough to make it to the game. The day was absolutely wonderful, it was great to see so many of our friends come out to support Jerry as well as many familiar faces from our community. One mentionable highlight was seeing Jack's followingJerry.com sign on the big screen when the camera man panned the audience, that was sweet. Thanks to all who purchased tickets and made donations, the support from friends, family and community helped to make this a successful fundraiser, the estimated profit is $2,800. Great job everyone!

I want to thank the following people for busting their booty to sale tickets: Claudine, Gretchen, Jack, Dana, Trish, Leanne, Marci, Rob, Cindy, Neal, Mike, Debbie C, Josh&Janea. Also a BIG THANKS to Cycle Sport, Video 9 and Stanford Ave Automotive for providing a public place to purchase tickets. We hope to see you all next year at the 3rd Annual Following Jerry to the Ballgame.

Much love,

Katie Mac

Game Day, Go Giants!

2010-08-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so ready for a day of fun in the sun enjoying great baseball at the San Jose Giants Stadium. For all you who have not gotten your tickets yet it's not too late. You can still order online until 2:00pm today and pick up your tickets at the box office will-call. If you are local, Video9 in Boulder Creek and Cycle Sport in Scotts Valley still have tickets available. Tickets purchased at the box office today do not benefit Jerry.

If you were one of the many friends helping to sale tickets you can bring the proceeds to the park, I will be around the picnic tables on the first base side. The stadium stands don't have wheelchair access so unfortunately we won't be able to sit in the stands with everyone. Anyone wanting to say hello feel free to come visit us on the first base side of the stands at the picnic tables along the fence line.

See y'all there, GO GIANTS!!

Katie

Quick Update / Ballgame

2010-08-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week. Great news Jerry was released from the hospital yesterday about 5:00 pm, home at last. We have such a busy day ahead. As most of you know we purchased an FES bike for Jerry, we are so excited to get it up and running. We've had an appointment scheduled for a few weeks for a technician to come today to do the set up on the bike. I had to jump through several hoops yesterday to be sure that Jerry had a doctors release to ride the bike given his current condition with the blood clot. It was quite an effort to avoid losing our appointment with the technician. All went well and the technician was able to fly here to do the set up. The technician was here until 4:00 pm and Jerry was only able to tolerate about 15 minutes on legs and a few minutes on arms. It might take him some time to feel up to par, he's still not feeling well. It may take him about a week before he is feeling well enough to begin a daily bike routine. We are very excited to finally have this piece of equipment.

On to the ballgame, anyone who purchased tickets on or before Thursday will receive the tickets in the mail, please note that an extra set of tickets will be held at will-call for you in the event you don't receive them. Anyone who purchased tickets past Thursday can pick up your tickets in will-call at the ticket booth.

It's not to late to get tickets you can still get tickets at the following locations:

Cycle Sport
245 Mount Hermon Road, Scotts Valley

Video 9
12550 Hwy 9, Boulder Creek

Stanford Automotive
110 Stanford Ave, Santa Cruz

You can also send an email to katie@ihwy.com if you would like to make alternative arrangements to get tickets.

See You There, Go Giants!!

Whoohooo for 2

2010-08-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Jerry's INR level reached 2 today so if everything goes well he will be released Saturday morning.
Thanks for praying!

Katie

AAARRRRRGGG!!!!!!!!

2010-08-11T12:54:00.001-07:00

1.8

I'm getting cranky....

k.

Not Today

2010-08-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are still here in the hospital, it's time to go home. We are now looking at hopefully being released by Friday. Jerry's INR level needs to be between 2 and 3, yesterday his INR was 1.5, today 1.6 at this rate we're never getting out of here. OK that's an exaggeration obviously, it just seems to be taking way to long to get the INR level up. Pray for 2 tomorrow.

Good night,

Katie

Ballgame Update

2010-08-10T01:43:00.000-07:00

I hope to see you all at the San Jose Giants vs. Modesto Nuts ballgame to benefit Jerry's therapy. Just a quick reminder the game is this Sunday Aug 15th. Tickets purchased at the box office will NOT benefit Jerry's assistance fund. To benefit Jerry's assistance fund you can purchase your tickets online through this blog. Tickets purchased online by Wednesday will be mailed, tickets purchased online after Wednesday can be picked up at will call at the stadium. You can also pick up your tickets at the following locations:

Cycle Sport
245 Mount Hermon Road, Scotts Valley

Video 9
12550 Hwy 9, Boulder Creek

Stanford Automotive
110 Stanford Ave, Santa Cruz

You can also send an email to katie@ihwy.com if you would like to make alternative arrangements to get your tickets.

See you all there, GO GIANTS!!!!

Katie

Out of ICU

2010-08-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Jerry was moved out of ICU today up to the second floor, whoohoo, next move home. Jerry has to be on a blood thinner for at least 6 months, he will be released from the hospital when his INR (International Normalized Ratio) is within a specified range. Jerry's INR has to be stable for 2 days before they will release him, the simplified version of that means they have to be sure his blood is not to thick or to thin. Blood is drawn every morning to check Jerry's INR level and if it's not in the range it needs to be they adjust the dosage of his blood thinner. As of yet Jerry's INR is not where it needs to be, once they get it where they want it he has to stay at the hospital another two days to be monitored. So if today's blood test shows Jerry's INR levels where they need to be then we get to come home on Tuesday. That's the update for the day, I'm headed back to the hospital.

xoxoxo
Katie

Good News / Bad News

2010-08-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

I'll start with the bad news, it looks like Jerry has developed a small case of pneumonia in the lung that has the clots, he's being treated for it and they don't expect that it will get any worse. The good news is it hasn't affected his breathing and it's not causing him any discomfort. There's more good news, they're ready to move Jerry out of ICU, and more slightly less bad news, they have no where to move him to, at this point there are no available beds. So we may or may not be moving out of ICU dependent upon the bed availability, the comforting factor is he no longer needs to be in ICU. That's the update of the day we'll keep you posted if theres any changes.

Much love going out to y'all,

Katie

Quick Update

2010-08-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all for the prayers and warm wishes of healing for Jerry. I'm home for a short break, checking messages, returning calls as well as a much needed shower. OK don't say yuck but yeah I've been in the same clothes and haven't had a shower since Jerry was admitted to ICU on Wednesday, I think I just heard someone say eewww, yeah that's about how it felt. Any how, Jerry was admitted for a Pulmonary Embolism which is a fancy way of saying blood clots in the lungs. After speaking with his doctor this afternoon turns out Jerry had several small clots pass through his heart and distributed into his right lung. That's the bad news, the good news is now that the clots are in the lungs that's where they'll stay until they're dissolved with blood thinners. My understanding is the clots can't leave the lungs to reak havoc elsewhere. It may take several weeks for the clots to fully dissolve however we are expecting that Jerry should be able to come home by Monday. Jerry was in a great deal of pain and had moments of difficult breathing however I think they've finally found the right combo of meds to make him comfortable and he only had to be on oxygen for less then a day. Jerry seems to be feeling a lot better and is a little more like himself, he even smiled a few times and was cuttin up on me. I'll take a little razzing any day of the week, it kinda lets me know he's doing OK. :-D
I better get back to the hospital and give Dennis a break.

Thanks again for the love and support,
xoxoxo
Katie Mac

P.S. We fully plan on Jerry being well enough for the SJ Giants game. You can still order tickets online, don't panic if you don't get them in the mail right away. I promise as soon as Jerry's home I'll get the tickets in the mail. See y'all there, Go Giants!!!

Friday Afternoon

2010-08-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Just talked with Dennis and here is the update.....

Jerry has been struggling with a lot of pain today, but his fever has subsided for now--which is great. He is resting and taking it really easy, and is pretty much just waiting for the symptoms to subside and his body to fight things off.

Thanks for keeping him in your thoughts...it's appreciated.

Jerry Update

2010-08-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update about Jerry....

You local folks might already know that Jerry is currently hospitalized, and will likely remain so the next 3-5 days. He has two blood clots in his right lung, is experiencing a lot of pain, and is also running a fever. Dennis and Katie feel like the medical team is getting a good handle on it, and Jerry has spent the day zonked out after a really rough night.

So, if you can pray for Jerry, and also for Dennis and Katie, that would be fantastic.

For the Macs,
Marci

Thanks!

2010-08-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

A big shout out to the good folks at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Growing Up in Santa Cruz for their help in advertising our Sunday, August 15, 5pm ballgame between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts!

If you've not picked up a copy of the August edition of Growing Up in Santa Cruz, be sure to do so and find the *awesome* half page ad they generously provided!

Be sure to get your tickets soon via www.followingjerry.com

Go Giants!

Game ON!

2010-08-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

The time has come, the time is NOW to get your ticket to the ballgame.

We are just two weeks out and we are anxious to see you all on Sunday, August 15 for the 5pm game at the San Jose Municipal Stadium as the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts!

Tickets are just $7, and after we cover our event costs, $6 of every ticket goes straight to Jerry's assistance fund. To cover our costs, we only need to sell about 150 tickets--so, there is great possibility here of adding a great amount to help with Jerry's therapy costs as we have 1200 tickets available for sale.

If you went to the game last year, you know that it is a FANTASTIC way to spend a summer evening. If you've not been to a minor league baseball game before, it's a real treat. The baseball is pretty darn good, and the food at the Stadium is REALLY good--seriously, some of the best pulled pork sandwiches on the whole planet and they are even CHEAP.

Anyways, we need your help to sell these tickets. Last year, the vast majority of tickets were not sold through this website nor at any of our local ticket locations--they were sold by friends and family like you! So, we humbly ask for your help once more to make this event happen.

If you'd like your own stack of tickets to sell off to your friends, family or coworkers, please contact us at katie@followingjerry.com

If you can help us spread the word via Facebook by setting your status update to point people to this game, we'd love it. Find the event page for Facebook here and join us!

For all of us on Team MacCallister,
Marci

2nd Annual Follow Jerry.....to a Ballgame!

2010-07-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendar RIGHT THIS SECOND for Sunday, Aug 15th , 5pm!

In partnership with the San Jose Giants we will be joining forces to support the MacCallister Family with a benefit baseball game! While the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts, we'll take over the stadium (literally!) and fill it to overflowing with the friends, family and community that has been supporting this family for these last months.

Invite your friends and family to join us on Sunday, Aug 15th for a 5pm game. If you've never yet been to a minor league ball game, this is a great time to try it out. The venue is extremely family friendly, and kids (and grownups) of all ages will enjoy the feel of the stadium, the great food and seats that are close to the action. Not only can you hear the crack of the bat, but you can also hear the muttering of the players. Depending on the game, this can get pretty interesting......

But here is the best part of all. Tickets are $7 each, and $6 will go straight to supporting Jerry and his recovery fund.

For now, tickets are only available online--just click on the link to the right and we will get your tickets in the mail.

If you would like to have a stack of tickets to sell to your coworkers, friends or family, please email us at ballgame@followingjerry.com and we will get those to you right away.

Please join us and Follow Jerry to a Ballgame! It's gonna be great.

Have you noticed?

2010-07-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would point out a few changes in case you haven't noticed, we've added a sponsor page as well as a fund raising page, you can access them by clicking on the links above Sponsor Page or Fundraising. I'll be adding an upcoming events page so keep checking back to stay updated in what we are up to and how we are doing in our fund raising efforts for China.

We're also doing the San Jose Giants fund raiser again this year, you can click the flier in the upper right corner for more information. We could use some help selling tickets, if you would like to help send an email to katie@followingjerry.com, include how many tickets you would like to sell and contact info.

July 4th

2010-07-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day!

Ordinarily we would be heading to the beach about now, the car loaded as if we were camping for three days, boogie boards, BBQ, ez-up, chairs, fire wood for evening bonfire and enough food to feed an army. It's been a tradition for us for many years to spend the day on the beach, body surfing, playing volleyball, and barbecuing. When the sun goes down the bonfire goes up, we break out the smores and watch the fantastic display of fireworks. I will miss our 4th of July tradition greatly, the beach is no longer an option for Jerry, it wouldn't be fun for him sitting idle on the beach while everyone around him was having a great time. It's time to begin a new tradition, swimming at the pool and barbecuing with friends and family.

We've had a busy month between Jerry, Jessica and I we've had a lot of doctor appointments. Jerry still has nausea everyday and we are no closer to figuring out why then we were a year ago. Jerry had another ultrasound and x-ray which both came back normal. On one hand you hope that test results come back normal because you don't want there to be anything wrong, on the other hand you hope the test results come back showing something wrong at least then you would know what your dealing with and hopefully know how to fix it. There is one medication that Jerry has been on since two weeks after the accident which he takes to control nerve pain. Jerry decided to go off of this med in hopes that it's been causing the nausea however no such luck, he's been off of it for about a month now and still has daily nausea. Jerry's been experiencing some pretty strange sensations since going off the nerve pain med, he believes it is nerve pain but I'm not so sure. He felt like his big toes were burning and hurting badly the odd thing is he had ingrown toenails on both big toes that I had trimmed back a few days prior. He felt like his back was burning as well as sever abdominal cramping that he said felt like someone was punching him in the gut repeatedly. I felt it was encouraging that he was feeling these things because it is well below the level injury and he generally can't feel anything below the chest. Jerry didn't see it that way and he makes a good point, "What good does it do me to feel my toes, I still can't move them and it hurts." At any rate the nerve pain became unbearable so Jerry started taking a new nerve pain med, so far the new med is working OK.

Jerry has been riding the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) leg cycle at SCI-FIT for the past year, he also rode the FES arm cycle at Dominican Rehab, unfortunately we are no longer covered by insurance to do the arm cycle. Jerry has not ridden the arm cycle for about 3 1/2 months and his arms are much weaker now then they were when he was doing the arm cycle. The FES cycle has been pivotal in keeping Jerry's muscles strong and preventing atrophy, which is why we felt very strongly that Jerry needs this equipment at home. At $20,000 dollars it was a huge investment, we had enough money from past fund raising to pay for about half and then financed the rest. We are so excited to get the bike and should have it in house by mid August, we'll definitely post pictures when we get it.

Jerry had his 21st birthday last Saturday, he had some friends over to play computer games where they network their computers together. I think they spent more time networking them and getting set up then they did actually playing the game. Unfortunately Jerry cut the party short because that was when he was having all the strange nerve pains and he felt like someone was hitting him in the stomach all he wanted to do was get in bed.

Jessica graduated high school 3 1/2 weeks ago I can't believe the baby is out of school, man I'm getting old. It's going to be very weird not having any kids at the high school, we have had kids there for the last 10 years. Wow!

Jessica had surgery to repair the damage to her knee on Monday, she is so not a happy camper. She had 2 tears in her meniscus in which the surgeon couldn't repair, the best he could do was clean up the tears and smooth it out. Jessica also had her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) replaced, the surgeon removed her ACL and replaced it with a cadaver ligament. Jess is bummed out, living on the couch for the past week. Jess can't get down the stairs to her room so she has been sleeping on the couch. During the day she has to spend 6 hours on a machine that does range of motion bending her leg up and down. In addition she has leg exercises she has to do, she's not having any fun.

I started this post yesterday on the 4th however had a hard time finishing as we had company for the weekend. I keep saying I will post more often however I get so busy I never seem to get it done. Thank you to all who still continue to stay with us offering kind words, prayers and support. We appreciate you all so much.

Love to all,
Katie

May 14

2010-05-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to see the sun, life seems so much brighter when the sun is shining. It's been over a month since my last post, I apologize to those of you who worry when there's no post. Not much has changed in Jerry's physical condition, he is still nauseous everyday, it seems as if the nausea is getting worse. Jerry used to get relief from the nausea in the late afternoon and be good through the evening. More and more Jerry is suffering nausea morning noon and night with small windows of relief shortly after taking medication, however the relief is shorter and shorter sometimes only an hour.

Jerry has had some bad days over the last month, coming to terms with the loss of mobility has been tough. The first year was spent focusing on regaining as much mobility as possible. It's disheartening for him to work harder than he ever has in his life only to be able to move his arms a few inches. He's gotten so much stronger in his arms but he still can't even scratch his own nose. We just need to keep reminding him how far he has come, in the beginning he couldn't move his arms at all and now he can drive his wheelchair with the joystick. We just need to keep working and never give up hope.

Dennis built a desk for Jerry so now he has a computer station that he can drive right up to. The first day he tried it out he spent a little too much time at the computer which gave him a neck ache, he needs to start out slow.

Jerry finally got the alternating air pressure mattress for his bed, at first the compressor unit was pretty loud however he's gotten used to it. Jerry sleeps much more comfortably and it's nice not worrying so much about pressure sores.

It's been a busy month which is good, I prefer life when it's busy, too much idle time is not good. Mothers day was wonderful which started with breakfast in bed and ended with a family dinner at Chili's. It was one of the few times that we've been at a restaurant where Jerry could sit comfortably at the table. Most restaurants have handicap access but not very adequate accommodations once your in.

Jessica hurt her knee in softball, her doctor thinks maybe torn MCL, she has an appointment with a specialist today. It's astounding to me that it took a month to get an appointment to be seen by the specialist, ridiculous! The injury was heartbreaking for her it ended her senior year of softball mid season. Jessica had prom, going to prom with a hurt knee meant not much time spent on the dance floor but she made the best of it. Fire fighting internship has been affected as well, she goes however she can't participate in drills. Jess hopes to get clearance to begin practice again, the team won a 3-way tie for first place in league. Jess is hoping she will be able to play in the Central Coast Section games.

Josh has been accepted into UC San Diego's civil engineering graduate program so he will be moving to SD in the fall. Any blog followers down there with job leads give us a shout out. Janea continues to go to Cabrillo and work but is hoping to get a new job working with kids.

That's all for now, thanks for continued support,

Katie

April 7

2010-04-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter, with the exception of rain ours was wonderful. We ventured to Richmond to my aunt Steph's house with the family. It was great to see everyone (we missed you Mom, Dad, Mark, Brenda, Brandon, Nick and fam, Phil, Vinny and Rena). Jerry spent over 11 hours in his wheelchair on Easter so needless to say he was in a great deal of pain by the time we got home. It's hard on him to be in his chair for so long but it's good for him, he should spend at least four to five hours in his chair everyday however he refuses to sit in the chair when he's at home. I keep thinking that when the nausea goes away he'd be more willing, unfortunately the nausea persists.

Thanks Trish, Gretch, Zack, Mom, Steph, Wendy, Sharon and all that continue to to follow Jerry's progress through the blog. I appreciate your comments letting us know that we are not alone, kind words and prayers.

My cousin Erin came for a visit for a few days we enjoyed having her. Jessica's on spring break and enjoying the time off. The kids have gone on a hike spent time at the Board Walk and taken Jerry to the movie to see Clash of the Titans. It's been kinda chill around here.

Not much has changed since my last post but I do have good news regarding Jerry's mattress. It's hard to believe that Jerry's been home almost 14 months and still does not have the alternating pressure mattress however we are so close now. The mattress has been ordered and should ship within the next couple of days. The alternating air pressure /low air loss mattress will help prevent Jerry from getting a pressure sore. The mattress has air bladders within that increase and decrease with air pressure on a cycle, this will help prevent any part of Jerry's body, particularly bony parts from experiencing pressure for a prolonged period of time.

It looks like we also have a good chance of getting the portable lift authorized so we can get Jerry in and out of the tub. I'm excited to get the lift, it'll be so much easier to do tub transfers and I know Jerry will enjoy bathing more often. It's amazing that we never stop to think about how life is different for the handicap until we are faced with it in our own family. Things like taking a five minute shower for you or I takes an hour for Jerry. We take so much for granted and have no idea how blessed we are.

Enjoy the sun!

Katie

March 26

2010-03-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

I love the sunshine somehow it seems to make me feel all is well with the world even under present circumstances. I've spent some time over the last couple weeks pulling weeds in the yard, it's absurd how much weeds grow. I wish I could keep a house plant alive as well as I grow weeds. Dennis cleaned the garage and I've started a little spring cleaning in the storage room. I say started meaning I've pulled everything out to sort and made a huge mess and haven't had time to get back to it. At any rate I've got spring fever and can't wait for summer.

Jessica's school softball is back in full swing it's been awesome to get out and see a few games, I even got Jerry to a game. Jess is doing well and even made the local paper a couple times. The fire fighting internship has started up so Jess's days are pretty full, school all day, practice until 5:00 games Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as fire internship Tues and Thur from 6:00-9:00 pm, tournaments some weekends and home work. Whew it makes me tired just typing it.

Josh has applied to four colleges and so far has been accepted to UC San Diego, he will be going back to school in the fall to work on his Masters. Josh was laid off and has been on unemployment for a couple months now, he's having a hard time finding a job so if anyone out there has any leads give us a shout out.

Janea is still going to Cabrillo studying early childhood development. Between her working, going to school and spending time with her boyfriend we don't see her much. Janea is great with kids and I'm excited for her to someday get the opportunity to work with them.

Jerry has had two MRI's in the last month one of the C-Spine and one of the brain, both came back normal. It's a strange feeling to hope they find something wrong especially since your supposed to hope they don't find anything wrong. But it's so hard when something is obviously wrong or he wouldn't have been nauseous for the last 14 months. At least if they find the cause they can hopefully know how to fix it. I wish they could find the elusive needle in the haystack, the endless tests are daunting to say the least, we just want it fixed. We are back at SCI-FIT on Fridays now and will begin Wednesdays in April as well. It was wonderful having a break but it's nice to have Jerry working out again. Jerry's therapy at Domican Rehab has come to an end there is no more funding available for it. We will miss his therapists Mary Anne and Terryn greatly and appreciate all they have done to help further Jerry in his recovery.

We have decided to go to China for stem cell therapy, I mentioned before it's not controversial embryonic stem cells it would be adult stem cells harvested from your own body. I've put together a sponsorship letter that I plan to send to large businesses. I need to begin the unpleasant job of fund-raising for the procedure, I'm open to suggestions and help from anyone wanting to get involved.

Lastly I've been asked to post an update with pics on our babies. They are doing great and love to spend the majority of their days outside. For some odd reason they like to sit in the bathtub.

Much love,
Katie

Mr. Ricco loves to lay on the heater vent

Miss Tina loves to sit in the bath tub.

Feb 23, 2010

2010-02-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

I thought this journey would get easier as time went on, as the tasks became more routine and the home modifications were complete, however it doesn't seem to be playing out that way. The more time that passes the more sad I become, this cannot be permanent it just CAN'T. Jerry has up days and down days and days when he wants to give up. It's not easy staying strong for him when sometimes I barely have the strength to get through the day.

Jerry is still having nausea daily, it's hard to fathom that he has had nausea almost every day going on fourteen months now and nobody can figure out why. Jerry had an MRI of his neck about a month ago. When the spinal cord has been traumatized it can develop sacks of fluid over time during the healing process which can cause all sorts of problems. The doctor did a C-Spine MRI to rule that occurrence out, thankfully the results came back normal. Jerry now has an MRI scheduled for next week to look at the brain. The doctor wants to check if there is something going on in the nausea center of the brain.

We've taken the month off from SCI-FIT, Jerry and I are getting burnt out on the drive and just needed a break. It's nice to have Wednesdays and Fridays free, not rushing and stressing to get to Pleasanton. We continue to go to PT and OT in Santa Cruz on Tuesdays and Thursdays and usually have some other doctor or dentist appointment on Mondays.

Dennis gave me time off for my birthday, a friend of mine had to go to Las Vegas for her daughters volleyball tournament. Dennis encouraged me to go along and assured me he could hold down the fort until I get back. I was reluctant however he pushed a little which made it easier for me to go. I had a great time but came home more exhausted than I was before I left. I saw the Phantom of the Opera which was spectacular but I gotta say I was so happy to get home. Unfortunately I caught a bug and have been pretty sick for a week, yesterday was my first day back to the land of the living.

Jerry has decided to learn how to be a student in his current condition so he will be taking a class at the community college in the fall. Most likely it will be an easy class just to basically learn how he will get in and out doors, how will he manage notes and home work, what kind of adaptive equipment might be available to him etc. I think it will be good for him to get back to school.

Dennis finished the bathroom it looks so beautiful. Jerry now has the option of taking a shower or a bath. The roll in shower is so convenient however Jerry loves the bath and opts for that most often. We still have not got the bath routine perfected it's difficult keeping him from floating. Here are some pictures of the bathroom:

SCI-FIT made a video of some of the things they do with Jerry, you can watch the video by clicking the play button below.

Thank you to all those who continue to pray for Jerry's recovery, we need to keep hope alive now more then ever.

Much love,
Katie

January 2, 2010 - 1 Year Today

2010-01-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

It's hard for me to fathom it's been one year since the day that changed Jerry's and all of our lives, forever. What a year it's been full of emotional highs and lows, great strides toward recovery, much progress and some set backs. We are treating today like any other day, it doesn't have to be a negative reminder of a tragic accident, it is what we make it. But if I'm being honest I feel a little sad that Jerry hasn't regained more mobility. We knew the first year would be crucial and the most mobility he would regain would be in the first year. So I am sad that we have reached the 1 year mark and Jerry isn't as far along as we had hoped. That being said there is so much to be grateful for and just because we've reached the one year mark we have not given up hope, this is NOT as good as it gets. God has blessed us in so many ways, we continue to pray that He will deliver Jerry and restore him to health. Matthew 19:26 "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." The summer staff kids came to visit from Fresno and other places and spent the afternoon and evening with Jerry. He enjoyed seeing them and hanging out and it was a wonderful distraction.

December was very busy preparing for Christmas, continuing therapy and Dennis still working on the house. Jerry enjoyed doing all his shopping online and would get excited when one of his packages would arrive. Jerry wasn't sure who was supposed to get which package and didn't want anyone opening them before Christmas so as not to spoil the surprise. So he made up a game for Christmas morning, each person would grab one of the packages from him then we all opened them at the same time. We then had to decide if the gift we opened belonged to us or someone else. We would exchange the gift with the family member we believed had our gift and Jerry would say how many were right. The exchanging went on until we each had the gift Jerry intended for us, it was something new and fun. Christmas eve we normally drive around and deliver homemade cookies to all of our friends, it's been our tradition for years. It was a little harder this year particularly for Jerry, every pot hole and bump in the road causes him to bounce in his chair and can be very uncomfortable. Not to mention all six of us don't fit in the van as well as we fit in the Suburban. However we pulled it off delivering about 27 cookie packages and even made it to the evening church service. It was good! Sorry Trish we didn't make it up to Bonny Doon :-( next year we'll get an earlier start and one way or another your gettin cookies.

Jerry has enjoyed having his friends home from college he's gone to a party and the movies. The boys also came to the house twice for a LAN party, they network all their computers together and play video games until 2:00 am. It's so great for him to get together with his friends and just be one of the guys again. He loves to have them home but it's hard on him when they go back to school, partly because he misses hanging out with them and partly sad because he's not headed back to school.

Speaking of computers we learned another lesson the hard way. Jerry has a fan that his laptop sits on top of that sucks the heat and blows it out the side. Jerry wanted to put his lap top on his lap so I set it on top of a pillow on his lap. I didn't think there would be a heating problem because the fan lifts the laptop up about 2 inches so air can circulate underneath. Unfortunately Jerry's hand was next to the hot air exhaust blowing out the side. His hand was slowly burning for about 2 hours and he couldn't feel it. The doctor indicated it was second to third degree burns on the V between the thumb and first finger, he had some pretty nasty blisters, they are finally starting to heal.

New years eve was a blast, we had some friends over and played a game and hung out. Unfortunately Josh and Janea were not with us because they had previous plans. It was a last minute party at our house, we were invited to Kris and Nana's party but we were not able to make it so they brought the party to us. Thanks guys! Jessica and Mitch made a balloon drop in the living room with confetti and balloons and decorated for the party. We played a game called "the game of things" ....it was so much fun a must have party game. We were so loud at midnight we could have woke the dead.

Dennis has finished the tile in the bathroom/shower room, he did the last of the grout today. I'm so excited all we have to do now is wait 3 days to seal the grout, then put in the jacuzzi tub and fixtures and a little pluming. We should be able to get Jerry in the tub in about a week. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Dennis has worked so hard the last 10 months, he deserves a nice long vacation when he's done. When it's all done and cleaned up I'll post pictures.

Well I started this post at 11:00 this morning and have left and come back to it a few times through out the day. It's now 2:00 am and I'm on duty at 4:30 am so time for me to get some shut eye. Thank you all for caring, for the prayers, support and love.

Good night,
Katie

Monday - Nov 30

2009-11-24T20:08:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year Thanksgiving was different for us in more ways than one. Most holidays we drive three hours to Sacramento to my moms house, along with my brother and his family, nieces and nephews, great grand parents etc, that tradition has changed. All of my family jumped the sinking ship (Calif) and moved to Washington. I missed the family and the tradition but I gotta say I didn't miss the drive. We had many invites however we opted to stay home this year. I spent Wednesday evening cooking after getting home from Pleasanton. It was nice to have most everything done by Thursday so we could just enjoy the day. Dennis' brother and nephew were going to come for the day however unforeseen circumstances prevented it. We had some friends over, it was a very nice day, watching football and visiting.

Jerry has been passionate about football this year primarily because he, Dennis and I are in a fantasy football league. Jerry looks forward to watching football on Sundays and spends time planning his team players and studying information to enable him to make the best decisions regarding his team. Jerry was in fourth place in league however he was so stoked to beat Rob who is in first place, sorry Rob. It's wonderful to see him get excited about something, who would have thought that football would be the thing to offer him an escape from his reality, even if it's only for a few hours. Go Niners!

There is so much that I'm thankful for, first and foremost my son's life. Even though Jerry's body is different his mind is the same. I'm thankful that Jerry didn't suffer brain damage, I'm thankful that his level of injury was not higher then C4. I'm thankful for the health and well being of my family. I'm thankful that God gives us strength to endure.

I'm excited to share with you that Jerry's arms are getting stronger. Two weeks ago Jerry was finally able to drive his wheelchair with the (hand) joystick, Jerry has not used the chin drive since. It is far more difficult for him to use the joystick and takes a great amount of effort, he does get fatigued if he has far to go but for the most part he can handle the chair with great precision. I believe the FES hand cycle has been pivotal in Jerry regaining strength in his arms. Unfortunately our time to use the FES hand bike may be drawing to an end along with Jerry's PT and OT sessions at Dominican Rehab. Jerry's therapist is preparing the request for the next 90 day session and believes it will likely be the last that will get authorized.

Dennis has finally started tiling the new bathroom, it was an overwhelming job picking out tile and planning the pattern, I'm so glad to have that part done. We are so close now to getting the bathroom done so Jerry can take a real shower or bath. Eleven months of sponge baths has gotten very old it's just not the same as a real shower or bath.

Thank you for the support, please continue to pray for the restoration of Jerry's spinal cord and for guidance with going to China for stem cell surgery.

Much love,
Katie

Thursday - Nov 5

2009-11-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Winters on it's way and already I don't like it. It's been cold in the mornings and evenings but not to bad in the day. We've had one good storm so far with 11 1/2 inches of rain in Boulder Creek. Ironically I like a good storm, I just hate dreary, overcast, drizzly, cold days. I'm not a big fan of the time change either, it was dark before we left SCI-FIT in Pleasanton yesterday, it makes me tired driving home in the dark. One last complaint, the TVs on but the channel is off the air so they play music, Christmas music. Are you kidding me, Christmas already we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, Costco's had their Christmas stuff out for at least two weeks. OK, I got all that out of the way, I'm done complaining.

We all had a night out of enjoyment Friday before Halloween, Dennis and I went to a Murder Mystery Dinner at a friends house. The scene was 1929, my character was a socialite dressed in a flapper dress, fish nets and boa. Dennis' character was a pro baseball player, that was an easy costume to come up with. Jessica played a server and served us a delicious dinner (chicken parmasian). We had a wonderful time and got home pretty late. Jerry went to a costume party with some friends, Luke was home from college, Kiki and Natani. Jerry was a prisoner in an electric chair, I know kinda morbid right, at least he's able to have a sense of humor. Jerry got home really late close to 4:00 am but he said he had a lot of fun. The person having the party Sean and his landlord built a ramp so Jerry could get in the house. Thanks guys for making it easy for Jerry to be involved in a fun night out.

Not much change physically with Jer, he's still struggling with the nausea. Jerry had a CT scan which didn't get to the root cause of anything. The CT scan did show that he has two small stones, one in each Kidney however the doctor feels that they are so small they aren't causing any problem. We continue to go to therapy four days a week, Jerry's body is staying strong and he seems to be moving his arms more. Jerry is so close to being able to control his wheelchair with the joy stick as opposed to the chin drive, he can pull back and go left and right he just can't push forward yet. It will be a glorious day when he is able to use the joy stick.

I've been doing stem cell research for some time now which can be very overwhelming. We are looking to go over seas for Jerry to have stem cell surgery. China, India and Portugal are all more advanced in this area then we are here in the States. Stem cell therapy has not been perfected to the point of curing spinal cord injury however most patients get some improvement whether it be bowel or bladder function, or the use of arms, some even have regained the ability to walk but thats a small percentage. I really am leaning toward China, I like what I'm learning. One thing I like is they use your own bone marrow cells and turn them into nerve cells as opposed to using embryonic cells. There's no moral issue when they are using your own cells. Jerry very much wants to have stem cell therapy but is concerned about the cost. He worries we won't have the money to do it or if we do come up with the funds he's concerned about spending all that money on something that may not work. My feeling is we will come up with the money one way or another through fund raising efforts, it's a small price to pay for the hope that it could help him walk again. Even if he could just regain bowel and bladder and the use of his arms that would be HUGE. I'll keep you posted about my research.

The transmission on Janea's car is going out, I've been on craigs list and vehics.com looking for a car for her. I really hate car shopping it's so time consuming. I miss the days when a couple thousand dollars would get you a pretty decent car. It' seems like anything less then $3,000 is a piece of doodoo. The hunt goes on....

I better get moving, I have to get Jerry ready for therapy. Jerry is doing the arm cycle at Dominican Rehab today, that's one of my favorite therapies, I feel he gets stronger each time he does the arm cycle.

Have a wonderful day,

Katie

Saturday - Oct 18

2009-10-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've feared the swine flu and prayed it would not hit our home, this week my fear came to be, Dennis was diagnosed with the swine flu. We quarantined him to the bedroom with a mask and gloves. I was very worried that Jerry would catch the bug, and it would spread through our house. I was like a crazy woman disinfecting everything in sight, three different times. Our whole family was treated with Tamiflu and so far no one else has gotten sick. We are scheduled to get vaccinated on Monday.

Things have been going much the same, Jerry is still having nausea in the morning and early afternoon. Jerry is scheduled for a CT Scan on the 26th, they'll be looking for any kind of stones bladder, kidney, etc. He's had two ultrasounds which came back normal, I'm told the CT Scan is supposed to be more sensitive. It sounds weird but I hope they find something, at least if the find stones you know what your dealing with and how to treat it. The whole looking for the needle in the haystack thing is getting old. I think we've tried every medication available, every homeopathic remedy and ran every test available. We're running out of options and really need to get to the root of the problem.

I put together a video of some of the exercises Jerry does at SCI-FIT. It's really poor quality because I took it with my phone but it gives you an idea of some of the things he does there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, stay well.

God bless,
Katie

Friday - Oct 9

2009-10-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we're 9 months post injury, the time has gone so quickly. I really thought at 6 months things were going to start waking up in Jerry's body. I thought Jerry would be further along in his mobility, certainly at 9 months I expected a greater return. The closer we get to the one year mark the scarier it becomes because progress slows after 1 year. The greatest return is in the first year, you can continue to get return of some mobility after the first year but at a much slower rate. I have to keep reminding myself of all the improvements Jerry has made over the last 9 months, he really has come a long way. Although I wish he were closer to his goal of walking I am grateful for the movements that Jerry does have. Jerry's arms continue to get stronger by using the FES hand bike at Dominican Rehab. I wish he could use the hand bike 3 to 4 times per week, once a week slows progress in my opinion. I'm working on getting an FES Bike for our house which may or may not be successful as it is a very costly piece of equipment, $20,000. Jerry can now lift both arms and give a little wave, I'll have to post a video. Jerry has trace initiation in his left tricep but it's not strong enough to be useful at this point. If we could get Jerry's triceps to fire he could get strong enough to use a joystick control for his wheel chair and get rid of the chin drive, that would be sweet.

Life remains busy, Mondays are doctor appointment/errands day. Tue through Fri are therapy days, Sat & Sun for Jerry are chill/recoup days. For me Sat & Sun is get caught up on house cleaning, paper work, laundry, bills, grocery shop, etc. Dennis continues to work five days a week at his job and work on the weekends on the house. We are getting oh so close, I can't wait to get the bathroom done. Nine months of sponge baths for Jerry has taken it's toll on his skin, it's just not the same as a nice long shower or bath. Dennis took a break from the bathroom to get the roof put on since the rain's are headed our way, I'm glad to have that done. Dennis also poured the concrete pad for the AC unit. Although the AC is no longer priority at this point, heat is, they go hand in hand as they use the same ducting and at this point there is no heat in Jerry's room and it gets cold. We are using a little portable heater for his room which is working out OK but not a long term solution.

I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that Jerry was appointed by our district supervisor Mark Stone to the Commission on Disabilities. Jerry is a district 5 commissioner for the COD. Yesterday was the annual planning retreat for projects for the next year. Incidentally my cat Tina was also scheduled to be spayed as well as FES hand bike at Dominican for Jerry, we can't miss that. The plan was to drop Jerry at the retreat, stay a few minutes to get Jerry settled then run Tina to Scotts Valley to drop her at the vet and return to the retreat. Things just did not go well, amazingly we were able to get out of the house by 9:40 am, we had a 10 minute drive to Ben Lomond and everything seemed to be working out well. The street we were supposed to turn on was right off hwy9 in Ben Lomond. This is were things went a rye, we couldn't find the street, we drove all the way to Felton and did not see the street, turned around drove back to BL. Again we didn't find the street turned around drove all the way to Felton again and back to BL. Turns out we were misinformed the street was in Brookdale, at any rate we were 25 minutes late to the retreat, AWKWARD. It's not like you can sneak in unnoticed. Needless to say we missed the appointment for Tina, I had to leave the retreat and take Tina home. We had to leave the retreat early to make it to Jerry's FES appointment, which again was awkward disrupting the meeting to leave early. Jerry was not feeling well because he had been cold all morning and all his muscles had clinched up in his shoulders and neck, however he wanted to do FES. After getting Jerry all hooked up which takes about 20 minutes the bike began malfunctioning. We left feeling a little disappointed and headed to the pharmacy to pick a prescription that was droped off almost 2 weeks ago. This was our third visit to the pharmacy to pick up this script, wouldn't ya know they still don't have it. It was one of those days, just kinda wierd. Today was better but I'm so glad it's Friday, even though it was a long day getting down to Pleasonton it's nice to have the weekend to look forward to.

Please keep the healing prayers coming, we're still waitin on the miracle.

Much love,
Katie

Thank You!

2009-09-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

The pizza party was a huge success last night, it was so great seeing the community support. Thank you to JR Curtis (lacrosse) & Doug Morris (football) for planning and organizing the event, you guys ROCK! We appreciate the time you took from your busy schedules to put on this fund raiser to benefit Jerry and Allie. The Redwood Pizzeria was so gracious to host the event, not to mention they have fabulous pizza, I love the organic pizza crust, hmmm. It was my understanding the pizzeria ran out of pizza and it was the most pizza they've ever sold. Thank you again and again to the entire community for supporting our kids.

Much love,

Katie

Big Pizza Fundraiser Coming Your Way

2009-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

The San Lorenzo Valley High School football and lacrosse teams are hosting a Pizza Night fund raiser for Jerry and Allie. Thanks guys, you guys ROCK!

When: Tuesday September 29th
Time: 5:00 - 8:00 pm
Where: Redwood Pizzeria
6205 Hwy 9 ♥ Felton

Call in Orders Early 335-1500

You can check out menu options here: http://www.redwoodpizza.com/mainindex.html

Join us for Dinner at the Redwood Pizzeria, come hungry, order early. I'm told it's best to call your pizza in early to avoid a long wait. A portion of the proceeds from all sales will be split to benefit Jerry and Allie. Hope to see ya there!

Friday - Sept 25

2009-09-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted for two weeks, the time has flown, sorry I know some of you have been worried. Not to worry everything is going well we've just been busy, and tired.

As I reflect on the last 9 months I'm encouraged and discouraged at the same time. I'm so thankful for the speedy recovery that Jerry had as well as the progress he continues to make. My heart sinks a little that we are almost 10 months post injury and there's no leg or hand movement yet. In my heart I know he'll walk again, we will never give up on that, we'll do whatever it takes to help him achieve that goal. I pray for controlled movement in his legs and hands so he has something to work with. If he has the smallest of controlled movement he has the ability to strengthen it for use. Jerry continues to work hard in therapy, in October we go back to SCI-FIT on Fridays so he will again be in therapy four days a week.

My mom and dad came for to visit for a few days from Washington, we had a good visit it was nice to see them. They drove from Washington so they could bring some exercise equipment for Jerry. My mom had a treadmill and Total Gym (like they use at SCI-FIT) that she wasn't using, thanks mom and dad. We can try and set up a harnessing system for the treadmill so we can do gait training with Jerry on a more regular basis as well as do total gym with him on the weekends. He'll have a mini gym set up in his room, I'm glad we went extra large on the room so it can fit all his stuff.

I'd like to give a big "THANK YOU!" to Barbara Lofranco, I hope I spelled that right. Barbara donated an adjustable bed to Jerry. It's hard to believe we are almost 10 months post injury and still don't have Jerry's permanent hospital bed. The loaner bed from the vendor was a big piece of doodoo (sorry, Karl), Jerry had a hard time sleeping in it. Jerry is using the adjustable bed from Barbara until his permanent bed comes in. We appreciate your kindness Barbara, Jerry sleeps much better and is far more comfortable.

Jerry still struggles with the morning/noon nausea it so frustrating for him to still be dealing with this. All the different tests, and nausea meds, acupuncture etc, has not helped or even changed a thing at this point. Despite the nausea Jerry still has an incredible attitude, he remains in good spirits most of the time even though he's down in the mornings. I think he feels a little depressed in the mornings because the morning routine takes so long to get him out of bed, he has a lot of time to reflect on the situation he's in. Not to mention that's when he feels his worst physically. Once Jerry is out of bed and the nausea subsides he's in a much better mood, he returns to the pre injury Jerry, talks more, jokes and laughs, enjoys his computer games and shows.

Dennis is making progress on the bathroom, we are almost ready to tile. I've gone to a few places to check out tile to try and find something I like, I gotta say it's a little overwhelming. A nephew of a friend of ours whom we did not know, volunteered his time to come and hot mop the floor to seal it and get it ready for tile. Thank you so much Matt you did a beautiful job we appreciate the time you spent on your day off to help out. YOU ROCK!!!! Jerry is going to be so excited when he finally gets a real shower, 9 months of sponge baths just don't cut the mustard if you know what I mean.

Dennis is making a lot of progress on the house but it seems never ending. Working on it Saturdays and Sundays makes for slow progress, he still has to get the roof and siding on the house before the rains come. He needs to move the water heater and plumb the bathroom, sheet rock the bathroom, set the tile, tub and fixtures, poor a concrete pad for the AC unit, poor a permanent concrete ramp, build a secondary concrete ramp to Jerry's room, and on and on. Sometimes it feels like it will never get done. Dennis works hard all week and then works hard all weekend, not much break. I'm proud of his endurance and am thankful for all his hard work. I'm also very thankful for his skill to complete the work, to pay contractactors to do the job would have been a huge financial road block.

Well I'm on Jerry duty and I've neglected him all morning I better get rolling so he's not in bed all day. Thanks for all the love and support you all give. I'll try not to let too much time pass before the next post.

Much love to all,
Katie

Tuesday - Sept 8

2009-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

When things are cruising along smoothly, one can get a little cocky, a feeling of we got this, everything is under control. Along comes the monkey wrench to remind you we're not out of the water yet. Last night Dennis and I were getting Jerry in the standing frame when Jerry got his first real case of A.D. (Autonomic Dysreflexia). Maybe we were a little prideful that Jerry hadn't gotten AD yet as it is common for his level of injury. Shortly after getting Jerry to a full stand he began to have spasms` which isn't entirely unusual. It became unusual however when he began to have full body spasms. It started with the left side of the body spasming and then the right and back and forth. Jerry's arms began to spasm and his fingers started to make a fist uncontrollably, he started to get a headache along with goose bumps and anxiety, all this took about 5 to 8 minutes. Jerry Suspected he was beginning to have AD so I took his blood pressure and sure enough it was dangerously high 166/111, normally he runs about 115/70. We immediately got him out of the standing frame and began searching for the cause. Unfortunately we didn't figure out what brought on the AD however we were able to get his blood pressure down to a normal range within 30 minutes. Another reminder he's more fragile then we think.

Jerry has had two sessions of acupuncture and has decided acupuncture is not for him. I was disappointed because I think acupuncture has many benefits and it was unfortunate Jerry didn't feel the same.

Jerry still is struggling with the nausea, Sunday was particularly bad. Jerry hates going to bed at night because he knows he will be waking up with nausea. I can't believe we are 8 months into this nightmare and are still struggling with nausea. AAARRRRGGGGG!!!!!!!!

We had a wonderful visit with my Aunt and cousins who were here over the weekend, we even managed to get out for a hike at Big Basin State park. Jerry's chair handled the terrain pretty good but he did feel a little beat up by the end of the day because it was somewhat gravely.

Please continue to keep Jerry in your prayers. We are beginning to research stem cell surgery in China and India. Pray for guidance in our search and as always pray that he will be healed and walk again.

I think that's all I got for now, much love,
Katie

Sunday - Aug 30

2009-08-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank Sheri Ross for putting on a wonderful classical concert benefit for Jerry last night. Sheri you did a wonderful Job and you play the violin so beautifully. Thank you to all the wonderful musicians who participated in the concert we appreciate all the time you took to help our family. Thank you!

Yesterday we had a very scary experience with Jerry, just a reminder of how fragile he still is. Janea and I were getting Jerry into the standing frame in hines sight we should never attempt that when it's 96 degrees in the house. Generally Jerry's blood pressure drops when you stand him up, the trick is to get him up as quickly as possible and get his hands strapped to the handles and start the glider while someone pumps his calf and thigh muscles. Once you get the glider going his blood pressure comes back to normal and then it's just a matter keeping the glider going and pumping his legs every few minutes. When the blood pressure drops it can cause you to pass out, Jerry has a pass out scale of 1 to 4, when he reaches 1 he feels light headed and it's time to start pumping the legs. When Jerry reaches 2 he's a little dizzy, 3 he begins to get tunnel vision the beginning of blacking out and his hearing goes, at 4 he passes out. At level 1 and 2 we pump the legs and it brings him back to zero if he reaches a 3 we bring him down from standing to sitting and pump the stomach. If pumping the stomach does not elevate the blood pressure then we raise his legs. Janea and I got him up to standing and he was imediatly at one, Janea started to pump the legs as I had one hand on his chest to keep him from tilting and the other hand holding his two hands on the little table in front of his chest. Jerry went to a 2 so I wanted to get his hands strapped quickly and begin moving the glider that always brings his blood pressure back. Jerry never went to 3, before I even got one hand strapped he passed out. It was scary, because the normal pumping was not bringing him back and I was holding him up so could not push the lever to bring him down. I kept calling him and then started screaming "Jerry come back". I finally got the glidder down and had to unhook his legs and pull them up. He was out for almost a minute by the time we got his legs out of the glidder and elevated, it was so scary to see his eyes staring out but nothing was there, no response. At one point I paniced and slapped him to try and startle him to come back, he doesn't remember any of it. Another lesson learned, no standing frame when it's hot in the house the heat causes him to have blood pressure problems. Secondly don't panic just get the legs elevated as quickly as possible.

Dennis and Jessica are in Hayward yesterday and today, Jess had a softball tournament. They won the first two games yesterday and lost the third. Today they won the first game and could play up to two more games. Go Spin! I will spend the day catching up on chores after getting through Jerry's morning routine.

Have a peaceful day,
Katie

Saturday - Aug 29

2009-08-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Jerry had his first visit with Dr Zhu's acupuncture yesterday, the session was 4 hours, it was quite a new experience for him. Dr. Zhu inserted about 15 needles into the top of Jerry's head, for the first 45 minutes Jerry sat in his wheelchair tilted back and relaxed, he said it made him feel sleepy. The doc then had Jerry do arm and leg exercises, with the needles still in his head. Next the doc inserted about 20 needles into Jerry's shoulders and arms and he relaxed for another 30 minutes. Dr. Zhu removed the needles from the arms and shoulders and then a trainer did acupressure on Jerry's feet. The trainer would put pressure on certain spots which would make Jerry's legs jump, it was kind of weird. Jerry did a variety of other exercises which included upper body balance work, standing frame and a motorized pedal bike. For the most part I would have to say the exercise portion was a little weak, there was a lot of time in between exercise sessions and each session was very short, Jerry was bored. The acupuncture portion was very interesting, the doctor asked if Jerry had any pain, Jerry said yes in his shoulders. The doc twisted or moved a needle in Jerry's head and then asked again if Jerry had pain he said no. That was crazy twisting a needle in the top of the head removed the pain in his shoulders. Jerry also experienced sensation in his sides below his rib cage, he had a hard time describing what he felt. The doctor wanted Jerry to go home and leave the needles in his head until he went to bed. Jerry was not happy about that and asked the doc if he could remove the needles. The doctors English is not so good and his accent is so heavy there was a bit of a communication gap. The doctor took out half the needles but left 8 needles in, Jerry thought all the needles were out. We left and started loading Jerry in the car, his head brushed the top of van and he felt the needles, he was PO'ed. I think it was a mental thing about needles, he said they hurt but after the doc took out half he couldn't feel the others. Jerry reluctantly decided it would be OK to leave them in until bed but he wasn't happy about it. By 8:00 pm Jerry had decided he really couldn't feel the needles and it wasn't so bad leaving them in. We canceled SCI-FIT on all Fridays in September and are going to go to Dr. Zhu on Fridays. Dr. Zhu is very expensive and of course the insurance does not cover it. I think we will do the 4 hour sessions during Sept but for October maybe we will see about just going to Dr. Zhu to get the needles inserted and then do the exercise at home to cut down on cost. The exercise they did was nothing special and could easily be done at home.

Tonight is the classical concert benefit we are very excited about it, it should be a wonderful evening. I hope to see some of you locals there, come say hi.

katie

Tuesday - Aug 25

2009-08-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe school has started already, summer is over yet is seems like it just began. I feel sad that Jerry is not heading back to school like most of his friends. This is the time in his life when he should be getting excited about new roommates and classes, worrying about girls and books and what will his professors be like. My heart breaks that his life is consumed with therapy, medication, pain, nausea, fear that he'll never be able to move his arms or legs or walk again. Jerry is so strong and has faced this disability with such courage, he keeps fighting and working hard to regain mobility, I'm so proud of him.

We are thinking of adding another weapon to the therapy arsenal, acupuncture. There's a highly sought after doctor in San Jose who is world renowned in dealing with spinal cord injury and stroke. His therapy is not just acupuncture he also does intensive weight baring exercise. Dr. Zhu's philosophy is the patient should be in intensive exercise program 6 to 8 hours per day 5 to 7 days per week. That's just not feasible considering his cost however we are going to pursue one day a week and see if the doctor would be willing to work with Jerry.

We've been busy as usual, I spent all day Sunday clothes shopping with Jessica for back to school, man my feet and just about every other muscle in my body hurt. I hate getting old. Monday was hectic, Jerry had a massage appointment at noon, while he got his massage I took the babies (kittens) to the vet, Ricco was neutered, poor baby. I rushed home after the vet and had to get Jerry ready and loaded into the van. I had a hearing aid appointment at 3:30 and Jerry had a doctor appointment at 3:45, luckily they were in the same building. We left the doctors office about 4:45 and rushed to get to the photographers by 5:30 to pick up Jessica's senior photo proofs. By the end of the day I needed a massage but we managed to get it all done. It seems like everyday is full with Jerry doing therapy 4 days a week and keeping up with doctor appointments.

Dennis took Jerry to therapy today so I was able to get a few things done around home. It's so crazy keeping up with our schedule, I think it will get better when Dennis is done with the construction. Dennis is helping coach Jessica's softball team which isn't really good timing there's so much to get done around here to finish Jerry's bathroom. However it's Jessica's senior year and we can't neglect her because we're busy, we just make it work and do the best we can. What gets neglected are the dishes and laundry, oh well I hate those anyway.

Simone I loved your comment that you started running again and that thinking about Jerry keeps you motivated. Awesome job completing the "Race Through the Redwoods", you go girl!

We are so appreciative to Sheri Ross for putting together a classical concert to benefit Jerry. Sheri you are AWESOME, thanks for all your hard work. I hope some of you locals will be able to make the concert, we're excited and it should be a wonderful evening. For more info check out the top of the green box on the right.

I feel like my thoughts have been all over the place in this post.

Tuesday - Aug 18

2009-08-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all of you who are following Jerry's progress though the blog. Whether you know Jerry or us or not doesn't matter. It's comforting to know we are not alone in this and that people care and are continuing to pray for his recovery and well being. We very much enjoy reading your prayers or well wishes, thoughts and comments. Thanks for hanging with us.

Today was a little rough, Jerry had nausea pretty bad today and it wasn't getting any better in the afternoon. We left the house about 12:30 headed for Dominican rehab. It was about 85 degrees when we left the house and Jerry was dressed appropriately. We arrived in Santa Cruz to find it was about 65 degrees and breezy. Jerry got cold and of course I wasn't prepared with a coat. When we got into the gym the AC was on and Jerry started shivering. The therapist got him 3 very warm blankets from the warmer however he just couldn't seem to get warm. Jerry had an issue which I won't go into but it made him feel bad. To top off the day I accidentally pinched Jerry's neck in the chin drive buckle, that was pretty much the last straw. Jerry was not having a good day and I was not making things any better which made me feel like poo.

Jerry did not get to do the standing frame yesterday because Dennis didn't get home with it until after 8 pm and we had to read the manual and figure the thing out first. Jerry wanted to get into the standing frame after PT today but felt to sick. I was so happy when he finally felt good enough to give it a go which actually was about 9:00 pm a very late start. We had to put Jerry in the standing frame then make some adjustments then take him out and adjust the seat them put him back in and make more adjustments. By the time we actually got him standing his blood pressure was dropping. All in all Jerry was in the standing frame about 45 minutes however he was only standing about 15 minutes. Tomorrow will be better because we have it all adjusted now to fit him so we wont have to spend all that time making adjustments. I leave you with the picture of Jerry standing.

much love
katie

Monday - Aug 17

2009-08-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the prayers for Jerry weaning off three of his meds, we have been successful with two of them. The third med he's going to have stay on, the weaning did not go so well with that one.

Today is an exciting day, we are getting Jerry's standing frame at 5:00 pm, whoohoo! .....by 7:00 Jerry should be standing. Having a standing frame in the house means Jerry can stand everyday. The hope is that by standing his blood pressure will stabilize, no more sudden drops from sitting up right. Jerry has to wear compression socks that go all the way up the thighs as well as an abdominal binder that is like a corset. The hope is that by standing everyday we will be able to get rid of the socks and binder. The standing frame has so many benefits, here are some of them:

improved range of motion
Decreased joint & muscle contractors
Decreased pressure issues with changing positions
Improved circulatory & respiratory functions
Decrease muscle spasms
Assist with normal skeletal development
Improved bowel function & regularity
Improved kidney & bladder functions
Lessen or prevent progressive scoliosis
Help maintain bone integrity

On a different topic, I'm flabbergasted at how thoughtless, rude and selfish some people can be. Jerry went to the movie with some of his buds over the weekend and the story he told when he got home floored me. They arrived at the movie 10 minutes early only to find that two non handicap people were sitting in the handicap reserved seating. Mind you these are not the greatest seats in the house the are all the way in the back of the theater. There were plenty of seating available, in fact better seating was available two rows up from the handicap section, the whole row was empty. The kids asked politely if the two wouldn't mind giving up the seats as they were the only handicap seating available. These two who were in their early to mid twenties and should have a little more courtesy as adults said "NO, we're not moving". The kids explained the seats were reserved for handicap and they were not handicap and they needed to move. Still "NO". Issac informed them at that point if they would not move he would get the manager, the response was go ahead and get the manager. These two people argued with the manager as to why they should not have to move however the manager was insistent. The couple insisted if they had to move they wanted their money back, so the manager gave their money back and they left the theater. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Jerry has a dentist appointment today so I will rap it up for now. I'll try to post pictures of Jerry in the standing frame tonight.

Much love,
Katie

Classical Concert Benefit

2009-08-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Sheri Ross is putting on a classical concert fund raiser to help offset the cost of Jerry's therapy at SCI-FIT. This will be an enjoyable evening for all ages.  Sheri will be playing Mozart and Bach with pianist Laura Swanson.  Aude Castagna, and others will be performing. Featuring string and piano works by Bach, Mozart Beethoven, Handel and more! If you would like to help Sheri organize or promote this concert please contact her at shero777@yahoo.com or you can also send me an email at katie@followingjerry.com.

Location: Erica Shilling Forum (Bldg. 400) at the Cabrillo College Campus: 6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA.  95003

Date:  Saturday, August 29, 2009

Time:  7:00 PM

Suggested Donation: $10 at entry

Monday - Aug 10

2009-08-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

The last two nights Jerry has slept in his own room. I think he's pretty glad that he doesn't have to listen to me snore, he slept well and likes the new room. I miss our bed time chats or laying in bed laghing about something silly the kitties did, but I do love having my bed back. Dennis is really appreciating not sleeping on the couch. Here's a sneak peak of Jer's room, Dennis and Jessica laying the floor. I'm not done decorating but when I am I'll post more pictures.

Tomorrow we are at Dominican rehab, it will be nice to get back to the routine after taking last week off. I don't have much new news other than we are in the process of weaning Jerry off of 3 of his medications. Please keep him in your prayers that the transition will be successful and these medications can be eliminated.

Thanks
Katie

Quick Update

2009-08-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to say Jerry will be sleeping in his own room tonight. To be honest it will be a little sad for me as we have slept in the same room for the last 6 months. I've enjoyed our bed time chats and playing with the kitties before we doze off.

Dennis got Jerry's room done so I moved all his stuff in today, tonight will be his first night alone. Well sort of alone, I did get a baby monitor, I need to be able to hear him in case there's a problem in the night. It will be strange sleeping in my king bed tonight, I know Dennis will be thrilled to be off the couch and in a real bed. I still need to decorate Jerry's room but everything but the cabinets are done. Now it's time to get the bathroom and the Air Conditioning done. :-D

A bit of good news we have been dealing with a paper nightmare trying to get a standing frame for Jer and we just found out 2 days ago that it has been approved. The standing frame has been ordered and should be in our home within the next 3 weeks, whoohoo.

More tomorrow.....

Katie

Thursday - Aug 7

2009-08-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

I apologize, I've been neglecting the followingjerry community and I know some of you worry when you don't see a post for awhile. Everything is going well it's just been busy, by the time I have free time to post it's late at night and I usually opt for bed.

Things are starting to fall into place. For months now I've been feeling like everything is going to be better when Jerry receives all his equipment ...when Jerry gets into his new room ...when Jerry's nausea goes away. Prayers have been answered, Jerry is struggling less and less with the nausea. I wouldn't say the nausea is completely gone but it's at a much more tolerable level and he does have extended periods of time when he's not nauseous. Jerry does have a bad nausea day on occasion but it's getting better.

Jerry had two appointments on Monday, one with his doctor and the other with his dentist. The dentist was great about accommodating Jerry. We didn't have to transfer into the dentist chair, she moved the chair out to make space for the wheelchair and she worked on Jerry standing up. Both appointments went well.

Jerry's friends from Florida came for another visit and brought their mom along this time. We canceled PT and OT on Tuesday and SCI-FIT on Wednesday so Jerry could spend some time with them. Tuesday we went to Henry Cowell State Park, for those not familiar with the park you can check it out here, the girls loved the redwoods and were amazed at the beauty of it all. It's nice that Jerry was able to do the hike, the trail is flat and smooth and the wheelchair handled it just fine. We left Henry Cowell and headed for the Board Walk in Santa Cruz. We walked the board walk and I gotta say it's a little different experience with a wheel chair. There were so many people, it was a little challenging for Jerry to manuever through the crowd. Wednesday we drove to San Francisco, I was a little surprised they didn't have better handicap parking accomodations. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, parking is horrible for non hadicap vehicles as well. It took us about 45 minutes to find a parking spot, our van was too tall to go into the parking garage which surprised me. The lot at the end of the wharf was full and didn't even have one handicap spot. There was a wharehouse to park in on the pier which only had three handicap spots, of course they were taken. We were allowed to park in a non parking spot which would accomodate us dropping the lift so it worked out. We had a wonderful time in Frisco, we had crepes on pier 39 as well as clam chowder and Ghridelli Chocolate, mmmmm sooo good. The girls were amazed at the hills in frisco, they are so steep and long, we drove up Hyde Street and down Lombard Street (America's crookedest street). There are a lot of tourist standing at the bottom of Lombard Street watching the cars come down. It was kind of funny, the tourists at the bottom of the hill were amazed to see such a big van come down that windy, narrow street, when we reached the bottom the whole crowd cheered and applauded, we kinda felt like celebrities. I'm not gonna lie, it was a little scary when we first started down the hill, the pictures don't do it justice to show how steep it is. I havn't put the brakes through that rigorious of a test, I was hoping they would hold out, we survived.

Thursday the girls went to Santa Cruz with Jessica while Jerry and I went to Dominican Rehab. We had to exchange our FES hand bike appointment for an appointment to pick up and adjust Jerry's permanent power wheel chair. We were bummed for sure for missing the hand bike, it seems like every time Jerry rides the hand bike he gets a little stronger. We were excited on the other hand to get Jerry's permant power chair. Jerry was pretty thrilled with the chair and says he feels so much more comfortable in the chair. The chair was custom made to fit his body and he can really feel the difference. We spent 2 1/2 hours making adjustments to the chair and didn't finish so we have another appointment next week to finish. The chair has some really cool features the other chair didn't have like electric foot rest. The chair also has tilt and recline before he only had tilt, there are some other cool features as well.

Today we are off to SCI-FIT so I will rap it up as I still have to finish getting Jerry ready and out the door in the next 15 minutes, yikes. I'll leave you with a couple pictures of Jer in his new chair.....

Katie

Thursday - July 30

2009-07-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Last Sunday I was in the emergency room with Janea all night. Dennis, Jessica and Janea volunteered at the Wharf to Wharf on Sunday, for those not familiar it's a 10K run in Santa Cruz. Janea started to feel dizzy about noon and by 2:00 she was vomiting. The strange thing is Janea felt fine all morning. Janea was so sick she couldn't hold anything down, by 8:30 pm her arms were trembling uncontrollably. I took here to emergency and they kept her all night, she was severely dehydrated and her blood pressure dropped scarily low 77 / 21. Three IV bags later her blood pressure was 80 / 50. They were concerned about releasing her but she was able to get up and walk around without getting dizzy and she was fully hydrated so they released her about 7 am. I was really tired because I didn't sleep at all and was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair all night. Janea slept all day Monday and is back to normal, I pray Jerry doesn't come down with it, it was awful. I managed to get about 5 hours sleep but was pretty wiped out on Monday.

Tuesday Jerry had his endoscopy, they didn't do the colonoscopy there was a misunderstanding on my part. The endoscopy went well, the results came back normal with a little bit of acid damage in the esophagus. The doctor thinks the ditropan Jerry takes for bladder spasms is relaxing the sphincter to the stomach so acid is backing up into the esophagus. The doc said that it could be what's causing the nausea so he put him on protonics. I don't think the acid is the nausea causer, he has been off and on protonics since he was in the hospital and it has never had an effect on the nausea. I'm going to request Jerry's doctor to order a stomach emptying study, I think he has a motility problem. We'll see. Jerry has felt pretty bad all week, however today he seemed a little better.

We had to cancel SCI-FIT on Wednesday because I had a doctor appointment. I have been having trouble hearing in my left ear for a few months now. The doctor put me on a steroid for two weeks to try and resolve the issue I'm having with my inner-ear. I had another hearing test and there was no improvement so the doc gave me a shot of steroid. The shot hurt, they poke the needle through the ear drum and inject the cream next to the inner ear membrane. After two weeks there is still no improvement to the hearing so at this point the doc has determined the hearing loss is permanent. I now have an appointment to be fitted for a hearing aid, how ridicules, I'm to young to loose my hearing.

Today Jerry had therapy at Dominican Rehab. Jerry did the FES hand bike. Every time Jerry does the FES hand bike he feels like he gains a little something back. After the FES session Jerry gained the ability to rotate his wrist slightly. This is new, until now he could only pick his arm up and let it fall but he cannot push it down or rotate it. Jerry also had a very slight movement in his thumb when he was trying to rotate his hand. The thumb movement is so small you could hardly see it, but it's there and it's exciting to have something new. I thank God for anything new because it keeps hope alive and renews motivation to keep working hard.

Jerry's friends from Florida are coming this weekend for another visit so I know Jerry is very excited about that. Tomorrow we are off to Pleasanton and then having a BBQ at our house for the summer staffers. Summer staff leaves on Saturday which is a bummer, Jerry very much enjoyed them dropping by for visits.

Well I think we've caught up and the dinner dishes are awaiting my presence so I will say good night.

Katie

Thursday - July 23

2009-07-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

We are so busy with therapy and doctor appointments, the days seem to fly by, I can't believe we are over 7 months post injury. It seems like yesterday and yet it seems like a life time ago, how is that possible. What's even more ridicules is we still don't have Jerry's permanent power wheelchair or bed.

Jerry still struggles with nausea but it seems like it's getting better. Jerry has an endoscopy and colonoscopy today at noon. I know this sounds weird but sometimes I just want one of these tests to come back with a problem. Although you don't want there to be a problem it's obvious there is a problem or he wouldn't be nauseous for 7 months. If one of the tests came back with a problem you would at least know what your dealing with and how to fix it. The fact that every test they have done til now has come back normal is great however it leaves us still searching for the needle in the hay stack. Despite the morning nausea Jerry seems to feel pretty good from about noon on. Jerry's mental state is in a good place right now, there always seems to be someone around to keep him cheery.

We had a party at our house last night to celebrate Dennis' birthday. Jerry and I didn't get back from Pleasanton until 8:30, we were late for our own party. Oh well, we had fun anyway.

Therapy is going well, Jerry continues to get tingles in his legs while exercising. Jerry said yesterday that he could feel tingling in his hands which is new. Pray that this means his body is waking up. I pray several times a day that God will heal him completely and restore his body.

God bless you all for following Jerry's progress and keeping him in your daily thoughts and prayers, until he walks again.

Love always,
Katie

A great day at the ball park

2009-07-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who went to the San Jose Giants game yesterday, you all ready know it was a great game and a wonderful time all together. For those not able to make it, the Giants won the Modesto Nuts 1-0, whoot, whoot. I was hoping the following Jerry crowd would all be seated in one section however it didn't quite work out that way. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't get Jerry in the stands. There was a wheelchair seating area way out by the third base side which was full, so we spent most of the time hanging out by the fence on the first base side. Other than that minor issue the day was absolutely wonderful. It was great to see so many of our friends come out to support Jerry as well as many familiar faces from our community.

We had a tail gate party prior to the game and I gotta say that was just as much fun as the game itself. I wanted to stay and hang out with friends, the time was far too short. It was fun having people stop by to say hi on their way into the game. I would have loved to have more time to socialize.

For those who weren't able to make it to the game Jerry went out to the mound with his sister Jessica who got to throw the first pitch. It was a pretty good pitch for a center fielder, the catcher said it was a strike and even had some movement on it. Way to go Jess! Jerry also went out to the field with the summer staffers and a few friends to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". I can't believe they actually got Jerry to go out there and sing, that was pretty sweet. Some of the guys on the team came over to talk to Jerry, they were so cool. One of the players went in the dugout and got an official ball to sign for Jerry, what a great guy.

I would like to thank everyone who came out to support Jerry in this fundraiser. It was kind of a scary fund raiser because we had to invest $2,500 for tickets. We were nervous about not being able to sell enough tickets to cover cost. Thanks to all who purchased tickets we made our money back. We have not gotten all the ticket money back yet but the estimate is that we profited $2,500. That equates to 2 months of therapy at SCI-FIT in Pleasanton, so THANK YOU ALL!!! I would like to give a special THANKS to Mike owner of Stanford Avenue Automotive on the corner of Stanford and Mission in Santa Cruz. Mike purchased somewhere in the ball park of 120 tickets, thanks Mike for being so supportive. Anyone needing automotive work be sure to visit Stanford Avenue Automotive, Mike is an AWESOME DUDE and will treat you right.

I want to thank the following people for busting their booty to sale tickets: Trish, Leanne, Marci, Kris, Kay (AKA Nana), Karen, Rob, Paul, Josh&Janea, Sharon Ferry, Sharon Fry, Jessica and Amber. Thank you to Becky for working on the flyer and news paper ad. Thank you to Santa Cruz Weekly paper for the free ad space. You guys rock big time! Lastly a huge THANK YOU to Marci for finding and orgainizing this fund raiser. Thanks for working with the Giants staff and coordinating our vollunteers and gettin it done. YOUR AMAZING, THANKS!

OHHHH, I can't forget to thank Paul Firenzi of MVP-Photography for document the day with some awesome pictures, thanks Paul. You can click on the images to view larger size.

Katie

Monday - July 13

2009-07-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

We have had quite a busy few days. Jessica had a tournament so Dennis and Jess stayed Saturday night in Stockton. Jerry and I went to a friends wedding, Salina. Salina looked so beautiful and is so cute. You know the tradition something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Salina's something blue was Jerry's (FollowingJerry) bracelet around her ankle. It was too cute when she took a picture with Jerry with her leg up on the arm of Jerry's chair to show the bracelet around her ankle. I gotta get a copy of that, who do I pay Salina? :-) During the reception Jerry said "Look" as he looked in the direction of his leg. Jerry had new movement, he was able to move his leg about a 1/2 inch. That does not sound like much but let me tell you any deliberate movement below the level of injury is mucho huge. It was deliberate movement that he was able to duplicate about four times. Jerry wanted to show Salina so I went and found her and he was able to show her as well, it was way cool. Jerry has not been able to make that movement since but continues to try. My understanding is the body gets fatigued so something you can do one day doesn't necessarily mean you can do it the next day.

We had to leave the reception a little early as I was having some lady friends over for game night. We got home about 5:30 and my guests were due to arrive at 7:30. I had just enough time to take care of Jerry's needs and get all my hors d'oeuvres ready before the gals showed up. Jerry went to the movie with a friend, it was nice for him to get out of the house and get a break from me. I had a blast with my friends which left about 12:30. By the time I cleaned up and got Jerry to bed it was 3 am so needless to say we slept in until about noon the next day. Sunday Jerry chilled and watched his shows or did computer work all day which is his favorite thing to do since his injury. I finally got an opportunity to pull all the weeds in my yard, I actually had weeds 4 feet tall. The flower beds are now practically empty. I didn't plant flowers this year for obvious reasons and all those weeds almost looked like plants. After pulling the weeds I see now I need some flowers. Ahh well whatcha gonna do? .....tomorrow's another day.

Today we had a massage therapist (Susan) come to the house for Jerry, I gotta say she was pretty amazing. Susan was here for well over two hours and even did a little work on me, it was wonderful. We are going to have Susan do massage therapy on Jerry probably every other week at this point. Part of the goal is to relive pain Jerry has in his neck and shoulders, hopefully to reduce the need for the pain meds. Any one local looking for a good therapist look no further, Susan Handloff Hammer of Harmony Massage does wonderful work. Thanks Susan!

After the appointment with Susan we had to load up and head to Santa Cruz. I had an appointment with the ear doc which was not pleasant. I've had a significant hearing loss in my left ear over the last 3 months. I took a steroid for two weeks which did absolutely nothing. Today the doc put a needle through my ear drum and injected a steroid near the inner ear. OK that was not fun, hopefully it will help to regain the hearing loss.

Our next appointment was with Jerry's doctor. I took all the charts that I've been charting for the last two weeks. Food chart, blood pressure chart, bowel and bladder chart, we're looking for a pattern and sadly the only pattern is something we already knew. Jerry's nausea level starts out between 5 and 7 every day, by mid day he's about a 3 or 4, by late afternoon he's at a 1. No correlation to bowel or bladder, blood pressure or food, the quest goes on. Jerry had major blood pressure issues today, we learned something new. Jerry wears compression socks to help keep his blood pressure up. On occasion he has gone without the socks and been fine. The socks is not something he will have to wear for life he can eventually get rid of them. Today was pretty hot so we thought Jerry would be more comfortable without the socks and as he has on occasion gone without them I didn't give it a second thought. So we found out today that when it's hot is when he needs them the most. Jerry could not sit upright without starting to pass out and stayed in a tilt position until we got home. The nurse took his blood pressure sitting up and it was 58 over 31 just as he was about to pass out. He went back to tilt position and his blood pressure went back up to 90 over 58, much better. Now we know.

Dennis was installing an attic fan in our house this evening. He was testing it out and went to adjust it and his hand slipped, he almost chopped off the tip of his finger. It was rather gruesome, the entire fingernail was ripped off as well as a hunk of flesh under the nail. I called our doctor and she confirmed what we thought, there's not much they can do other then to clean it up and give a tetanus shot. Dennis will go get a tetanus on Wednesday, the sweet thing is we have a nurse on staff here where we live at Redwood Christian Park. Dennis went down to the nurses station and she cleaned it up for him which saved a trip to the ER.

We still have a lot of Giants tickets left, if you plan on going tickets are still available locally at We All Ride in Soquel, Scotts Valley CycleSport and Felton Feed. You can also purchase them online here at the blog until Saturday at 12noon. Any tickets purchased online before this Tuesday will be mailed, those purchased between Wednesday and Saturday at 12noon will be held at will-call at the Stadium.

I guess that's enough for know, I think I'm all caught up on the latest.

See You There, Go Giants!!

Katie

Ballgame This Saturday!

2009-07-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

We are SO excited for this Saturday, and hope that you will be joining us at 6pm at the San Jose Municipal Stadium for a great game between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts!

Not only will the baseball be awesome, but you will enjoy seeing some of our own folks playing games between innings, throwing the first pitch, and singing for the 7th inning stretch! That's likely worth the price of admission right there.......!

Tickets are still available locally at We All Ride in Soquel, Scotts Valley CycleSport and Felton Feed. You can also purchase them online here at the blog until Saturday at 12noon. Any tickets purchased online before this Tuesday will be mailed, those purchased between Wednesday and Saturday at 12noon will be held at will-call at the Stadium.

So, don't delay! If you haven't yet bought your ticket, the time is now!

We can't wait to see you there.

Go Giants!

Thursday - July 9

2009-07-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, when things remain the same with very little change I struggle to know what to write about. Jerry is doing well for the most part. There were a couple of days where Jerry felt depressed and had a hard day but it was short lived thank God. This is such a roller coaster ride for us all but particularly for Jerry. I'm so glad it's summer though because a lot of Jerry's friends are home from college. Jerry has been spending quite a bit of time with his friends, those are the times when he feels good. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little worried for the end of summer when everyone goes back to school.

Jerry had another ultrasound which came back normal. Jerry has an endoscopy and colonoscopy coming up, still trying to get to the bottom of the nausea. I will say the nausea seems to be getting better, he still wakes up with it and it never really is fully gone however it stays at a tolerable level for most of the day.

Please continue to pray that God will heal Jerry completely. Pray that God will give Jerry strength, peace and determination to keep working hard.

Thank you for praying, for loving, for supporting, for caring, and for staying with us on this journey.

Katie

The Countdown....

2009-07-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

Our Saturday, July 18 ballgame between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts is coming up quick! The game is at 6pm, tickets are just $7 per person, and kids ages 0-4 can enter for free.

If you haven't yet invited your friends, family and coworkers, please extend an invitation as we would love to see a FANTASTIC turnout. If you need any flyers, double click on the flyer to the right and print as many as you would like.

If you are planning to attend but have not yet purchased your tickets, we would love for you to do so this week. Based on our tickets sales by weeks end, our plans will begin to finalize, and we would HATE for anyone to miss out on this fantastic evening of baseball, good friends and good food!

Tickets are available here by clicking the "add to cart" button your sidebar, or you can purchase tickets at We All Ride in Soquel, Felton Feed, or Scotts Valley CycleSport.

See you soon!

Happy Summer and Happy 4th of July Weekend

2009-07-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

I love summer it's my favorite time of year, the weather has been gorgeous. Jerry and I get a 4 day weekend as SCI-FIT is closed today and we always have Monday's off. Well I guess Monday's not totally a free day as Jerry has an ultrasound. It will be nice to use the time off to get caught up on things around the house, maybe even get some yard work done.

Jerry has been feeling much the same with the nausea, the charting I've been doing shows a pattern. Using a scale of one through ten every morning upon waking he is at 5 or 6 by 1:00 he is around 3 by 5:00 he is at 1 and remains that way. The nausea is never fully gone but level 3 and below is tolerable. It's was sad the other day he said, "I don't even remember what it's like to not feel nauseous".

Jerry has had a lot more time with friends since summer has started and it has been wonderful. He smiles more and that always warms my heart.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

Katie

First time in RCP pool

2009-06-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we got Jerry in the pool here at Redwood Christian Park for the first time. It turned out to be easier then we anticipated and he enjoyed it very much. Here are some pictures to mark the occasion....

Publish Post

I fixed the music so it plays with the pictures, if you watched earlier today you probably noticed the music was messed up.

Jerry really enjoyed getting in the pool to cool off and hang with friends. It was much easier to get him in and out then we anticipated. It would be nice to get him in the pool a couple times a week and maybe do some movement without the flotation next time.

Katie

Happy Birthday Jerry the Big 20

2009-06-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

I wrote this blog yesterday but had trouble posting the slide show, so here it is a little late....

Jerry had a wonderful birthday yesterday but before I go into the details I want to back up a day to Thursday. I mentioned in an earlier post that we would be attending the camp guest speaker testimonial/sermon on Thursday evening. We went to Dominican Rehab earlier in the day for therapy, Jerry did the FES hand bike. Jerry's arms seem stronger every time he does the FES hand bike. In the evening we went to the tabernacle to hear Joy Griffin and what an incredible testimony she has. Joy had been a Christian since childhood but had struggled with the feeling in her heart and had been doing some soul searching. Joy was going to college and playing softball when her life was changed forever. Joy played center field and made a dive for a ball during a critical part of the game, actually the game winning catch. When Joy landed she ripped all the muscles from her spine and was paralyzed. She was in so much pain the only comfortable place to be was flat on her back on the floor which is where she spent the next year and a half. Joy really did some soul searching and studying her bible as well as being mentored. She met a man that prayed with her and asked her if she believed God could heal her, they prayed for healing and Joy was healed instantly, she jumped up and ran, she was healed miraculously. The doctors could not explain or even fathom how this could be as the damage to her back was not repairable, it truly was a miraculous healing. At the end of the evening Jerry, Dennis, Jessica and I went forward for prayer for healing for Jerry. It was incredible to close your eyes begin to pray and not be aware of what was going on around you. Then to open your eyes and find about 50 people had come forward either laying hands on Jerry or the person next to them if they couldn't reach Jerry and praying for God to heal Jerry, it was incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that God will heal Jerry, it may not be instant like Joy but he gets stronger everyday and I believe he will walk again and we will praise God for his mercy.

Yesterday was Jerry's birthday and we managed to pull off a surprise party. I should say Jessica managed to pull off a surprise party. Dennis had to work and I took Jerry to SCI-FIT in Pleasanton. Jessica made a cake, picked up pizza, decorated the house, and coordinated with Jerry's friends. Jerry had no idea, he was totally surprised. Here are a few pictures of the party:

Push play to view video....

Enjoy,
Katie

Hiccup

2009-06-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

*****PAY PAL IS BACK UP AND RUNNING, HOPE NOBODY WAS TERRIBLY FRUSTRATED WITH THE HICCUP*****.

Pay Pal is acting up, and we will have it fixed later tonight!

We apologize to any who have come to buy a ticket....please check back soon!

Toxic Green Machine

2009-06-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Jerry got another piece of equipment today, his manual chair, Toxic Green, yeah baby!
Here's a little taste of Toxic Green, by the way his permanent power chair will be Toxic Green as well.

We thought we would try the new chair for the ride to SCI-FIT today, turns out that was not such a good idea. It's not really made for comfort and travel. When the chair is tied down it still has a lot of movement around turns so windy Bear Creek was a little rough. Jerry did seem to be comfortable on the freeway however.

Jerry is still waking up with nausea in the morning, it's the never ending story. Jerry went to the Urologist on Monday the doctor was very nice. The doc took Jerry off of one of the medications he was taking which in my book is great, one less med is good. The doc is going to possibly order a new ultrasound if he's not satisfied with the results of the last test. Jerry also has an endoscopy test mid July, we're still plugging away trying to find the root cause of the nausea. The good thing is the nausea seems to be at level 1 to 2 earlier in the day, by 2:00 he feels pretty good. We have been charting everything, I'm like chart queen right now.

We are in the middle of June Family camp here at Redwood Christian Park where we live. The guest speaker tomorrow night has an incredible testimony to share and we are so excited to go listen tomorrow night. Joy was a softball player in college and suffered an injury during a game which left her paralyzed, I think she spent over a year in a wheelchair and then was miraculously healed. I'll have to give you all the details after I here her full testimony.

God bring healing, to Tim, Allie and Jerry.....
Amen
Katie

OK, Tina is just too cute, I still can't capture the magnitude of her cuteness on film but this pic is still pretty cute.

Tuesday Ballgame Update

2009-06-22T09:42:00.001-07:00

The tickets are flying out fast and furious, and we are SO grateful for the many of you that are helping to spread the word about our July 18th ballgame between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts!

Many have asked if there is a way to help with the plans for the game, and what we need the most is your help in inviting your friends, family, coworkers and neighbors! This week, we've got a few new ways for you to do this:

First, if you are on Facebook, sign in and search for "Following Jerry to a Ballgame", or click here to go straight to the event page. You will see an option on the right where you can invite more guests, and we would love for you to invite your own friends and family via Facebook.

Next, you might have already noticed that if you click on the flyer to your right, it will come up full-sized and ready to print. If you can print some flyers and hang them in your place of employment, businesses that you frequent, or wherever, we would love it. If you would like your own stack of tickets to sell, just let us know and we'll get those to you.

We are also very grateful to our local businesses that are offering tickets: We All Ride in Soquel, Felton Feed and Scotts Valley CycleSport. If you've not yet purchased tickets, you can do so at any of these locations, or right here from the blog.

We would also like to give a big shout out to the great folks at Little League that are allowing us to set up at table and sell tickets at all of the upcoming Tournament of Champions for all divisions. If you would like to help us in manning a table so that we can cover all of the games, send us an email to ballgame@followingjerry.com and let us know. There are numerous games the week of June 30, and one this coming up Saturday. If you can help, it'd be great.

Lastly, we are THRILLED to announce a partnership between ourselves and a non-profit called Bayshore Christian Ministries. If you would like to support this fundraising ballgame but cannot attend due to distance, calendar conflict, or whatever, just let us know and we will donate your purchased tickets to the folks at Bayshore, who will then give them out to inner-city youth and their families. For your $7 ticket, you can not only support Jerry and his recovery, but also play a part in supporting a child's introduction to sports.

How fantastic is that?

If you have any questions or suggestions for us as plans continue, email us at ballgame@followingjerry.com

For the Gang,

Happy Fathers Day

2009-06-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers Day to all you Dad's and a SUPER DUPER OOOBER FATHERS DAY to Dennis. Dennis has worked 7 days a week between Jerry's room and his real job for 4 months. He may have had about 5 days off in that time. Thank you Big D for working so hard we love and appreciate you sooooo much. I hope you enjoyed your weekend off and steak dinner, now get back to work :-o ....just kidding.

Jessica had a softball tournament over the hill this weekend and one of Dennis' favorite things is watching her games, so he was pretty much in hog heaven. They lost the first game and one the second yesterday, then won the first two and lost the third today which put them in 5th of about 2o for northern California, way to go Ray's. Jessica batted something like 15 for 20 with a couple of walks not a bad weekend at the plate, you go girl!!!!

Daddy and Ricco takin a cat nap.....

Thank you Marci for working so hard on the Giants ballgame and thank you Trish for all the promotion at the Little League Tournament of Champions. We have had some on line orders for tickets thank you to all who have ordered early online your tickets will be mailed tomorrow. I'm so excited for the Giants game it is going to be so much fun, I can't wait to see you all there. Go Giants!!! By the way we get to throw the first pitch as well as pick someone to sing the national anthem, we are going to have to come up with a fun way to decide who will do these....any idea's? Anybody interested in doing either send me an email to katie@followingjerry.com.

For those living near Gottschalks they're going out of business and are having an incredible sale, I got Jerry a new recliner about 70% off, it was such a great deal. I'm excited because it fits him perfectly so we don't have to prop his arms with pillows any more. Ususally we have to put a pillow under each arm which on a warm day causes him to over heat pretty quickly. The arms on this chair are closer together so his arms can sit on them without falling off. The most exciting thing about the chair is it has a vibrating back which in my mind has to help with circulation and prevention of pressure sores. Maybe it will stimulate his back muscles or maybe it will just be relaxing at any rate he sits higher in the chair and feels more comfortable so that's good.

Jerry had a wonderful time last night, he had a virtual poker party. Jerry was excited to have his friends over and was pretty amped up most the day. So thank you Luke, Kevin, Issac, Jesse, Gevin and Chris. The boys all brought their lap tops over and played on line poker, they had a hard time figuring out how to set up a private table and I think half the night was spent on setting up. Jerry had fun none the less and it was so great just to see him chillin with his friends.

Please keep our kids in your prayers until each has recovered, keep hope alive and wait for the miracle. Lord release complete healing for Tim Hatch, Allie and Jerry, heal their bodies, heal thier minds, and restore them to health. Thank you Lord for all the blessings you have already given.

God Bless,

Katie

Friday - June 19

2009-06-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to update tonight, the day started much the same as every day, Jerry really didn't feel good this morning. The traffic to Pleasanton was horrendous, the 680 freeway was a parking lot and we were 30 minutes late for work out. A little frustrating but the good news is Jerry had a good work out and by the end he felt pretty good.

We got home about 7:30 and I got an opportunity to go in Jerry's room and finish painting the Monster M, I gotta say...."I like it", now I hope Jerry will like it, he hasn't seen it yet. Here's a sneak peak.....

After reading the article in the Sentinel today I felt very sad that another of our Valley kids has suffered a tragic accident. I was reminded once again what an incredible community we live in and how people are compassionate and caring and how truly blessed we are. I pray for Tim and his family, I pray that he will recover fully.

Good night,
Katie

In Case You Missed the Morning Paper

2009-06-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

Unrolled the morning paper and found our own Jerry on the very front page. We thank the Santa Cruz Sentinel for continuing to follow Jerry and his story.

Click here to read about Jerry, Allie, and yet another in our community that needs our prayers, Tim Hatch.

Thursday - June 18

2009-06-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to check in quickly for an update, not much to report. There is one positive thing to talk about, up to know Jerry has been stronger on his left side, but he is beginning to gain strength on the right side. Jerry rode the FES hand bike at Dominican Rehab today and I gotta say every time he rides it he begins to feel a little stronger with a little more movement. He actually was able to initiate slight movement with his right arm. Pray that his arms a waking up and his hands are next. How glorious it would be for him to control his wheelchair with his joy stick as opposed to chin drive. I'm so proud of Jerry for working so hard, complaining very little, trying his best to keep a positive attitude. He has moments of despair but they seem to be short lived and always go hand in hand with the nausea. He is so brave, patient, strong and determined, I couldn't be prouder.

Thanks for continued prayers, it's through prayer, hard work and determination consistently that Jerry will walk again. We will not stop until he is out of that wheel chair.

God bless all of you for caring and praying....

Good night,
Katie

Wednesday - June 17

2009-06-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

We are losing two of Jerry's Angels on the fund raising committee, Kris Silher and her daughter Sarah as well as Jessica's boyfriend Mitch. Sarah moved to Sacramento yesterday and Mitch is moving to Arizona to go to college while Kris is moving to Colorado leaving tomorrow. I would like to thank them for all they have done to help raise money for Jerry's rehab. Kris and Sarah either organized or helped organize the concert fund raiser, pancake breakfast, raffle and silent auction for spaghetti feed, designed and had made bumper stickers and bracelets, distributed cans around the valley. Kris cared for Jessica the first month Jerry was in the hospital and Kris was there when Jerry had his accident and was the first in the hospital. So Kris and Sarah THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done to help us. Like I said in the card I wrote you, your reward will be seeing Jerry walk again some day, it will happen and you will know you played a huge part in it. Mitch you will be missed you have been wonderful and I know Jessica is going to be so sad when you leave.

So now to get caught up, the sore Jerry has is not a pressure sore it is a skin irritaion caused by friction, this was very good news. Jerry is restricted from the FES bike until healed but that is the only restriction.

Jerry has been feeling much the same nausous in the mornings better in the evening we're still trying to figure out the root cause. Jerry had an appointment with the gastrologist on Monday they are going to do a test where they put a scope down his throat to his belly and have a peak around. We will see if that turns up anything.

Tuesday we got a lot accomplished, Jerry had OT and PT, I got two new tires on the van, returned flooring at Home Depot and picked up flooring for Jerry's room at Costco. Costco has an awesome deal on lamanent flooring right now I saved over $800 by returning what I had gotten from Home Depot. What a deal. Jerry then had a doctor appointment, we are going to do some charting to try and find some pattern with medications and blood pressure and yeah more fun.

Today was off to SCI-FIT, Jerry stood in the standing frame and was able to take his binder off which is pretty good. For those not familiar Jerry wears an abdominal binder which is kind of like a corsett, it puts pressure on his abs to help with blood pressure. When he gets up without the binder his blood pressure drops so it was kind of a big deal to be in the standing position without the binder.

Tomorrow we are off to Dominican rehab, it's late and time for bed, signing off now, God bless....

Katie

Ballgame Update

2009-06-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

We are looking forward to seeing all of you on Saturday, July 18 for a 6pm game between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts. It ought to be a perfect summer evening....baseball, BBQ, all of you...and the Beer Batter!

(Never heard of the San Jose Giants? Not sure about the Beer Batter? For more on both, click here.)

Between now and then, we are hoping to sell all 2500 of our tickets. Once we sell the first 300 tickets (to cover our event costs), every single dollar will go straight to funding Jerry's physical therapy at SCI-FIT, as well as covering other aspects of his care and recovery.

To get started, we'd love the help of all of you who read this blog.

If you would be able to post an event flyer at your place of employment, your Gym, your kid's preschool, wherever, we'd appreciate it. If you would like to take a stack of tickets to sell to your friends and family, just let us know and we'll set you right up. If you might consider inviting your friends and family to the game and point them to purchasing tickets on the blog, we'd be thrilled.

Truly, the San Jose Giants do a fantastic job of providing an entertaining evening. This particular game will be really special as we even get to select a person to throw the first pitch and sing the National Anthem. (Hey...anyone know anyone famous for this?!?!)

So if you can help, we'd love it. If you'd like a stack of tickets to sell, or a copy of the flyer suitable for emailing, just jot us an email at ballgame@followingjerry.com If you have any ideas or suggestions to offer as plans continue, email us with that too!

Thank you to everyone for playing a part in Jerry's recovery....your support means everything to the MacCallister Family.

For all of Jerry's Angels,
Marci

Saturday - June 13

2009-06-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

We have a very busy weekend but should be fun none the less, Jessica's boyfriend graduated yesterday and is having a beach party, congratulations Mitch. The part that's not so good is Jessica has a tournament in Stockton today and tomorrow, so she will have to miss the first game today so she can go to the beginning of the party. I get to take Jessica to the party and then the tournament she has a game at 6:45 and 8:15 in Stockton, for those not familiar Stockton is a little less then 2 hours away. I will probably get home about midnight but Jessica will stay the night in the hotel with a friend. Dennis is staying home with Jerry and working on the room. Tomorrow Jerry's friend Mary has a graduation party congratulations Mary, so Jerry and I will go to the party while Dennis goes down to Stockton to see Jessica's game. I scored, I get to go to both parties, whoohoo!!!

Jerry could use a friend to hang with today if anyone wants to stop by, Chris, Torrie, Luke, Isaac, any takers?

Jerry was asked to become a commissioner for the Santa Cruz County Commissions for Disabilities District 5. We turned in the application this morning and should hear from the district supervisor Mark Stone within a week weather or not he has been appointed. If appointed he will have his first meeting in August. I guess will have to start calling him the Comish. ;-D

All else is going well, except Jerry has been running a low grade temperature of 99.5, don't know what that's about. I seems to feel OK just running a temp. Hopefully that will not persist or we'll have to go on a needle in the hay stack hunt to find the root cause.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Katie

Thursday - June 11

2009-06-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted, it's been pretty busy and I've been feeling exhausted. The good news is I've fully recovered from being sick and so far no one else in the family caught the bug, whoohoo.

Jerry had a hard day yesterday. I inspect Jerry from his shoulders to his feet about every 2 to 3 days for pressure sores. Pressure sores can be really bad and is a huge concern for people with Jerry's level of injury. I have to get up at 4 am every night and roll Jerry to avoid him getting pressure sores, also when Jerry sits in his recliner we have to do weight shifts about every hour. The reason I mention all this is Jerry got a sore and it was quite concerning. Sometimes sores can leave you bed ridden and interfere with therapies for weeks or months because the body can heal very slowly. Yesterday Jerry was unable to use the FES Bike because of the sore and the trainers had to be cautious as to what exercises they did with Jerry. Because the sore was near the tailbone they had to avoid doing exercise that could cause the sore to open or get worse. The good news is we had the sore checked out today and it's not a pressure sore, hallelujah!!! The sore is a friction sore, which heals much quicker and is not as dangerous as a pressure sore. It's likely the sore was due to friction from riding the FES bike, at this point that will be his only limitation. Jerry can continue with all other work outs which is good, we were very relieved when we heard it wasn't a pressure sore.

Jerry had a hard day yesterday, he was overwhelmed by the time we got home from Pleasanton. Jerry has been having a couple of other physical issues that has him feeling down and with all the hoopla over his sore I think he was on the edge. While unloading from the van Jerry did not tilt his chair back enough, when he drove the chair on to the lift he hit his head on the top of the door opening. That was it, he had a hard time getting through it. Jerry had a hard time sleeping last night and was up until about 5 am. The unfortunate part of all that is we had to be up by 7:3o because Jerry had a doctor appointment in Santa Cruz with the gastrolagist. Amazingly Jerry felt really good today, emotionally he was a new man after learning his sore was not that bad. Jerry had a very low nausea level, maybe we ought to try only getting 2 1/2 hours sleep more often, he felt really good today. We went to our PT appointment today but the time was spent addressing Jerry's sore so we missed out on the FES hand bike. Jerry is going to take the day off from SCI-FIT tomorrow, he needs to take a break and try and get his sore to heal as quickly as possible, so he won't have therapy again til next Tuesday.

After getting home this evening I gave Jerry a hair cut, it was long overdue. I think it looks pretty good..... ;-D. Jerry finally let me film his arm movement however he only would give me 12 seconds, that's OK, I'll take it. I'll leave you with his 12 second video.

Good night and God bless,

Katie

Follow Jerry to the Ballgame....Ticket Info

2009-06-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

We are so thrilled to announce a benefit ballgame between the San Jose Giants and the Modesto Nuts!

Invite your friends and family to join us on Saturday, July 18 for a 6pm game. If you've never yet been to a minor league ball game, this a great time to try it out. The venue is extremely family friendly, and kids (and grownups) of all ages will enjoy the feel of the stadium, the great food and seats that are close to the action. Not only can you hear the crack of the bat, but you can also hear the muttering of the players. Depending on the game, this can get pretty interesting......

But here is the best part of all. Tickets are $7 each, and $6 will go straight to supporting Jerry and his recovery fund, the majority of which goes towards his physical therapy. Isn't that amazing?

For now, tickets are only available online--just click on the link to the right and we will get your tickets in the mail. By next week, we will also have tickets available for purchase at Felton Feed, We All Ride (in Soquel) and Scotts Valley Cycle Sport.

If you would like to have a stack of tickets to sell to your coworkers, friends or family, please email us at ballgame@followingjerry.com and we will get those to you right away.

Please join us and Follow Jerry to a Ballgame! It's gonna be great.

Follow Jerry.....to a Ballgame!

2009-06-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendar RIGHT THIS SECOND for Saturday, July 18, 6pm!

In partnership with the San Jose Giants we will be joining forces to support the MacCallister Family with a benefit baseball game! While the San Jose Giants take on the Modesto Nuts, we'll take over the stadium (literally!) and fill it to overflowing with the friends, family and community that has been supporting this family for these last months.

More information will be posted soon, so stay tuned.........

Sunday - June 7

2009-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

Dennis is painting Jerry's room today, Jerry wanted to incorporate colors from the Monster energy drink so we went with black, gray and white. The ceiling is white, one wall is black (I know....brave....daring...we live life on the edge), the rest of the room is gray and we will add some neon green somewhere. OK it was supposed to be light gray and it sure looks darker on the wall than it did on the card.

We went to Allie's fund raiser last night, what a wonderful show of support for Allie and her family. The fund raising crew did a great job and the event was extremely successful, way to go!!! Jerry was able to attend as well, it's a whole new world trying to maneuver a wheelchair in a crowd. Jerry enjoyed himself as did the rest of us, I forgot the camera so unfortunately you won't get to see Dennis rollerblading.

Jerry has been feeling much the same however he did have a new feeling, while doing gait training at SCI-FIT Jerry said he felt his feet burning. Not burning as in nerve pain but burning as feeling from walking. Below is a video if you listen closely you can hear him say he feels his feet burning. It's hard to hear over the music, I love that they blast music in the gym, there's something about music that makes you feel good.

I've been trying to get a video of Jerry moving his arm however he teases me and will not move the arm when the camera goes on. He'll move his arm and say hey mom check it out, I get the camera to get a shot and he says "What arm movement?" ".....I don't know what your talking about". I may have to resort to blackmail to get the shot. The bottom line is his arms are getting much stronger, I believe it is the FES arm bike that has made his arms stronger.

We are going to pleasanton on Wednesday and Friday so Mondays are now our doctor appointment day. Tomorrow Jerry and I have an appointment with the ear nose throat doc. I've had my left ear plugged for over 2 months now. I took a decongestant for 3 weeks and have been on a nasal spray for a week still no change with the ear. I can't hear out of the left ear hardly at all. Jerry is also going to be seen to see if he may have some inner ear issue that can be related to the nausea.

We had some friends over for a hands on prayer session with Jerry on Saturday. Jerry said his whole body felt tingly during and after. We continue to pray for complete healing and are confident this is not Jerry's destiny. God has a bigger plan for Jerry and I don't belive it involves a wheelchair. It's our job to keep Jerry strong until God decides it's time for Jerry to walk again.

Good night,

Katie

Quick Update

2009-06-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to say everything is going well. Jerry's nausea has been at a tolerable level the last week. This week we started something new with Jer's pain meds. Generally Jerry takes 2 pain pills as needed which usually is 3 to 4 times per week. When Jer takes pain meds his nausea seems to go away or is at least at a tolerable level. Doc wants Jerry to take a 1/2 a pill three times a day to see if that will help keep the nausea at bay. So far so good.

Jerry has been trying out his new XBox game controller, he's not terribly pleased with it, we may have to return it. His chin mouse has been working fairly well and allows Jer to play some video games on his laptop.

Dennis got the texture done in Jer's room and is ready to start painting, Jerry wanted to use the color scheme of the Monster energy dirk, fluorescent green and black. Jerry doesn't want to use the Monster logo any where in his room just the colors. This ought to be interesting trying to incorporate neon green. After we paint Dennis will install the flooring and fixtures then Jer can move in. Colleen you asked awhile back if we have a programmable thermostat, we do. We have central heat but no AC, we are having an AC unit installed it should be done sometime this week. We do have the programmable thermostat but most often the problem is not the room temperature it's Jer's body temp. It can be cold in the room and Jer will be burning up, or visa versa. Thanks Colleen for the offer, we appreciate you thinking of Jer and following his progress.

We are changing our SCI-FIT schedule from Mondays to Fridays, they are not open Mondays anymore so we will be in Pleasanton Wed and Fri. Today we are off to Domincan.

Thanks for praying,

Katie

Saturday - May 29

2009-05-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was a very pleasant day for me despite the lack of sleep. I was up at 5 am with only about 4 hours of sleep, Jessica rolled out of bed about 15 minutes before it was time to leave. Jess and I had to get an early start to Stockton for a softball tournament with the summer traveling team. Jessica had 3 games today and another 2 games tomorrow, it was nice to just kick back, chill and not worry about Jerry's care at home. I knew he was in good hands as Dennis was in charge during my absence. Dennis was supposed to texture Jer's room today but he couldn't get started until I got home, so needless to say he got a late start. It's almost 11 pm and he is only half done, sorry Sherry, Joel, Jay and Tif (my neighbors). Texturing is one of those jobs once you start you have to finish or you could wind up with a very uneven job. The unfortunate part is the air compressor is very noisy. I may have to go pick out paint colors tomorrow, whoohoo!

Jerry received his xbox game controller yesterday, thanks again Rob, good work. This devise is very hard to describe, it's a box with several plugs for switches. Their are a multitude of different types of switches, there's a head set with sip and puff, a couple of switches you could use for elbow or shoulder switches, a mouth switch, chin control joy sticks. It's a crazy looking contraption, I think to fully utilize it Jerry will look some what like he's doing a shimmy with his shoulders, bee bopping with his head and chin and sippin and puffin his heart out. Did I mention he really loves gaming.

OK, Dennis just brought the air compressor into the living room, because it's to noisy outside for the neighbors, this ought to be interesting. ..........Jumpin jimminy crickets.......the baby kittens did not like that noise one bit.

Jerry woke with nausea as he does most mornings but by mid day he felt pretty good. Jerry seems to be getting more of his appetite back in the evenings, it's interesting to note that the past few evenings he has had NO nausea. The tingling in Jerry's legs continues today when he tries to move them. Praise God for this blessing, we've been praying for God to give Jerry something new everyday or at least once a week to help keep hope alive. When a few weeks go by and there are no changes Jerry begins to feel despair. Even the smallest change can renew hope, the tingling couldn't have come at a better time, Jerry was beginning to feel down about not having any new movement or feeling. Jerry enjoyed his day off from therapy doing his favorite past time, watching TV and playing his video game.

God continues to bless us in so many ways, we are so very grateful, give thanks and praise....

good night,
Katie

Thursday - May 28

2009-05-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Today was very busy but a good day none the less. We got through the morning routine then headed out to Dominican Rehab in Santa Cruz. PT went well Jerry's therapist noticed a lot more arm movement as well as his ability to tap into his trunk muscles. When Jerry is laying flat on his back with arms at his side he is able to move his left arm away from his body about a foot, and then pull it back into his body. Jerry's triceps are beginning to wake up, he's been having a little more movement with the triceps which is awesome, up til now he has had no tricep movement.

We left Santa Cruz and headed to San Jose for Jessica's Central Coast Section play off game. Unfortunately it did not go so well the team lost so the high school softball team has officially come to a close. With high school ball over we now start the traveling softball team, Jess has a tournament this weekend in Stockton. I'm not quite sure how we will work this one out, probably Dennis staying home with Jer and me and Jess going to Stockton.

After the softball game we had to jam back to Boulder Creek to go to Jessica's Fire Fighting Internship Graduation. Unfortunately Jessica was about 40 minutes late however they knew she would be because of the softball game, they were OK with it. Jessica got the Intern of the Year Award, we are so proud. I was a little bummed when we got to the fire house the ceremony was in a part of the fire house that was not handicap accessible, so Dennis and Jess went in and I took Jer home.

We met Leanne and Mark at home and they delivered the lift. Thank you all who helped in this endeavor. I appreciate every one's effort and a special thanks to Leanne for finding the lift and working out all the details. Thank you Laurie for taking time on your vacation to deliver the lift to the crating company. Thank you John Usinger for handling the shipping, Jerry at Propack for the crate, and Courtney Madden at the Red Cross. Great work everyone, I can't wait to get it installed. I'll post pics when it's up and running.

Yesterday Jerry had an exciting moment at SCI-FIT. While riding the FES leg bike Jerry felt his legs tingling, this is the first time he's felt anything in his legs. When you pushed on his knee caps he could feel something. Jerry got bummed when the tingling went away after about 3 hours, he could no longer feel you push on his knee caps either. While in bed last night Jerry couldn't sleep so he decided to exercise by attempting to move his legs and arms. He did each arm and leg 100 times. When he did the legs he felt the tingling return and was again able to feel me put pressure on his knees. This was so exciting for him to be able to have any kind of feeling in his legs.

Well that's all for now, tomorrow's another day....

Katie

Wednesday - May 27

2009-05-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm back in the land of the living. I apologize we haven't posted, I've been down and out with a nasty flu bug. I spent 5 days in bed and am still trying to recoup. I was able to finally get up and function on Monday, I made it down to the Art and wine festival for about an hour, I just had to get out of the house. Jerry's routine and care is a little harder on me, I get exhausted by mid day. Each day I get a little stronger and hope to back to normal soon, I still feel like medicine head, a little like my heads in a fog. I pray Jerry or none of the other family get this flu. I wore a mask and washed my hands constantly, I used so much germ killing hand gel the smell of it now is nauseating. Dennis and the kids helped with Jerry's care which gave me the much needed break.

Dennis hasn't been able to do much work on the room this past week he's been taking care of Jer. The room is now ready for texture then paint, we're getting closer. Jerry decided he wanted to have black and neon green colors in his room, so that ought to be fun, we'll be sure to post pics when it's done.

Jerry's ultrasound came back normal, good news he's not pregnant, just kidding :-). The doc has made some adjustments to his medications, he upped the dosage of the nerve pain meds. Jerry's nausea is the same it fluctuates between level 2 and 6. It does seem however to be at level 2 a little more often. Jerry is going to see a Ear Nose Throat doctor to see if there may be an inner ear problem. In June Jerry will have some kind of gastro study of some sort, to see how his food is digesting.

Jerry is getting much stronger in his left arm he seems to have more feeling as in the left arm as well. We got an arm sling set up for the wheelchair and are going to begin working on using the joy stick. I'll have to post some more pics. We are off to SCI-FIT, more later....

Katie

Thursday, May 21

2009-05-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been awhile since we have posted, it has been a really busy week. Things have been well with Jerry, but mom has caught a nasty cold. Too much weekend I guess, so I thought I would give a little update. Thanks to a few people, a lift system for Jerry's room is on it's way from Pennsylvania. It should be arriving sometime early next week and will be much appreciated. With this lift, we will be able to get Jerry in and out of bed and around the house with little trouble, and it will help us get him into a bath tub with ease, something Jerry is looking forward to. The small thing we take for granted! I would like to thank Leanne and Mark for finding this deal, Courtney Madden from the Red Cross in New Jersey for helping us with organizing the shipping end of it, Jerry Davis in NJ for providing the lift, Jon Usinger for supplying the shipping, Gerry at Propack for hooking us up with crating the lift for shipping, and my sister Laurie and nephew Kevin for helping get it shipped to us. You guys have been great they way you have helped us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The way you put it all together was tremendous, and I thank God that he has given us this awesome gift, and put such awesome people in our lives. I'm sorry too if I have forgotten anybody, but just know that we love you.
Well I have got to get to bed now as the days have been wiping me out with all the stuff going on, and even though we sometimes don't post as often as we would like too, know this for sure, not a day goes by that we do not think of all of the people, some that we won't meet until we're in Heaven, that have been there with us through this journey. Whether it's been through prayer, financial giving, or a task that you've taken on. Whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, or a checker at wal-mart, you have been instrumental in my son's rehabilitation. And someday we will all sit around and talk of these times with joy in are hearts, but until that day, I hope that each of you have someone show you the kind of love that you have shown to us. That is my prayer for tonight....

God bless you All
Dennis

Day 135 - Sunday May 17

2009-05-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how the temperature can vary so drastically from Moss Landing to Boulder Creek. Those that are not familiar with the area it's about a 45 minute drive. Moss Landing was 61 degrees, Boulder Creek was 85. I had a wonderful and much needed break, my friend Gretchen and I went to Montery, we had dinner on the wharf, delicious. We stayed the night at a hotel and from our room we could see the ocean, it was beautiful. Gretchen and I stayed up way too late painting our toe nails and talking, but we did get to sleep in this morning. I've been having an annoying problem with my ears, my left ear is so plugged I can hardly hear out of it. This turned out to be a blessing this morning. Two kids and their father (the instigator) were swimming in the pool at 8 am. There was much screaming and laughter all morning. I didn't hear a thing however Gretch was not so lucky it was so loud she could not drown it out. At any rate we went shopping to find a comforter for Jerry's new room, hit some antique shops and headed home. I had a great time thanks Gretch.

Dennis played mom and held down the fort at home with Jerry. Jerry was pretty uncomfortable with the heat the last two days. It was 92 degrees in our house and Jerry's body temp went up to 100.8. Since I was gone Janea helped to take care of Jerry while Dennis worked on his room. Janea monitored his temperature, gave him ice water every 15 minutes, kept a wet rag on his head and freshened it every 20 minutes, put wet rags in the freezer to put under Jerry's arm pits. On a positive note the nausea has been at a tolerable level the last few days.

Jerry enjoyed time off from rehab to just chill this weekend, he caught up on some of his shows he has taped, he loves the history and military channel. Our neighbor had a birthday party down at the pool, it was nice to get out of the hot house, it was much cooler at the pool. Jerry got to visit with some friends he used to work with as well as a couple of friends he has known since kindergarten.

Tomorrow starts another week, off to Pleasanton, at least we have AC in the Van, hallelujah!

God bless,
Katie

Thurday - May 14

2009-05-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Leanne you ROCK! Thank you so much for finding this lift and going through all the trouble to get it to us. Also a big thank you for everyone helping to coordinate this shipment, Kris, Marci and Courtney. We can't forget a super duper thank you to Laurie (Dennis' sister) for the willingness to do the packing and shipping while in PA. We appreciate every one's effort so much, this devise will make it possible for Jerry to get in a bathtub, which is something he enjoys very much. Thank you!!!

Jerry had an ultra sound this morning at 11:00, the technician took images of his stomach, gall bladder, kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The doctor should have a report of the results by Monday. Jerry had Physical Therapy at Dominican at 2:00 today, the session went well. Jerry's biceps really are getting stronger, while laying flat on the bed he was able to lift up his left arm off the bed about 2 inches. Jerry feels like his right arm is also getting stronger.

Jerry is getting the hang of his new controller, he is able to play a video game on the computer called Civilization. This is a game he enjoyed playing before his injury so to be able to play this game again was very cool for him. The controller has 2 joystick thingy's that Jerry can control with his chin.

Jerry and I are looking forward to not having any appointments tomorrow. For Jerry it will be a chill day, for me it will be a day to catch up on house work, laundry, paper work, and following up on equipment. Busy, but good to be home.

God bless....

Katie

Help Ad

2009-05-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Leanne, our resident "donation genius", a ceiling lift system has been found and donated for use in Jerry's room at home. Having this system installed will be an amazing help with the many physical aspects of caring for Jerry. Worth about $20,000.00, having one donated is nothing short of AMAZING.

The only catch with this fantastic donation is that we need to find someone who can pack it up into a box and take it from the American Red Cross (where it is currently waiting for us) to the shipping company. We have the shipping covered; so it's just packing and delivering to the shipping company so that it can make it's way to us on the West Coast.

So, does ANYONE reading this blog happen to live near Carney's Point, New Jersey? We know from the map that there are a lot of East Coast readers of this blog....so, if anyone is near this area, or knows someone who is, could you let them know of our need?

If you can help, please email Leanne directly at leanne_m@pacbell.net

For Leanne,
Marci

*WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Thanks to the Red Cross and three others who stepped forward, the lift system will soon be on it's way! Thanks to everyone!

Happy Mothers Day

2009-05-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Happy mothers day to you mom's, Trish your prayer was beautiful, thank you.

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days, it's hard to know what to post about when the routine is the same. I'm frustrated with the same old nausea story, this morning Jerry was really sick. Jerry woke this morning with severe neck pain, I think it was because the heater got turned off yesterday. It was hot in the day so we turned the heater off however it dropped down to about 60 degrees in our room last night. When Jerry is cold the muscles in his neck and shoulders tense up, not to mention the hard ware in his neck is probably affected by the cold. Unfortunately nobody woke to turn the heat on. Another lesson learned, turn the thermostat down as opposed to turn the heater off, that way when it drops below 68 degrees the heat can still kick on.

Jerry got to go see the new Star Trek movie with his buds Luke and Gabe last night, thanks Guys for taking Jerry out, he said the movie was really good.

Today has been pleasant, Janea and Jessica made breakfast in bed for Jerry and I, it was delicious. Dennis has been working on Jerry's room with our friends Hugh and Ed, hanging sheet rock. The three of them put in about 13 hours yesterday and probably about 11 hours today by the time they are done. They are working so hard to get that room done, we really appreciate the help. After breakfast today I did range of motion with Jerry and then got him out of bed. I spent the rest of the day getting caught up on house work and laundry, I got a lot of help from Janea and Jerry got caught up on his TV time.

Jerry feels much better this evening and is working with his new gaming equipment. Janea and her boyfriend Josh are making dinner, mmmm can't wait. I plan to veg the rest of the evening and maybe watch a movie with the fam.

I hope everyone has had a peaceful day. Thank you all for the wonderful comments and for the continued prayer.

God Bless,
Katie

Wednesday - May 6

2009-05-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

The girls (Jerry's friends) have flown back to Florida and Jerry misses them already. It rained almost the whole time they were here and wouldn't you know it clears and is gorgeous the day after they leave. Jerry had a wonderful time hangin with his buds and we enjoyed having them here.

Jerry had a good session at PT and OT yesterday. OT (Dan) worked with Jerry on some arm exercises and will be getting Jerry set up for an arm sling for his wheelchair. The sling will support the weight of his arm with hopes that his left bicep will get strong enough and with the aid of his shoulder he can drive his wheelchair with a hand joy stick instead of a chin drive. That will be awesome if that works out. PT went well Jerry worked on some trunk exercises, he seemed to have a lot of initiation in his chest muscles and a trace of initiation in his abdominal muscles which is very encouraging. And some very good news form Mary Ann (Jerry's PT) the unofficial word on the street is that Jerry's standing frame with glide mechanism should be approved by CCS. That was very exciting news, if all goes well we should have a standing frame in our home within the next 6 to 10 weeks.

Normally on Wednesdays we would have gone to SCI-FIT, however we canceled the appointment so Jerry could go to Dominican Rehab to get set up on the FES hand bike (electrical stimulation bike). Jerry is now all set up to use the FES hand bike so it is another therapy we will be adding to his schedule. Jerry will use the hand bike on Tuesdays after PT for the next 3 weeks then on Thursdays after PT there after.

Our friend Rob came by with some gaming equipment he found on the net for quads. Jerry will give it a try and see if he is able to use the equipment to play PC games. I hope it works well Jerry really misses not being able to play video games. Thanks Rob!

Jerry's room is coming along great. We would like to thank Gary Meadows and the company he works for XL Construction for donating all the sheet rock, concrete board and insulation for the room. We are so grateful and appreciate the support.

Monday - May 4

2009-05-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Jerry played hookie from SCI-FIT today to spend the day with his friends Leah and Katie. The day started in the usual way so the kids got a late start on the day due to the nausea. They headed out about 3:00 and went to big basin park to check it out.

The girls have to be at the airport by 4:45 in the morning, thank goodness Dennis is making that run. I know Jerry really enjoyed his time with his friends and will miss them when they leave. Maybe next time when they come Jerry will be nausea free and the weather will be rain free.

We ask that you continue to keep Allie in your prayers for those of you interested in following Allie's progress you can check out her new site here: http://rallyforallie.com/

Tomorrow Jerry is back to the routine, he has PT & OT at Dominican. I have a feeling he may have a hard time getting back into the routine. You know how it is, you need a vacation after you get back from vacation. He's been getting up early, going to bed late, spending 5 to 10 hours a day in his wheel chair, using his chin drive every where he goes for five days now. I think he's pretty exhausted, I'm sure Saturday and Sunday he will just veg out.

God Bless,
Katie

Sunday, May 3rd

2009-05-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday night and all are asleep, or at least they are in our house. It has been a busy weekend around here with Jerry covering all the sights with Leah and Katie, his friends from that came out from Florida. I wish the California weather would have been a little nicer, but it hasn't seemed to slow them down much. They hung around Santa Cruz on Friday, driving up the coast and enjoying some of the sights and food that we have around here. Saturday they went off to Monterrey to go to the aquarium, cannery row, and 17 mile drive. They hit Salinas on the way home for a stop at In-n-Out burger. What visit would be complete without a stop at In-n-Out? I agree. Today they headed out to go to San Francisco to see the famous city by the bay. Josh was the tour guide and he said except for some fog, the weather was not that bad. They had a hard time seeing the Golden Gate as they drove across it, but it was all good. From there they went and spent some time down at fisherman's wharf and pier 39, topping it all off with a bread bowl of clam chowder before making their way back home. Jerry has had a little nausea most of the days, but he has been able to withstand it to do the things with his friends. I guess he is just getting used to feeling yucky in the mornings. Tomorrow they are going to hang around Santa Cruz some more before flying back on Tuesday. It has been wonderful having the girls here and given Katie and myself a little break from some of the day to day tasks. Thank you so much girls.

Tonight Katie and I had a chance to go over to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center to have dinner and conversation with Ron and Debra, Allie Pominoski's parents. It was so nice to see them and talk about what experiences we have all been going through, and just share our hope and concerns with each other about our children. They are wonderful people, caught up in a unfortunate circumstance, and I pray that we can help each other get through this time of our lives as easily as possible. Having been right where they are just a few months ago, we hope we can offer any sort of assistance that they may need at this time, even if it is just lending a ear to listen. Whatever it takes, were all in this together. Allie is still in the Rehab Trauma Center (RTC) , and seems to be taking small steps in her recovery, and we will continue to keep her in our daily prayers. I know how each and every victory is important at this stage, and ask God to help her to continue to have one each and everyday.

So as you pray for Jerry and our family, that God will have his healing hand upon us and our recovery, I ask that you too pray for Allie and her family. Pray especially for her breathing and any type of respiratory difficulties that she may have be healed. Pray that her lungs will be filled to a capacity that she has never known before, and that it would be heaven sent. And pray that we will all have a good nights rest, ready to face tomorrows challenges.

Good Night and God Bless,

Dennis

Thursday - April 29

2009-04-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a roller coaster the past few days, like someone posted how many times have we used that term "roller coaster" on the blog? .....I wish I had a dollar for every time. Jerry was extremely sick on Friday, he felt OK on Saturday, Sunday he felt pretty good and enjoyed himself at the pancake breakfast, Monday he was sick again. By Tuesday he was ready to throw in the towel. It was a very difficult week physically and emotionally for Jerry. Again having to come to terms with his current reality brought him to edge of giving up. We decided to cancel PT and OT for Tuesday and head to the Doctor, that turned out to be a very good decision. Dr. Quinn is so wonderful, he squeezed us into his already busy schedule or maybe I should give his staff that credit, his staff made sure we got in. Dr. Quinn was so patient, he spent about an hour with us talking with Jerry about his emotions, trouble shooting the nausea and dealing with the multitude of issues we presented. Dr. Quinn's talk really helped Jerry to get focused again and to stay the course. The doc ordered an ultrasound, the next set of tests to try to determine the root cause of the nausea. If the results don't find the root then the next test will be some kind of gastrosomethingorother study. We tried the homeopathic wristbands, and also mint syrup, both didn't help. Someone mentioned on the blog awhile back about some nausea serum with B12 but couldn't remember the ingredients, however they thought B vitamins helped with nausea. So this probably isn't the best thing but Red Bull the energy drink is loaded with B6 and B12, we tried it yesterday and it reduced the level of nausea from about a 4 to a 2. We tried it again today and again the same, maybe coincidence, maybe something to it, we'll see.

Jerry has his friends Katie and Leigh visiting from Florida, we picked them up from the airport today. (Sorry Mary, thanks for the rain check, my head was in a fog when I said Friday would work out fine). We picked the girls up from the airport about 30 minutes late, I made a bad first impression. They flew in at 11:30 and you know how that goes trying to get out of the house by 10:30, oh well not the end of the world. Jerry took PT off today with blessings from his therapist and will be taking SCI-FIT off on Monday. He needs a break and spending time with the girls will be a great boost for him. Jerry was excited to plan out an itinerary, hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow because they are supposed to go to San Francisco, Josh is supposed to give them the tour. Saturday they are supposed to go to the Boardwalk, the Big Foot Museum, the wharf, and Taquaria Maranos. Sunday they are supposed to go to Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey wharf and 17 mile drive. Monday they're going to drive up the coast to Davenport and maybe go see a movie and have a chill day. Tuesday they fly home at 6:00 am, it's going to be a busy five days. Once the kids head out for the day I'll have quite a bit of free time, I'm not sure I know what to do with myself anymore, I'll figure it out :-).

More Later...
Katie Mac

Tuesday, April 28th

2009-04-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been kinda rough, so we have not had much time to post. Jerry has been feeling sick and it has had him feeling a little down in the dumps, thinking these feelings will never cease. Many thoughts run through his head on days like this, and not many of them are good, so I ask that if you can pray especially for his well being, physically and emotionally these next few days, I would appreciate it. Pray for Katie also, as when her boy is feeling down, it makes it harder on her as well. She really is doing a great job keeping all that is going on in check, but sometimes it is just overwhelming. I am not really sure what has set off Jerry's emotions these last few days, but I am confident that God will see us through. One good piece of news is that some of his good friends from Embry-Riddle are coming for a visit on Thursday, and that perked him up for a while today, as these two are very special to him. He started making an itinerary the moment he got their flight schedule, ready to show them all the cool things here in Nor-Cal. San Francisco, Monterrey, Santa Cruz to name a few, so I just hope the weather cooperates. Looks like he is in for a busy weekend. Well thank you again for keeping us in your prayers and your thoughts, and I hope that tomorrow will bring a better day. I pray for Allie also tonight, and I hope that she is resting well and has the wings of angles surrounding her as I type this post.
Good night and God bless,
Dennis

Sunday, April 26th

2009-04-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

As the day winds down, it is a nice time to think about the week to come, but more important I think, it's a nice time to reflect on the week that has passed, for those are the things we know for sure. I know for sure we don't like staying up late and getting up early. I know we don't do early appointments, or rushing out of the house, and I know we need to do other things in moderation also, because there might be a price to pay later. I also know that writing down our thoughts and experiences is a wonderful way of healing, weather we realize it at the time or not, and that sometimes the things we do and say can have a impact on someone and maybe be just what they needed to get through the day. These are some of the things that I am reflecting on tonight, the things I have learned this week, the things that I know for sure.

But what I also know for sure it that people love us. People have come to our aid, and welcomed us in with arms wide open. They have come just to show they cared, and that we're not alone, and sometimes that is what gets us through the day. As I stood around and talked to folks at the pancake breakfast this Saturday( the crew had the pancake flipping covered for sure) I just felt blessed to live in such a great community, that would do this for us. People stopping in on their way to a baseball or softball game, kids still in uniform, or on their way to some other engagement, just to support my son, incredible. And the many volunteers who came just to help set up, or take down the event, and the Church it self for letting us gather there, simply amazing, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Kris, Nana, Sara,Leanne, Mary, thank you for getting this together, great job. Selina and Sister(?), Gretch, Mark, Pancake flipper Lady, Mitchel, Kayla, Colleen, batter stirrer boy, Kids who passed out food, John and Marianne, Sherrie, Mimi, Patty, Margret, and anyone whom I have forgotten, thank you, thank you, thank you, you all did a wonderful job. We appreciate your kindness for sure. And thanks to the many of you who took the time to stop by, in person or in spirit, we are eternally grateful, and I hope that seeing the way Jerry was getting around brought a smile to your face, because you all have been a big part of his recovery. Thanks too to the guys helping me at the house, getting closer to a good nights sleep for sure.

Mostly I would like to thank God for putting all these great people in our lives, and for giving us the strength to handle what ever comes along. We knew along time ago that sometimes in life you're going to have good days, along with some bad days, but I am thankful that God has taught me how to turn the bad days into good days. This too is something that I know for sure.

Good Night and God Bless,
Dennis

Friday - April 24

2009-04-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

We are having a pancake breakfast fundraiser tomorrow morning, Saturday 25th, 8:00 to 12:00. We look forward to seeing you there for those planning on attending at Felton Bible Church.

Today was a very rough day. Jerry had an appointment this morning for a bone scan, the purpose is to look for HO (Heterotrophic Ossification). HO: the formation of bone in abnormal locations. My understanding is in the healing process the body makes and deposits bone in areas it shouldn't such as joints and soft tissue or ligaments. Jerry has popping in his hips while doing range of motion. When Jerry was still an in-patient at Valley Med they suspected he had the beginning stages of HO. VM conducted a bone scan and the results were normal, no indication of HO. Two weeks ago Jerry's doctor sent him for x-rays to again check for HO, however x-rays are not as reliable so he sent Jerry for a bone scan. The bone scan was scheduled for 11:30 today, morning appointments don't work. Rushing to get out of the house makes Jerry sick, he was throwing up all day. The procedure in a bone scan is to arrive for the scheduled appointment, get an injection of nuclear medicine, then come back 3 hours later for the scan. We had three hours to kill so we went to Carpos and got some soup and bread, we went back to the parking lot at Dominican. We just hung out in the car with the sliding door open. I fed Jerry his soup and then layed down on the couch in the back, Jerry went into a full tilt in his wheelchair and we just chilled. It was kinda nice with the door open and a light breeze coming in, relaxing, resting and chatting about nothing. The good news there are still no signs of HO.

Jerry did not use the chin drive today, yesterdays adventure, the long walk and the 4-wheelin took a toll. Jerry's neck was really hurting today, his neck was so tight with knots in his shoulders. I spent quite a bit of time massaging, trying to get the kinks out. Once again we learn moderation, take it slow. He was so excited about the chin drive he way over did it.

For the person that left the comment "In the last ten days my family has been in a crisis.", I was very touched by your comment. We are such simple folk, I feel like an average person. Many people like you say such wonderful things about our family sometimes I think "Us"? It's hard to imagine that are family touches and uplifts others, I felt proud when you said "It gave me comfort this morning and a reminder to pray and let God fill my heart." I was blessed by your comment, thank you. The comments left daily continue to uplift us and warm our hearts.

Thank you for keeping Jerry and Allie in your prayers for complete recovery, thank you for continued prayer for Allie's parents.

Life can be difficult, sometimes harder then you ever imagined possible, it's in these moments God gives you strength you never new existed.

Good Night
Katie

Thursday - April 23

2009-04-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today was sort of a roller coaster ride for Jerry, it started well, the afternoon was not so good, the evening was great. Jerry and I got up early this morning and got through the routine a little earlier so he had an hour free time before we had to load up to go to therapy. It seems he feels better getting up earlier, the only down side, I can't get him to bed before midnight 1:00 o'clock. Getting up earlier means less sleep, mama's not so good sleep deprived. At any rate it seems to be working for Jerry, these last 2 days the nausea is at a very low level, it's been manageable for him. The day started very pleasant Jerry felt good then we headed out to therapy at Dominican Rehab. In therapy Mary Ann was going to work with Jerry in the Standing Frame, we transferred Jerry into the standing frame and that's when things started to go down hill. Jerry has a blood pressure medication that he takes as needed when his blood pressure is down. We didn't take it today because his blood pressure was fine, however the minute he tried to stand the blood pressure dropped and he was not able to get up in the standing frame. Jerry started to pass out when we tried to get him upright, he just couldn't do it today. Mary Ann decided to get him on the mat and do some balance work with him sitting on the mat. Mary Ann, bless her, was trying to work with Jerry but he just couldn't do anything today. Lesson learned no matter how good he feels he needs to take his blood pressure medication on days he works out. I gave him blood pressure medication mid way through the work out however it takes 3o minutes to kick in so needless to say therapy didn't go so well today. An hour after therapy Jerry felt good.

After therapy Jerry had an appointment to get his chin drive set up on the wheel chair, the chin drive allows Jerry to drive his wheel chair with by a joy stick under his chin. It took about an hour to get the chin drive set up, so by the time we left Jerry was in good spirits with his blood pressure back up. The tech said it's gonna take some time to learn...... it's gonna be frustrating at first, he doesn't know Jerry well. With only a couple feet to spare on each side of his chair Jerry went 3 feet turned 90 degrees left, went 10 feet turned 90 degrees right, went 5 feet turned 90 degrees left. Basically he was traveling in an isle between equipment, he went a few more feet, then went back the way he came, only he did it maneuvering his chair in reverse.............(BACKWARDS). He's already a pro.

After getting home Jerry and I went for a walk down to camp, he drove the chair the entire time. Jerry took the chair 4 wheeling in the grass that didn't go so well but he had a fun. I have to say the chair is a little scary on speed bumps on a hill, it literally looked like the wheel chair was going to tip over sideways. Jerry was having a great time driving the chair around and it was so wonderful for him to have control.

Jerry ended the day with 5 friends coming for a visit, playing Rock Band, with Jerry rockin the mic.

Thank you all for keeping us, Jerry and Allie in your prayers.
Thank you Lord for good days, it was a very good day, God is good.

Good night,
Katie Mac

Early Thursday Morning

2009-04-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah were up late again, but I think ( hope) that might start changing. We have been telling Jerry he has to start getting to bed earlier, with me having to get back to work and such, but it has not really worked out very well. It seems the evenings are when he feels the best, laughing, joking around and all and it has been hard to get him to settle down. Kinda like when he was a little boy, he never would go to bed on time! I thought it was exhausting then, but now, we just can't recover as easy. Are we getting old or what? Anyway today he did get up a little earlier than he has been, and he even said that he felt better getting his breakfast and morning routine over with and that it helped him feel better all day, so we might be on to something. I sure hope so.

As I said before, Jerry felt pretty good all day. The nausea was at a minimum, he made the trek over to SCI-FIT with no problems, and had a good work out. He did the gait training machine for about 40 minutes, worked on a standing frame with a arm bicycle attachment for about 25 minutes, worked on some stretching exercises on the floor for a little while, and finished up on the FES bike for 30 minutes or so. Doing exercises while standing up for an hour plus is a good thing, as he has had to start slowly back again since getting his neck brace off. I have a feeling things are going to start getting easier from here on out. Tomorrow he will get his chin drive for his chair, and with that he will have a little more control of his life and surroundings I think, and quite possibly, it could be a little fun. I know it will be fun to watch him try to drive himself for awhile. Heh Heh Heh.

Well it's taken me an hour and a half to type this so far, and I do have a lot to do tomorrow, so I should be making my way to the couch. I will leave you with this though. Many have said that they appreciate the time that we spend writing this blog, and how they check in each day, to follow our ups and downs, and the progress that is going on. Well we would just like to say that even though it is hard to get to this sometimes, and sometimes it gets frustrating writing down the same old stuff, (Jerry has nausea again), we do feel honored that so many are following, and that we do have so much support. It really is therapeutic for us to do this, writing down our highs and lows, goofy things like cats and cat names, it eases a little bit of the stress that we all feel each and everyday. I never would have though that doing this would have such an impact on so many, and if people are willing to read it, than it is the least our family can do for others. At the risk of sounding corny, I've always said that through coaching sports, if I could help just a few kids stay focused in school, and not go down a destructive path, that it would make it all worth while in the end. And if by sharing our life on this blog, we can help others by thinking of their own highs and lows, or help someone going through a similar situation, then praise God. It has been a blessing on our family with the prayers and comments, it has been a blessing financially with all the support, and we truly feel honored and fortunate to have this place to go to. I hope you all understand what I am trying to say, and with that....
Good Night, God Bless.
Dennis

Wednesday - April 22

2009-04-22T00:36:00.000-07:00

There is not much change today to talk about, the day started out much as it does every day, Jerry nauseous. By the time we got to Dominican rehab Jerry felt a little better. Jerry's therapist Mary Ann has been very busy working to get Jerry a standing frame, I'm very impressed with the swift action in regards to obtaining the standing frame fore Jerry at home. Mary Ann was also working to help get some of the other equipment requests moving along faster. I've got to also give a big thanks to Dave and Heather at CCS who took it upon them selves to get the process moving along quicker. Ohh, and the best news of all Mary Ann set up an appointment for us on Thursday to get the chin drive set up on the wheel chair. Jerry will now start to learn how to control his wheelchair with a chin joy stick, it will be nice for him to have control of his chair.

Jerry enjoyed a visit with his friend Mary this evening, Jerry said thanks for the Cherry Garcia, nice call.

Good night
Katie

Monday - April 20

2009-04-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

As we settle into the routine of getting through each day it's hard to believe we're approaching 16 weeks post injury, 4 months. Seems like yesterday and a lifetime ago if that's possible. Each day that goes by the routine gets a little easier, how I wish it wasn't our routine. I used to love to be a stay at home mom, I secretly wished I didn't have to work and could continue being a stay at home mom. Be careful what you wish for....

Jerry continues to struggle with the nausea it's up and down and the new medication doesn't help at all, it's exhausting. On a positive note Jerry got the OK from the Doc to toss the neck brace, well not completely. Jerry will still have to wear the neck brace in the car as a precaution for the next four weeks. Jerry feels so good without the brace and amazingly he has really good movement in his neck and is much stronger than we thought he would be. It does look as if his neck is about 2 inches longer though, I think it got stretched out ;-). Jerry feels strong as far as holding his head up on his own however his endurance for standing has plummeted. On Thursday last week Jerry could not tolerate being in the standing frame for more than 5 minutes and today he could not even get up in it at all. Before he ever got up to 90 degrees he was starting to pass out. It's one step forward and two steps back......Lord give us patience.

The kittens have been such good therapy for Jerry he really has gotten attached to them. They are so entertaining to watch and make him laugh till he has tears. We are lucky to still have Rico with us. I opened the refrigerator to put in the coffee creamer and then shut the door, 5 minutes later I hear Rico meowing, after a minute of searching I follow the sound back to the refrigerator. Yup Rico was locked in the fridge, scary, I'm glad I wasn't heading out he could of been in there a long time. The last thing we do before heading out to SCI-FIT is get Jerry a travel cup of Ginger Ale for the road, I had to stop and come back to make sure Rico wasn't in the fridge again, now I'm paranoid. :-)

Good Night and God Bless....
Katie

Day-107 April 19

2009-04-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

It was a very lovely Sunday despite having a rough night, the weather was gorgeous. Jerry had a hard time sleeping last night and was up until 5:00 am so needless to say he slept in a bit. We started the morning routine about 11:30 and didn't manage to get through the routine to get Jerry in his chair until 2:30. Jerry felt pretty good today and did some exercise for his biceps using his skateboard. After the exercise Jerry's thumb was spasming. Jerry was excited to see his thumb move, its the first time he's had any movement in his fingers. I take that back he has had his hands spasm where all the fingers open and stretch at once but he has never had just one finger or thumb move on it's own. At any rate it was encouraging for him.

Today was warm and although I loved it, Jerry cannot handle the heat, it was about 90 degrees inside the house so Jerry's body temperature went up to 99.5. Getting AC is gonna have to be moved up the priority list if we have to many of these warm days, we're not quite ready for summer weather. Jessica and her boyfriend Mitchel took Jerry out for a bit, the van is air conditioned so they went on a quest for frozen yogurt.

Jerry's room is coming along, Dennis has been working hard morning to night trying to get it ready for him. I'm proud of Dennis for working so hard, he's doing a great job. I do have to give John and his crew a special thank you as well, Dennis could not have gotten as far as he has without them.

Please continue to keep Jerry and Allie in your prayers as well as Allie's family.

Thanks
Katie

What's Better Then Pancakes?

2009-04-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Coming up on Saturday, April 25 please join all of us on Team MacCallister for a great time of pancakes, raffles and hanging out to benefit the Jerry MacCallister Assistance Fund!

Your donations to the MacCallister Assistance Fund allow Jerry to continue in his care and therapy at SCI-Fit, as well as help the MacCallisters out with other recurring costs associated with his care and recovery. Thanks to all of you who have already given, and continue to give, Jerry's chances of a recovery have been GREATLY increased.

Breakfast will be up and ready anytime between 8am and 11:30am and you'll find us all at the Felton Bible Church. Located at the intersection of Zayante Rd and Graham Hill Rd, the church has tons of parking--so, look for the Following Jerry signs and you'll find us!

The morning's menu includes Pancakes, Sausage, Strawberries, Coffee, OJ and the works! Tickets are $7 per person, $3 for kids, cash or checks preferred. We'll also have a raffle, so bring some extra cash for your chance to take home some great prizes!

If you are in a position to donate food or supplies, please contact Leanne at leanne_m@pacbell.net Currently needed are papergoods and cash donations towards the cost of food, with our goal being that 100% of the proceeds go to Jerry, rather then to the costs of the event.

If you are planning to join us and attend, we'd love for you to "comment" here and let us know how many to expect!

Questions? Contact Kris at k_sihler@yahoo.com or Leanne at leanne_m@pacbell.net and thanks to the ringleaders of this event---Kris, Leanne and Mary--we call them "Jerry's Angels" Thank you also to all of you who have already volunteered to help and serve!

See you there!

On behalf of the fundraising team,
Marci

Wednesday - April 15

2009-04-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

I did Jerry and Jessica's taxes today, we made it, got em all done, whooohooo!

Please pray tonight for Allie she was transferred to ICU to be prepped for a tracheotomy and feeding tube. This surgery was scheduled previously but was put on hold to stabilize the damaged vertebrae in the neck. I'm told that she is aware of what's going on and can communicate with her eyes. We are all too familiar with that frustration. Pray that the surgery will go well with no complications, pray that the communication between Allie and her parents and nurses will be frustration free, that they will understand Allie easily. Please continue to pray for healing, courage and strength.

Today was a good day, Jerry has a new nausea medication and took it first thing this morning. Jerry said his nausea level was at a 2, which those of you following Jerry will know 2 is good. Let's hope that the medication is working and it wasn't just coincidence. I managed to get footage of Jerry's gait training exercise today at SCI-FIT.

Off the topic we have a pancake breakfast fundraiser coming up next Saturday on the 25th at Felton Bible Church. We'll get more info posted tomorrow, if your around the Valley next Saturday come by for some breakfast.

It's been a long day, I'm going to hit the hay, I'll leave you with the video's of Jerry gait training you can push play on the last three images....

Yup, I'm a lamo, I did it again, I tuned the camera to get the whole image and could not figure out how to rotate it to post it. So bummer, if you wanna watch it you gotta watch it sideways, arrrrgggg.... ok Rob, Jack, Mark, Michael anybody know some source code that will rotate the video?