Time to catch you and myself up -
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-Malina
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Physical Therapy
How does it feel Soy??? ( For those of you wondering Soy is Darleen's Chinese name. Yes, she has a Chinese name. She will always say it's like Soy- sauce. It's advised to go back to childhood language so- broken English, haha I'm kidding) Close your eyes for a long time if you like this....That's what you'll hear us saying on Thursdays and Sundays. And when she closes her eyes for a long time YYAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!! Her room is never quiet anymore.
We have been learning new techniques for therapy since Darleen can handle more aggresive brain stimulating therapy.
I missed on a week of therapy when I was in Denver for grandma's funeral. But dad, Joey, Helen(the best donut seller ever!) and our therapist whom we love, and her boyfriend (we borrowed him for a day)were holding down the fort.
Darleen can hold her head up on her own now. And she gets to sit up and stand up. We help her get on this machine and it stands her up slowly. It's really neat to see the rehabilitation process. It's almost like your so anxious all the time and now that we can lift her, hold her up, carry her, it doesn't matter that she needs assistance with anything. Darleen is utilizing everything she has, including us, our arms and legs. I get her head, Joey her back, dad her waist, mom her legs, David will record her vitals. Our coach along this rehabilitation journey is our physical theraphist. It takes all of us. One day at a time. We always take things for granted when we don't have to try so hard, like scratch your nose, chew, stand, even lick your lips when they are dry( No worries I got her this new Nivea Shea Butter Chapstick, got myself one too, it works wonders.) My sister is learnig how to do everything again and I mean everything. But no stress just keep trying, we have time. Inner voice to her- I'll take you and Malina to dinner and we will make sure you don't miss out on any gossip, news, lectures, books, grandma, even the Kardashians haha. I'll take you shopping, too. Just focus on holding yourself up.
Therapy is now more than two days. We are working towards getting the routine correct so we can record it and have our own little workout video. Great idea Jay!=) Soon Darleen will have her own line of rehabilitaion videos and we can heal the woorrlldddd!! OK back to reality gotta go to therapy. - Mia
We have been learning new techniques for therapy since Darleen can handle more aggresive brain stimulating therapy.
I missed on a week of therapy when I was in Denver for grandma's funeral. But dad, Joey, Helen(the best donut seller ever!) and our therapist whom we love, and her boyfriend (we borrowed him for a day)were holding down the fort.
Darleen can hold her head up on her own now. And she gets to sit up and stand up. We help her get on this machine and it stands her up slowly. It's really neat to see the rehabilitation process. It's almost like your so anxious all the time and now that we can lift her, hold her up, carry her, it doesn't matter that she needs assistance with anything. Darleen is utilizing everything she has, including us, our arms and legs. I get her head, Joey her back, dad her waist, mom her legs, David will record her vitals. Our coach along this rehabilitation journey is our physical theraphist. It takes all of us. One day at a time. We always take things for granted when we don't have to try so hard, like scratch your nose, chew, stand, even lick your lips when they are dry( No worries I got her this new Nivea Shea Butter Chapstick, got myself one too, it works wonders.) My sister is learnig how to do everything again and I mean everything. But no stress just keep trying, we have time. Inner voice to her- I'll take you and Malina to dinner and we will make sure you don't miss out on any gossip, news, lectures, books, grandma, even the Kardashians haha. I'll take you shopping, too. Just focus on holding yourself up.
Therapy is now more than two days. We are working towards getting the routine correct so we can record it and have our own little workout video. Great idea Jay!=) Soon Darleen will have her own line of rehabilitaion videos and we can heal the woorrlldddd!! OK back to reality gotta go to therapy. - Mia
Holiday '08
So...you may be curious how our holiday went...let's just pretend it's Thanksgiving morining :)
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
We were deep into December now and I was getting excited for Malina to get here. The past few months had been kind of tough with adjusting to the different stages of Darleen's recovery. Sometimes I think Darleen is not the one with issues. We have Doctors of all specialties to deal with, medicare, medicaid, children's medical services, this social worker, that therapist, this hospital, that specialist, this medical bill, that x-ray, this medication.... And then add in the shop with the donuts, and the 16 hour/7 days a week. Oh and of course the pre puberty 14 year old I call my brother. And don't forget the dogs, Aoshi the papillion who thinks she's a guard dog and Skyla the shiba inu who thinks she's a small dog. She likes to sit on my lap, she's 30lbs!! This is all too real. I couldn't help but daydream of the best gift I could give my mom and sisters and I'll just include myself onto it, too. Why not?? as my mom always likes to say.
We started out with a spa day on Christmas Eve. Thanks to our friends at Nail Gallery we were all able to afford facials, manis and pedis. Then we headed over to stay with Darleen. We stayed at a hotel downtown Orlando that was only 5 minutes away from her. (We live 45 min away) Malina and I walked to a nearby pizza place- she said she would treat. Oh sure-she would treat to the $20 late night pizza run. There were lots of drunks and people walking outside. Ironically felt right at home lol.
Pizza was good. Mom was a little bit scared but she was safe in the hotel. The hotel was beautiful.
We woke early and had a wonderful brunch-Mmmm Mimosas- on Christmas morning. (Of course this was my treat. They always get me.) But I gotta love 'em. Too bad Joey was in Denver or it would've been his treat- Thanks Joey!
We headed back to see Darleen. When we arrived at the hospital Darleen was in her wheelchair looking calm. The hospital Santa gave her a new bed set. It was satin with brown, pink, and gold designs. Isn't it funny how they know her so well without her speaking one word? We hung out all day there and Christmas Carolers came. They were so sweet to do that. Got Malina to wake up cause they brought us some sweets.
You're probably wondering where was dad and our little brother David. They were on a "man's" fishing trip with the dogs. They came back with a cooler filled with...air. But my brother said the trip was so worth it cause he had a lot of fun with dad. Oh and I haven't forgotten about Joey- he went back to Denver to spend it with his family and welcome the new addition- Maddox, his new nephew.
The holidays were not normal this year but we didn't' care. It's hard when your family is faced with such unconventional circumstances. We took our time together as the best present this year. And somehow I was beginning to feel more whole again sitting in her hospital room with my mom and both my sisters right beside me listening to Christmas Carolers. All my life I have been the protector of my sisters and now I sometimes tremble walking into the hospital. Joey and Malina would lead the way because they knew I was just gonna break at times. Strength. That's all we would ask for. Pray for strength, give us strength, we give our strength to Darleen. We celebrated our "Christmas", when Joey came home. We had Christmas at the hospital all together.-Mia
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Was on the phone with Malina this morning. She is making all the sides for Thanksgiving in Dallas with Billy(Malina's boyfriend) and his family. It was entertaining or should I say she is entertaining. Guiding her through some cooking techniques. (If you know us at all, I'm the chef, she's the artist i.e. only makes cupcakes and sandwiches.) We had a simple Thanksgiving, here in Orlando, spent most of the day at the hospital with Darleen. She is doing about the same today. I had packed individual Thanksgiving plates for everyone. David (our little brother who is now taller than us)and I made it the night before. We had the essentials- turkey, mashed potato (truffled), cornbread stuffing, and of course pumpkin pie. Mom said that officialized it for her, she knew it was Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie. Dad said he wanted coconut creme pie haha, he doesn't get it he also added that he's from Cambodia and they don't have pumpkin pie, mom interrupted and said they don't have Thanksgiving! Then had to go back to work. A little melancholy...but gotta keep on movin' and I got to spend sometime with everyone in the family. Oh.. and of course Joey was with me the whole day. I like to keep him in my pocket.
We were deep into December now and I was getting excited for Malina to get here. The past few months had been kind of tough with adjusting to the different stages of Darleen's recovery. Sometimes I think Darleen is not the one with issues. We have Doctors of all specialties to deal with, medicare, medicaid, children's medical services, this social worker, that therapist, this hospital, that specialist, this medical bill, that x-ray, this medication.... And then add in the shop with the donuts, and the 16 hour/7 days a week. Oh and of course the pre puberty 14 year old I call my brother. And don't forget the dogs, Aoshi the papillion who thinks she's a guard dog and Skyla the shiba inu who thinks she's a small dog. She likes to sit on my lap, she's 30lbs!! This is all too real. I couldn't help but daydream of the best gift I could give my mom and sisters and I'll just include myself onto it, too. Why not?? as my mom always likes to say.
We started out with a spa day on Christmas Eve. Thanks to our friends at Nail Gallery we were all able to afford facials, manis and pedis. Then we headed over to stay with Darleen. We stayed at a hotel downtown Orlando that was only 5 minutes away from her. (We live 45 min away) Malina and I walked to a nearby pizza place- she said she would treat. Oh sure-she would treat to the $20 late night pizza run. There were lots of drunks and people walking outside. Ironically felt right at home lol.
Pizza was good. Mom was a little bit scared but she was safe in the hotel. The hotel was beautiful.
We woke early and had a wonderful brunch-Mmmm Mimosas- on Christmas morning. (Of course this was my treat. They always get me.) But I gotta love 'em. Too bad Joey was in Denver or it would've been his treat- Thanks Joey!
We headed back to see Darleen. When we arrived at the hospital Darleen was in her wheelchair looking calm. The hospital Santa gave her a new bed set. It was satin with brown, pink, and gold designs. Isn't it funny how they know her so well without her speaking one word? We hung out all day there and Christmas Carolers came. They were so sweet to do that. Got Malina to wake up cause they brought us some sweets.
You're probably wondering where was dad and our little brother David. They were on a "man's" fishing trip with the dogs. They came back with a cooler filled with...air. But my brother said the trip was so worth it cause he had a lot of fun with dad. Oh and I haven't forgotten about Joey- he went back to Denver to spend it with his family and welcome the new addition- Maddox, his new nephew.
The holidays were not normal this year but we didn't' care. It's hard when your family is faced with such unconventional circumstances. We took our time together as the best present this year. And somehow I was beginning to feel more whole again sitting in her hospital room with my mom and both my sisters right beside me listening to Christmas Carolers. All my life I have been the protector of my sisters and now I sometimes tremble walking into the hospital. Joey and Malina would lead the way because they knew I was just gonna break at times. Strength. That's all we would ask for. Pray for strength, give us strength, we give our strength to Darleen. We celebrated our "Christmas", when Joey came home. We had Christmas at the hospital all together.-Mia
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