Health Reform!

Ok, so my Mom emailed me this contest type deal proposed by the Obama administration regarding a push for Health Reform. You submit a 30-second video capturing your thoughts on why we need to push Health Reform, a panel of judges reviews them and selects 20 finalists. The winner gets their video displayed on a national ad promoted Health Reform.

By the time she emailed it to me, we only had a week to get our entry in. Initially, we sorta gave up on the idea, not having anything but a script. No gear, no video camera. Luckily, my roommate is a photographer, and came through in the clutch with some gear. He also offered his editing services and came through with quite a handsome clip. We were done ahead of the deadline, YES!!! But, my own panel of judges thought it could use a little more meat. This is quite challenging considering you only have 30 seconds. You try to sum up what I've been blogging for over a year into 30 seconds and let me know how YOU do. :)

Sooo, last night we attempted our second take. Once finished with plenty of good footage, we did some blooper reels. Lots of fun. I am taking the material to be edited this afternoon, and released to You Tube by tomorrow's deadline. Wish us luck!!! We could use a little more national attention, I figure.
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Updates on health. Well, what I had originally thought to have been a freak occurance, is unfortunately not. It seems whenever my Dad is making great progress, someone wants to kick him back down. Being the fighter that he is, he continues to manage to get back up in a short amount of time.

What I am referring to his seizure he had recently. The doctor prescribed some medicine to prevent future seizures, but sadly, it didn't work. He had another one the other night while in Brad's care. He was a little lethargic the next day, but bounced right back, and we are back on track. Ever since his birthday excursion to Reno, which was a complete success by the way, he has been extremely focused on improving his speech. The one frustrating part about the trip to Reno, was the inability for him to communicate in a car rolling down the freeway. At home, it's quiet, we can hear him better. On the freeway, it's another story. As soon as we got home, he and Fred started a program in which he will practice 10 words a week. Everyday, he and Fred will work on pronunciation. Come Friday, it's up to the rest of us to guess the words he is trying to speak to us. This compiled with the singing has improved him, but it's still a long road ahead.

If anyone reading has other suggestions we can work on, please feel free to share.

I see our photos are working. Strange that they didn't work before.

Mike (roommate) subbed in the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls for our video clip. When we have it finished, I will forward the link pending my Dad's approval, of course. I'll end this post with the lyrics to this song which are amazingly powerful and accurate.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

Chorus
And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am

BIRTHDAY!!!!

For those that don't know, today is my Dad's birthday. As a gift, we have decided to take him to Reno. There is a hotel there that he loves, so we are renting a pair of cars and hitting the open road. Fred is going to stay behind and watch after the house, Jack gets to go see his cousins and run and play to his little heart's content.

I can't tell you how excited my Dad is. Last night I saw an energy in him that I haven't seen in a while. Very cool. I asked him what he wants for his birthday, and he says he has it. His life, and this trip with his family. "Very noble", I said..."but how bout something to go along with your life and your trip." haha.

He took his swallow test for the third time, and I guess third time is the charm. The doctors were quite impressed with how significant a change he has made. They approved him for more foods, and a larger variety. He even gained weight since they last saw him! Very cool!!!

I am seeing now that the pictures I uploaded didn't show up in the slideshow. I will try to work with this issue and get it resolved ASAP, as well as upload pics of our journey.

Send him a birthday wish if you get this in time!!!! cjpetro1@gmail.com

Take care, and god bless!

Hello again!

Ok, so I took August off from writing. I have my reasons. There was much to write about, and over this holiday weekend, I found the words. I got away for a few days to one of my favorite parts of the summer. It was a relaxing weekend, and I had a lot of time to think about everything.

For those that don't know, pops had a seizure a few weeks back. Just out of the blue, and bam....back in the hospital. A week before our big family picnic that he has been fighting so hard to make an appearance at. This set him back for a few days with the new medication to prevent future seizures. He fought through it like the soldier that he is, and overcame the obstacle. A week later, we were in Portland smiling and laughing with all the family. He got to dine on a hot dog, one of his all time favorite treats, and was treated to something that I find incredibly romantic. A king sized bed next to his wife. Try to imagine sleeping in hospital beds for over a year, away from that person that has held you tight for so many years prior, and then for one night only...you get to sleep next to him/her. Perhaps I am just a hopeless romantic, but that was something that couldn't go by unnoticed.

The seizure symptoms came and went, and he is right back on track, maybe a little sluggish at times, but his strength continues to astound me. His singing improves the more he practices, as does the swallowing. He has been even having harder foods such as chicken and beef lately....in very small doses.

I got some pictures from the family picnic to share, which I will do now...as it is getting late and I will have to continue my thoughts another night.

**Bud, I'm sorry I didn't get pics of you and my Dad on this trip...by the time I remembered the camera, you and Olga had already left the building. I will be sure to get some of you two soon!

Interesting week.

This Monday marks a year since I heard my Dad speak to me with the voice I'd grown accustomed to for 35 years. It's kind of weird, though. I've gotten so used to his new voice, that when I hear that old voice (on our home answering machine), it takes half a second to recognize that person on the machine. I could go into fine detail of all the things this next week represents, but I know he checks in and reads this, as does the rest of the family. They don't need a reminder, and my Dad certainly doesn't need to feel sad.

We spoke of the big day coming up, and he said that he should be walking and talking by now. I completely disagreed with him, reminding him that just seven months ago, he was closer to dying than any of us want to see ever again. Most of the encouraging stories I read when this all began had one thing in common, the first year is always the hardest. Then things start waking up. I told him he is making huge strides given his condition seven months ago. He can now feed himself via the mouth. We still have the tube fixed to him for his nutrition, but he gets small doses of real food such as chicken, green beans, mac & cheese, and his favorite...ice cream!! We have a outdoor event coming up that he has set a personal goal for, and has been working very hard to accomplish...two words....hot dogs. :)

I don't recall if I blogged about this already, but he got his new teeth back from the dentist. His original set "disappeared" from the hospital, and he really hasn't needed any since. Now he has a HUGE pearly white smile when he laughs. It's quite a comedy.

My Mom has been having a hard time with this month. Understandable. At least her Mariner's are doing better. :) Gooo BIG RUSS!

There is so much more I want to put down that is in my head & heart right now, but it's family stuff. Maybe if I make a book out of this, it will make the book. ;)

It is still amazing to me that we still have some faithful viewers of this blog, despite my lack of writing lately. I know this has probably turned some viewers away, as there aren't as many updates, but as long as he continues to progress, I will continue to write. The day you get a phone call from him asking if you want to meet for a round of golf is the day this blog will end.

(I'll be teein off with my old man)

MOOORE UPDATES!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th!!

Much to write about, so let's get rolling...

I finally finished his standing frame, which he has been using for up to 40 minutes at a time! His swallowing is so far so good. My mom has been starting to give him pieces of banana, ice cream, and his favorite...Mac&Cheese!! :) I think we are about a week away before the Speech Therapist is going to try some chicken. He seems to be getting it down nicely, we still worry where down is, of course...haha, but they've been monitoring his lungs and everything seems to be ok.

The singing is a hit! We started him off with something a little slower that is an old classic. "You were always on my mind" by Willie nelson. When we first started, he could barely finish a verse...now he is getting through the whole song. Not clear, by any means...but improving!

He has several posts that I need to copy/paste in here, hopefully this weekend. The picture above is from our weekend excursion to Mt. St. Helens on 4th of July.

So we drove down to Helens on Saturday to escape not only the heat, but the fireworks. I have to agree with my Mom on this...since when did it become alright to give drunken idiots small explosives to set off in close proximity to other houses??? Do any of these people even understand the value of the holiday?? We were driving home from Helens later that evening, and you could feel the shock wave from some of these fireworks from inside your car ON I-5!!! Crazy, just crazy. I wrote off the entire weekend to hang down at their place in case the neighbors did something stupid and caught our house on fire. Shame that we have to worry ourselves with such things.

Anyway, back to Dad. As I was working out in the garage, Brad and Dad were practicing some walking, and decided to take a break on one of the chairs in the living room. Dad sat perfectly in this chair. No leaning, no struggling...sat there like he's been doing it this whole time, and it didn't even have arms! It just seems lately, he has been "waking up", and much of his body is getting tired of that wheelchair. He is accomplishing things the doctors would have never forseen.

I have a feeling the voice will be last to "come back". He has lost 8 lbs since his last weigh-in, as you will see in the picture. Hopefully he can get off the tube soon, and start putting some of that weight back on.

He gets his new teeth soon, which should help in a lot of his speaking, AND chewing.

Overall, his spirits are pretty high. To quote him on our way back from Helens....

"It's good to be alive"....."Thank you for my life"

UPDATE

Let me start off by saying thank you for all the emails to my Dad, and of course the wonderful comments in here.

Summer is officially here, and we are a couple months away from the one year mark. Pops has exceeded above and beyond what the doctors originally thought. My first question when I see him now, is "How many laps?". We have an island in our kitchen that he walks around with assistance from Fred. I remember at Christmas time, his "present" to me was getting around this island once. Just six months later and he is averaging around 16 laps or more. He even did some stairs off our front porch the other day!

He still struggles with his speech, and my Mom found an interesting article regarding music therapy and Parkinson's patients, or those that have had a stroke. I've spoken to some friend that have had personal experience with this, and they have said when their loved one sang, the words were much clearer than their regular speech. Those that know my Dad, know he looooved to sing...despite his children asking him not to. :)

Soooo, I am going to try to implement this into his routine somehow. His swallowing seems to be improving, but we're still a little gunshy on getting too crazy with foods. He's back on with his number one favorite pass time on his computer...online poker. He and I used to play together all the time, and I must say...he hasn't lost his touch. I told him to start playing real money and earning some big money so my Mom can retire!!! haha. But, we just play for fake dough, obviously.

I'll be down there later this week, and I'll try to get another post from him to put in here.

Keep the emails comin!!! Be patient with him getting back to you, though. He's working on it...but he loooves incoming mail. :)

Dad's first post!!!

He's just getting used to typing again. Like everything else, nothing comes easy, everything needs work...but this is a great day. Enjoy.

The BOYS HAVE BEEN TERRIFIC; CHRIS WIITH THIS BLOGHAS BEEN PARTICULARLY HELPFUL CHRIS HAS GSDOVRR 4000RESONSEIY BLOWSMY MIND OF COUSE THIS IINCLUDESTHOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE RES-
PONDED MORE THAN ONCE----BUT STILL THAT NUMBER HUMBLES ME
F0R THE RECORD I DHN’T RECALL ANYTHING UNTILL IWOKE UP AT THE NURSING HOME CLAUDIABY THAT TIME HAD EVERYBODY GEAREDTO MY RECOVERY SO I BEGAN THE LONG SLOW ROAD BACKY;NORMAL COMING HOME WAS A BIG STEP
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS