30th of December

7.52am Sunday morning. Friends from Singapore came by the yesterday to see Jaana. She got very happy, but at the same time very emotional. She showed off her progress and impressed with her steps when I assisted her to the bathroom. It is great to see when someone has not seen her for a while can comment on the rather huge improvments sometimes missed when you see her every day. Anyway, she is having her breakfast and is ready for the shower, so will leave you with no dramatic news.

28th of December

09.45am Friday morning. Jaana slept well, but is getting a bit of a cold (it is quite cold during the nights here ~0). Everything else is fine. The kids are out playing all day (table tennis, floor hockey, fighting in the 'forest'...) and come in for lunch and dinner. They are having a blast! Ahh, and the line from yesterday, Danielle, is 'Skaka på huvudet' (when you take remove 'o' between all non wowls), which translates -> 'Shake your head' -> 'Soshohakoke yoyouror hoheadod', easy peezy!

27th of December

8.30ish am Thursday morning. Christmas is over and Jaana has now recovered from the flight and jet lag. She is good spirit and exercising both on her own and with assistance. Eating like a trooper and taking all chances to eat as she can do so as much as she likes. She is getting stronger by the day and understanding is not an issue (yesterday I told get: "soskokakoka popå hohuvovudodetot" and she did!).
We will have some friends coming around for New Years and I am sure she will happy to see them all again, before heading to Sweden for a few weeks.
Her stay there might get extended to perhaps 5-6 weeks or so, depending on progress, her wishes and my ability to get all ready for her in Barbados.
Right now, she has had her shower, breakfast and is now ready for some morning exercises.

24th of December

11.29am Monday morning. Merry Christmas everyone! Jaana had a good night sleep, good breakfast and is ready for some exercises later this afternoon. Right now she is resting after a shower. We are all waking up rather early (4am) so the days get a bit strange still with all of us falling (literally) asleep around 7pm. Parmi is freezing and for a cold already after 24h!
Nothing special to report with Jaana, but rather she is feeling ok. Soon all Christmas food will be prepared so I hope she will like it!

As you might have expected, it has been Jaana who through out the years has been preparing ans sending out all Christmas cards. Hence the lack of the same this year. Let me offer you all the best of Seasons Greetings and all best wishes for the New Year!

Jaans, Jorgen, Ludde, Totte and Camille

23rd of December

8.19am Sunday morning. Jaana is still recovering from jet lag and being tired from the trip, but this morning she is looking better. She is drinking enough and eating ok, but has not done so much rehab exercises lately. I am sure this will change today and that she will be sweating it out shortly.
Down here in France all relatives have gathered for Christmas. I am sure Jaana think the effort was well worth it in the end.

21st of December

5.09pm Friday afternoon (CET). After a 13h SIN-ZRH and one more hour of connection down to the south of France, Jaana slept like a log for 4h, eat some food and is now resting a bit. At the end of the trip she got very tired, but she made a great effort through the whole journey. I will pick up Parmi around midnight when she arrives from London. All of us a re a bit tired right now, so have a nice evening!

20th of December

9.41am Thursday morning. Jaana has been sleeping so so the whole week long. She knows we are leaving today and is a bit melancholic about the whole thing and becomes a bit sad when she meet friends the last time in a long while. She is practicing each day with the morning having more exercises due to her increased awareness during this time of day. Yesterday, the speech therapist managed to have her exhale around 750ml without assistance, which is a lot more than before. He also supplied me with exercises for us to continue with during the Christmas break and beyond. Her major thing right now is balance and arm strength. All other areas has seen good improvements. As she will attend water therapy in Sweden, I have all hopes that she will regain the same in the near future.

As we are leaving Singapore around midnight today, this will be my last entry from here. I will come back to you as soon as possible from the south of France and let you know how her trip was. I have tried to arrange everything for a smooth journey, but you never know...

For all of you who has asked about forwarding address and telephone numbers, I refer to a much earlier post in October where details can be found. I will update these as they become available.

18th of December

10.03am Tuesday morning. Jaana did not sleep all that well and is a bit tired today. As she realize she is leaving she gets a bit sad when meeting friends for the last time in a while. As this is rather natural, I do not see any trouble with that (I get sad for the same reason). Other than that it is not much new to report but rather steady exercises and rehab.

17th of December

6.50am Monday morning. Sorry for not keeping you all up-to-date. This was due to some internet problems here at Treetops, but seem now to have been fixed. Since my last report, Jaana has been eating and drinking well. Her exercises has continued, without and major breakthrough, but instead building up for the next push forward. She has seen two doctors and our GP here in Singapore is coming on Tuesday to have a final examination of her. Yesterday her former boss here in Singapore came by to say farewell, which made her a bit sad when it woke all kinds of emotions. She settled in quickly and listened carefully to conversation. She eats quite well, and enjoys fish more than anything. The speech therapist has improved her jaw control quite a bit so she can now eat a more varied kind of food, including things which is harder to swallow. As an example I can tell you that she can now finish a meal in 45min compared with 1h30min before! That is very good news as it gives her more time to exercise and rest. To eat for 1.5h just makes you tired so this is good news. I think she also exercises a lot herself! As soon as she still having a rest just before sleeping, she is moving legs quite a bit. As I mentioned before, the arm movements are a bit weaker and we need to focus more on that over Christmas.
We are still on schedule to leave Singapore on the night between Thursday and Friday. We will fly out 1am in the morning and land around 8am in Europe. It will be a long flight, so I will try to have her (and me) to get a good nap during the day on Thursday to handle the trip. The moving company is still packing up, having to change a container today. The car is being returned to day.

14th of December

8.15pm Friday evening. Nothing to much to report from today. More exercises and such, but all well. I have picked up medicine for Jaana for the whole Christmas break so I do not run out. Everything else is fine. Parmi has been a trooper as always. Without her, our lives would look very different right now. Everyone would be a lot more stressed than they are. Most likely she will not read this, but everyone should know, she is pulling her weight and much more!

13th of December

4.31pm Thursday afternoon. One of Jaanas doctors came by today and had a look. He was pleased that she is making progress and think that she has good chances to walk with help of a cane within 2 months! This is good news, even though if there is a lot of work to be done before we get there. Today was more or less like yesterday; physical exercises, resting eating etc. Again she did not sleep all that well, and is a bit tired. She is in a good spirit and liked very much to see the doctor again. He talked a lot to her and she was quite happy to hear his comments.

12th of December

10.18am Wednesday morning. A good night sleep set her up for a good training session in the morning. We did a lot of leg exercises and standing up for some time. This afternoon we will practice more on the arms. One small 'exercise' to increase her breathing muscles has been for me to put a arm/hand on her tummy while she is sleeping. this makes it a bit harder, but is good practice. This morning Parmi and I heard a weak but yet recognizable 'ja'. This is a start with a long way to go, but still a good start. I asked her if she noticed that her efforts were making a difference, and she nodded. Hence I think her mood is in a quite condition and she has not been sad for some time now.
Yesterday for dinner, she finished of seom fried fish with good appetite.
10.31am Wednesday morning. I had to write some more! I just took her to the bathroom for the shower. She is helping so much and holding a lot of her own weight. Fantastic! It is important the person who assist her is a bit taller than her and being prepared to carry her weight, else she is very easy to care for.

11th of December

12.49pm Tuesday afternoon. As always when you go to a new place, it is a bit hard to sleep. Therefore, Jaana is a bit more sleepy this morning as she did not sleep all that good last night. However though, this morning I took her to the bathroom on my own, with her helping out quite a bit. It was good to see that we are now much moving in the right direction again. Trying to stay away from any kind of infections, there is no reason for why Jaana will not be a lot better in a couple of months.

10th of December

5.07pm Monday afternoon. First post from Treetops. The transition went better than good! Jaana was fantastic when moving over. Me and friend of ours took each one of her arms around our necks and then she walked in the stairs going down. She made it 75% down and then we put her in the wheelchair for the last bit. It was very good. She noticed she was able to do it, and it boosted her moral a bit i think I will try to redo this on flat ground. She put one foot in front of the other (balance a bit off) and held most of her own weight. Right now she is her bed waiting for the speech therapist to come around. She is in a very good mood right now. She realize everything is happening and we are on the move; while she has the time to relax and get better. I am very positive of her attitude right now. Way to go Jaana!
7.13pm Monday evening. Just one last entry to say that Jaana is very much active in her training right now. When ever she is awake she is lifting her leg, moving her foot and such. Her arms she does not really enjoy moving all that much yet, but it will come around soon. the speech therapist was her and did some mouth massage and trying to exercise the stomach muscles to be able to get more air in her lungs. This is imperative, since she right now only have around 300-500 ml when breething out. One would need around 1250ml or so to be able to make good sound, I have been told.

9th of December

10.22am Sunday morning. Jaana is finishing off her breakfast and is ready for some exercise. Nothing new to report at this point, other than this will be the last post from Chatsworth Road. Tomorrow at 9am, the movers are invading and stacking, packing, racking. Around 10ish I will bring over Jaana to Treetops.
Peter, love your posts! Funny as always!
Well, this is my checking out for today, since we need to finish up the last things.

8th of December

8.55pm Saturday evening. Lately Jaana has been doing very well eating, drinking, sleeping and exercising. She decisively node and shake her head, and eagerly listens in to any conversation. There is some shaking in her left hand (which is a bit weaker than the right), which is related to the stroke. This can, I have been told, will with time disappear as the brain will learn how to control the muscles better.
The blogs are getting filled less and less with new information, but this is natural since her progress is steady but slow. With hindsight, one could really see that this mycoplasma put her back quite a few months in her recovery. With this being out of the way (we must carefully look out if it comes back), the road is clear for more rehabilitation.
As you know from before, Jaans will be in Sweden around the 5th of the 25th of January. Should she make very good progress and would be willing to stay for a few more weeks, this will be very possible.
Tomorrow is the last day for us all in our house in Singapore. It feels a bit strange. We will all move to Tree tops serviced apartments on Monday. On the night between the 20th and the 21st we will fly to Zurich and then straight to Nice.

7th of December

8.09am Friday morning. I am writing a bit early without too much new to contribute, but will most likely do not have time later. Jaana is doing fine with more small movements every day. She is still quite well without any new infections, so rehabilitation is in full swing.

6th of December

4.57pm Thursday afternoon. Sorry for the short break in the blogging. Things are getting a bit more busy day by day over here, with the move closing in. We are all moving out of here when the backing is starting on Monday the 10th of December. Our temporary home for 10 days will be Treetops Serviced Apartments on Orange Grove Road here in Singapore.
Getting back to you about Jaana's condition, I can only confirm slow but steady progress. She can now nod slightly and shake her head decisively. The coordination seem else to come from bottom to top. Her right side is stronger than her left, but she can still move all parts of her body. She has been doing quite a bit of execises, now that she is healthy.
Staying healthy is of very high importance. That is why I have from time to time restricted visitors and limit the length of visits. However though, I fully understand everyones desire to say goodbye, and there will be plenty of time for that.

I will be loosing our Internet connection and telephone here at Chatsworth Road from Monday. Hence there might be a slight delay in updates, but I will do my best.

3rd of December

9.19pm Monday evening. Jaana's day was filled with physio and speech therapy. I got to learn a few more fact what muscles can stiffen up and contract when not used for a while. Some speech problems can be related to her tongue and jaw muscles. The therapist gently did some exercises and 'pulled' her tongue out and she managed a lot better. We will get some tools for her to bit on to practice the jaw as well. Right now if you ask her to close it, she does so with a bang, and needs to control this a bit better.

2nd of December

8.26am Sunday morning. Jaana slept like a log all night, woke up this morning around 8ish and is now having breakfast. Yesterday, Jari (Jaana's brother) made some exercises with her after dinner, and I think it will be more of the same today. She is now free from most infections/viruses with no fever, thus this is a great time to make physical improvements. She is now hold her head all the time, strong leg movements and improving arm coordination. I will let her stand up for some time today as well to work on the sensation of standing a bit more. Everything else if going to plan.

1st of December

7.12am Saturday morning. Not much to write about this early in the morning for this day, but yesterday evening her brother came to town. It will be fun for her when they both wake up to meet again; second time since she turned sick.
It is getting busier here around the house. Last month in Singapore has started. On the 10th of December the movers come in to start packing. At that time we will all move to a hotel/serviced apartment, so this blog might be a bit delayed then for a day or so.

30th of November

7.40am Friday morning. Not much to report this early in the morning other than the night was quite and that the physio/speech is coming later this afternoon. Yesterday afternoon, she also sat outside the house for a short while (it is a bit warm and humid) just to get some 'fresh' air. As they have started the Christmas lighting on Orchard Road here in Singapore, the doctor thought it would be nice to take her for a ride in the car to see it all. Planing for this during the weekend, should she so desire.

29th of November

8.01am Thursday morning. Yesterday she put in a lot of effort in all rehabilitation sessions. In the evening she was a bit tired, slept well last night and today there is a bit less going on. Blood tests made on Tuesday, confirmed current dosage of medication. The dietitian will put forward a menu for her which will improve her intake of probiotics, vitamins, energy and all other good stuff in the least amount of food quantity. Nothing much else to report, than small recovery steps.
4.40pm Thursday afternoon. Today one of the doctors who has been seeing Jaana from the start came by for a home visit. He gladly acknowledged her recent progress and confirmed to her that she will walk again, if she keeps up all the exercises. Jaana has been in a good mood all day and some of her friends from the embassy came by to celebrate a birthday with her.

28th of November

8.05am Wednesday morning. Jaana had a good night sleep and is doing fine. A dietician is coming around today to talk about Jaanas intake needs and what we can do to increase her energy etc. In the afternoon, John the physiotherapist, is doing his magic and we all hope we get some of that 0.5% progress we aim for. more later

27th of November

3.39pm Tuesday afternoon. Today Jaana is in a great mood. She was smiling a lot when I came back from the dentist, having three wisdom teeth removed, and my speech in a worse shape than she did. We laught together and when the speech therapist came, we both joined in. Anyway, no fever, good mood and tomorrow the physio guy is back again, whome for which I have a lot of respect. Last time around, Jaana stood up (again with support, don't get me wrong) for over 20 minutes. She is ready to test the walking frame again.
I took the final decision not to send Jaana to Humlegarden in December. This was done considering her own wishes (indicated through her foot) and what I think is appropriate at the current stage for her. Right now, she needs a lot of one-to-one attention getting enough fluid/energy intake. At this stage she is still very much scheduled to go there in January. However though, everything in life is changing everyday, but one has to have plans anyway, and this is the one in focus right now.
To friends living in Singapore, it should be noted that we leave Singapore on the 20th of December. We will obviously want to see as much as possible of all of you, but main priority has to be on Jaana's recovery. Hence, I will from time to time, reject requests of visits. This is naturally not done ill willingly, but rather in consideration for my dear wife. So please continue to call me if you want to visit her, but don't get disappointed if you have to reschedule. I know you all understand that and concure with my thoughts.

26th of November

9.43am Monday morning. In a bit better spirit today. She drank a bit for breakfast and ate some scramble eggs. Her food intake as of late has not been to massive so it is good to get that up some what. She is now being given a bath by the nurse, and will soon start to have lunch. As feeding her takes a massive amount of time, one has to start rather early. Jaana also gets vitamin and probiotics supplements as well as her normal medicine. I hate to pile it on, but I would not be surprised if she contracted a common cold as well as she is for the most part not moving. As much as you want to turn the air condition off, it is not possible in Singapore for a long period of time, if you do not have a good breeze.
Later today, I will get results from my mycoplasma test. Should I have the same, all the children will (only Camille today) get the same antibiotics. We don't want Jaana to get it again when she had gotten rid of it.

25th of November

6.23pm Sunday afternoon. Today Jaana had a bit of fever again in the morning, and was a bit sad. I take this as a sign that she is alert and aware and thus get a bit down when she thinks about her situation. What I try to tell her is that we all think of her and that if she just get a fraction of a percent better each day, she will be fantastic in a year or so. She realize this (answer with her foot), but of course she also realize it will not be an easy journey and then get some tears in her eyes. All in all, she is holding up quite good and is doing much better than I would.

24th of November

10.33am Saturday morning. Today there is a bit more to write about anyway. Yesterday, after the physiotherapist had had his afternoon session with Jaana, he came to me and informed me that he was pleased to announce that she is making progress again. This is fantastic, since lately things have gone a bit downhill with her mycoplasma doing its damage. He said that on Monday he will bring back the walking frame again for Jaana to make an attempt to some heavier exercises. Yesterday when I watched him work, Jaana was leaning her thighs towards a desk and with the therapist supporting her back, she bent her knees and had to push to stand up. She managed 5 times which is a good start.
This morning, she also squeezed my hand again with some strength. This is also something which she has not done for 3 weeks. She also has started to make some sounds again, so you can say that it is very good news today.
The process of her recovery is not and will not be a easy straight line recovery. This has been proven all to true, but I think that right now, we are on the improving track.
Yesterday, I took Camille with me to the doctor and she has come down with an ear infection and I have some throat infection. They also did a mycoplasma blood test and we will get the result on Monday. Rather than waiting for the result, we are already eating medication for both infections, just to reduce the risk of handing it back to Jaana later.

23rd of November

7.48am Friday morning. Jaana slept through night very well and is now having breakfast. There has not been anything new to report, but things are settling down to a bit of a routine with her making small progress everyday.
After asking her what she wants to do before Christmas and due to her some what rather slow eating/drinking, I have decided that it is most likely better for her to stay with us in Singapore until we all leave for France. She would still as planed attend rehabilitation after Christmas as scheduled, should nothing new develop. During the time of packing she would be either cared for in the hospital or being with us in the hotel. Either or, the care and nurses would be the same.

21th of November

8.05pm Wednesday evening. the mycoplasma lever is now almost back to normal, and it shows in her attitude, awareness and general condition. Today she managed to hold her own weight standing up (with two persons controlling her balance) for 10 minutes. Her legs are stronger than her arms. She can squeeze her hands lightly, but is getting better.

20th of November

7.36am Tuesday morning. Jaana had a good night sleep,so let us see what today brings. They will come around to make a blood test today to verify medicine dosage.

19th of November

10.49am Monday morning. Good night sleep, a bit of cough, but nothing serious. Fever has gone done quite a bit and this morning it was almost nothing left of it. Her movements are still rather weak, but her spirit and conciousness is very good. I think this is due to her rather limited food intake,which we now can work on when the mycoplasma level is getting lower. Today we have some friends coming in from Australia to say hello to her before we leave. Report more later.

5.46pm Monday afternoon. Some good news! For the first time in 4 weeks, Jaana participated a lot in the physiotherapy session! She stood up for quite some time! This has not happened for a long time and I am very pleased with this. The antibiotics against the mycoplasma is kicking in! There will be another blood test done tomorrow. It will take a good month to get rid of it, but it is making such a difference to her well being. Just wanted to report some happy news in the afternoon, but please be patient since this very small bacteria is difficult to fend off.

18th of November

4.04pm Sunday afternoon. No major breakthroughs today, but instead a slow recover from the mycoplasma. Jaana is now again constantly drinking around 800-1000ml / day, even though this is done through some very impressive patience from the nurse, Parmi and to a much smaller extent me. She is not eating so much at the moment, but I am under the impression that she also has some lighter pain in her throat when swallowing. Anyway, stead as she goes, one step at a time, one foot in front of the other, she is progressing.
Today I took the kids ice skating here in Singapore. It was Camille's first time and she was a bit scared as well as amused. When she got home, she told Jaana about it and refused to confess her frightful face when entering the ice rink. Jonathan is quite descent for not having skated so much and seem to enjoy it.

17th of November

7.28pm Saturday evening. Another day where I think the medicine is doing it's work. Slowly but surely, Jaana is recovering from the mycoplasma. As it can have severe muscle impact, this is something to grab some hope to. It will take more time before we can see just how much the impact of this is to her, but is likely to be quite a bit. Today, again without me to verify, Jaana said 'ok' and a weak 'good morning'. Even though weak, this is steps in the right direction. In addition to that we use blinking, pressing with the foot and extending the tongue to say 'yes' or 'no'.

16th of November

7.37pm Friday evening. I think the antibiotics are kicking in slowly, but she is definitely more alert today. As her mycoplastma levels were so high, I think it will take longer than normal for these very small bacteria to disappear. Normally, this can be very difficult anyway, but for Jaana it will be even more so. However though, she shook her head definitely for the first time in a while so I hope this is the sign I have been waiting for. Drinking is still slow, but is picking up. The last 3-4 days, she has been managing around 900ml which is fine.
A friend of Jaana's highlighted the need for probiotics as the antibiotics is killing all the good bacteria as well. I have received some information about this, and will order some highly concentrated bifidus for her to take with her food. This will make it easier for her to defend herself from new infections and improve digestion.
I will report tomorrow midday and hope that in the next days to come, I will be able to relay some happy news.

15th of November

11.04am Thursday morning. Today it is two months since Jaana turned ill. It has been a roller-coaster, but we can easily see that even if we are not at the peak at the moment, we have been very much lower as well.

I want everyone to pray that she recovers quickly from this mycoplasma. Should she not improve within the next two weeks, the initial rehabilitation visit in Sweden will need to be cancelled. It is my hope that we can proceed as planed with this, but it is of no use for her to do rehabilitation, if she is not participating. i will keep you posted at always.

14th of November

11.17am Wednesday morning. Jaana had a good nights sleep, but had rather high fever in the morning. After panadol, all other medicines she is eating and breakfast, she is now having a nap. The speech and physiotherapist are coming later this afternoon to do their job.
On the move front, things are getting put in place. The movers are starting packing on the 10th od December. Half the house is going to Barbados and the other to Italy. Parmi, our invaluable housekeeper, is helping me a lot and keeping the household in order while I run around and fix all things. She will join us to Europe for Christmas, and I think she is quite excited about it even though she is a bit worried about the 'cold' south of France...

13th of November

10.43am Tuesday morning. Sorry everyone, but I did write 2 posts and they seem to have disappeared. I used to be a good programmer, but have since obviously degraded to not being able to even post these things reliably. Again, my apologies.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand, Jaana. I was quite worried there for a while that I had to take her back to the hospital for rehydration. She has since picked up drinking a bit, but it goes slow. It can take up to 45min to feed her 100ml, so one has to understand that if she is sleeping a lot, it gets a bit difficult. That is why her awareness is so important. Anyway, a few of her friends came by this morning and she was feeling very joyful. It was nice for us all to see her smile and enjoy their company.
A hospital nurse came by yesterday to verify her INR value and test for microplasma. The INR value came back in line with expectations (so no need to change the Warfarin dosage) and the other tests are coming back today.

6.10pm Tuesday afternoon. Blood test made yesterday reviled that Jaana has mycoplasma. You can read more about this on the Internet, and since my last attempt to supply you with links explaining Strawberries/VitaminK was met with scepticism, I will leave the research up to each one of you. The cure seem to be antibiotics, which she has already been issued today. This is something we all should check out (specially here in Singapore with a lot of it going around). It can take many forms and pop up when ever. Everyone of you who know Jaana well, would know that she falls a sleep early every evening and mycoplasma is also called 'Chronic Fatigue Disease'. She could have had this for some time, without knowing. Anyway, with a bit of luck (it sure is Jaana turn now) this could have caused her late physical deterioration. Let's pray, wait and see...

10th of November

9.07am Saturday morning. Jaana slept weel through the night, but is quite wobbly in her movements. We showered her this morning and now she is eating breakfast in bed. She has a little bit of fever, which might be the case that she has not been drinking enough. Anyway, the doctors will take blood test on Monday for INR, so I will ask them to analyse the urine as well. Her mind set is a bit better today, even though she is very weak.

9th of November

6.42pm Friday evening. Jaana is in a little bit of a low point in her mood and needs a lot encouragement at the moment. As she is totally aware of her situation, she get a little bit depressed when she realize things are not moving as fast as she would like. I will have a word with the doctors again to see what they think. We are trying to stimulate her in all sorts of way, but for the moment she is quite closed to herself. I do not mean to worry you all, as I am sure this is quite normal to feel depressed. However though, as her muscles are now very weak she most probably think she will not get better. This is of course not true, but from her side, laying in bed, having ample of time to think, it is a natural thought. We all do a lot to stimulate her to do her therapy, but it is her will to participate which is lacking a bit lately. I hope I can provide you with more encouraging new shortly.

8th of November

8.42am Thursday morning. The day started rather early, with Jaana headed for the ladies room around just before 6. She rested a bit more, had a shower and is now eating a bit of breakfast. Today the kids have a day of school so i will take them to the movies, since it is raining heavily.

7th of November

7.01am Wednesday morning. First night at home was all good. She fell asleep around 8pm and woke u[p around 5.30am or so. The day nurse is on her way and will be here from 8am, so just when I leave to drop the kids off. It certainly got even a bit more hectic around the house, but in a while the routines will settle in and it will get easier.
She did not drink so much yesterday, but I think it was more to her being tired from the move from the hospital to the house. We will try to get more fluid in her today.

4.03pm Wednesday afternoon. The occupational therapist came home today and did some practising with Jaana. The last week or so Jaana has been a bit less interested in participating. This is normal, people has explained to me, but as an observer and novice in neuroscience, one tends to get nervous. Anyway, I hope her change in the move home will help her to re energize and increase the effort shortly.

6th of November

6.48am Tuesday morning. As Jaana was a bit sad yesterday, I stayed with her during the night and have just returned. Hopefully, this is just the right time to bring her home. She has gotten very fed up with the hospital and I hope this re energize the batteries a bit. The therapy will continue at home tomorrow. I will report more later.

5th of November

3.22pm Monday afternoon. Again another day of physiotherapy and so on, with nothing special going on. Her muscle weakness is noticeable and I hope it will improve over time. As she needs her rest as well, the therapist discourage more intensive rehab for mentioned reason. However though, I think with her coming home, going to Sweden for some weeks will do her just good. One has to be patient and one could easily estimate her recovery to take quite some, but that we have.
She has been clear by both her doctors (neurosurgeon and neurologist) and the Singapore Airlines doctor for her travel. Today I bought with help from Hakan some genius (to me!) simple strap with a secure shoulder band for me, so I can easily care her whole weight and guide her around. This will make it possible for me to bring her to/from the airplane better. It is all being put in place, one piece at a time.

4th of November

6.58pm Sunday afternoon. Not a whole lot to report today other than that Jaana ate a good lunch and was in a rather good mood. Doctors have again confirmed that she is good to go on Tuesday afternoon. She will do her Monday and Tuesday as usual and then on Wednesday, all therapist will come to our home instead. The night nurse will become a day nurse and help out from 8am to 8pm when both wither me, Parmi, Catherine or some one else will be home as well. There are many people in Singapore having the cough so I hope Jaana will be spared since she already have had that kind of flue.

3rd of November

12.05. Saturday noon. As I was out running this morning and passing the hospital, I managed to catch her just as she was finishing up breakfast. She ate and drunk a lot and was ready to get a quick nap before the rehab started again. Her muscles are getting a bit stiffer, but we are all trying hard for her to work them all the time. Who knows, when she comes home next week, she might be able (with two assistants of course) to take a quick dip in the pool. It might be abit easier to move some muscles there. The current plan is for her to come home on Tuesday afternoon. She is only on Warfarin now and is drinking enough for this to happen. Later today, I will go with her for a walk in the Botanic Garden with the kids. Report will follow

2nd of November

8.20pm Friday evening. I have not been able to post anything earlier than this, sorry. Jaana has been a bit more tired the last 48h, but this afternoon she is 'back' again. Her motivation for rehabilitation deteriorated a little bit, but when I told her again (and she now understand it is true) that first we are having a walk in Botanic Garden tomorrow and thatn I will bring her home on Monday/Tuesday she shun up. She is very much looking forward sleeping in at home, being around the kids, eating with us and just being back to the one happy family life. I have told her about all the immediate plans, and she seem very happy. Her spirit is in good form and I trust all will be well in the end.

Please read the 'Contact Info' note posted yesterday

Contact Info

I will update this post with contact details in the future for all of you:

Between 4th of December 21st of December and 5th of January - 25th of January:
Jaana Molen
Stiftelsen Humlegården
Box 36,
193 21 Sigtuna
Tel: +46-8-505 553 00
Web: http://www.humlegarden.a.se/
Visits are allowed according to the rules of Humlegarden.
Important though in winter times, that one does NOT visit if one has ANY kind of cold/flu since Jaana can not take that. The set backs are enormous if that happens, so PLEASE honour that and think of her first and yourself second!

Between 21st of December - 5th of January:
Jaana, Jorgen, Ludwig, Jonathan and Camille Molen
401 Chemin de val Martin
06??? Valbonne
France
Tel: +33-4-93 12 17 29

From 5th of January:
Jaana, Jorgen, Ludwig, Jonathan and Camille Molen
Mangrove Plantation
St. Peter
Barbados, West Indies
Email: jaana@molenonline.com, jorgen@molenonline.com,
ludde@molenonline.com, totte@molenonline.com, camille@molenonline.com
Tel: +1-246-422 0537 or +1-246-422 5476
Fax: +1-246-419 0035
Jorgen Mobile: +1-246-234 8932
Jaana Mobile: +1-246-234 8934
Ludde Mobile: +1-246-234 8936
Totte Mobile: +1-246-234 8949
Parmi Mobile: +1-246-234 8950
Kids school: http://www.codrington.edu.bb/cs/public/default.asp

1st of November

4.36pm Thursday afternoon. I have been running around today and have not had any chance to write until now. Jaana is a bit more tired the last 48h than just earlier. As with all of us, we have great days and days where we would rather curl up and watch a movie instead. Anywau, she is doing ok and the doctors ordered a routine check up with the MRI just for confirmation all is going well. I will head over there in a a few hours with quesadillas. I have booked Jaanas flight back to Europe and will go with her to Stockholm arriving around late morning on the 3rd of December.
Weather in Singapore is warm but rather cloudy. As we are approaching the monsoon season, it tends to rain a bit more. We were spared all of smog from Indonesia this year so that is good.

31st of October

2.00pm Wednesday morning. Jaana did not really finish all dinner yesterday, but had a full portion of salmon pasta, pain au chocolat, mango juice for breakfast. After this she headed down for her physio therapy. Later today she is getting her hand and feet done and should be feeling just fine afterwards. She had a a few teaspoons of coffee this morning and enjoyed the taste. One has to be very careful with her eating and mix all liquids with Thick'n'Easy. We can stop doing this in a month or so, but it is imperative that she does not get anything down her wind pipe. If that would happen she would need a huge and aggresive form of antibiotics which would not be good. All good until now!

30th of October

7.56am Tuesday morning. I will leave home shortly and head for the hospital after dropping the kids of at school. I will stop on the way and pick up some lunch for Jaana. Our trip back to Europe over Christmas is getting sorted out and for all of you in Sweden, you should be pleased to find out that Jaana will be at Humlegarden (Sigtuna) rehabilitation clinic from the 3rd until the 21st of December. We all believe this will be good for her and hope that some Swedish speech therapy will take effect. I will get back to you on more details of this later.

4.38pm Tuesday morning. Jaana is in a great spirit. She is smiling a lot (she knows she is coming home to her children soon) and eating and drinking superbly. As the cough is now 98% gone (it seems like quite a few here in Singapore have the same) she has less of a problem swallowing. Her balance is improving in snail phase, but still on the right track. As with a child who is just learning to crawl/stand/walk it takes it's time. If any guide from that, it would be fairly normal if it took 12 months for her to get her walking back to speed.

29th of October

1.34pm Monday afternoon. Today, Jaana is a wee bit more tired than yesterday, but she is doing her therapy sessions as planed. Again, eating and drinking ok, and will have some quiche for lunch. I hope to be able to run over with some pasta later. Yesterday she ran out of home cooked food, got some fish balls again, and one could see she was not enjoying that.
I will not be able to go to her until later this afternoon, since I have a stack of things to do. I will report back as soon as I have been there and get a chance to write.

6.58pm Monday evening. I caught Jaana just in time before they were going to give her more horror food. She enjoyed 2 cheeseburgers from McDonald's with an grin of a child having the same for the first time ever. It was nice to see. Camille came with me and served mum some mango juice (with Thick'n'Easy (too make it a bit less dangerous for her to swallow)).
Tomorrow it is back to pasta again.
She looked rather tired in the end. She has not been drinking so much today, again due to being a bit sleepy. I also ordered her wheelchair today. Standard stuff, but with a bit foam in the seat for comfort. It should take a week or so, and by then we will be all more than ready to welcome her home again.

28th of October

9.53am Sunday morning. Jaana had a good night sleep and has just finished breakfast. She is on track for another good drinking/eating session which will aid her coming home. Today, there will be only some light physio in her room so she should be able to get some rest as well. I will take the kids there in a short while, after which we all will head out for Sunday brunch. I will go back to the hospital later, but I think there will not be too much new to report today. I told her about how all is getting arranged for our move and what is happening around Christmas time and she is very excited about it with a big smile.

27th of October

8.30pm Saturday evening. A late report Saturday evening. Today Jaana has been drinking a lot. A total of 1300ml of water/juice and been eating a lot. Doctors are still happy with her progress and we are still on track for a 2 week return to home plan. Today's dinner was a deep-fried banana base , mango sautéed layer with bacon bits, fresh chilli padi, home cooked lobster with wasabi mayonnaise.

26th of October

6.31pm Friday evening. Again a late report. I find myself running around being busy and getting nothing done. That is not all true, but there is a s..t lot of things Jaana has been doing which I have not thought of (sorry all guys if I get you into trouble...). All stuff at home (paper work etc); Jaana has done all of it. I am getting organized, but it is not my strong point. Good thing she did such a good job before getting ill, since it is fairly easy to find.
Anyway, back to my dear wife. Today was a repeat of the last couple of days. In excellent mood, she finished a Quiche Lorraine, stole my doughnut, had some mango cheesecake and drank some mango/orange juice. The last couple of days she has had around 1000ml liquid which is just enough. Let's hope she keeps this up and she will certainly be home within 2-3 weeks.
Today I had a discussion about wheelchairs and other stuff which she needs. She is getting one made and it should be finished within a couple of weeks.
I wish you all a scary Halloween!

25th of October

12.47pm Thursday afternoon. This morning Jaana was in a good mood as well. Eating her scones and drinking her mango/orange juice. Yesterday she managed to drink 950ml of fluid which is fantastic. The doctors are still pleased of that they see this week. More later

24th of October

9.44am Wednesday morning. It is nice to write about something positive and sort of funny and this is such a day. Yesterday I suspected that Jaana was eating worse because of the hospital food. When I found out that they had served her mashed potatoes and fish balls for breakfast I freaked out. So they came around and asked me to write down what she wanted for breakfast. Obviously going for it I told them 'Freshly baked scones, double cream with strawberry jam'. The guy came from the kitchen an hour later and asked what 'scones' was. The ones of you who know me from the trading days, could imagine my reaction; soft and understanding. I told him what scones were, what ingredients they were made of, and where to buy them, should he fail miserably making them himself. Anyway, this morning when I came to the hospital, she had finished a bit more than one scone, 1.25 bottles of mango juice and everyone was cheering! Amazing what a bit of interesting food can do. And yes, I almost forgot, she had another 3 luxemburglies (for you who do not know them; http://www.spruengli.ch/Shop/schokoladen-geschenke.php?catalog=1001). A doctor saw everything and said 'Fantastic, let's try to get her home in 2 weeks'! For that to happen we need more mornings like this. I better go home and brush up those baking skills.
1.31pm Wednesday afternoon. Just wanted to continue the report in the same spirit. Jaana is in a fantastic mood today, a lot better than the last 10 days or so. It is really great to see. She is eating, drinking (600ml already), joking and smiling. Truly awesome turnaround. I was a bit worried before, but today we are firmly back on track.

23th of October

8.19pm Tuesday evening. I posted something earlier today, but it seems that it has all disappeared. Anyway, there is nothing special to report. I had a meeting with a few of the doctors today, and the main concern is the fluid. Just to make sure she has enough, she is still getting around 1l of extra through drop. I would like her to pick this up with in a week, since else they would insert either a smaller tube through the nose or one more comfortable one right into the stomach (!). So the best solution is for her to drink more. I talked to the doctors, and they are ok with bringing her home in 3 weeks, if she manages the drinking. Then a private nurse will be with her during the days, and we will watch over her during the nights. Rehab will bring all necessary equipment home so the training will not suffer.
We are maybe looking to extend her rehab in Sweden a few weeks, to the delight of relatives there i am sure. Not too long though, since I will miss her dearly and so will the children; but one needs to think of her progress and not be selfish.
She has not eaten excellent the last couple of days, but it is all down to the less than interesting food at the hospital. Therefore, we are bringing her home cooked stuff instead which she really seem to enjoy. Silvana brought some Luxemburlies, and today for dinner, she had 6!

22nd of October

7.40am Monday morning. Conclusion from the colds the rest of the family have had, Jaana's cough should disappear in the beginning of the week. It is getting there and the drop might be removed again tomorrow or so. She still has it for some IV antibiotics and fluid. I will report more from the hospital around lunch time.

7.26pm Monday evening. Jaana was in a great mood today with plenty of exercise, food and high spirit. Parmi and Camille just headed over to the hospital to say good night. Not a lot more to report other than she stuck out her tongue to the doctors, which got everyone laughing for a while.

21st of October

8.28am Sunday morning. I just returned from the hospital after spending the night. She slept most of the time, but did not really fall asleep until 10pm last night. The cough is still there, even though a bit better. She ate a lot yesterday and I think they will remove the drop today. Her swallowing is still a concern. The issue is that she is not swallowing fast and assertive enough. One need to stand next to her and really tell her. Sometimes, not so often, one can hint a notion of frustration and despair in her eyes. Her coming will be a big moral boost for her, but unfortunately, it is a few weeks away.

2.16pm Sunday afternoon. The physio session was done in her room this morning and this afternoon there will be some rest. She had some breakfast and now some lunch, but with some difficulty. I really hope she picks this up a bit, since I do believe it was done with a bit more energy before.

20th of October

3.54pm Saturday afternoon. A very late report today, but there is not much new to say. I will have a meeting with all doctors on Tuesday to make some soft of a plan for the next weeks to come. My aim is for Jaana to come home in 3 to 4 weeks. The only major hurdle to overcome for this is her eating. Nursing and all therapeutic sessions can be performed at home. I am sure she would love that. It is some time and effort way of course, but it is, from what I understand a very realistic target.
As many of you know, we are moving at the end of the year. This plan is still intact, but Jaana will make a somewhat longer stop (a month or so) in Sweden. This will allow me to sort out all relocation issues (and there are quite a few when you are not backed by Ericsson). Anyway, we (Jorgen, Ludde, Totte and Camille) are all very much missing Jaana here at home and are counting the days until her return.

19th of October

9.47am Friday morning. Jaana had a good sleep and was heading down for physio as I left. She is doing well, but again has another urine infection. As this is her 4th urine bacteria since she came to the hospital (and she has always been pron to have them), the doctors are thinking of giving her permanent antibiotics for this. Again, this is nothing too uncommon, so it might be good for her to fix it once and for all. It does not seem to bother her too much, but it is hard to tell.

5.22pm Friday afternoon. As the issue with the swallowing is residing, Jaana has today focused more on the speech therapy which has until now been put aside a bit in favor of the more pressing issue of eating. She is making daily progress on all areas now, however though small they might be. The she will walk again, it is not just the effort made that day but the 60-70 days of hard work put in before. Her spirit is on top. Other than that, where is not much to report today. I will go back to the hospital in a an hour or so, from which i will make some final observation.

18th of October

9.01am Thursday morning. Jaana woke up when I arrived around 7.45 during my morning jog. She was in a good mood and had slept all night. She will be going down for physio as usual. Yesterday she was very strong, so let's hope it is as good today.

6.50pm Thursday evening. A bit late report today, but it is a good one instead! They checked Jaanas swallowing today by sticking a Video camera (nice right!) down her nose while she had to swallow. With this they could check if it was safe for her to eat proper food or if there was a risk for the food going down the air pipe instead. The conclusion was that it is indeed safe for her to eat, but when she was swallowing thickened water, it showed that a small fragment was in the air pipe. This did not worry the speech therapist (the commander in chief when it comes to swallowing) too much since it did not pass the point from where we make the voice for speaking. Instead the conclusion was made that the food goes down the right pipe, however though her swallowing muscles are weak and a bit delayed, so we need to remind her to swallow forcefully in the beginning. These muscles (as many others) needs to be retrained so I am not too worried. I made sure we have some of her favorite yogurt here so when she wakes up she can eat them. It is amazing what you learn of our bodies when these things happen! Strange we are even alive in the first place, with hole in our hearts healing when we take our first breath etc etc. Well anyway, the rehabilitation is full on and today she sat for 357 seconds and stood (supported her own weight with a frame) for over 200 seconds. Very impressive. Using a bit of statistical imagination, extrapolating the progress from yesterday, she will do a marathon in under 39min at around Christmas time! All in all, progress is obviously a lot slower than that, and sometimes things move slow, but her (and mine) spirit is high as is our motivation! There is only way from here...

17th of October

8.46am Wednesday morning. What a difference a cold makes! She is now getting a lot better with just a small, tail end cough left. No fever, a huge smile this morning and ready to rock! After breakfast she is heading down for the gym. Doctors still want to make this video test of her swallowing, which is a bit less pronounced than before. I do not see this as a problem, since it is a non-intrusive and fast check up. She will also get some more natural stimulus medicaments to try to increase her awareness somewhat, even though if it progresses like the last couple of days it will not be needed. I assume that if the swallowing tests come back of, they will take away the drop (does not seem to bother her that much)

6.59pm Wednesday evening. The doctors have rescheduled the test for tomorrow. Her couch is still there so they are still worried. I am of the believe it is more due to the cold. On the physio I can say that I witnesses her standing with the support frame for a record 100secs, but her sitting is less stable with around 10secs after having her 'lined up' correctly. They will try to feed her shortly so I will write one more report later to say how that ended up. All in all, another day with small and steady progress.

16th of October

8.52am Tuesday morning. I was out running this morning and as usual pass the hospital on the way. Jaana was just waking up and was heading for a shower and breakfast. She again seemed a bit better from the cold, but still has some irritating cough and flam.

11.02am Tuesday morning. Just to reconfirm the above, Jaana is much better today. The cold is still there, but she is beating it fair and square. She has had physiotherapy this morning and put in a good effort. I am sure she will be tired in the afternoon, but I will assure she gets another good night rest. The night nurse (who was in her room all night) confirmed she slept all night.

6.09pm Tuesday evening. I am writing this from Jaans room. Right now she is dozing off after a meal with her iPod. Tomorrow they will check with a video camera if her swallowing is good enough. They send down a tube 10 odd centimetres and have her swallow a few bits. All in all she is better today than she was a few days ago. Her alertness is still a bit weak and her speech has not improved, but that is the last thing which will come around.

8.12 Tuesday evening. Still coughing away a bit, but she is getting there. A good friend form the Embassy is here right now and holding her hand. It was very nice to see, since the same friend was here at a very early stage and was amazed with Jaana's progress. It is easy to ignore if you see here 4 times a days which I do. She is moving forward, but you have to step back a bit to see it rather than measuring every hour.

15th of October

7.13am Monday morning. The kids have holiday this week so they will be over to see Jaana a few times. I am trying to make sure that only people with out a cold visit her, so Jonathan will have to wait a few days. Yesterday, Ritva Jaana's mother, arrived to stay for a 1 week. We went to the hospital yesterday evening and they spend some time together. Jaanas cold was a bit better yesterday, but she is still coughing quite a bit, which is irritation her. However though, she managed to finish her dinner which was excellent.

7.52pm Monday evening. Jaana had some therapy this morning but was very quickly tired. She then fell asleep after some food and was rather sleepy all afternoon. You can see that she is getting a lot better from the cold and I hope that it will be gone in a day or two. She had difficulty swallowing today and she must pick it up in tomorrow or so. In the mornings she is in a very good mood but she quivkly gets a bit tired. Her balance is improving and funny enough, her balance standing is somewhat better than sitting.

14th of October

10.26 Sunday morning. Today Jaana is feeling a bit better, even though the cold is still present. She has a rather irritation cough, but she seem quite a bit more alert than yesterday. She will be given only drop today, and tomorrow I hope she can be back on the food/water on her own. Some physio will be done in her room as it is Sunday. If she is feeling better tomorrow, she will be going down to he exercise room.

13th of October

7.22am Saturday morning. It has now been exactly 1 months since Jaana was taken ill. Her progress has since been, as you know, slow but steady. The last couple of days I could see that she is a bit weaker than 2 weeks ago (she has been laying still for 4 weeks, so nothing strange there) but her balance is started to improve ever so slightly. What to work on should be awareness, balance and strength, and in that order. As I wrote so many times before, it is hard to build strength if you are sleeping. Anyway, she seem to have had a quite night (no phone calls) and I will head to the hospital soon.

6.40pm Saturday evening. On top of all things, Jaana has now attracted a big cold and has fever, cough, painful throat, so she is not really a happy camper at the moment. She is taking drugs to take some pain away, but since she is not eating enough, the doctors are back from around the corner and threatening of the feeding tube again. Back to the battle field!

Thank You

As I am getting overwhelmed by all love, support, thoughts, prayers and flowers, I feel the need to express my utmost gratitude to all of you.

It is very hard for anyone who have not been in a situation like this, to even imagine how much friends and family mean to oneself.

With many of you we have daily or weekly interaction, and with some of you we don't. This has not hindered you, in this dusk hour, to come forward and support us all. All efforts, thoughts and support is equally important regardless of you being physically close or not.

We are forever thankful for all what you do for us, and will never forget it!

Love
Jaana, Jorgen, Ludwig, Jonathan and Camille

12th of October

10.26 Friday morning. Jaana slept ok during the night and I took all the kids to see her before they want to school. This was nice since she was wide awake and got to spend some time with them. She is still getting the drop and will probably do so until she is a bit more awake and if it is not bothering the physio sessions. I have talked to the CEO of the hospital and he apologized of what happened yesterday. We have agreed to that one of the ward nurses will be with her at all times when I or any of her fiends can not be there(i.e. late night etc). The problem with the private nurse is that we both feel that this concept do not really include them in the hospital nurse team. This leads to accidents (which obviously should not happen) like the one just happened. Anyway, all in good order and all quite on the western front.

7.30pm Friday evening. Jaana has been a bit sleepy today. I really hope this was just today and that she picks up the phase next week. It is a long weekend here in Singapore, so physio therapy will be less intense for a few days. Regardless, that is not the realy issue, but being awake and being able to consume food is more important. She is getting extra drop when sleeping so she does not dehydrate.

11th of October

5.35pm Thursday afternoon. Sorry for being late. This morning when I came to the hospital an incident had just happened. As Jaana was given a shower, she was left unattended for 15 seconds or so (I was told) and fell and hit herself. The issue is that her brain can not react and stop the fall, so she is just falling right into the shower wall and hurt herself. She got a big bump on her head, after which she was immediately sent down for a CT scan. It is very dangerous to get these kind of accidents when you are on Warfarin since the blood might not coagulate. Anyway, the CT scan showed no bleeding so that was good, but instead (always the silver lining) showed her sinuses being stuffed. Therefore, she immediately received medicaments for this. During all of this she was in a great mood and almost laughing with a big smile, while I was furious screaming/shouting (those of you who know me well would understand...). I will spend the night with her if no other arrangements will be made and will thereafter arrange appropriate care.
The physiotherapist told me this morning that yesterday was the first day they could tell a huge difference in her balance and effort! I was very pleased to hear that. They said that she showed good progress and was very much on the right track. Good news.
Furthermore to the procedure of the investigation of the hole between the chambers, the following could be mentioned. As the doctors are reluctant to proceed with the ultrasound tube through her mouth, due to her eating Warfarin, I put that on hold. Their issue is that if the tube would cause a small scratch and some bleeding would occur, they want her to stop taking the Warfarin. I do not particular adhere to the camp taking her off the drug since it is making her better, less likely to cloth and it was only after she stopped last time, this event happened. This will have to wait.
I hope you are all informed about today's events and can rest assure that she is doing better.

10th of October

10.27am Wednesday morning. Jaana is a in a good mood this morning. She ate a lot for breakfast and is now down in the physio exercise room. The doctors have scheduled a small procedure in a few days to figure out if she has (like 10% of us!!!) a non-closed flap between the heart chambers. We all have this flap, which is a short cut in the heart necessary when we are in our mothers womb. When we take our first breath this flap is closed by one chamber is having a higher pressure that the other. With time, this flap is then grown into the heart and seals the short cut. In around 10% of us, there is a case of this flat not closing completly or not strong enough. This is normally not a problem and most of us will never know. However though, when blood comes from the vanes, cloths should stick in the lungs (which is harmless), but with this flap not closed, cloths could skip over to the other chamber, not passing the lungs and then out in the arteries (and up to the brain). The medication for this is the same which she is already on, warfrin. In addition though, if they find this, they will close it with an 'umbrella'. This is a quite simple procedure which is done through the vanes (no open heart stuff! don't worry!) and should not take more than 30min. Should this not exist, we know that cloths could not have been formed in other parts of the body and transferred to the brain (lungs are in the way!). There you have it, a crash course in cardiology!

10.30pm Wednesday evening. Jaana was sound asleep when I left the hospital. I think she has attracted a small common cold as she has a runny nose, cough and is more tired than normal. She did not drink enough today (only 480ml) so the doctors decided to put in over night drop. This is fine since it will make her not to dehydrate and have more energy tomorrow to fight the cold.She did not even notice when the drop was put in. They will try to give her around 1000ml over night. Talking to the doctors about the above mentioned procedure, there are some other twists to it, so I decided to wait for a little while, as the medication is still being given.

9th of October

7.27am Tuesday morning. The night nurse was on duty last night and has not called, which mean she has been sleeping ok. Today she is scheduled to do another MRI scan (she has already done 2 and 2 CT scans). They want to see exactly what areas are effected and more important to again confirm that their is nothing new to worry about. The scan takes around 30min and you do not have to be sedated. The only thing is that one has to be completely still during this time. All should be fine.

8.52pm Tuesday evening. Sorry for not getting back earlier, but i just returned from the hospital. The MRI scan this morning was good. It showed that the affected areas had decreased in size. They doctors were very pleased with that. I talked to four of them today and all indicated that they were very happy with her progress. They tend not to predict any time frame for recovery and they only answer questions like 'Given the situation 3 weeks ago, are you happy with the progress so far or did you expect something else?' To this they all answer that they are pleased and if anything, we are a little bit ahead of schedule. I also asked the neurologist that if it was a realistic goal to have that she would with support of a frame/cane, be able to walk on her own in 6 weeks time, and he thought that would be realistic. So let's hope. Please understand that we are certainly not there yet. It is a long way and many hurdles to overcome, but with some stubberness and and a lot of energy she will get there. Jaana's left side is a bit weaker than the right. This is not of any significance and will be able to somce back. She can still move all parts of the body.
As she is very sleepy (and very hard to wake up at time (cold coke cans in the face, sitting in the wheelchair, wet towel in face, radio on 85% will not do it!), the doctors have suggested to make the morning sessions a bit easier so she has some energy left for the afternoon ones. I also asked to move the morning one earlier and the afternoon one later so she will be able to have 4h of sleep in between. Let's see if it helps.
Otherwise, she has been eating and drinking well today. She is getting very fed up with Ensure (a sort of energy vanilla/chocolate flavored drink) they give her for extra supplement. She gets croissants, cappuccinos, meatballs, luxemburgelies (!) brought to her which seem to do the trick.

8th of October

6.47am Tuesday morning. Jaana slept until 4.30am this morning and then woke up and got her first energy drink for the day. Good to start early. After 30min or so, she fell asleep again. She will be well rested when she wakes up again for breakfast in an hour or so.

1.05pm Tuesday afternoon. Training sessions were performed and she is eating well. Yesterday she expressed delight when she got a croissant, so I think that will be the morning menu. The rehabilitation program is on track. First it is to practice the balance by moving beanbags from one side to the other. This trains the brain to compensate for the movement in weight from one side to the other. Also there is the practice of standing up with the frame. As she has not been walking, running, lifting heavy object etc for some time, one can note that her muscles have become a bit smaller. That is natural of course but needs to be regained with even more exercise. Thankfully, she was very strong when this happened so there is plenty of margin.

7th of October

9.40am Sunday morning. I have just returned from the hospital spending the night. She woke up for a few hours late last evening got some fluid, but it is not enough. She only consumed around 600ml yesterday. Today she woke up around 7.30am and I immediately started feeding her. So today she has already gotten around 350ml, so hopefully a bit better. It is a restful Sunday today and she will be able to get some energy for next week. I will go back later tonight and will report more as the day goes by.

7.28pm Sunday evening. Today there was no special therapy and she has been resting. Food and drink wise, she picked up a bit in the afternoon so right now she was drunk around 850ml and has still not had dinner. So with a bit of luck, this will happen within an hour or so and then push it to around 1000ml. This should make the doctors some what happy, but they are a bit picky about that (understandably). Right now, Jaana is sleeping and has done so since 4.15pm. Not much to report really, more than things are progressing slowly. Speech wise, it is quite some bit to go. Her balance is getting better but she still is quite weak. I have to say though, she is tough and has started therapy earlier and with more willingness than most people (all according to the doctors).

6th of October

8.47am Saturday morning. A quite night, but Jaana woke up around 10pm and ate a bit. I need to rush to the hospital and convince the doctors not to stick the feeding tube back in since they think she is missing 200ml of liquid. I think it is better to push her to drink more when she is awake.

5.32pm Saturday evening. Today I have been with the kids during the day so I have not been able to give you a first hand report. Second hand though, is that she is very tired today and have been sleeping 3-4h in the afternoon. I will try to wake her up when I get to the hospital since she has only had 400ml liquid today. We need another 500ml or so in the evening. I think it will be alright since she has been awake for a couple of hours late in the evening. I will then be very forceful and get some energy drink into her. Anyway I will spend the night with her and will report more later.

5th of October

8.22am Friday morning. Nothing special to report right now but I got a phone call late last night from the night nurse. Jaana had woken up and eaten quite a bit of dinner. Excellent! Later an SMS that she was back to sleep.

2.50pm Friday afternoon. Jaana was very awake today! Ate a lot of food had a 2h!!! training session, haircut/coloring, lunch and then a short nap. She was in a very good mood today and three friends came by in the morning, then a friend from Shanghai and last but not least Catherine. Although she gets a lot of visitors which might make her a bit tired, she really seem to enjoy the company if it is not too busy. I have asked if I could take a photo of her, and she agreed. I will post one very soon.

4th of October

7.43 Thursday morning. Nothing seem to have happened during the night so I will report later from the hospital. Today, I will bring Totte there for a some time so he can she Jaana doing her exercises in the gym. He was in the hospital the day it happened, so he will be able to so the huge difference.

1.42pm Thursday afternoon. It was great to see Jaana being awake when Totte came with me today. They hugged and kissed each other which was very nice. She was abit tired this morning I think from being awake so long yesterday. After her exercises, she went back to her room for a nap. I hope she will put just a little bit more energy into the afternoon sessions. She complained a bit about the food yesterday (some funny faces) so I brought some meatballs for lunch and will run over to her with a Quiche for dinner. Will report later if she liked it. Otherwise, one step at a time.

6.20pm Thursday afternoon. Sitting next to Jaana's bed. She is sleeping heavily, since I think the last couple of days has been tough therapy wise. The doctors came around and told it is good to not push too hard since she has already made such good progress. As weekend is around the corner, I think she will have some well earned rest. Silvana Edwards, a good friend of Jaana's is coming on Saturday afternoon, and I think she is already looking forward to it since she is smiling when we tell her.

9.14pm Thursday evening. Jaana is still sleeping after many attempts to wake her up. hopefully she will do so soon and can have something to drink and eat. I am still a bit worried that if she does not, the doctors will come running with that feeding tube again. We will see. I am handing over control to the night nurse and signing off.

3rd of October

8.10am Wednesday morning. Late last night Jaana was awake and had her dinner around 8pm. She was still going strong an hour after that, pulled the feeding tube which was refitted. She is since yesterday going to the rehab room for exercise. As soon as I can make 100% sure she is ok with it, I will post some pictures (this needs her consent though). She is getting regular showers now, so I think she is feeling a lot better as well.

1.16pm Wednesday afternoon. Jaana is still awake (since around 8am) after a busy morning. She is in bed and just about to doze of for a nap. Guess what, she is winning the battle of the feeding tube. After having pulled it out again this morning, but had pancakes, juice just after and a descent size lunch, the doctors have given the go ahead of not putting the tube back providing her fluid intake is sufficient. She needs to put in some good effort for dinner and some supplements later this afternoon. I think she is very pleased with herself and has a small grin on her face; 'I won'.
Camille will be coming around later this afternoon and Jonathan has two days off form school Thursday and Friday so he will spend one of them with me here at the hospital so see mom awake. She is now getting to take showers daily and is using a special chair doing the business. I think all of these things make her feel mentally a lot less sick and we are all cheering on!

10.31pm Wednesday evening. Today Jaana was awake from 8.30am to 9.15pm except for maybe a accumulated 2h nap. This is massive. You might be wondering why I am keep mentioning the time she is awake all the time. It is however during this time you can eat and do all rehab stuff, so it is of out most importance. In addition she finish her dinner (with some strange faces of dislike for the food) so tomorrow, I thought of bringing some home cooked food instead. And just maybe, a few bbqed cervalas will do the trick the coming weekend. The night nurse is on duty until tomorrow morning.

2nd of October

7.59am Tuesday morning. Nothing to report yet as I will be heading for the hospital very soon. I would assume she has been sleeping heavily and since I have not had any phone calls, there should be no problems during the night. Back in a few. Just quickly, I will not try to reply on any particular comments on my postings, but Marla, I could not even remember myself with help of photo albums, but I am sure, give it a week or two, Jaana will tell me all about it!

2.45pm Tuesday afternoon. Jaana had all the usual sessions in the morning and was awake for lunch as well. She fell asleep around 12.45pm but has to wake up very soon as the afternoon sessions will start imminent. According to the speech therapist (not just me), she has improved her speech a litle bit. There is plenty of more to be done, but we are getting there. Physio therapy is no longer done in the room, but she is wheeled down to the exercise room better facilities exist. Except for that, not too much to report yet. There are small steps of progress all the time, but the process is rather slow. More later...

1st of October

7.59am Monday morning. When I left the hospital early this morning, she was still sleeping. She pulled (as usual, by now) the feeding tube, looked happy, and fell asleep. Today will be a busy day so I hope that yesterdays rest has meant she is ready.

5.14pm Monday afternoon. Today Jaan has been wake from 8.30am until 4.30pm. That is very very good. If she is sleeping all day it is hard to do necessary therapy. She walked a bit this morning (you have to understand that this is with very much assistance), ate a little bit and then did some balance exercises. Around noon she got a 1.5h manicure/pedicure and then it all started again in the afternoon. Later a few friends came for a visit and she stayed awake just until half an hour ago.

Feeding tube wise, there is still quite some effort which needs to be made before this can be taken away. I now, from talking to the doctors, don't think it will be removed until early next week. The problem is that she needs to get around 1,000cal/day, which translates to around 1l of yuckie fluid through the feeding tube. As soon as she can get this down on her own, the tube is gone. For this to happen, you need to be awake, so todays progress of being awake for 8h or so is great. More later

9.19pm Monday evening. I just returned from Gleneagles and I think Jaana has put a lot of effort into this day. She has been awake a lot and when I came there they wanted to feed her again. I had to wake her up (very difficult) and after a short stroll in the wheelchair, she managed to eat around 30ml soup. She was awake for another hour and when I left she was sleeping heavily. I hope she has sweet dreams and gets some good rest, 'cause it is all happening tomorrow again! Good work!

30th of September

2.27am Sunday morning. Jaana is in a deep sleed. She pulled out the feeding tube again before knocking herself out, and I convinced the nurse to wait until 5am to put it back in again. That should give her one night's sleep without that much hated tube.

3.41pm. Sunday afternoon. Jaana was awake for around 3h this morning and ate quite a bit. I took the kids there and yet again, she was sleeping and did not really see them. As her prime time is more or less in the morning it is a bit tricky to catch her spots so she can see the kids. We will make a new attempt this evening. As I mentioned before, today there has been very little therapy since it is Sunday. Tomorrow it is back to be a working week for her, and I hope she will make significant progress.

Some other notes not immediately relating to Jaana's condition. Reverting back to thoughts made very early, I wish to find the silver lining in all of this. After I have talked to many of you in the past couple of weeks, and as many of yourselves are expats (if not, this will apply as well) there are a few things worth highlighting. Questions like 'What happens if both of us (parents) become incapacitated; the children, life in general, other assets?'. I have talked about this to many of you and again, this event might help some of you to organize your issues (which may vary a lot). If one starts digging, there are many implications which might not be so clear initially. Just some food for thoughts, but I try to see some positive things, in addition to Jaana's imminent recovery.

The night nurse needs another day off so, it will be a bit of logistic going to organize tonight. As soon as the feeding tube is removed, Jaana will not need 24/7 company during the night. Hopefully this will be mid next week.

29th of September

7.45 Saturday morning. The night must have been quite since the night nurse did not call. I am off to the hospital in a few minutes.
On the culinary note, what should be avoided for Warfarin users is food with a lot of Vitamin K. That is green tea, brussel sprouts, coriander and quite a bit of healthy stuff. Maybe healthy is not the same for everyone...

11.41am Saturday morning. I just returned from the hospital. This morning Jaana was very tired and had a hard time to wake up. After some convincing, she finally opened her eyes to start the speech therapy and eating. She had a bit of scrambled eggs, watermelon and mango juice. She is doing much better swallowing now, so I think they might be able to remove the feeding tube mid next week. She needs to be able to 3 smaller meals per day to get enough energy (and medicine) in her body. But as you can only eat ans swallow when you are awake, this is an effort as well.
She later managed to walk (with much assistance) from her bed to the reception (15m) this got her tired so I put her in a wheelchair and we sent out for the first time. She seemed to enjoy getting some fresh air. Tomorrow will be a resting day with no therapist, so I will do some with her instead. I also will bring her outside again.

6.22pm Saturday evening. Today was very much a repeat of yesterday, but the walk pushed a few meters further. I also brought her outside for a few minutes. I think she liked that, but one of the therapists interrupted and it was back to school again. In the afternoon she was awake until 4pm and has since then been resting/sleeping. She will try to eat one more meal of mashed potatoes today and will then have her evening sleep. I think the week in total has been very heavy for her, so I think she deserves a restful Sunday. It will be all on again Monday morning. The last times the kids have been at the hospital, she has been sleeping, so I think I will bring them early tomorrow morning instead to catch a few moments of her being awake. I will go back to the hospital around 9pm and spend the night there since the nurse has her day off. Report more later.

28th of September

Noon Friday. I think Jaana is having a great Firday. It started of with some exercises with the speech/physio/occupational therapist. After that at 11am, the hair dresser came and after that she had her first shower in 14 days! With a big smile on her face she lay down on her bed and Hakan and Christina came by. Christina gave her an good foot massage, and she fell a sleep like a baby. She stayed awake for a good 4 hours and now needs to rest a bit. At 1.30pm the speech therapist will come and give her a strawberry smoothie which Parmi has made with fresh American strawberries, her favourite.

2.48pm Friday afternoon. Before reporting anything more about Jaana I would like to clarify a few points about Warfarin and Strawberries as some concern has been mentioned.

"Warfarin is a synthetic drug derived from the naturally occurring coumarins found in a wide variety of plant species worldwide. Coumarins are the parent organic compounds that work as natural pesticides in plants such as lavender, grasses like sweet clover, and food plants like strawberries and lemons"

It should be made clear that Jaana ate probably 2 strawberries in total and thus it should not be a problem. It is true that a huge amount of any food will alter your body minerals. And a massive amount of strawberries could potentially alter the effect of the Warfarin. Jaana's blood has not problem with Protein C or S.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin
http://www.drgourmet.com/warfarin/warfarinrecipes.shtml (see the strawberry stuff)
http://www.lassesen.com/cfids/supplements/vitamin_k.htm

Furthermore, I take advise seriously so if you have them to give, please continue to do so. If there is a true danger, I hope you will call me +65-91170472 or +65-91170486 since I do not access the blog every hour.

4.06pm Friday afternoon. In addition to her strawberries, she also ate a lot of mashed potatoes and some mango juice. She really seem to appreciate some proper food. The speech therapist was happy with this and hopefully her progress can extend into the next couple of days. Early reports indicates that she was quite tired in the afternoon for the physio session, but still made good effort in some walk-abouts.

6.31pm Friday evening. She is in a deep sleep after todays activity. It is obvious that she needs a rest and will most likely do so until tomorrow morning. Hoever though, i can really detect that she is more alert and awake during the days. Also a good thing, since therapy is only useful if you are awake!

27th of September

12.38pm Thursday afternoon. Oops, sorry for not writing earlier (I am starting to get worried phone calls!). Until now, Hakan had been sitting next to Jaana in the mornings and I always called him to write something before I left for school. Now, when there is a night nurse, I did not do the same. Anyway...
Jaana woke up around 8.45am when I got in here and stayed awake until noon-ish. She is less tired today, which is great news. She has had the physiotherapist in the morning and walked twice to the sofa again. The occupational therapist focus more on sitting down and trying to keep balance, memory issues etc. Jaana lacks a bit of balance and needs to practice this as much as possible. She was very willing to do all exercises this morning. We are now resting a bit and waiting for the afternoon sessions to start (~2pm). After she spoke to her mother for 15 minutes, she pulled out the feeding tube (again!), which was refitted and then went for her nap. You can really see that she gets less and less tired which is the result of stubbornly waking her up during the days.
I also took her for a stroll around the ward in a wheelchair so she could see something else. Tomorrow I have arranged for her hairdresser to come by around 11am and will try to get manicure/pedicure arranged for early next week. Trying to find out where she goes for all this stuff is the hardest part (as all men we never really listen when you tell us where you go for these things...). If anyone of you here in Singapore knows, please assist me!

6.26pm Thursday evening. Today was very much a repeat of yesterday with the same execises. Practicing balance by sitting on the edge of the bed and trying not to fall (she can manage 20 to 30 seconds when she is not tired) and rolling in bed from one side to the other, walking with the help of a support frame for around 7m. I think that today she got less tired of the exercises and that is one improvment. Remeber that she also need to practice to stay awake! That might seem simple to all of us, but her part of the brain which controls our awake state has been affected. We need to exercise another part of the brain to take over that. Right now a friend from the embassy is with her, then later I am back for a while and then the night nurse again. I brought some normal comfy clother for her so I thingk they will change to those later in the evening. When I got back to the hospital in the afternoon, she had managed to pull out (completly) the feeding tube! The nurses/doctors let it be for an hour or so, but need to put it back in. As well for the food as for the medicine. Right now, this is the last tube in use. She no longer has any IV or catheter.

8.42pm Thursday evening. The night nurse has arrived and will stay with Jaana until the morning. Many nurses suggest restraining her movment (so she does not remove the feeding tube, did it again), which I will have nothing of. Jaana might be stubborn, but so am I. I think it is for their convenience (as with the catheter), but it is true that the refitting process of the same is something I leave the room for (not pleasent). I hope and pray that her swollowing muscles get better soon. She looks at piece when I left and she is sound asleep.

26th of September

7.52am Wednesday morning. A very quite night. Jaana slept through the whole night, just woke up once or twice, looked around and fell asleep again.

3.57pm Wednesday afternoon. Jaana woke up around 9am and was very active for 2.5h. We practiced a lot of movements, then the occupational therapist, physio therapist and last the speech therapist came. After that she was absolutely exhausted and fell asleep for until 2pm. You should not worry that she get over-worked, since they take it easy on her if she is extremely sleepy, but it is also necessary for her to be awake during the days. It is only the easy way out to sleep all day, but not a lot will come out of it. We need to train her brain to be more awake, since the "sleeping" part of the brain was also quite affected.
When I left around 2.30, and Parmi was there, the occupational therapist came back. Parmi later called me to say that Jaana had walked with a 'rullator' minus wheels from her bed to the sofa and then back (2x3m)! HUGE thing.
As you can imagine there are plenty of moments of fear and minor setbacks (if you wonder why she is not running a marathon by now), but this is not the forum for that. I want to focus on all (any they are many) good improvements (and way out number setbacks).
I have been asked to come up with ideas to exercise Jaanas short and long term memory. Thus I have brought photos, her handbag and things like this for her to remember and talk about. I will put a sign on her door for visitors before entering her room declaring the following.
"
Dear Friends,

I would like to thank you for visiting Jaana! As a further favor to her, please join in the effort in restoring her long and short term memory. Do this by telling her a story, what you have done today etc and then ask her a few minutes later about what you told her. For the long term memory, bring photos, talk about trips, dinners, family and ask her what she remebers. All these tasks will actions will greatly improve her condition as she recovers. If come up with other ideas, this is obviously fine too as we should try to take each visit a small mental exercise as well.
"
Finally, her catheter was removed today so that is also one less thing bugging her. They have to monitor this closely since there might be issues with that being removed as well.
8.42pm Wednesday evening. This is first the night we have a private nurse for her. Her name is Anisha and used to take care of the patients in the ICU when Jaana was there. If Jaana would wake up early, Anisha will start with some light exercises to stimulate the muscles. I think things are calming down a bit and there is very much a plan in action for the rehabilitation. Jaana still have a light fever (37.4) but she is getting antibiotics for her urin infection and panadol for the fever, so it should not be an issue.

25th of September

7.58 Tuesday morning. Jaana woke up during the night and did some exercises with Jari. She really posses the will poser for all physical rehabilitation exercises. As there were a lot of visitors in the evening she got tired and confused a few things, but this I do as well when I am tired. This morning after the nurses cleaned the bed, she managed to quickly pull out the tube through her mouth and the catheter, so I need to have a word with the doctors. They want to restrict her movements, but as you can imagine, I have refused that.

3.59pm Tuesday afternoon. Back from hospital/school. This morning Jaana was a bit sleepy again when I came in, but after 1h rest or so, it was all happening again. She pulled out the food tube a couple of time and one had to be quick. The doctors are saying that they will start tomorrow with a few teaspoons of drink/food to steady increase it so that we can remove the tube in a few days time. The IV with medicine will be removed tomorrow or at latest the day after. This will increase her mobility and make the rehabilitation easier.
Another huge thing happened today. She has indicated before that she wanted to get out of the bed. Today, I had a reclining chair brought over. As she swung her legs of the side of the bed getting ready to move over to the chair, I saw what she wanted. She put her arms around my neck and I told her to push. She stood! Without me supporting her weight at all, just assisting her with the balance. We also tried one very small step which she made with great effort. This required a huge amount of energy and she sat down again, laid down and fell asleep almost immidiatly. I could hear her crying silently (of joy) as she was standing leaning a bit on me. She realized she could stand!
This evening Jari is leaving Singapore to go back to Sweden. I take this opportunity to thank him for the best support possible! He is a very calm, analytical and caring person who has been invaluable. Thank You!
Tomorrow, I have arranged for a private nurse who worked in the ICU to come and watch over Jaana during the nights. As this is only from tomorrow, I will spend the night at the hospital before Hakan comes in the very early morning.

7.30pm Tuesday evening. Jari and I are off back to Gleneagles. An occupational theorapist has visited in the afternoon and Jari though she had some very interesting points. To train Jaanas short and long term memory, everyone who visits needs to help with exercises like telling stories and asking questions shortly after, showing old pictures and asking questions etc. I will put up some rough ideas as soon as I have spoken to her. I will post a guide on her door as well which visitors can read just before entering her room. Well, that is it for the time being.

9.08 Tuesday evening. The final information for the evening. Jaana is sound asleep and will hopefully be as such until tomorrow morning.

24th of September

7.49am Monday morning. Jaana seem to have had a good nights sleep and has now woken up. I talked to her on the phone and told her kids are having breakfast and are off to school soon. Nothing special to report so far, but I will get back with more exciting stories later today.

4.25pm Monday afternoon. Just very quick since I need to shoot off and pick Totte up. I just returned from Gleneagles, and I happy to report that Jaana is now out of the ICU and in a private suite, having sunlight in her face, TV and a sofa bed, where we all can have a rest, eat dinners and be around her even more. She has been quite sleepy this morning, I woke her up (rather forcefully) around 10.30am, but then she was a wake until 1.30pm. Doing exercises, getting her hair washed (for the first time in 8 days) got her a bit tired. Hairdresser will be booked later in the week. Back later!

5.23 Monday afternoon. Many of you have requested Jaana's contact details. My fault, since it completely slipped my mind. Here it is: Jaana Molen, Suite 101 Gleneagles Hospital, 6A Napier Road, Singapore 258 500.
Additionally, I can say that when she made the move up from the ICU, they disconnected the drip so now she only gets her medicine (Heparin) through IV and food through a tube down her nose. They are slowly moving over to an orally drug (Heparin to Warfrin) and when this is taken up properly (takes up to a week) she will be able to get the other IV disconnected.
A speech therapist attended to her today. His is important for two reasons. First the obvious one, to assist her in getting her speech back! Secondly, the same part of the brain controls the swallowing muscles. As soon as they can detect enough swallowing reflex muscles, she will be able to eat proper food and get the very irritating tube out of her nose. I expect both to take between 3-6 days, so she will have to hang in there for that.

8.12pm. I took all the kids and Parmi to the hospital where we ate pizza so we could spend some time with Jaana. Jari, a friend from the embassy and another friend of Jaana's were also there, so i think it was a bit much. She looked very tired. I will go back one more time with Jari to say good night and then she will need to rest until tomorrow. She start to use more power in her voice so it gets a bit easier to understand, even though most of it is still a bit foreign to me... Nothng to be stressed about, early days yet! Good night

23rd of September

8.03am Sunday morning. Again a very quite and calm night when she rested and had a good night sleep. In the morning, Hakan said her eyes were wide open (have until now been open 70% or so) and they practised some arm and leg movements. It seems like she has found the same day/night rythm like usual, falling a sleep around 8pm and waking up around 7am.

2.30pm Sunday afternoon. I just returned from the hospital where again friends from Hong Kong came a visited. And yet again, Jaana was very happy to see her pregnant friend and wanted to touch her belly. After some rest, Ludde came with Jari which made her very happy. As I wrote before, the most obvious area of improvement will be the speach. It will take some time, but it has only been just over a week now so there is certainly no immediate rush. Her mobility and coordination is practiced regularly with Jari holding up his fingers and Jaana trying to catch them and hold on.

In fact, two (out of five!) doctors came to me and suggested that she would already (!) be better of moving out of the ICU, since there are many other much sicker patients around. It might be that this transfer will take place tomorrow, and I am sure this will boost her confidence that she is on the right track.

9.35pm Sunday evening. Back from the hospital where Jari and I conducted a training session with her for 20 min or so. She followed all requests putting her lip balm from hand-to-hand, doing high fives, pushing up legs etc. She knows Jari will never let her off the hook, so she obeyed everything. My suggestions are met with a bit more scepticism, but that would be very normal! She has her humour fully intact as the doctor asked her to show her tongue and she did. And when asked to say something to her dear husband immediately after, I also got the tongue (and a big smile)! Made me laugh!

Good night from Singapore where progress is on track... another day tomorrow

22nd of September

8am , Saturday morning. An early report from the hospital indicates that Jaana has been very calm during the night and morning, sleeping most of the time. Resting after a very busy day. I will back later with more details.

During the morning hours when I got to the hospital, she had been sleeping. I woke her up a bit (something which needs to be done for exercises) and she was very active for an hour. During this time we counted fingers, talked about things we remembered and she had a quick first phone call with her mother, Ritva. She made a big smile when she heard her voice. If you asked her to squeeze her hand, stretch her left or right leg, open her eyes she did so, even though with some effort.

I did some exercises with her and just as I finished, the physiotherapist came again and wanted to start all over... She just nodded and did it all again.

After that, a great friend of ours who is 8.25 months pregnant (who flew in from Hong Kong yesterday to visit!!!) came by. Jaana recognised her immediately and smiled. We were talked about her difficulties convincing doctors/immigration officers that she could fly and enter Singapore. Jaana nodded and smiled when we concluded that 'you do NOT mess around and tell an 8 month pregnant woman what to do'. She when lifted her hand and lay it gently on the tummy to feel the baby. BIG smile!

9.40pm, Saturday evening. Sorry for not having gotten back with any new updates during the day, but since midday, when I left the hospital, friends from the Swedish Embassy in Singapore have had supervised over Jaana. I returned to the hospital with Camille around 6pm and left around 9pm again when Jari came.

Again, I woke her up when Camille and I came to the hospital. Before, Camille was a bit hesitant of spending a lot of time since I think she felt sorry for her mother and being a bit scared. Today, Jaana asked (with her lips) for a kiss and received the same from a very happy and willing Camille! What a blessing to see. I had tears in my eyes for the rest of the evening.

During the day, the doctors (who did not see all this activity) wanted to do another CT scan to make sure the medicine did not cause any bleeding in the brain. This was done around 2pm and was immediately analysed with the conclusion that this was not the case. Sometimes when the activity slows down and the pules decreases (below 50 bps) this could be an indication of such an event. Her pulse has never been below 63 and never above 100. As she suffered a slight fever (37.3) today, her pulse right now tend to be a bit higher (~85).

As a conclusion, the day has brought many smiles and happy tears to many soles. The major hurdles will be to practise the speaking. Mobility wise, she will come back over time as good as before. She is holding up strong.

I would like to thank you ALL for your support! What an amazing feeling! Coming from from Australia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Hong Kong, USA, Barbados, India, China... the whole world! Just amazing!

Jaana and I will never forget these weeks in our lives.

God Bless you all!

21st of September

Wow, what a difference a day makes! When I arrived at the hospital this morning, after having dropped the kids of at school, Hakan told me that she had been very active just before communicating with the doctors and with him. After such a period she could easily have to rest for quite a few hours. But instead, she rested for 30 min and was later focusing her eyes looking at me for almost an hour, after which she had a longer rest again. Her speech will take a bit longer to come back since that is where the main impact of the stroke was. This part of the brain also controls the swallowing muscles, so she will need to keep her tube for eating for a few weeks. This is obviously a bit irritating for her, but rather necessary.

When I left the hospital just a few moments ago, she was resting. She has attracted a very mild fever (37.6) and urine infection which are both very common when you lay still in the ICU. Those conditions are being treated and managed so they should not impose any further implications.

All in all, this has been a great day with a lot of progress. I will return with more info later tonight if something transpires, otherwise tomorrow.

Last but not least, I would like to specially thank three people. I know that ALL of you care very much about Jaana and would like to be next to her for comfort, so no ranking of friends here. However though, Jari (Jaana's brother) and Hakan (a great friend of mine) have been sitting the night shift (10pm to 9am) for almost a week and Parmi (our household commander-in-chief) assists me at home, letting the kids have an as normal time as possible. This let's me drive the kids to school and spend the day with Jaana. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

Just came back from the hospital (9pm Singapore time) after saying good night to her. She is now sleeping and resting for another day of hard recovery work tomorrow.

Updating you all fully, the doctor has suggested that if there are no other implications and the immediate recovery process proceeds in the coming days, she should be able to leave the ICU for a nice private room at the end of next week. This would obviously be great but will not be done until her situation has improved a bit more.

As promised, I read all postings to date for her this morning when she was awake.