21st of December

4.13pm Sunday afternoon. Sunday is a rest day for Jaana, so she right now recharging for next week. Even though it is Christmas, she has more work to do, all until Christmas eve. After that a few days holiday before a New Year begin again. She has been okay lately, putting in some effort. She is still working a lot on coordination and hip balance. A rocking horse we gave Camille for Christmas a few years ago has been dusted off and has now come of use again.
Kids are great and Camille is counting days until Christmas. Her wish list included a computer, iPod and a mobile phone and last time I checked with Santa, she might be a bit sort on all those... Instead I know she will be very happy with all the other nice things she will get. The Christmas tree is all inside and ready with artificial snow bought in London. I put the lights and the kids put up all the ornaments.
Ludde has a friend for a sleep over tonight and we might all go diving tomorrow morning.
My dad came over from Sweden yesterday and Jaanas mother will come on the 29th and stay until the 12th. Weather wise, I will not bother to make you jealous...

9th of Decmber

1.24pm Tuesday afternoon. Sorry for the long intervals between new postings, but there really has not been too much to write about. Jaana is working along and the Neuropsychiatrist is coming down on Friday from the US. Last week Jaana did a great job and all the therapist were very happy with what she did. She participated and actually wanted to do the exercises. Hope that it last for a while since we still have a long road in front of us.
Kids are doing fine. This is the last week in school before their three week Christmas holiday. We will stay here for the festive season and maybe travel a bit during the winter break in February instead.
Parmi got her new passport without having to travel, which made us all very happy. I have applied for a new passport for Jaana over the mail, so let us see how that goes.

18th of November

11.56am Tuesday midday. It has been some time since the last post, due to a busy time with school holidays and other travels. Jaana has been working, but sometimes her motivation is a bit low. I think she is looking forward to a bit of slower time over Christmas, even though there will be some exercises then as well. She is talking weekly with the neuropsychologist after which she puts in a bit more effort. She still is quite depressed and such, but we all try to keep her spirit up. Yesterday during her speech session, she was asked how she was feeling and she spelled out: 'S', 'H', 'I', 'T', and smiled! The humour is no problem.
Kids are fine. Three more weeks and it is Christmas holidays! It is a bit hard to imagine with 31 degrees, sun and no real extravagance retail. In the US, I passed IKEA to pick up some herring, ginger cookie dough, julmust etc so I guess we will be getting the atmosphere soon. There will be quite a few families staying around for Christmas so we have decided to have a Christmas day bbq at our home on xmas day. Should be fun.
Parmi is doing fine, and again I need to reiterate her fantastic character and her energy. She is doing so much for Jaana, that you could not believe! Without her, Jaana's, my and the kids life would look very much different.

24th of October 2008

6.37pm Friday evening. The last week we have had some doctors over from the US. The first batch was the Neurologist with a friend of his who injected some more botox for Jaana. This is already taking effect and the arm is yet again easier to move for her. Neurology wise there is no change, as expected. Later in the week we had a Neropsychologist in from North Carolina. She asked Jaana a lot of questions and had quite a bit of information to give us in the end and had some great concrete ways we could change and improve her day. She was quite tough with Jaana but the result is that we now know that Jaana is quite in a depressed state of mine with great fear of dying, having no future, never improving, guilt etc etc. We all know that is wrong, but as I am sure you all can appreciate, we would all likely feel the same. Anyway, we will need to be a bit firmer with Jaana and she will need to do more things on her own, even if she cries. Obviously, this is very difficult for both Parmi and myself, but we have been instructed to force her even more. The psychologist also met and observed all the therapists. She was very impressed and happy with all their work, but also suggested a few changes and we will need to structure one more hour in the afternoon with activities. The issue is to have the same schedule every day to build up a pattern. This is very well executed in the morning, but needs some more work in the afternoon. Some computer work with her new toy, painting and social gatherings etc. I will get a fully report from her within a week or so and we will schedule her return in around 6 weeks time. Funny enough, what she thinks Jaana's lack of initiation is caused by is her depression and not any medical/neurological issue. As I have always written to you, Jaana is capable of much more than she actually does. She is afraid of even trying and she thinks that she will never be good anyway. We need to break this pattern of bad thoughts and get some good ones in there instead.
On Sunday I will take the kids to Miami and then drive straight to Orlando and to visit Donald and crew. It should be great, and I have planed a few things in advance so I hope we will not have to wait too long in queues for the rides. We will be returning on Friday when my father is also coming. Then later in the following week, I will travel to Europe for a week.

15th of October

6.41 am Tuesday morning. Jaana has just received a new aid for her speech therapy. It is a computer, but with very special software on it for her to choose words, events or actions rather than just typing whole sentences. It will take some time for her to get used to it and be able to use it, but it might be a good tool until she starts to speak more regularly. The neurology professor is coming down from Miami this weekend with a colleague to give her another dose of botox treatment in the arm. This will assist the training of the left arm and and shoulder as the muscles relax a bit easier. In further a weeks time, there will be a neuropsychiatrist coming from North Carolina, US, to examine not only Jaana's state of mind, but also why she lacks the initiation and how (if possible) to assist it coming back. She will do and 6-8h examination and then come up with a report afterwards. Otherwise, life is ticking along here for all of us. Jaana is still having her therapy sessions everyday but will get a few days break as the therapist will attend a course in Miami.
Kids are fine and are doing well in school, even though little Camille has been a bit naughty and not been listening to the teachers and was sent to the office! She had so much fun playing with friends instead so today she will need to go and apologize. Totte and Ludde are both great. Ludde is definitely a teenager. I can see clashes will come around, and I will have to choose my battles.
Parmi is also fine. I think she enjoys her cousin Annas company very much.
The last two weeks it has been very rainy over here. I truly hope it will stop soon as it is very muddy and everything gets a bit dirty around the house.
Oops almost forgot, on Wednesday we will go and have a look at a Great Dane puppy! That will be our third dog. It is superb to have them around for company and protection as a burler alarm.

1st of October

4.53pm Wednesday afternoon. I just returned from a very short trip, but Jaana has been doing her stuff everyday as usual. She had some mums from school over and they cooked and eat lunch together. Jaaan seem to enjoy listening and participating in the conversation and like to get the latest gossip from school. Last Saturday we all went to the movies! All of you know that Jaana loved going to the movies so this has great for her. We say Mamma Mia, which we all enjoyed. As with books/movies, the musical was a lot better than the movie, but anyway... After the movie, we went for a pizza (to the Italian pizza place... Mamma Mia!) and had fun! On the Sunday, Jaana was exhausted and slept all day almost.
The kids are well! I have promised them that we shall go to Orlando and do the parks on their October break. They are all looking forward to this, specially since we did not go anywhere for the summer.
Otherwise, I have two friends coming for a few days, the neurology professor is coming just after that and then it is Orlando time. Just when we get back, my father is coming for a few days while I have to do another trip to Europe! So, October will be a bit hectic but fun for us all!

One year ago

Exactly one year ago was the worst day of our lives. Jaana was extremely close to leave us and the fear and sadness were endless. A few days later her chances improved and so did her skills, just to be later hammered down with a dangerous and aggressive mycoplasma bacteria. At the low point, she did not respond at all nor was she able to move any part of her body, not even her little finger.

The reason I bring you all back to this, is to point out her remarkable and extraordinary recovery. She now can sit for hours, hold up her body straight, move every muscle, stand up with support for minutes, control her trunk and much more.

Jaanas recovery will continue for a long time. One has to realize that the steps might get smaller, just for us to be surprised with a huge leap one day. I am still confident that she will, with a some lighter aid, be able to walk again.

To all of you following her progress from far away; we thank you. I always tell Jaana about your comments, even if I do not read every single one of them to her. She appreciates this very much and I know she misses you all.

From Jorgen, Ludwig, Jonathan and Camille, we would like to say to my wife and our mother that we love you very much and will always do so! We are blessed to have you around us every day.

Jorgen, Ludwig, Jonathan and Camille

8th of September

2.40pm Monday afternoon. As you all know, Jaana had her birthday on the 6th of September. She could do anything she wanted, and opted for a very relaxing day. She watched some TV, slept, kids played with her and we had some bbq for dinner. Her training is tagging along. As always, her balance is getting better, but her speech is not showing as much improvement. Again, this is not only lack of coordination, but also the initiation part of the brain which suffered as well.
The kids start school tomorrow! I think that they all long to spend some time with their friends (most left for the summer) again. The school is very small, but there are quite a few new kids and heaps of new teachers coming this semester.

22nd of August

3.54pm Thursday afternoon. Jaana has been a bit fed up this week with training. She asked for a day off, and had her last day for the week today. She is making some slow and steady progress, but she does not see it and thinks it goes too slow. There are some tears here and there at time, but unfortunately, the only thing that helps in the long run is steady training. She is now standing around 8min on her own.
The kids summer break is soon coming to an end, but there are still some fun time to be had. Ludde and I went on a 110 foot dive the other day, Totte has been playing golf and Camille had one more week of horse riding.
We all have some very close Italian friends over this week and we are all enjoying their company.

13th of August

7.12pm Wednesday evening. Jaana is chipping away every day with her triathlon of therapy. I am admiring her for putting in a great effort day after day. Some days are obviously better than others, and the last two has been very good. She broke her standing record on her own (having the possibility to hold on to two bars) yesterday, logging 8min and 20 secs. Her posture is getting a lot better and she is sitting for an extended period of time between therapy sessions as well. Speech wise, there has been some limited improvements, but you can not get everything at once. Jaana is still in a great spirit and we joke a lot, resulting in many big 'Jaana smiles'.
Next week we have very close friends coming over, which will be nice for all us, not least the children. The summer is passing very fast, and even though we have not traveled, we all have enjoyed it very much. Weather has been fantastic (though a bit hot from time to time) for being in the middle of hurricane season.

2nd of August

7.04am Saturday morning. Not too much to report, other than that Jaana broke another record standing on her own leaning against the well exercise. 7min and 30sec. Her strength and balance is improving noticeably. Her initiation is showing some progress, specially when she is not tired. We had some friends over for a week, who had not seen Jaana since when she had the mycoplasma and was in her worst state. They were very impressed with her abilities and progress.
The children has been playing with their friends last week and today, surfs up. Camille is at a friends for a sleep over. I will leave for Europe and will be back within a week. Camille will have one more riding camp before the summer is over and Ludde and I will do some more diving.

23th of July

5.36pm Wednesday afternoon. I have not written anything for over a week, since there has been very little to write about. Jaana is fighting on bit by bit and is slowly getting better motor skills as well as improved balance. Initiation is still one of the main issues which we are battling with, else everything is improving. As you saw on the pictures posted last time, she is looking very well and often give us a lot of laughs with great scene of humor.
We have some friends arriving here on Friday and staying for a week and after that, I will go to Europe for a week. Anna, Parmi's cousin is here and can hopefully stay for 6 months or so (we are still waiting for her visa extension). I am happy for Parmi, as she has someone to speak Indonesian with and to spend Sundays walking around with.
This week, Ludde and I have been busy diving taking our PADI examination. There is one more dive tomorrow on a shipwreck and then a written test, after which we should be finished. This as been great fun, and Ludde enjoys it very much. It is great to do a one-on-one with the kids and share some experiences with each of them like this. Jonathan is more into surfing/golf. Camille, as I wrote before, has found joy in horse riding which is also something I will take up again to do with her.

11th of July

3.44 pm Friday afternoon. Jaana has completed yet another week of therapy. This week included one session in the swimming pool which she seem to have enjoyed. Otherwise, there were a lot of time spent on trunk balance and coordination. At the end of the week, she managed 6 minutes of standing on her own while leaning against the wall. Then moving forward she pushed back with the walking bars.
Jaana's mother is here with a cousin of the kids. They are having a blast with swimming, buggie boarding and chasing the dogs around. Camille is attending a riding camp for a few weeks and she loves it!
As you can see, here are some pictures of Jaana and Camille. Enjoy!

6th of July

7.17pm Sunday evening. Last week Jaana stood leaning against the wall, all on her own for about 5 minutes. I would have wished to show you all a picture of that, but I have yet to receive the same from the therapist who took the photo. It will be posted shortly. This was during an exercise practicing balance. Jaana was leaning forward and pushing herself back against the wall when needed. I am quite confident that within time, Jaana will walk again. She might have to use some soft of aid, but she will get there. The most pressing issue is her initiation, which is actually coming about a bit. Recently, she has been pushing down her left arm, using her right, without me prompting the same. This might not seem as much, but it is Jaana who decided to do this, and then she acted upon it.
The kids summer break has started and we will be playing a bit of tennis tomorrow, Jonathan has a birthday party and I will look to get Camille some riding lessons later in the week. Around the 20th of July, Ludwig and I will try to get PADI certified. They will come and do the pool training at home and then do the 4 proper dives on some reefs not too far away,

27th of June

7.13pm Friday evening. Jaana has been fighting on this week, despite having had a bit of a stomach bug. Hopefully this is gone for tomorrow, as she is scheduled to have some water therapy in the morning. A few minutes ago, Jaana walked up the stairs again to go to bed. The first part of the stairs is always a bit better and she gets tired in the end. The better part is slowly improving all along and she certainly has the strength to walk on her own again. What is being practiced a lot for this is her balance in the hips. Her initiation is still a bit limited, but as she makes physical progress, I hope this will come along as well. Me, Jaana and Parmi joke regularly, in which she is participating with nice gestures all the time. Her spirit is still rather intact.
The kids have one more week of school. They are all ready for their long break (until September 9th) and so am I. Camille is at a friends this evening, and I am just about to go and pick her up. Ludwig has his Norwegian/Danish friend for a sleep over and Jonathan is joining them playing Backband on the PS3.
I would have hoped to been able to post pictures from the rehab sessions, but I am still waiting for the pictures from the therapist who took it.

20th of June

6.45pm Friday evening. I just wanted to write something short about Jaana's progress since our Miami trip. There will be a photo posted shortly, taken from today to show some of the same. However though, I just brought her upstairs, when she is walking on her own in the stairs with me helping out with the balance. At the top of the stairs, she stood all on her own holding my hand to correct the balance herself. When she felt she was falling backwards she pulled and pushed when falling forward. This lasted for at least 3 minutes and she could have done more, but it was the end of the day and she wanted to rest. Fantastic! I can really see some good progress being made in the last couple weeks and we are now pushing hard as she is ready for some more exercises. Perhaps the road is a long one, but at least we can now see some great progress.
The neurologist professor is coming down to Barbados again in July, when he will see Jaana to check up on her progress.
Yesterday Jaana went out for lunch with three other mums in school and with Parmi. They all had great fun and Jaana (I as told) enjoyed it very much and smiled/laughed many times. This will, I am sure, be a reoccurring event.

18th of June

7.31pm Wednesday evening. All therapist have no stepped up the notch one gear since we came back from Miami. They all think they have a fair chance in getting some more out of Jaana after the Warfarin is out of the picture. She is also crying a bit less and putting in excellent result and attitude in all sessions. As an example from today, Jaana had therapy from 9am to 11.30am without getting too tired. Just a few minutes ago, I helped her upstairs, but she walked and held the railing as I helped her with her balance. She is very strong, but it is still the coordination, balance and initiation which are the major tasks ahead. Anyway, I am quite pleased with her effort right now, and I can not ask for more. Her progress is measured from the daily written reports, which show clear progress. Sometimes when you see at first hand everyday it is easy to miss.
The kids are all looking forward to their break in two weeks. There are quite a few tests done and more coming up. Results are of all sorts, but they mostly make us very proud. Jonathan can not wait for Saturdays and his surfing. He told me the other day that wen he gets old he will live on the south coast so he can be closer to the surfing. Camille is having more friends than I find time to drive her to. Saying that, she still miss her friends from Singapore and speak about them often.
I have been watching some cricket (one more 20-20 game on Friday) which I have to say, is not a bad game. It is the only game where you can play for 5 days and there is no winner!

13th of June

6.55am Friday morning. Since being back from Miami, Jaana has continued with her rehab as usual. No immediate difference, rather than the botox is certainly starting to kick in. Maximum effect should be after around 3 weeks, but her left arm is now easy to extend so she will focus a lot of training on this. Otherwise, she is ready to do more walking and training exercises with the parallel bars and speech therapy. Some of the mild side effect of the warfarin is disappearing (itchiness etc) and she does obviously not bleed so easily anymore.
Summer is here in Barbados with a lot more rain. This is very welcome as the lawns were getting burnt down before. Some very light tropical depression has moved across the island, but nothing close to a heavy rain storm in Singapore yet. Australia is touring the West Indies with test cricket matches all over and now it is the turn for Barbados. The whole island sort of stops. I will take the kids on Saturday and for the 20-20 next week.
Kids are fine. They are all looking forward to their summer break (and so am I!).

7th of June

7.25am Saturday morning. Jaana and I returned safely home to Barbados last Thursday. She was very happy to be home again and to see the children. That was the most difficult part of the trip; for both of us to leave the kids for a few days. Now all is good again and she is recuperating from the trip. There is one little soar which needs to heal a bit more, which will limit some poart of the physio therapy for a week or so. Since we know now that there is no real physical issue making up her speech problems, we can push a bit harder and demand that she answers more with words. This should eventually strengthen her vocal cord muscles. The other issue is also to have her initiate more things herself. This will take a very long time and is quite hard to practice, since she is the one who needs to initiate the exercise. I guess for this we need to be very patient and just hope that this will heal over time.
Kids are fine. Ludde had his birthday and missed us not being there in the morning, but was happy we got back the same day at least. Camille had heaps of fun and enjoyed very much the time with my friend who stayed here while we were gone. Today is surfing day for Jonathan and he has saved money for a surfboard which he is very excited about.

4th of June

6.48pm Wednesday afternoon. Jaana and I are just back in the hotel room in Miami after having spent one night at the Jackson Memorial Hospital over night. Her INR value was a bit high upon arrival so we needed to wait one day with some Vitamin K injected and some salad to get her value lowered. That was ok this morning so the scheduled angiogram was done which later showed all her blood vessles well healed. As the professor earlier saw hints of dissections, the confirmation of these being back to normal and her blood values still not showing any irregularities, a decision was taken to stop the warfin treatment. This was the major reason for the trip, so all well. Blood thinners can be very bad if used for a longer period of time, so this is great news. There were additional studies conducted which confirmed Jaana has no large PFO (whole in the heart) which could have let cloths through from other parts of her body. Botox was injected to ease up some tone in her left arm and tomorrow we are doing a ENT study to check out if spacticity has anything to do with her speaking difficulties. As you can imagine, it has been a few very busy days and Jaana has at times showed fear for these examinations. I have tried to do my best to calm her and at the end, she as always been willing to participate. I am very proud of her to assamble the courage to go through with these tests. Some of them. not without risks.
Tomorrow is Ludwigs birthday. He is a little bit disappointed that we will not be there in the morning, but at least we will come home in the late afternoon to celebrate with him. I have bought his present here in Miami, but that is a secrete...
While we have been gone, a fantastic friend of mine has been staying with the children. Parmi is as always of great importance and is as always taking care of all household business perfectly.

27th of May

5.18pm Tuesday afternoon. Jaana has caught a cold and has a bit of a soar throat. Saying that, she is still chipping away at her rehab sessions. As you some times with more intensity than other times, but speech therapy is a suffering a bit with the cold. On Sunday Jaana and I will fly to Miami for at least 3 days. We will do some test to try to confirm the cause of the stroke as a dissection of the blood vessel. If this can be done and confirmed, I am advised that we could stop with the warfarin. This would have many advantages as danger if she would have to have an operation for any other reason and less oxygen in her blood among others.
Ludwig's arm is healing, but he is now finding it very boring and hard to sit still. I am not to sure if it will not take a bit longer because of this. He wants to be in the pool and do all the other things Totte and Camille is doing. We will see.

22nd of May

11.33am Thursday afternoon. Jaana has pulled back and is now participating very willingly again in all rehabilitation exercises. Progress is still slow but I would like for the first time (with Jaana's approval) post this picture to all of you. Jaana is for the first time standing on her own more or less. The picture is from a couple of days back and the occupational therapist only holding Jaanas hands for comfort and not support. Jaana did not allow the picture to be taken from the front, but one can easily see her grin of pleasure and excitement.

17th of May

7.48am Saturday morning. Jaana is doing better this week. Yesterday she was in the pool with the therapists, which she really seemed to enjoy, We will try for her to do swimming exercises at least twice a week.
Otherwise, Ludwig broke his arm, close to the wrist, yesterday on the ATV. We went to get the arm xrayed and hw will have to wear a cast to 6-8 weeks. Luckily, the have both been listening to my preaching about wearing a helmet, which got seriously bashed up as well. I think this taught them a valued lesson.
Camille have been suffering from cough and runny nose but is a good mood as well. Next week the start school again and will attend the same until the first week in July.

15th of May

5.38pm Thursday afternoon. The last week Jaana has been a bit fed up with the whole rehabilitation thing. That is easy to understand, as she has done so nonstop since the end of September last year. We decided to give her a few days off (Friday and Monday) and she has since then performed a bit better. She is getting noticeably frustrated with the slow progress. She can do more things than she performs, as it is more a lack of initiative then skills. If one ask her to do something within her capabilities, she does the same, but not unprompted. We are all scratching out heads why this is, but it might very well be time for her to talk to a professional psychotherapist. We are trying to find one which is used to handle patients with limited communication skills. Otherwise, she is actually doing ok. I am still in contact with the doctors from Singapore to get feedback from them as well as the specialist in Miami (where the trip is now being organized for the first weke in June).
Kids are find. They have had the week off (mid term break) and today we went ot the Concorde museum at the airport. Camille is a bit under the weather, so after this she wanted to go home, while I took the kids to the beach so they could buggie board (surfing on the stomach with a foam board).
I have also have had some time to golf, do some business stuff etc so there is everyone is doing ok. We have some good friends from Australia coming in next week so that should be fun as well.

7th of May

4.48pm Wednesday evening. Today Jaana has been very tired and did not want to participate at all. The therapist had to cancel a few sessions and I carried Jaana upstairs so she could have a rest for the day. She has had runny nose for 2 days, so anticipate that she has a bit of a cold. Well, none of us really feel like doing too much when we feel a bit under the weather (sunny, humid and 30dgs).
Otherwise, Jaana is in a rather ok mood. She has her moments when tears are flowing, but not too excessive.
The kids have half term break next week (a lot of breaks...) so we will have to get a few things to do. After that they stay in school until the 4th of July, when the summer break starts until early September.
We have decided to remain in Barbados for the summer. It is the best for Jaana to get some more rehab in. The kids will stay as she really does not feel happy when they are not around.

2nd of May

6.39pm Friday evening. Not too much to report from the past week other than that Jaana is doing all ok. I think she has a tail end of a mild cold, as she has a bit of a runny nose. Exercise wise, all therapist have expressed satisfaction of her performance this week (as you all know by now, it is not a straight line). On Wednesday, Jaana came with me to school to pick up the children. It is a rather bumpy ride at times, and certainly put a bit of strain on her. She managed fine though through out the 1h we were in the car.
After speaking to the doctor in Miami, we have not been able to coordinate a time before June for Jaana to do the extra investigations. This is due to his busy schedule and the fact I want him to be around for all the duration of the tests and add on treatments. As there is absolutly no hurry with this, it is no problem to wait until the beginning of June.
Kids are fine. I bought 5 sheep to cut down the grass, fertilize the ground and later provide with some good meat. The gardener and I are built a shed for them to protect them from the sun and the monkeys. I trust that we will in a year or so have around 10 or them as I got 2 male and 3 female. Next on the agenda when we have build a fence around the fruit tree field (currently without fruit trees!), we might get some hens and chickens as well. Parmi said she can "prepare" them so I will let her lead the way later...

28th of April

8.13pm Monday evening. Today was a public holiday here in Barbados, but not for Jaana who had both speech and occupational therapy in the morning. Other than that, things are progressing slowly and I am still awaiting confirmation for a schedule to bring Jaana to Miami for a few days of tests/treatments. I expect this to be in May, even though there is no immediate rush to do the same.
The kids had a good day with swimming, friends, golf and tennis. Totte is becoming very good at golf and impressed me the out most when we played today. It is a joy to bring him along (Ludwig does not have as much interest but is getting closer...) as he gets very excited. We were 'all square' after two holes and he told me 'I will press on the next hole' (raise the wager as he would like to take advantage of my terrible play). Fantastic, but I told him to hold on to his money and not bet against his dad. Camille played in the pool with a few friends and we all had a tennis game afterwards. I very nice day off!
Tomorrow we are getting four...

25th of April

6.15am Friday morning. This week Jaana have had good exercise week. We are still waiting for the walking bars to be delivered, as she is now ready to use them. She has been steadily building up strength and balance with the physio who has done a very methodical program with her. Her sound/speech is also coming along, but still needs to be prompted rather than taking the initiative herself to say some thing. Last week she went into Bridgetown (more or less a dump, except for a few shops) to do some shopping. She has certainly not lost any of those abilities which are all very much intact...
Camille has a birthday party today and is going to a friends house tomorrow, so she is happy. Boys are doing their surfing/sailing tomorrow.

21st of April

8.55pm Monday evening. I just sat and read through some postings I made during the last few months, just to realize myself how well Jaana is progressing. It is easy to loose sight of this. Today, I can count to three and she stands up all by herself. Her balance is off, but is getting better. She easily suports her own weight and can by just holding on to my arm, correct her movements. Earlier today, I held her around the waist and she walked on her own (me again very ready to catch her) a few steps towards me as I was moving backwards. It is very easy to forget that in middle of November, she barely moved a muscle when she had the mycoplasma. It is many months more needed, but I am very pleased with her spirit, effort and result.
Again, I need to thank Parmi the out most. No other person has done more for Jaana than her. Her care and thoughtfulness is second to none and can not be found easily. It is a blessing that Jaana and Parmi got along so well before.

20th of April

6.45am Sunday morning. Again another week of a lot of work for Jaana. She is progressing very slowly, but last week she was able to open word on her Mac and write a few things. Do by no means think she is sitting a writing away quickly and she is imminent to use a computer on a daily basis. To do this and write two words takes 30 minutes and then she is exhausted afterwards. I am just painting a realistic picture, but am at the same time very pleased of her progress. Moving on like this, it should be possible for her to use some sort of a typing aid with the not too distant future and to be able to communicate more easily. A few days ago she spotted a butterfly inside and tried to show me. I missed it and she spelled it with no problem raising her hand to indicate the letters. All intelligence is intact and we have daily jokes and laughs together, in which she participating with the same humor we always had. It is the same old Jaana, but just trapped for the moment.
Kids are having a blast a usual. Yesterday it was surfing for an hour, lunch and then off to sailing. It is with great pleasure I see them spending so much time outside. They are still sleeping as we speak, since I think they had so much oxygen and sun yesterday. Camille went and hit some golf balls at the driving range yesterday. She enjoys that almost as much as the Bajan lemonade with cherries she is allowed after.
Parmi is having her day off today. I think she is heading for the beach with a friends. Not a bad idea. When time is given, I am trying to teach her to drive! She is doing ok, but will soon need a driving instructor with a smaller car to take her on the roads.
There are still quite a few things to be unpacked at home. It was been a bit on the back burner for awhile, but will need some attention next week.
I have found some time to play a couple of rounds of golf so things are settling in a bit. I wish there were around 80h/day though

12th of April

1.21pm Saturday afternoon. I invited a Neurologist from the US to come down and have a look at Jaana. Yesterday he examined her to find out what could have caused her stroke, which we so far do not know, and to come up with any new things we can do to improve the speed of recovery. He confirmed that the current rehabilitation program is most effective, but also had some suggestion of other things to aid Jaana in her efforts. It might very well be that I take Jaana to Miami from a couple of days in May to conduct some further tests and treatments. Later in the evening, he met with all the therapists to get their input and talk to them. In the meeting Jaana was present and I think she could rest some of her fears when she heard such a professional talk to her/me/the therapists.
The boys are just back from surfing and Camille from golf. They are all enjoying their last days of freedom before school starts next week.

10th of January

3.14pm Thursday afternoon. Jaana is working along on her rehab path. Small progress is made all the time. She is a bit fed up with having so much therapy sometimes, but I try to motivate her to continue in the same phase. On Sundays we will try to make a very restful for her and she does not have to do anything, should she not feel like it. Last sunday she slept a lot (!) and I think she needed it. We will do the same this weekend.
The kids are back to school next week. Now they start the summer term which will end in July. the will have one week break midterm.
I start to have some more time as well, and succeeded in joining the local golf club (with help of a friend). They have kids golf, so I will go tomorrow with Jonathan and Camille.
Parmi is doing well now. Her ear infection is all gone. For her birthday we gave her one of these necklesses we all have to show she is very much part of the family. I know she liked it very much.
Not much else to report.

3rd of April

8.27pm Thursday evening. It has been some time since the last posting, but I do not want to repeat myself too much. Jaana's progress is still steady. The therapists do very methodical regular evaluation to have some feeling for progress and it is happening. For example, Jaana is much better in holding her head up without constant reminders (sometimes needed but not as often as before), her vision and alertness to things around her is very good, her balance is improving, her left arm is slowly getting stretched out again and will need some heavy exercise to get the muscles back. All in all small steps, but all good. In a few weeks the bars for her walking practice will arrive as the physio therapist had wanted to wait until the rest of her muscles were ready. Now they are. Sometimes Jaana's mood is a bit on the sad side. I think she realizes this will take a long time and she gets frustrated. Imagine being as bright as always and not haven been able to speak properly for 6 months. I feel deeply for her, and can not even imagine what it feels like. In addition, I think she often worries a lot. This could have to do with her short term memory is not 100%. She forgets were the children or I am at a given time, and then starts crying. It is hard and I have to repeat everything many times to make sure she has a good chance to remember.
The boys are having a field day/week! Easter break is 3 weeks here so they still have one left. This week they have attended a sailing course are both now hooked on it. Think the movie Pirates of the Caribbean could have had something to do with it... Camille is content to hang around me and Jaana. However though, she have expressed interest in golf and riding which I will follow up on next week and try to get her to do either or both.
The two dogs (yes, we have two!) eat a rat which died of poison so they were very sick this morning. I took them to the vet were they are now staying until tomorrow and are getting a blood transfusion.
And on a footnote, Parmi is turning 30 tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARMI! Tradition has it in the Molen family that the birthday 'child' has the right to decide dinner. I guess we are all having noodles and rice tomorrow. All good.

25th of March

7.20pm Tuesday evening. Jaana has out of lately, been putting in a lot of effort. This has resulted in better head control (which will eventually lead to improvements in her left arm), work on shorter sentences and today she managed to sit on her own correcting her balance for some time. Again, there is a very long road ahead, but all improvements are welcome. Her shoulder had been aching before, but is now much better and she does not have any more pain.
We all had a great Easter and yesterday, the boys, Camille and me with heaps of others, were on a catamaran snorkeling. The boys enjoyed it very much. Today is Totte's birthday and he has been out playing with his new toys all day.
Parmi has gotten over her ear infection and is back to her happy self. She was a bit down during her illness, but is now smiling again.
Yesterday evening there was a fire around here, a bit to close for comfort. It is very dry here now (has not rained for over 3 weeks) so there are a lot of wild fires and many lit up ones as well. This one, stopped 150m from the buildings, but burnt down a whole field of mine. No harm done, but rather got invited to the local cricket game as we watched the firemen sleepy eyes watch over the fire.

21st of March

8.26am Good Friday morning. Jaana is making slow but steady progress. One issue is that she is actually capable of a lot more tasks than she executes. If one ask her to do something, she does so, but only after being requested to do so. Last week we went out of lunch and twice she turned her head to the far right (which is the tricker side to turn for her) just to have a look at the family sitting next to us. This might seem as nothing, but I did not ask her to do that. It was something she wanted to check out. I was very great full to see her doing something using her senses (she heard something) and then doing something (turning her head far right) which certainly is a bit of an effort.
The therapists are still coming over easter but will have a little reduced schedule. Jaana is getting stronger by the day and with the very structured and thorough work of all her therapists, this is carefully measured and observed.
Two evenings ago, Jaana spotted a fly on the ceiling. The fly later moved and I asked her if she could spot it again. She looked around and found it. Her eyes and vision does not seem to be a problem. Her field of vision might be, which is why this will be tested in a week or so. The optician just wanted her head movement to be a bit more assertive and for Jaana to be able to respond a bit more consistent with the keyboard/mouse. Therefore, Giselle (the OT) has started to train easy exercises with the computer.
The kids has just started their 3 week Easter break! On Monday there will be some snorkeling from a catamaran and the week after, I signed them up for a sailing course. Jonathans birthday is on Duusday so he is looking forward to that.
With all this, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter, we will certainly have one!

15th of March

7.58am Saturday morning. Yesterday the speech therapist tried an exercise where there was one word written in small text (3mm letters) with 6 pictures around it, one representing the word. Jaana had no problem reading the word and pointing at the right picture! This confirms that her vision is some what alright and her hand coordination is getting better. There is a long way from here to read a book or such, as she would get very tired after only a sentences when the words a close together. In wait for her motor skills to improve further, exercises with computer and the same as above will continue. In a couple of weeks she will go through an thorough visual assessment, where her field of vision can be determined. Some of her physio exercises which took an hour a couple of weeks ago, now only takes half the time. The occupational therapist is working on her balance which still is rather on the poor side.
Parmi is getting better from her very serious ear infection. She ended up with three holes in her eardrums. As she is eating antibiotics, she should not have to many more of them and it is getting better. The children are all fine. They have 4 days of school next week and then they have 3 weeks easter break between semesters.

9th of March

3.50pm Sunday afternoon. Jaana is resting a bit inside today. Not on top form, but doing ok after a full week of exercises. Small improvements each week, but all in the right direction. she is now able to eat and drink quite well on her own with some cutting assistance and so forth. We are trying to get her life and routine back as much as possible to normal. This is one of the exercises the OTs would like to see. There is not too much new things happening. We have yet to get Jaana down into the swimming pool. First I need to find her swimming gear among all the boxes.
Parmi have had a very bad ear infection. I hope she will get better next week now. Camille and the boys are ok.

1st of March

8.50 am Sunday morning. Jaana has a bit of the same cold Camille, Parmi and I have. In addition to general panadol etc she is given some antibiotics (and probiotics!) to make sure she does not get a chest infection. She seem to be cooping well, but has a bit less energy and will to do exercises. I can fully understand this as I have very little energy to anything myself. However though, I think it is getting better. Camille is much better now then she was a few days ago. The rehab has continued as planed and I am pleased to say that she is making some progress on the speaking front. This morning we practiced a bit and with a bit of rest in between she said: "Jag vill aka bil". One can not hear every word crystal clear, but it was fully understandable.
Today we are all going to see a polo game. Ludde had a friend for a sleep over but now they have some homework to do. I need to run now as help is needed. Later

26th of February

7.58pm Tuusday (bajan) evening. Today Jaana had a great OT sessions, but in the afternoon for her PT, she had developed the same cold as Camille and me. As I do not want this to drag on and hurt her rehab program, I have gotten out GP to come at 8.30am tomorrow morning. It will be the first time she meets Jaana, so I think it is good they have a rendez-vous. Otherwise, she is doing slow progress through steady exercises. On Thursday, there will be additional support with a therapist staying with us for more than a week. We do not want to push her more than she can take, as she has until now never resisted any exercises.
Yesterday, I had a high cub 40ft contained dumped in front of the house. It will take me a full 3 weeks to get this sorted so you might have to bare with sporadic reports. Due to Jaanas cold and the container we have for now skipped lunches this week. I wish to continue as soon as she gets better.

23 of February

4.01pm Saturday afternoon. Today is somewhat of a resting day, but I have somethings to report anyway. Jaana is making some progress with her speech. She does not realize it yet fully i think, but she is very capable of answering with rather clear 'yes' and 'no' instead of nodding or shaking her head. We made some exercises today and she said, 'ja', 'nej', 'hej', 'hello', 'apa' very clear. She successfully continues to communicate with me by raising her finger going through the alphabet. She has said numerous of sentences like this and burst out in tears of joy when she realize she managed to make herself understood. Life like this goes on slowly, but in a very peaceful and quite way. Barbados is excellent in this way that nothing is done in a hurry, and everything is allowed to take it's time, even Jaanas rehab.
I took the kids down to the beach for a swim. Now even Camille have started to enjoy herself in the ocean. The boys are half fish by now. When things settle a bit more and it is becoming off season down here, I will take a diving course with at least Ludde.

22nd of February

6.44pm Friday evening. Jaana had a full day today with three and a half hours of therapy and a lunch with me at The Tides in between. She is eating heaps since she got home, and gobbled up a "double cream mars bar and oreo cheesecake" like it was going out of fashion. The therapists are doing an excellent job, although they say the same thing like everyone; it will take time and the road is bumpy. They very much different to the ones in Singapore, where I have to say they were a bit more unorganized. Here they seem to work more as a team.
Tomorrow will be a day without organized therapy but we will do something together instead. Even though Jaana burst out in tears every so often, it is becoming more seldom and it is more out of happiness than anything else. The therapists notice this very often when they complement her and she realize she accomplished something.
Kids are doing fine. Ludde and Totte will start surfing lessons next Saturday morning. They have friends already surfing so I guess this will be my weekend drive to the surfing spots. They both swam with turtles last time they were out buggy boarding. Camille will have her friend, my lawyer, over during the weekend. Last weekend we all went to her house house for an afternoon tea party. This weekend, we will stay home as I know Lynne is very keen to met Jaana. they only met a few times, but got along very well together.

20th of February

7.27pm Wednesday evening. Today Jaana had her first rehab sessions down here. She was very tired in the end after a morning session and then an afternoon one. In the middle of all this I promised her to take her for lunch. We went to a nice fish restaurant by the sea where we have eaten many times before. She recognized the place and the owner with whom we chit-chated a bit. Her spirit is still very fragile and she is crying a lot (sometimes of sadness and sometimes from being happy). The occupational therapist will proceed rather gently and the physiotherapist moved straight in and commenced a thorough evaluation. She will have OT/PT every day and ST 4 times a week. In addition, there will be things we do at home, when going for lunch (I have promised to take her out 2-3 times a week) and when ever there is time and will.
The kids are happy to have mom back, specially Camille. She draws pictures and jumps up in her bed all the time and wants to be close to her. All three of them are now enjoying school which pleases me the out most.

18th of February

5.08pm Monday afternoon. Last night Jaana slept like a log. With the time difference and the trip to get over, she fell asleep around 5pm and woke up after 6am. I left to get the kids to school around 7am and when I got back she was wide awake and had already showered. I have a nurse assistant to help out during the day with various things. Around noon I told Jaana that I was going to the closest town to buy some quiche for her. She got very sad and wanted to say something. We have made up this way that I go through the alphabet and she raises the finger when to stop. This way she told me in Swedish: "I want to come along". We were both so happy to communicate and she immediately started crying when she realized that she will be able to make me understand more and more what she wants (even though I am sure there are plenty of misunderstandings). Anyway, we went down to Holetown and grabbed a table at her favorite brasserie. She had Blackened Dolphin fish (no, it is not flipper) which is a fantastic fish in Cajun spices pan fried to blacken. With some gazpacho, water, diet coke and beer with the fish, she was well content. Then back to the house, I left to pick up the kids. She did not want to let go of my hand and got a bit sad. She had a fantastic day and I think she is enjoying her life more and more. She knows it is only getting better, and with more work, it will do so faster.

16th of February

1.21pm Saturday afternoon. JAANA IS HOME! Yesterday after a few delays we arrived in Barbados safe and sound. She was a bit nervous of how the kids were going to react to seeing her and was scared to "disappoint" them. However though, as you all know, the kids and myself did not expect to look for any miracles, rather to get Jaana home. Everyone is very pleased to have her here. She is a bit tired, but not too bad. After a few days rest, she will recommence her rehabilitation program on Wednesday, with physio, occupational and speech therapy. On Monday, we will have a nurse assistant starting to help out with showering and toilet visits etc. In addition, I will replace the previous house keeper so Parmi will get some better help with everything around the house. Parmi was very please to see Jaana again and Jaana felt the same. They really get along very well together and Parmi is a trooper.

A quick reminder since it seems like many of you are requesting contact info. It can all be found on a posting around the 1st of November 2007.

12th of February

7.28am Tuesday morning. I spoke for a short time to Jaana just now and she was very tired. Seemed like she has a small cold, but that is nothing which some warm dry Barbados weather can take care of. The house is more or less prepared for her even though we are still waiting for the container from Singapore. She will be discharged from the center on Wednesday lunch time, but Jaana and I will not leave until Friday morning.
I am flying this late afternoon to Stockholm via London, and will not bring my computer. Therefore, the next blogg posting will be with the whole family reunited at home. We can not wait...

7th of February

7.02am Thursday morning. I just came off the phone with Jaana. She was a bit sad again and is ready to come home now. I have now booked myself to leave Barbados Thuesday evening and be up in Stockholm Wednesday afternoon. I will then watch Jaana during her rehab for a day and we will leave Friday morning at 9.30m. During this time I will meet with the therapist and get a better understanding what they have done and are currently focusing on. Everything is line up here so I think her transition should be a smooth one.
The kids are doing fine. Now Camille and Totte seem to have found all the friends and Ludwig still has hiw Danish/Norwegian buddy he plays with. Unfortunately they are not in the same class, but it works out anyway.
A few days ago there was a meeting with all Swedes in Barbados. There are 65 down here, which is a lot more than I thought. Many with kids and they are now planing on getting on with extra Swedish education for the children! Fantastic, bonus I think.

3rd of February

5.05pm Sunday afternoon. Jaana has had some vacation this weekend, being at her mothers. Eventhough she might be a bit more tired monday morning, I am confident that she enjoyed not being at Humlegarden over the weekend. When there is no therapy and nothing special going on, it must feel quite long. Anyway, she is back now and will commence the last two weeks. It might depending on flights that the last week will be cut a bit short.
Kids went swimming today. Ludde had his friend over and Camille is crying since he did not let her play with them...

2nd of February

9.07pm Saturday evening. Jaana has made steady progress lately, with focus being made on occupational and speech therapy. Her hand skills have gotten a lot better and she is now working with a machine called the LightWriter. With this she can write and then the machine will spell out the text. It is true that a normal laptop could do the same, but this is rather smaller and specialized. To be able to do this, she has been working a lot with hand exercises.
The therapist in Sweden has suggested that it would be good if she could stay for another week. Naturally, she is very keen on coming home, but has agreed to extend her stay until 14th of February. So we will need to wait a bit longer, but she is fighting for everyone!
Down here preparation is on its way. The physio table/bed is getting ready, a huge mirror should be installed next week, a drive way for wheelchair has been created and various equipment will join her from Sweden. There are still some small issues with bathroom/shower which is being worked on. I have assembled a great team of therapist and contacted two neurologists here in Barbados. Furthermore, introduction was made before with a neurosurgeon, just to have the contact.
I have ordered more frequent fogging of the premises to avoid mosquito bites. This is common practice (and learned in Singapore) to keep them at bay. As we found some rats as well (close to the cane fields) poison and traps has been established.
The kids are doing fine. Tomorrow we should try to head out to do some buggie boarding which the boys love. Camille is not as eager to swim as her brothers, and is still on Singapore shopping detox. Shopping here is far and few between, so I guess I will fill up a couple of bags very quickly during my 12 hour stay in Sweden in a couple of weeks.

28th of January

7.55pm Monday evening. Jaana still becomes sad when I call her, but I continuously remind her that it is much longer until she will be with her family again. It seem to stop the crying some times, but I think her sadness is also brought on when she reflects over the whole situation. It is not easy. She has been improving little at a time now for 2 months, but it must seem like an eternity for her. I hope she can stay in otherwise good health so the recovery can progress.
Camille had a nice birthday, We went to the house of a friend where there were 9 children, mostly girls, playing. She had a Barbie cake and got many nice small girl toys.
Ludde, Totte and I went for a short swim after school today which they seem to enjoy. School days are quite long and with the trip they are in school or on their way to/from school from 7.15am until 4.45pm.

26th of January

6.50pm Saturday evening. there has been nothing special to report rather than small steady steps forward. Every day there is some small improvement such as holding the telephone a bit more stead, being a bit more accurate with fork and knife or some small increase in voice etc. But if she does this everyday, the path is set for an optimal recovery. She still is very sad every time I call and tomorrow is Camilles birthday, so I do not think that will make things easier. She knows she is on the final stretch before her return home. I keep reminding her of that, so I think this is the highlight she is looking forward to. We are surly are very ready to have her back and we truly miss her more than anything. Keep it up Jaana, just a short while longer!

23rd of January

8.07pm Thursday evening. Again nothing new to report. Jaana is making slow progress as time goes by and she gets to practice her senses. This evening I interviewed the last candidates to work with Jaana here in Barbados, and I think I will go with them. They seem very professional and with long experience in stroke rehabilitation.
Kids are doing fine. Ludwig will have his friend over for on Friday and Camille will be happy to play with his brother, even though the toys are not here yet. The container is scheduled to arrive in 6 days and should clear customs shortly after.

21st of January

1.11pm Monday afternoon. An update from this weekend when, among others, her brother with family visited Jaana at Humlegarden, must include her ability to touch the side of the bed with the opposite hand. In this movement, she needs to use a great deal of tummy muscles and does a good job with that. Her vision is now getting tested a bit as well, and I shall try to suggest for a optician to either visit her (hopefully) or for her to go and meet one. Before it has been abit to early, but now when she can indicate yes or no as response to questions, the time has come.

20th of January

7.05pm Sunday evening. As there is no specialized rehab over the weekend there is not much to report on that front. however though, there were of lot visitors including her cousins, mother, brother and close friends over the weekend. That is great since else it would be a bit lonely. Now it is 3 weeks left in Sweden, depending on arrival of container here in Barbados and flight availability. Otherwise, we should be ready to welcome Jaana home by then as things are progressing well. Tomorrow is a public holiday again, so on Tuesday work will preparation work will commence again.
Kids wise, I can report that Ludwig really has found a good friend in a Danish/Norwegian buy called Daniel. We had lunch with his family yesterday and his little brother, Alexander, and Camille were getting along terrific as well. Things are working out just fine.

18th of January

8.48pm Friday evening. Two successful weeks at Humlegarden has been completed. Jaana is receiving good rehabilitation care and is doing well. As before, she gets a bit sad from time to time, but nothing more than that she pulls herself together after a little while. we really miss her down here and she does us, so for her/us to be a bit sad is all natural. The occupational therapist at Humlegarden is doing a fantastic job. As a difference to Singapore, they try and encourage the patients to do more themselves, rather than assisting them in each task to the most. This is the way forward as it forces Jaana to do more things herself. All good.
Down here things are progressing well. Ludwig is at a friends house for a sleep over (her found a Danish friend) after an afternoon of buggy boarding. Jonathan, Camille and I have been home and played around the house in the afternoon.

16th of January

5.48pm Wednesday afternoon. Today I talked to the speech therapist who is working with Jaana at Humlegarden. She has begun using a machine with which it is easy to write and also speak out the typed words. She wrote 'Ludwig' and 'Hej' and was very pleased with herself. As always, she is participating well and progressing. She is trying all this different equipment and tools and soon as she and therapist agree on what to get, I encourage them to do so. All well, even though she still is quite sad when ever I call and talk to her.

15th of January

5.57pm Tuesday afternoon. As you I am sure have read by now, Jaana is putting in a lot of effort in her rehabilitation. I received a long email from one of the nurses stating that she never says 'No' to any kind of exercise and making the most of it. As her brother indicated, they have much more advanced and comfortable wheelchairs at Humlegarden. On the 24th, she has a meeting with an occupational therapist which will personalize on for Jaana. As this will also aid in her training it is very good. So all in all good news, but a some way to go.
I have now had meetings and telephone conversations with multiple therapist here in Barbados. There are plenty of physiotherapist, a bit less of occupational therapist and even less of the speech ones. The good news is though, that the ones I have met seem very good. The are very interested in taking Jaana on, and expressed only joy and excitement when I asked them if they would be willing to travel to Sweden to meet Jaana before they start down here. It would be good for them to see all the tools they use at Humlegarden and discuss with them how to proceed. I will get back to you more about if and when this becomes reality.
There is election today down here and tomorrow is a public holiday so the kids will have no school. They have expressed desire to head for the beach, so I guess we will do so at some point. There are other things which needs to be done as well. I have already started with the help of the gardener to construct a ramp for Jaana in concrete. We even have time to fail once before she gets here...
Ahh one more thing. This blog is dedicated to Jaana's recovery, but I think this will have her smile a bit when she reads it later. Anyway, Camille came back from school and I asked her how her day was. She said good, but he only bad thing is that she saw a man get shot! I obviously thought not too much of it and almost ignored it after a few questions. Later in the evening she was looking in a travel book of Barbados and found a picture. She came to me and showed me where they had been and the 'shot' man on the wall hanging with nails in his hands and feet... Camille's first experience in church! This evening we have had a crash course in Christianity and all is back to good again...

14th of January

4.57pm Monday afternoon. Sorry for the very scarce updates, but I do not have so much new information, since it it all second hand and I have not received so much lately. However though, from what I have heard, she is doing ok with sone days requiring a bit more sleep and rest than others. There are various of new tools she is using so I am interested in speaking to the therapist in a week or so for me to acquire some sort of the same things here. Obviously this been a rather small island, many of these things has to be purchased abroad and ship here, so the sooner the better,
The kids are fine and Ludwig has found a new friend rather quickly. Jonathan seem to have many contacts with no one in particular being his "best mate". Camille is a bit more tricky, and will have to have some more time finding a good friend. I wish I could post a picture of them, but I have some techincal problems not having all my stuff here from Singapore yet, so you will have to wait.

11th of January

10.44am Friday morning. Nothing new to report. Jaana was a bit more tired today than the other days, so training was a bit more difficult today. I will get back with a late report instead.

9th of January

4.48pm Wednesday afternoon. I received a long email from Jaanas occupational therapist who in great detailed outlined what Jaana had been doing. It seemed to me that they are getting on well together and that things are progressing as planed. Well done Jaana and all the therapist! She still cries as soon as I or the kids talk to her, but again, only natural. She seem to be settling in fine for her time there.
The kids had a great day in school. Ludwig found a Danish/Norwegian friend, Jonathan a few of them and Camille started to participate in class rather well. Very happy. We have a colony of monkeys living behind the house, so every time we come home they are all over the house!

8th of January

7.21pm Tuesday morning. Jaana has been doing some cycling exercises laying in her bed which seem to have been good. Otherwise she has participated in other occupational therapy activities. I have yet to receive any more detailed report of what has been going on therapy wise from the nurses, but it is only the second day! I hope to be able to provide better information tomorrow.
Kids had their first school day. All in good order, but I think they were a bit nervous. It seem to be fine.

7th of January

5.56pm Monday evening. I spoke to Jaana today and every time she gets a bit sad so it is hard to muscle strength to do it, but it is necessary for both of us. She is on good hands and the nurses seem very nice. I am very much looking forward to report her progress. The therapist promised to send me a recap of each day so I hope I can relate the same.
The kids are off to their new school tomorrow. I think they are a bit worried but there is 11 new kids from January, which is 10% of the school! I will report how it all went tomorrow. Otherwise I am running around and organizing our new lives. It will be some time before it calms down, but I should be able to start organizing things for Jaana in a week or so. I will do so talking to the rehabilitation in Sweden and get advice of a good program for her. So it might be good to wait for a week or so.

6th of January

5.05am Sunday morning. Jaana arrived fine in Sweden as you know and will in 4 hours commence her short car journey to Humlegarden. Everything seems fine and she is putting in good effort. She will register today and the therapy will commence tomorrow. I will try to stay in close contact with the nurses and Jaanas relatives in Sweden to get a good understanding of her progress. Naturally, I will talk to Jaana every day, should her days not be too busy, even though both her and I get a bit sad.the kids, me and Parmi arrived safely in Barbados yesterday evening, The time her is -12h from Singapore and -5 from CET. As there is not too much new to say other than that right now I will leave you.
Me

4th of January

5.17pm Friday evening. Jaana has safely landed in Sweden and is staying with her mother for a couple of days until Humlegarden opens up midday Sunday. It was rather emotional saying 'so long' for some weeks, but it truly is the best solution in this transition. She is ready, willing and executing her therapy already, but will increase that in a more organized fashion soon. All I can say is that she is making steady progress and should now focus on improving her balance.
Anyway, we are quite busy down in France, closing the house up. Tomorrow morning at 6am, we are getting picked up for our flight to London and then straight on to Barbados. Therefore, this will be my last posting from France and will return shortly with second hand information about Jaana's Great Revenge on 2007!

3rd of January

7.02am Thursday morning. As it is early there is not too much to say yet. However though, both Jaana and I realize it is getting very close for her to leave us for a few weeks and this is dampening the mood a bit. I promised her that I will try as hard as I can to finish her preparation as quickly as possible, if she promise me to put in a great effort for the rehabilitation in Sweden. That deal is done,

2nd of January

10.02am Wednesday morning. Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for the sporadic blog updates, Jaana is doing great! A little bit of a cold with some cough and sore throat, but nothing to stop her on her progress. Today, during our daily morning standing exercise, she not only held her own weight, but also corrected her balance for a good 3-4 minutes. The only help she had was to hold one arm around my neck, that was it! I did nothing, but just told her when she was getting a bit too much of center. It was fantastic to see. Both Parmi and I got tears in our eyes, since this is a massive improvement, I have no doubt, that after some rehabilitation in Sweden and further physio therapy in Barbados, Jaana will be walking again withing a not to distant future. One can obviously not say when, but that it will happen, I am very sure. I will leave you with this very encouraging news and wish you all a great day.
On Friday Jaana will go to Sweden. I will continue and try to update this blog with second hand news from the nurses, therapists and relatives. Updates might be less frequent then, but you should be able to get an idea of what happens.