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.