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.