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.