13th of November

5.16pm (CET) Friday afternoon. I am writing a very late entry from Cannobio. I am on a short trip dealing with a few things back in Europe. Among others, I visited a centre called XCell Centre in Dusseldorf, Germany. They specialise in stem cell treatments, and are very positive that this could help Jaana. Since this is a rather new method (a few years), there is not so much statistics as from other treatments, but the result they have so far is very very promising. The most effective way to would be to take Jaanas own repair (or adult) stem cells from her bone marrow, purify them and then place them close to the effected areas in her brain. This procedure will generate the absolute best results and can do remarkable things. At this centre, they also treat other deceases (diabetes ...) so visit their web site should you be interested for friends or family. This could be a major break through and with significant improvements, even though a full 100% recovery of Jaana is less likely. As I miss my old Jaana immensely, I will put our hope and faith in this brilliant technology and pray it will a pivotal point in her recovery. After a successful direct placement, she would have to rest for just a week, but as it was explained to me, result will come very quickly, if all is well.
Kids are doing fine and Parmi as doing a marvellous work in keeping the home and family in order!

4th of October, 2009

10.15am Sunday morning. All good and well. Parmi came back two days ago from a one month plus vacation in Indonesia. Her travel back seem to have gone ok, but UK immigration had her for questioning for 20 minutes. Anyway, all fine now so no problem.
Jaana has been having therapy for some weeks now and is performing well. There are still long way to go before she walks, but everyone is impressed by her strength and she is still making progress. Many have the assumption that the window of opportunity for recovery after is shut after 12 months, but I can definitely confirm that she has made more progress after 12 months than before.
Kids have a good time in school. In two weeks they have mid-term break and me and the kids will head for New York for 3 days then onto Orlando and some parks. They are very excited and we are very much looking forward to the trip.
The picture is Jaana on her birthday 6th of September, with a friend of ours at lunch in Barbados.

13th of September, 2009

6.28am Sunday morning. As many of you already know, we arrived back in Barbados safe and sound. We had a good trip without any complications and Jaana has now started her therapy again. Her therapists noted the fact that her strength was of no problem and was even a lot better than before, but she needs to practise the techniques of walking a bit more. This includes moving your weights properly, moving your hips and controling balance etc. Yesterday she took two steps completely on her own walking up the stairs holding on to the railing. I might be too optimistic (certainly more than doctors and therapists), but I think she will walk with some aid again within 6-12 months or so. To do this she will need to focus a lot on what they teach her, but she certinaly has all attributes to succeed.
Kids are back to school and were happy to see their friends again. Ludwigs class had a lot of turn over though so he had many new faces in his class. Camille and Jonathan were more lucky and many of their friends were still there.
Parmi and Anna are still in Indonesia and will remain there until beginning of October. Jaanas mother is down here for another week help me out and I do have some more assistance cleaning etc.

19th of August

4.55pm Wednesday afternoon. Summer is coming to an end. Two months past very quickly! We all have had great fun and met, talked, dinned, lunched and drunk with and enjoyed a lot of friends. Jaana has been, as all of us, very happy with this. Her long summer vacation with no scheduled rehab is soon over. The summer exercise of not to use the wheelchair has made some good I think. time will tell.
The kids have had the best summer in a long time. they have been waterskiing for the first time as well as fishing, boating, exploring, eating ice cream, playing with dear friends all in all, just a great time.
For myself, I can say that my mission of gaining a few kg (more) from drinking wine and eating too much good food, got executed to perfection! The Westmoreland gym is waiting upon my return...
A good friend of mine took a lot pictures which I am now awaiting and I will post asap.

25th of July

6.03am Saturday morning. Jaana is in good spirit and looking forward to some visitors next week. weather has been a bit so-so last week, but good enough for her to spend some time in the garden looking at and smelling some of the lovely scents around.
Kids are still enjoying themselves and go from one fun thing to the other (wish I was their age as well). Camille has been playing with the neighbours kids a lot and today I think they go sailing.
Parmi and Anna are preparing their one month holiday in September. They travel straight to Indonesia from Italy and come back to Barbados at the beginning of October.
Apart from that, all phones are now back in action so no hinder there.

18th of July

1.57pm Saturday afternoon. All quite on the western front. The Molens are in holiday mood and nothing big to report. Life is spent between eating, drinking, swimming and gobbling down ice cream. Kids are playing with friends and having a ball.
Only thing though is I took a dip with my iPhone which now is not working (yes, not smart I know) and the lightening hit the house the other day and took out the house phone. Therefore, it is a bit trick to get hold of us. You may try on my old mobile +1-246-234 8932. I will report back when all is good. Meanwhile, all good and take care

9th of July

10.51 Thursday morning. We all made it to Italy safe and sound. The trip was no problem and Jaana is in a good shape. She was very happy to see the renovated house and is enjoying a new environment. She (a bit reluctantly, sad to say) spends an hour or so in the garden per day, as her favourite activity is laying on the couch and looking around.
Weather has been beautiful so far and the kids are having a blast. Between jumping into the (rather cold) lake, eating gelatto, playing in the garden, having fun with our dear friends kids, sailing they come into eat. Wish I was 12 again...
Parmi and Anna are also finding their way around the new place. They are a bit cautious as Italians in general speak less good English than in Barbados (where one can get understood, but the dialect is rather thick).
Anyway, summer holiday has started and I hope you are all enjoying your share of it! Happy summer from Cannobio.