Updates coming soon

Sat, 6 Dec:

Yesterday, (Fri - 5 Dec) Gil was moved to the Rehab Center at the Carlisle Regional Hospital in Carlisle, PA. He will do speech and physical therapy every day. On Mon-Fri, the family is allowed to visit after 3:00 pm each day as he has therapy until that time; on Sat-Sun, it is until noon. Today we came in around 12:30 and he was having lunch with one of the aides. He didn't seem to mind someone else's help.

We stopped at Walmart after picking up a rental car for Susie and Dorrine. The older 3 (Raymond, Clayton, and Gail) left yesterday (Friday) for home in Wisconsin as snow was due in and they didn't want to get caught in a storm on the way home if they had waited until today. (As a matter of fact, it is snowing here in Carlisle now.) Susie picked up Gil some jeans and shirts with buttons that the physical therpists will use to work with him on zipping up zippers and buttoning buttons. He worked out today in his sweats and did a good job the nurse said.

He is enjoying watching tv and has quickly learned how to use the remote control to change the channels. He likes the "CSI" program - also Lil Nancy's favorite show. I (Aunt Nancy - Susie's sister) brought my laptop computer to the hospital and will leave it for Susie and Dorrine to use while they are here. After Gil had lunch in his wheelchair, I fired up the laptop and we played some Texas Hold'em poker. Well, I played and Gil watched along. I would ask him if I should Fold or Play and he would nod his head. I'm not sure which he wanted me to do as he would nod his head yes each time I asked but he could see the cards and seemed to be following the action. I will have to teach him sign language for Fold and for Play. Susie and Dorrine can play cards with him in the next week or two that he is here. His favorite game is actually '21' so they'll have to load that for him.

We played for about 20 minutes and then he got tired. I think he had been up since 7:00am, which is what time they wake him in the mornings. He had breakfast, went to therapy, had lunch and then we came to visit so I'm sure he was worn out. He fell asleep shortly after the nurses "helped" him back into bed. He was trying to do it himself and they had to slow him down so they could get him into bed without his falling. He's still a stuborn as always. Which is a good sign now. They have to have all four railings up on the sides of his bed as he keeps trying to get out of bed, forgetting that one side doesn't work yet. The hospital considers all four railings up as a 'restraint' and has to get permission from the doctors and the family. Susie said YES!

Susie and the kids want to thank everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers as we work to get Gil better.

We will try to do daily updates. If you have anything you want to pass along, just click on the 'leave a message' link and you should be able to do so. Dorrine may have to massage the link a little before it will let you leave a message but keep trying until you have reached success. If you can't get the blog to work and want to send a message via e-mail until the blog is completely up and running, send to Dorrine (cats2dor@charter.net) and Nancy (nannie1989@aol.com) and Aunt Nancy (mngemini@yahoo.com) - we will get your messages posted until the blog is all worked out.