Josh returned home this week and has begun his new job. We are so very thankful to have him here. As you can see from recent information, Don is in Lincoln. Barbara is there with him and thanks to the Stanbury's, Debbie Ellis's parents, she is staying at their house for now. She will be moving into the Madonna apts soon so that when Don is ready to move to outpatient status they will have a place to stay. It is so amazing the progress Don as made during these weeks. A huge thank you to the St. Luke's staff. They developed quite a bond which I am sure helped in Don's progress. Since Don and Barbara are away from their support system in Kansas City, cards and comments on the blog will do a great deal to encourage them.
kjw
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Contact info
By the way, here is Dad's contact info in Lincoln.
Don Eaton, Room 152
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital
5401 South St.
Lincoln, NE 68506
(402)486-8152
Don Eaton, Room 152
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital
5401 South St.
Lincoln, NE 68506
(402)486-8152
Dad has moved
Hello!
Mom has been looking into sending Dad into rehabilitation at Madonna Rehab Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska for some time now. A.B. Showalter (friend of MNU and Dad's) has been highly recommending this facility. They have a very good reputation for rehabilitation. Dad was approved by insurance to be transferred yesterday. He and mom arrived in Lincoln yesterday evening. He will now have a new team of therapists. Today mom said he had all three therapies and that during speech therapy he was able to say "My name is Don". That is very exciting news!
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked with him so far at Saint Luke's. Everyone there was really great and very caring. Dr. Steinle (dad's rehab doctor) is by far the most caring doctor we encountered at Saint Luke's. I know Dad really enjoyed working with him. Sandy, his physical therapist; Gary, his occupational therapist; and Michelle & Christina, his speech therapists, were all very wonderful to work with. Dad and I had an emotional day Thursday saying goodbye to everyone. Dad made so much progress while he was there!
Thanks for all your prayers so far. Please continue to pray as dad begins a new phase of his therapy!
Britney Rice
Mom has been looking into sending Dad into rehabilitation at Madonna Rehab Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska for some time now. A.B. Showalter (friend of MNU and Dad's) has been highly recommending this facility. They have a very good reputation for rehabilitation. Dad was approved by insurance to be transferred yesterday. He and mom arrived in Lincoln yesterday evening. He will now have a new team of therapists. Today mom said he had all three therapies and that during speech therapy he was able to say "My name is Don". That is very exciting news!
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked with him so far at Saint Luke's. Everyone there was really great and very caring. Dr. Steinle (dad's rehab doctor) is by far the most caring doctor we encountered at Saint Luke's. I know Dad really enjoyed working with him. Sandy, his physical therapist; Gary, his occupational therapist; and Michelle & Christina, his speech therapists, were all very wonderful to work with. Dad and I had an emotional day Thursday saying goodbye to everyone. Dad made so much progress while he was there!
Thanks for all your prayers so far. Please continue to pray as dad begins a new phase of his therapy!
Britney Rice
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
MNU Visit
Monday the staff from Don's office at MNU visited he and Barbara for lunch. They brought along their list of top 10 reasons for "Missing Don". Their visit was good medicine for the Eaton family.
kjw
kjw
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Here is the update for this week.
Dad is still working on many of the same tasks that he was last week. The next level of therapy will just take a little longer to accomplish because it is so much harder. It will be good to see him 'get over that hump' and move forward. I expect that will happen pretty soon since his physical therapist yesterday (Jill) said that he was so close to moving his right leg when walking. In case you haven't been following the blog, the things he is working on are moving the right leg when walking--he has moved it before, but some days are harder than others. He is also making good progress on moving his arm--especially the bicep and tricep muscles. The speech therapy is going well, that part takes a little longer but I expect that since Dad works so hard it is just a matter of time until he is talking again.
Yesterday Mary Brooke and I spent the day with dad. We went down to the cafeteria for lunch together and had chili dogs and french fries. We had a good time. I am getting ready to take the kids (and Scott) down to have dinner with Dad tonight. He loves to see his grandkids.
Thanks for your prayers!
Britney Rice (Don's daughter)
Dad is still working on many of the same tasks that he was last week. The next level of therapy will just take a little longer to accomplish because it is so much harder. It will be good to see him 'get over that hump' and move forward. I expect that will happen pretty soon since his physical therapist yesterday (Jill) said that he was so close to moving his right leg when walking. In case you haven't been following the blog, the things he is working on are moving the right leg when walking--he has moved it before, but some days are harder than others. He is also making good progress on moving his arm--especially the bicep and tricep muscles. The speech therapy is going well, that part takes a little longer but I expect that since Dad works so hard it is just a matter of time until he is talking again.
Yesterday Mary Brooke and I spent the day with dad. We went down to the cafeteria for lunch together and had chili dogs and french fries. We had a good time. I am getting ready to take the kids (and Scott) down to have dinner with Dad tonight. He loves to see his grandkids.
Thanks for your prayers!
Britney Rice (Don's daughter)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Weekly update:
Don is no longer walking inside the parallel bars. He walks on the floor with the aid of a cane and a therapist who assists with his right leg. He has been able to move his right leg forward some on his own this week. They are also doing stretching exercises to keep his hip flexible as that will aide in his walking. The Doctors tell us that usually with therapy the patient will see muscle movement return in the leg first, then arm and then speech. Additionally, the larger muscles return faster than the fine motor muscles. It is wonderful that his hip is coming back. Next would be the quad, calf and finally toes.
Don has gotten his morning routine down to a science. Showering and grooming tasks and putting on his shirt are things he does quite well. Today the therapist got good muscle action from his bicep and tricep. That was very exciting.
Reading comprehension is great for Don and his writing is constantly improving. His speech therapy though difficult is coming along nicely. It is wonderful that he is getting 3 therapy sessions 2 times a day and he is committed to working very hard.
Family training has begun to help Don with his exercises to help with flexibility to help move Don toward coming home as soon as he is able.
As you can imagine, it is a full-time job keeping track of insurance statements and bills as well as working to make things ready for Don when he gets home. Both Britney and Barbara are busy doing whatever is needed so that Don can have the best outcome possible. Josh is anxious to be back and will be amazed at his dad's progress.
The miracle continues!
Don is no longer walking inside the parallel bars. He walks on the floor with the aid of a cane and a therapist who assists with his right leg. He has been able to move his right leg forward some on his own this week. They are also doing stretching exercises to keep his hip flexible as that will aide in his walking. The Doctors tell us that usually with therapy the patient will see muscle movement return in the leg first, then arm and then speech. Additionally, the larger muscles return faster than the fine motor muscles. It is wonderful that his hip is coming back. Next would be the quad, calf and finally toes.
Don has gotten his morning routine down to a science. Showering and grooming tasks and putting on his shirt are things he does quite well. Today the therapist got good muscle action from his bicep and tricep. That was very exciting.
Reading comprehension is great for Don and his writing is constantly improving. His speech therapy though difficult is coming along nicely. It is wonderful that he is getting 3 therapy sessions 2 times a day and he is committed to working very hard.
Family training has begun to help Don with his exercises to help with flexibility to help move Don toward coming home as soon as he is able.
As you can imagine, it is a full-time job keeping track of insurance statements and bills as well as working to make things ready for Don when he gets home. Both Britney and Barbara are busy doing whatever is needed so that Don can have the best outcome possible. Josh is anxious to be back and will be amazed at his dad's progress.
The miracle continues!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Today the physical therapist who work with Don came to the house to see what challenges Don will have when he comes home. They were very thorough and used a wheelchair to make sure mobility would be possible. There are just a few things that need to be done some major others small. Roger Schmidt and Larry Riggs came after the therapist and did a walk through on the house to see what they could do to assist us. Thanks to all of them for their help on Don's behalf.
Many items should be covered by insurance but the largest being a stairlift for Don as the bedrooms and showers are ALL on the second floor will be quite expensive. If you have any information that would be helpful about this, please let us know. Also, we are waiting on a structural engineer to come and help with issues at the house that will impact further decisions regarding repairs.
Last night Don had a special visitor, Jane Jones who went down to give him a haircut. I am sure he loved that.
Many thanks to all who have volunteered their time and talents. We will keep you posted as needs arise.
kjw
Many items should be covered by insurance but the largest being a stairlift for Don as the bedrooms and showers are ALL on the second floor will be quite expensive. If you have any information that would be helpful about this, please let us know. Also, we are waiting on a structural engineer to come and help with issues at the house that will impact further decisions regarding repairs.
Last night Don had a special visitor, Jane Jones who went down to give him a haircut. I am sure he loved that.
Many thanks to all who have volunteered their time and talents. We will keep you posted as needs arise.
kjw
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Josh is coming home!! We are so very thankful that he was able to get his transfer and his start date for his new job is in 2 weeks. Please pray for him as he has a condo to sell and the company is NOT paying for his move since he requested the transfer back to Kansas. Although we are glad he is coming home it is not without sacrifice.
Britney has been working hard with Don at St. Luke's - learning about all of his therapy needs and being a great source of strength and encouragement. Her family has also done without mom around so that she can give her days to helping her dad recover.
Barbara has been busy working with volunteers to get things ready for Don's return home and possible sale of the house. She has also been working on the business end of things which is no small task. Her evenings are spent with Don and many overnight stays as well.
As you can see the whole family is busy doing everything they can to help Don with his recovery and return home.
It could not happen without many of you who have volunteered your time and resources and the family is so very greatful. There are still many things to accomplish and we will keep you posted on the blog as those needs arise.
kjw
Britney has been working hard with Don at St. Luke's - learning about all of his therapy needs and being a great source of strength and encouragement. Her family has also done without mom around so that she can give her days to helping her dad recover.
Barbara has been busy working with volunteers to get things ready for Don's return home and possible sale of the house. She has also been working on the business end of things which is no small task. Her evenings are spent with Don and many overnight stays as well.
As you can see the whole family is busy doing everything they can to help Don with his recovery and return home.
It could not happen without many of you who have volunteered your time and resources and the family is so very greatful. There are still many things to accomplish and we will keep you posted on the blog as those needs arise.
kjw
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, July 7th
Don had some visitors today from MNU. One of the travel groups came and sang for Don. One of Don's many responsibilities has been to work with the travel groups in the past. He very much enjoyed their music and visit.
kjw
kjw
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th of July
This update is from Britney.
This has been a good week for Dad. He hasn't had any more fevers and his blood clots seem to have taken care of themselves. Today when I got there we went outside for the first time since his stroke. We sat outside all morning with our coffee. The temperature was perfect and we had the atrium outside under the trees all to ourselves. Dad read his horse magazine and then we worked on his writing. We also had our own speech therapy and Dad is doing quite well on his sounds for this week.
When we got back inside he started having some pretty bad pain in his right quad muscle which is quite possibly because of the electric stimulation they are using on his right arm and leg. Hopefully this means those large muscles are "waking up".
This week in physical therapy, besides the electric stimulation, he has been working on walking outside the parallel bars using his cane. He is also working on the NuStep machine. He exercises his left arm and leg to help send messages to his right arm and leg - it is like stepping while seated.
Mom and Grandma Bonham are spending the evening with him and going up to the roof to watch fireworks - if he stays awake.
Happy 4th of July.
Britney
kjw
This has been a good week for Dad. He hasn't had any more fevers and his blood clots seem to have taken care of themselves. Today when I got there we went outside for the first time since his stroke. We sat outside all morning with our coffee. The temperature was perfect and we had the atrium outside under the trees all to ourselves. Dad read his horse magazine and then we worked on his writing. We also had our own speech therapy and Dad is doing quite well on his sounds for this week.
When we got back inside he started having some pretty bad pain in his right quad muscle which is quite possibly because of the electric stimulation they are using on his right arm and leg. Hopefully this means those large muscles are "waking up".
This week in physical therapy, besides the electric stimulation, he has been working on walking outside the parallel bars using his cane. He is also working on the NuStep machine. He exercises his left arm and leg to help send messages to his right arm and leg - it is like stepping while seated.
Mom and Grandma Bonham are spending the evening with him and going up to the roof to watch fireworks - if he stays awake.
Happy 4th of July.
Britney
kjw
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Yesterday was the weekly meeting with Britney, Barbara, Don and the doctors and therapist who work with Don during his rehab. They are very pleased with his progress and of course Don continues to work very hard. He is working on walking with a cane with assistanc and his other therapies are going well also. The doctors are projecting that he may possibly go home in 3 weeks! How exciting that will be. As it gets closer to that time, they will decide about further therapy modes. Thanks be to God for all the miracles that have happened in Don's life.
kjw
kjw
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Don has started another week of hard work. Right now the progress seems slow, but still demands enormous strength and patience. Please continue to make comments, send notes and of course pray for him. It is easy to get discouraged when the work is so very exhausting. We are working on trying to put a video clip on the blog.
kjw
kjw
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