Welcome to our blog. We are on a journey. This is an unwelcome journey. We are not out of the darkness and into the light yet so we cannot see the benefits of why this all happened. We are hoping someday we will be there, some day soon.For now we just want to have a place to share our journey with others so that maybe something we learn will help them. We also want to update those that are concerned for our mother. Our mother is Bonnie and she has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre-Syndrome (GBS). We are her daughters, Terry, Donna and Jeanie. This is our journey.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Memorial Day

"Dinner at 5pm, come at 4:30 if you can," mom told me when I called her early in the day.
"Juma, call mom and tell her we are running late." My request since it's now 4:45pm.
"I'm not calling her, you call her", Juma whined.
"Just call her and tell her Raina was delayed coming home from Bush Garden with a friend, it's out of her control, I would call her but I'm driving", I love using that one, it always works.
It worked.

Got to moms and she was all smiles. She had the hamburgers all made up and waiting to be cooked in two skillets. The crisp, colorful condiments were fresh on the platter waiting to decorate each burger. She had also made a hugh pot of her famous beef/chicken vegetable soup. There were pineapple upside down muffins set aside for desert along with the surprise chocolate covered strawberries she brought out after dinner.

All this from a woman still recovering from GBS. Amazing!

Mom has reduced her Neurotin to 900mg's. Her stomach pain increased so she might increase it. Her fingers and feet still tingle with pain.

But she is truly getting better in little baby steps. This dinner was a big move forward.
I can not tell you how much laughter and smiles we shared this day.

Jeanie


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Saturday, April 25, 2009

April 24,2009

My mom played tennis today. That was a big step forward.

She called me up yesterday and said she wanted to play tennis tommorow and to sign us up for and hour at the courts. I said "really, are your serious?" She said really. So we played doubles.

Her fingers hurt like normal but not too bad. Her balance is still off which prevented her from running but she hit the balls fine and served fine. Not as good as she use to but the point is she did it. She actually played almost a whole set of tennis.

She still does her pool walks and exercises five days a week and she thinks that is making her stronger.


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Friday, April 24, 2009

overcoming a fear

This is Raina's essay she had to write to get into the AP programs in highschool.

My Christmas gift to myself was to confront my lingering fear of death.

My grandmother was in the hospital this past Christmas. I love my grandma so much. I have always thought that she was very healthy for a woman of her age. She plays tennis four days per week. She works full time at a company she started by herself over twenty years ago. We get together every Sunday for movies and cards. She is a big part of my life.

When I found out she was in the hospital with an uncommon disease and in a lot of pain, it freaked me out. I thought I was going to loose her forever and never be able to talk to her again. I wanted to see her so bad but I feared I would not be able to stand seeing her in that hospital bed all wrenched in pain. This really disturbed me. My mom kept asking me to go to the hospital and I kept finding excuses as to why I couldn’t. My mom sensed something was wrong so we talked about it. She explained how much it would mean to grandma if I paid her a visit. She said, “Your smile will warm her heart.”

I was nervous the next day when I went with my mother and visited with my grandma. She was in a lot of pain and it felt uncomfortable. I felt sad for her. I held her hand and she gave me the biggest smile. I know how much it meant to her.

Afterwards I realized my fears are much bigger when they are just thoughts in my head. Being in the hospital was not pleasant but I kept my grandmothers well being in my thoughts allowing my fears to take second place.



“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, it’s that we are powerful beyond measure.” Marianne Williamson


What the quote means to me is that we aren’t afraid that we aren’t good enough or that we can’t do something, we are afraid of what we can do.

If we are powerful and achieve a lot, maybe it will push others away from us. Will others feel like they are not good enough and shy away? Or will they try to sabotage us because they are jealous. What we need to realize is our being great inspires others to shine their light too.

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Sunday, March 8, 2009

update


My moms symptoms seem to get worse if she gets stressed out. She has tried going back to work a few times and is now currently working but the side to that is that her legs and arms are weaker and in more pain. On top of that her hip is flaring up with something. She went to doctor and they took an x-ray, but all it did was show her hip as healthy. He said it may be bursitis.
Her balance is still off and walking is slow. She goes in pool for 30minutes four times per week.
Progress is not at all and frustration is high. They still have her on lots of drugs, one I know for sure is neurotin.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009

March 10th

The wedding shower for Nicole came and went. It was a success. The food was great, thanks Terry. The decorations were gorgeous, thanks mom, loved everything from the yellow rose napkin holders to the bridal dolls on each table. The games went well, thanks me, I had the most fun with the toilet paper brides and the "name Nicole's age picture game". The cake table was great thanks to the two Sharon's. Donna was a great "pull all the loose ends together" person. Nicole was a great bride-to-be.
The upside to all this is mom had much to think about. The downside is it stressed her out and stress causes the GBS to act out. The stress caused her hands and feet to hurt more and her stomach to flair up all over again. She even had major heartburn in the middle of the night that caused her to gag. It made her afraid she might have to go to the hospital again. Terry was there to calm her down and tell her she was not going to the hospital, that it was just the heartburn and suggest she sit up in the chair in the living room. Terry sat up with her till 3am. Mom dosed off and finally went back to bed.
Another strange symptom is her ear itches. I gave her my garlic/mullen ear oil and it helps a lot.
Mom realizes that doing too much makes her symptoms worse and she is taking it easy for now. It takes a lot of patience for her to take it easy as she is very use to keeping busy all day.

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Jan 27, 2009

The space between blogs is getting wider. That means my mom is getting better. Bill got pneumonia and ended up in the hospital. Must be all the stress of mom being sick. After almost a week in the hospital he is back home. Tonight is his third night. Sun night he wheezed a good bit. Mom is getting restless. She talks about going back to work but does not have the energy to match the desire. We played cards Sun night at Donna's. Mom went to the mall to get her hair cut in the morning then over to Donna's house for cards and dinner. It was quite a full day for her. She was able to shuffle the card which was a big test. She is still getting PT. Life keeps moving at a fast pace, always changing, always evolving. Thank goodness it does....Jeanie

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Jan 21, 2009

Mom had a few visitors from out of town the last week. Bill's daughter flew in to help then his grandson came with his wife for a quick visit. I came over today because Bill got sick in the middle of the night and had to go to the emergency room. He had pneumonia out of the blue. He was not sick yesterday, just really tired lately. Must be all the stress of my mom being sick.
Mom seems so much better, she even said she wished she could go back to work. She is walking without the walker already. She holds onto furniture and walls when she needs to. She is having some sciatica pain. The PT massaged her yesterday and that helped. The pain and numbness is still in her hands and feet so she increased the Nuerotin by 300mg today. We are definately on the road to recovery. Yeh!!....Jeanie