August 30 - Sept. 6

Day 198-205
September 1st was the 200th day of this journey of ours, and it was a very nice day except for the wind. We had been invited to a wedding, but only Colin went in the end. He didn't take the wedding package, so someday I'll have to drop it off at the Mom and Dad's ( they are our neighbours) and convey our best wishes that way.
The news of the week is that Glenn has been released, and will come home tomorrow. We have set up his out patient therapy schedule, I'm rounding up his medical supplies, and we have a helper for home care, so all we are waiting for is funding for our helper, and who knows when that will go through. Sometimes you have to get organized, and hope for the best. Everyone who is farming will understand my unwillingness to wait for the beaurocracy to get organized, so I did it, and will have Glenn home now, not in some distant future. I suppose that means that I am picking up a lot of the responsibility, but the bottom line is Glenn and his well being. I will jump through all the hoops I have to to get funding for this arrangement, but feel Glenn needs to be home ASAP. I'm so excited to have him back, and today he looked at me and said "I'm going home!" and teared up. Well, what more can I say? This is the right thing to be doing right now.
The therapists have been writing up regiments of exercise programs for us to work with Glenn on, and he will go twice a week for PT and OT, so really he may have more exercise here than at the hospital, and we won't have that time consuming drive everyday. You will be happy to know that he spends a lot of time catching up on the computer, and although his typing is slow, he can use the mouse very well with his left hand, and could probably buy something on Ebay any old time!
The other exciting event yesterday is that his power chair came! We are figuring out how to bring it home, so that worked out very well. He will be able to tour around the yard on his own now, and may be able to use it in some areas of the house, although it is quite a bit larger than the regular wheel chair. Things are falling into place again, so I am very happy about that. I took some time today, and went to the General hospital because I have to get some of his feeding supplies there. I didn't get too lost, and a very helpful gentleman pointed me in the right direction in the end, so I was successful there. Now I just have to pick up his medicines and cans of food, and we should be pretty well set to go. They have supplied us with the food and meds for this weekend, so I have a bit of time to get the rest of our supplies. It has been pretty busy doing all this, but it felt good to be doing something constructive for a change. I'll send a few emails to some of you to be sure you don't come visiting at the hospital tomorrow. We should be gone around 4:00 , but you never know. They have booked Glenn for another Botox injection tomorrow, much to the surprise of his physio, so that will happen after his other therapies are done. Then we can go and settle in at home. Glenn's Uncle and Auntie from Vancouver are here, and plan to visit us on Sunday, so their timing is excellent too.
I have been so busy telling all the exciting news, that I didn't really cover the 5 day home trial last week end. It went well, although I dumped Glenn on the floor once. I was in too much of a hurry and out he came. As we stood him up he started laughing and said it wasn't too bad, but I was not happy about it and probably was more upset than he was. I hope that doesn't happen again, and will be more careful of how I move him around. Other wise everything went well, and it was sure nice to just be home together. All the rest of this week hinged on our success last weekend, so we should be OK. I know it will be lots of work, but I will be careful to have breaks, and to have the kids stay with him while I do other things. This is doing me a world of good too, and I'm only just realizing how much I miss being at home with him. OK, no blubbering, this is a time of joy and the result of a lot of prayer and hard work. I know that, and we also have a lot of work ahead of us, but at least we will be home!
Speaking of prayers, thank you for yours, I know that lots of you are keeping us in your prayers, and it helps tremendously to know that. I couldn't have borne this without prayer and faith that Glenn would get better. God has purpose for us yet, and time will reveal what that is. Now I'm getting mushy, so I better go!
'Til next time,
Louise