Vermont Winter

This is the amount of snow that was on the ground when we got to Vermont Tuesday, 022707. Randy, Rick's nephew, measured 18 inches.












Wednesday, I thought I had practiced enough and was ready to take Rick for a ride on the snow mobile. I'm checking my watch to see what time we are starting so I would know how long we rode. It was 1:00 pm.











Here we go across the road to the Cate Farm drive.














Going down the drive. Pete from the Cate Farm had taken Bev's snow mobile and made some trails in their nice flat field so we could ride safely.

Well, as you can see, we didn't get too far. This is the entrance to the field. I didn't make the turn and the snow mobile tipped on its side causing Rick and I to fall off. The problem being that I stuck my foot out trying to keep it from turning over. The snow kept it from moving and I fell sideways, twisting my knee. I thought I had broken it. It took some manuvering to straighten my leg. Then I wondered how we were going to get help. I said to Rick, "Rick, you are going to have to go get someone to help us." I wasn't sure what he could do, but I prayed as he left that God would guide him. And sure enough, shortly he came back with Richard, the man of the house, and another man. They brought a sled for me to sit on instead of sitting in the cold snow. And Sally called 911. Here she is talking to the EMT's and giving them directions and taking theirs.



After a long afternoon at the ER, we finally made it home about 5:50 pm. We were planning to meet Rick's cousin, Jackie, and her husband, Jerry, for dinner. But after I made it up the stairs into the house, all I wanted to do was sit in the lounge chair and rest. So we didn't make it out to eat.








This picture shows the splint that was put on my leg to keep me from bending or twisting my knee in the wrong way.











And here is Rick resting after a long day. That is Turbo on the couch with him.

More Vermont Winter Fun

Here are a few more pictures of winter fun. I wanted you to see that I didn't let a little sprained knee keep me from enjoying the snow. :o)

Rick and Bev in front of the Coburn Bridge

This is the house that Rick grew up in. They have just finished putting vinyl siding on it. It looks so nice now.

Bev made sure that Rick got in the snow mobiling that I failed to provide for him.

Rick's cousin, Candi, came over and got Randy, Bev's son, to take Rick and her on a sled behind the snow mobile. They had so much fun.

Winter barnyard

It looks like Rick is driving this snow mobile. But he really didn't.

Winter Snow Fun

Bev, Rick’s sister came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. It was very good to have her with us. Rick didn’t go to the center the whole week. She said right away that she felt it was more difficult to engage Rick in conversation or to get through to him. It is so hard for me to see these changes. So it is good when someone else comes who isn’t around him all the time. They have a better perspective on things.

While Bev was with us Vermont got 30 inches of snow. They hadn’t had much snow all winter long. So she mentioned that it would be nice to get Rick up to Vermont for winter fun one more time. We had tried to do it last year but when we finally worked out all the details, our trip ended up being in June, not February. So I went on line and found tickets for a good price, talked to my manager to see if I could get off work, and then purchased the tickets. Here we are in Vermont.

There is 18 inches of snow still on the ground with piles up to 3 feet and more. Bev has a snow mobile and she wanted me to take Rick out on it. She has been having bursitis in her shoulder and she was cautious about driving it.

So Tuesday, after we got here, I went out to practice driving the snowmobile around the house. I took 3 laps by myself and then took Rick around 3 times. That was enough for that day. It was already getting dark by that time.

Wednesday was going to be our snowmobiling day. But when Bev went out to start it, it wouldn’t start. So we walked over to the neighbor’s house to ask if he could come and look at the machine. He could come at 12:30.
It took just a minor adjustment and we were up and running. I looked at my watch and saw it was 1 pm as we took off down the drive to the neighbor’s field where they had made trails for us to use. I am a real armature on the snow mobile.

We had to make a sharp turn to the right to get onto the trail. I tried to make it and had to back up. The second time I though we probably could make it but we still went over the bank some. This caused the machine to tip to the right and I stuck out my leg to keep it from turning over. Well, my leg wasn’t strong enough and the snowmobile turned on its side causing my leg to bend awkwardly. I heard it snap. I was able to get it straightened out but I was sure I had broken it. I sent Rick to get help. I wasn’t sure if he would be able to, but in a few short minutes he brought back the neighbor, Richard, and a friend of his. Pretty soon, Sally, Richard’s wife, and Bev came also. They called 911 and the ambulance was on its way. The first responders were there in 5-10 minutes. They cut my brand new jeans to examine my leg. There was no open cut. They put a splint on it and then I was put on a stretcher and put into the ambulance. My first ambulance ride.

We spent the rest of the day in the emergency room. Because I wasn’t critical, I wasn’t the priority. They x-rayed my leg and found that it wasn’t broken. Praise the Lord! But I have a torn ligament or tendon, maybe the meniscus. But it isn’t completely torn through. Dr. Lynch told me that it should heal by itself. He put an ace wrap on my knee to bring down the swelling, and a knee immobilizer. He gave me crutches.
We left the Emergency Department about 5:30 pm. What a wasted day! And a wasted vacation. We were supposed to meet Rick’s cousin, Jackie and her husband, Jerry, for supper. I thought I was going to be able to go without any trouble. But by the time I got up the stairs to the living room, I was exhausted. I dropped down in the lounge chair and didn’t want to move. So we canceled our dinner out.

I felt very useless, having to let everyone wait on me. I’m usually out in the kitchen helping get supper and washing the dishes. I couldn’t do anything at all. I did get up to the table to eat. That took a lot of energy.

It was good to get into the bed. But difficult to move and change positions. So I woke up a lot during the night. I dreamed that I woke up the next morning not needing to use my crutches. Well, that didn’t happen, but I am able to only use one crutch. That is good.

It took me a long time to get dressed this morning. I move rather slowly. Trying to figure out how to do things with a bad leg is hard. But I was able to get Rick, and myself, washed and dressed this morning. He was able to help me with picking up things off the floor for me.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to post when we get home. We are supposed to be getting a snow storm tomorrow and Saturday. I am looking forward to that.

Rick's progress

I am grateful to Tamara for posting the levels of Alzheimer’s Disease. And I agree with her that Rick is now in level 2. He paces a lot, walks through the house at night, and even during the day. Since he is at the center all day, I don’t really know what his activity is there. He does sleep a lot at home. So the part about “Doesn't stay down long in any one place” doesn’t apply. Except when he is awake, he is moving around a lot.

He is having more difficulty with eating. When he is very hungry he eats well. But after he has eaten enough to take away the hunger edge he gets distracted and has to be reminded to continue eating. Sometimes I have to actually put the food on his fork and put it in his hand and direct it to his mouth. He is still eating everything put on his plate most of the time. He hasn’t lost weight. He has actually gained back what he had lost earlier.

He still likes music but doesn’t participate much in church as he has in the past. He may clap some but much of the time he just stands there, not singing or claping. But then most of the songs at our church are the new choruses and worship songs that he doesn’t know too well. If we sing a hymn or song that he knew from before then he will join in. He can’t get all the words but usually gets the last one of the phrase.

He is having more difficulty responding to my cues with dressing. I have been handing him his pants to put on and he would be able to put them on. But now he can’t remember what to do with them when I hand them to him. I have to actually start putting his socks on now before he can take over and complete the task.

When I ask him to get the blanket on the couch, he can’t figure out what he is supposed to get. He picks up the pillow instead. The more I say, “No, not the pillow. The blanket,” he gets confused and it is easier just to say “forget it” and do it myself.

Most all of level 3 applies too. He constantly picks up little things on the floor. He doesn’t recognize ownership. He takes Emma’s and Mara’s toys away from them. I think he thinks he is correcting them or keeping them from doing something they shouldn’t be doing.

He definitely walks around well and likes going places and doing things. It was definitely harder flying with him this time. He had a hard time comprehending my instructions, like “sit down here, Rick.”

His language has been poor for a long time. He can’t get past the first 3-4 words in his sentence. Once in a great while he can complete the whole sentence. It is usually when he is not happy.

He still wants to make conversation. He will go up to a stranger and start a question. He did get out, “Where are you from” to the man who was sitting across the aisle from us on the plane. I get a little embarrassed when he does that because they don’t understand that he can’t talk.

He does respond to tone of voice or body language. He can tell quickly when I get frustrated with him and he gets more anxious.

He gets very nervous during meals. I discussed this with the nurse at the center who said she thinks he is forgetting how to eat and he gets anxious about it. His legs get to shaking up and down and his arms and hands do too. Sometimes he can’t get his fork to his mouth without spilling the food off of it. When I ask him what he is anxious about he says “It just comes.”

I don’t feel the patches have helped at all. He is still using them. I am half way through the last month. It was a trial and it didn’t work.