Singing with Lafe

I started listening to Lafe's CD in the car, and remembered this time when we all sang together in Aunt Bev's kitchen. Dad really had a good time. Here's one video. One of the others was too long to upload to YouTube, so I'll have to find another way.

Also, we might sound good to us, but Lafe will sound really good to anybody when he's not encumbered by all the rest of us. Give him listen at his website, where many of his songs are sampled. Am I Gone: www.lafedutton.com

Myrtle Beach Pictures

Cheryl, Jake, Joyce and Rick

Nana with Emma and Jake

Our site on the beach. Rick is sitting in the shade.

Rick.

Emma and Jake, buried in the sand.

Jeremy and Emma buried Erin's legs in the sand.

Erin and Emma.

Emma jumping the waves.

Summer 2007

Here I am again after 6 weeks. I think I have some good things to report.

I haven't had to give Rick a Xanax now in several weeks. He is on Risperdol twice a day and that seems to be holding him. I praise the Lord for that.

I realize over and over again that he likes to be with people and especially his family and his church family. He seems to thrive in that. We spent the day at Fairy Stone Park in Virginia yesterday and he really enjoyed it. He actually swam out to the dock and back. Of course he rested before coming back again. Last year, I was afraid to let him even try to go out. We have a membership to a pool in our neighborhood, this year and I have had him swim laps with me some and so I felt pretty confident in his ability to make it. I think he was pretty proud of himself. Getting off the dock was a little tricky. They have the straight ladders on the side of the dock. And the steps don't go down too far. When he got to the last step he wasn't sure what to do. After a little while of trying to find another step, he finally just pushed off backwards and floated on his back. He then turned around and swam back into the shallow end of the pool. I was really proud of him.

We spent a week at Myrtle Beach June 16 - 23. It was a wonderful vacation. Rick handled it just fine. He was a little nervous about going out into the surf, but did go out with me. As long as the waves weren't too strong we did fine. When they got stronger, I wasn't comfortable trying to hold on to Rick. My knee is still very weak and I was afraid that he and I would both be washed away. We walked up the beach nearly every day. That was like pulling 150 lbs. He wouldn't walk with me. I had to hold his hand to keep him up with us and so I was constantly pulling him. My arm got very tired.

One time I looked up and Rick wasn't in his chair beside me. I was afraid we had lost him. But with just a little bit of looking around from our chairs, we located him down the beach, maybe 5 or 6 groups down. He was trying to talk to them. It was a real blessing that we were able to find him that easily. That was the only time that he wandered off without us knowing it. He sat under the umbrella or the canopy that Cheryl and Jeremy had. It was very nice to have shade to get into when we were ready to get out of the sun but not away from the water.

Rick hasn't really shown any improvements, but he seems a little easier to handle right now. It was a little hard for the 3 days that I had to go to Texas for my work. Cheryl agreed to keep him and Gerald Proctor, the friend from church who has been bringing Rick home from the center, agreed to take him in the mornings, also, those 3 days. Debra Riley, also from our church, who comes to stay with Rick 2 evenings a week, came to Cheryl's to help her with Rick Monday and Tuesday. So I think he did very well at Cheryl's. Rick and I stayed there together Saturday and Sunday nights before I left on Monday so that he could get used to a different place. Cheryl said one night he had gone out of his room and she couldn't find him. She looked all over the house. The doors were locked so she was sure he hadn't gone outside. But she couldn't find him in the house. She finally called Jeremy to help her look and Rick heard her and came to meet her. He had been sitting in a chair in the very far corner of her dining room and she couldn't see him. I think that was the only bad experience she had with him. I am very thankful for her willingness to help out. I know with her work and 2 children, an extra one to look out for was hard for her. I am thankful also for the friends from church who help out. They are all a very big blessing to me.

While I was in TX, I went out before breakfast with a couple other nurses to walk. The sidewalks were dry except for one area where the water had run across it bringing with it some mud. Well, when I stepped in it my feet went out from under me and I fell backwards and hit my head hard. It was just a short while when I realized that my head was bleeding. My nurse friends had me lay still and they called the rescue squad and I was transported to the local emergency room. It was a very new hospital and not very busy yet. I was in and out of there in about 3 hours. But I left with 16 staples in my head. Needless to say, I missed most of the classes that day. I tried to stay in class but couldn't keep my eyes open, so after lunch I went back to my room to sleep. But, of course, with a head injury, you are not supposed to sleep much. So my friends called me every 30 - 60 minutes to wake me up. I would wake up and answer the phone, tell them who it was that called me and then go right back to sleep. I guess it was about 4 pm when I woke up and felt like going back down to class. By then I had missed all the important stuff. But I was able to enjoy dinner. I didn't have a headache. They gave me an RX for Lortab and Phenergan but I didn't use either of them.

When I got home on Wednesday night, I got in the bed and everything started circling around me. After about 30 seconds, it stopped. But every time I lay down or get up I get dizzy. I went to my family doctor who had a second CT scan done. It showed everything normal. She said that I have fluid behind my eardrum from the injury and that is what is causing my dizziness. She said that should go away.

I had the staples removed last Tuesday, 070207. I think I am healing nicely. I still have some scab in my scalp.

My girls have told me that they aren't going to let me go away again. First the sprained knee in Vermont and now the head laceration in Texas. I'm not as young as I used to be and I don't recover from these things as fast as I would like.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. They are very much appreciated and I know that is the only way that I am able to make it. God is good!

By the way.... I finally got the winter Vermont pictures posted. Dated 031407.