Mike-camp, Jennifer-vacation/respite

Lynn, Mike and I left Charlotte on Sunday morning, July 13 to head to Camp Virginia Jaycee near Roanoke, VA. Mike is spending 2 weeks at camp. The drive went fairly well, with just a couple of hiccups along the way, but nothing major.  It was very nice to have Lynn with us. When we arrived at camp, Mike headed directly to the bathrooms by the pool repeating "no, no, no" as he went. Another car pulled up right after us and a woman got out of the car saying "ok, ok, ok". This may sound strange but it was comforting to me to know that Mike was not the only one that repeats. It became funny as we walked up to the registration area, because the woman was in front of us with her father and it was like a duet "ok, no, ok, no, ok, no" then Mike switched to "ok, ok, ok" too! Positive peer pressure. :-) After another visit to the indoor bathroom, Mike was able to tell them his name and answer some initial questions. We met with the nurse regarding his medication and then went to the car with Gilbert, one of Mike's counselors, to get Mike's belongings.

Kavon, whom we had met on our previous visit, greeted Mike and took us in the golf cart up to Mike's cabin. At first, I wasn't sure if Lynn and I were supposed to go to the cabin with the guys since it is an all male cabin, but Mike grabbed my arm and said "you come with me!" Robert, the sports and recreation leader laughed and said "I think you better go with him." Lynn and I piled onto the back of the golf cart and it started pouring down rain. It wasn't far to the cabin and the trees made good umbrellas. We put sheets on Mike's bed and got him somewhat settled and then started to leave. Mike started to come with us, and another camper walked right out the door with us too. Kavon rounded everyone back up and back into the cabin and we told Mike it was time for us to go. At this point, Mike takes my arm and with a little push said "goodbye" and that was it. I was much relieved that it wasn't an ordeal. Thank you, Lord!

 Lynn and I left, planning to head toward West Virginia where we had a hotel for the night. GPS was not working, so I pulled out a map and decided which route we would take. Upon looking at the map, I saw that Mountain Lake was just a little way off of our intended path, so Lynn and I decided to take a little excursion. We drove up to Mountain Lake Lodge, inquired about the area and learned of a half mile hike right behind the lodge that went to the top of the mountain via the Bald Knob trail. It was a bit of a strenuous hike, but the view was well worth it.

 Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare 

the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the

work of his hands."

 After our hike, we continued on our way to Beckley, WV arriving at our hotel about 8:30pm. We opted to eat at the hotel restaurant and split a ceasar salad and mini-burgers appetizer. After supper we enjoyed a swim and the hot tub and slept wonderfully after all the exercise. It was such a fun carefree afternoon.

Monday morning, we headed to Adventures on the Gorge for our Tree Top Canopy Tour - 10 zip lines, 5 rope bridges, and one rappel. I have wanted to go zip lining for a long time and Lynn made it happen. Thank you, Lynn! It was so much fun!! I felt so free, zipping above the trees, whooping it up and having a grand time.
 

After our zip line adventure, we went to the New River Gorge visitor's center and gathered information and a CD to drive along the old route to the old, small New River Bridge, while viewing the amazing large 4 lane one. We stopped at several pull-offs to enjoy the views, or take short hikes to see waterfalls and wild flowers. It was a marvelous trip with so much beauty to see.

Then we were on our way to Ohio to spend a few days with Mom Rice.  We helped her hang some pictures, visited the Africa exhibit at the Columbus Zoo, celebrated Mark's birthday with one of Lynn's delicious Mexican meals and played cards. I left on Friday morning and Lynn was leaving today.

Friday I drove to Wintergreen for a few days of quiet, rest, reading, walking and alone time. A family friend offered their home to me for a few days and it has been wonderful. Going for a walk here is serious business though!  I'm at the top of a mountain so any walks start down, but I have to come back up - huffing and puffing. Today, my sister, Gayle, joined me and we have enjoyed talking, watched a movie and she just fixed us a delicious spaghetti and salad dinner. So many blessings and so much fun. I will go home on Wednesday to regroup before picking Mike up on Sunday.

I have heard from Mike a couple of times and he is doing well. A little rough at the beginning of the week, but he has settled in and the director said he has been a joy to have. Sunday he read Scripture and shared some of his testimony with the group. She said he's even dancing with them at breakfast now. He does have a cold and this morning she called to say they were taking him to the doctor because there was a bit of a rattle in his chest. He is prone to chest congestion, so this is not out of the ordinary. Please pray this does not disrupt his enjoyment of camp very much.

I praise God for this wonderful time to enjoy Him and all the beauty that He has made and given to us to enjoy. Thank you, Lord Jesus!

John 1:3 & 4

"Through him all things were made;

without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."

Hello Again

Well, more than a month has gone by since my last post. Is hard to know what to write sometimes. Our life continues to be much like a roller coaster. We have great days, rough days and so-so days or portions of days.  There are many stories I could tell, but really what is the point? This is our life and we're trying to make the most of what we've been given and some days are just thankful to get to the end of it. Other days I'm rejoicing that it was almost normal. I am trying to be more diligent about keeping a short journal and maybe one day I will write a book.  Some of our happenings over the last month have been:


Mike and I helped in the kitchen for VBS, plus I took pictures and set up a PowerPoint presentation for the closing. I enjoy working with programs like Power Point and it was such fun to be creative and help out in that way.


My nephew, TR & his wife, Brittany are creating a corn maze and pumpkin patch for the fall so we tested it out with my sister, Carol, and her husband, Ed.  Rains have been few and far between so the corn isn't growing as much as they'd like. TR set up irrigation to help it out.  If you live in the area, keep watch for when it will be open!


There are two people I want to introduce to you.  Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of either of them, but am very thankful for their help in the last month, in particular.

First I'll tell you about Max.  After losing 2 caregivers & multiple attempts to get someone from an agency to help with Mike, no one was working out. My niece, Coley, suggested asking a man from church who is a retired firefighter. So at the end of May, I called and asked Max if he would be interested. He started on May 27 and is a true God-send for Mike & me!  He is very calm, quiet-spoken, caring, and best-of-all Mike likes him! He really studies Mike and works at being careful not to agitate Mike as much as possible. He comes Monday and Thursday from 8:30 - 3:30, but thankfully is flexible and has worked longer days and more days, as needed. He's had to deal with the many faces of Mike, but takes it all in stride and as he said "deals with it automatically".  When Mike is with Max, I don't worry and can go and do what I need or want to do. I praise God for Max!

Me acting silly - "I'm trapped!"
May as well have fun with it!

Second is Dr. James Sellman, Mike's neuro-psychiatrist. We have been working together to try to minimize the amount of medication Mike is on. I am so thankful that Dr. Sellman is available via cell phone and is so good about calling me back. We are slowly decreasing one of Mike's meds and the new medication he tried, we have stopped because it was causing hallucinations.  The photo is after Mike barricaded me in my room to protect me from "them" - someone he thought was in the bathtub. Dr. Sellman even called one night while we were in Charlotte to make sure Mike was alright on the trip. That's a caring doctor, in my opinion.

As you can see in the photo, I have a bandage on my right hand.  I have had carpal tunnel issues for probably 6 years, but wore a brace at night and it wasn't too bad. Last spring, my PCP, Dr. Rosenbaum, gave me a cortisone shot and it helped me tremendously through the summer gardening season. By January, I needed another shot and then in late May/early June it really started to bother me again. It would wake me up at night - my hand would be numb and tingling and then I started to get shooting pains, plus could not write more than a page without it going numb. Dr. Rosenbaum said it was time to refer me to a hand specialist. On June 26, I had carpal tunnel surgery performed by Dr. Rawles. It was done out-patient under local anesthesia and was almost fun.  The Dr., nurses and I talked throughout the entire procedure. My hand immediately felt better. I have had less pain ever since than I was having the weeks prior to surgery. I still cannot really grip anything and cannot lift heavy items, but just today I removed the dead skin where the incision was made and the scar is barely visible. The lower hand and wrist is still a bit swollen, but Dr. Rawles said the ligament will grow back together and leave a wider space for the nerve that runs through the carpal tunnel. I'm so glad I had the surgery and so thankful for Carol and Gayle who came to help me (and Mike) that first week when I couldn't get it wet.

We finished The Holiness of God Bible study the end of June. What a wonderful study!  I am ready to do another study by R.C. Sproul. He is such an intelligent man and great teacher.

On July 4, Mike and I enjoyed picking blueberries with my cousin PJ. They were so delicious! PJ let me borrow her vacuum seal machine and I was able to freeze a few bags for later.  I also froze some squash to have in the winter. Mike helped me cut up the squash one day. The next day he was just pacing. Sigh...

On July 8, Mike and I packed his things for camp and our trip to Charlotte. Again, thank God for Max. He came on Mon., Tues., and Wed. so that I could get last minute things done before our trip. He took Mike to Johnny's Wednesday morning so I could pack my stuff and then when they got back we took off. Mike gets so anxious when we are travelling somewhere, so this made life much easier on me (and him). Mike did great on the trip, read the whole way. Thursday morning, Amy, Aria, Mike and I walked around the Ikea store and ate lunch there. Mike was having a fantastic day. Mark's family (Mike's brother) arrived in the early afternoon and then Mike rode with Mark & Jenney to pick up Mom Rice and his sister, Lynn from the airport. We played games, played with Aria and enjoyed a few days with family. Aria is such a cutie and so fun to be able to see her. She smiles a lot and is focusing on peoples faces more. So precious.

Amy is such a great Mom.

The center of attention.

 Well, I think this is enough for one post. I will have to write another one later today or tomorrow to fill you in on Mike's camp experience so far and what I'm doing with all this time off.  Blessings!