Do you miss us?

They say the best way to get readers to leave your blog is to post less frequently. I am narcissistic enough to enjoy my readership, but I have posted less anyway. Why? Because Ellie is staying with her grandparents.

Since Ellie is away, Linda and I have really tried to enjoy our time. Alas, dear reader, that means you get ignored. You'll survive, but I'm sorry if you've missed us.

The truth is, I've also had meetings and missed most of Linda's therapies this week. So I can't update you with lots. I do know that she tried walking with a single cane on Monday and was pleased with how she did.

Yesterday, I'm told that they went to the weight room for her PT session. The big goal is to further reduce Linda's tone (involuntary muscle tightness) which will happen as she gets stronger. She told me that she really enjoyed the weights. It was something different, and something that feels normal, like everyone healthy. She did fall getting off one of the machines, which scared the PT. As usual, Linda's pride was hurt more than her body. Fortunately she landed on her behind which has a bruise on it now. In one way, Linda was very proud of her fall. She fought off the tears that inevitably follow and beat them.

Yesterday, Linda called Mary on the phone and had a mostly successful conversation with her. That was the first time Linda has talked to anyone other than me on the phone. She called her mother this morning and I think it went a little less well, but not bad. Definitely something to be excited about.

We're trying to remember to do Linda's oral stim at home more faithfully. This is an exercise where she touches different places in her mouth with frozen cotton swabs. The idea is to wake up the nerves and muscles she needs for talking. She always does it in therapy but forgets at home. We finally have a system that I think will work. I put a note by the coffee stuff. If we make coffee at home, then she has to do the stim. She gets the coffee as a reward of course.

I dug up my septic lines in the yard since I thought they were broken. We had been having water back up to the house. Alas, they weren't broken, so I paid to dig them up for nothing. However, I know precisely where the overflow cap is located. I don't know if I wasn't told about it when I bought the house or if I didn't pay attention. I could have removed that for free and saved myself a lot of headache.

Oh well. Call it tuition. I just purchased a day class in septic technologies. It doesn't smell the greatest, but it really was pretty interesting.