Monday, July 30, 2007
EYE SURGERY
Chie did have eye surgery earlier this month and is doing just fine. It was a thirty minute procedure to straighten her right eye. There were no complications and the doctor said he was very pleased with the results. Her eye is cleared up now. Her eyelid droops down a bit still and we will look at having cosmetic surgery to fix it in September. Sorry not to have told you sooner but the surgery came fast, about two weeks from our first Doctor visit!!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
CHIE UPDATE JULY 26
HI Everyone,
I know its been a long long long time since I have had a chance to email but Im finally getting to it. Summer has not been very relaxing at all, but we're alive and Chie is healthy so I can't complain. She has really enjoyed the rally of support brought on by the Japan America Society's story in their newsletter that our friend Keiko wrote (arigatogozaimasu) and the ICC. Thank you all sooooo much. She is happily back on her native diet the majority of the time and enjoys visiting with all her friends both new and old. I remember when one of her first visitors called to come see her. Chie had never met her before but was so excited. she hung up the phone and told me her friend was coming, then repeating "my friends" to herself several times louder and happier everytime she said it. Its times like that when you see just how much it means to someone to have a friend when they are down. PRICELESS!
She remains in good spirits and continues rehab everyday putting forth nothing less than 100%. Progress seems slow at times but little by little we will get better. ONe of her doctors gave her a real boost by pointing out all she can do now like, sit up straight, calm, relaxed, controlling her tremors in the arm and head, her improvement in speech and memory, movement in the left arm and hand, and strength throughout her arms and body. These were all things she could not do when he first saw her in late December. We were both pleased to hear that. He went on to say that when he first looked at her case he felt discouraged to see the multiple tears and sheering to her head, but now looking at her progress he felt it was actually a good thing. If all the damage was to one area and it did not heal then there would be notning for him to do. It would be a done deal. Seeing her now it appears that all of her injuries are healing to some extent so the potential for a better recovery is there. Unfortunately, our brains are not known for speed when healing. All of our brains heal at the same rate and its a slow process, 12 - 18 months usually, but we are still seeing good signs and improvement so we keep working to see just how far we can take it.
She still has her selfless character and strong desire to work as she helps and counsels others at the clinic every chance she gets in an effort to provide them with a little comfort and assurance that they are alright and will get better. In addition to that she has begun tutoring one of her friends in Japanese. He is an outstanding student and makes Chie very proud each week. In return he helps to get her playihg the piano again. Its quite discouraging for her to go from her level of play prior to the injury to where she is now. We're hoping this will kind of wake up that left arm and hand, finger memory the pianists call it. She is starting with scales and did much better last week than the week before so let's hope for best!
I will get back with another update soon.. IM new tothis blog bit and am still learning so I hope to update you all more often .. Ill finish soon , but now i have to run to Chie's and suprise her! Talk to you soon and thanks forall your continued support
DAVE
I know its been a long long long time since I have had a chance to email but Im finally getting to it. Summer has not been very relaxing at all, but we're alive and Chie is healthy so I can't complain. She has really enjoyed the rally of support brought on by the Japan America Society's story in their newsletter that our friend Keiko wrote (arigatogozaimasu) and the ICC. Thank you all sooooo much. She is happily back on her native diet the majority of the time and enjoys visiting with all her friends both new and old. I remember when one of her first visitors called to come see her. Chie had never met her before but was so excited. she hung up the phone and told me her friend was coming, then repeating "my friends" to herself several times louder and happier everytime she said it. Its times like that when you see just how much it means to someone to have a friend when they are down. PRICELESS!
She remains in good spirits and continues rehab everyday putting forth nothing less than 100%. Progress seems slow at times but little by little we will get better. ONe of her doctors gave her a real boost by pointing out all she can do now like, sit up straight, calm, relaxed, controlling her tremors in the arm and head, her improvement in speech and memory, movement in the left arm and hand, and strength throughout her arms and body. These were all things she could not do when he first saw her in late December. We were both pleased to hear that. He went on to say that when he first looked at her case he felt discouraged to see the multiple tears and sheering to her head, but now looking at her progress he felt it was actually a good thing. If all the damage was to one area and it did not heal then there would be notning for him to do. It would be a done deal. Seeing her now it appears that all of her injuries are healing to some extent so the potential for a better recovery is there. Unfortunately, our brains are not known for speed when healing. All of our brains heal at the same rate and its a slow process, 12 - 18 months usually, but we are still seeing good signs and improvement so we keep working to see just how far we can take it.
She still has her selfless character and strong desire to work as she helps and counsels others at the clinic every chance she gets in an effort to provide them with a little comfort and assurance that they are alright and will get better. In addition to that she has begun tutoring one of her friends in Japanese. He is an outstanding student and makes Chie very proud each week. In return he helps to get her playihg the piano again. Its quite discouraging for her to go from her level of play prior to the injury to where she is now. We're hoping this will kind of wake up that left arm and hand, finger memory the pianists call it. She is starting with scales and did much better last week than the week before so let's hope for best!
I will get back with another update soon.. IM new tothis blog bit and am still learning so I hope to update you all more often .. Ill finish soon , but now i have to run to Chie's and suprise her! Talk to you soon and thanks forall your continued support
DAVE
Monday, July 23, 2007
HERE WE GO
1, 2, 1, 2 ARE WE ROLLIN' ???
WELCOME EVERYBODY
TO
CHIE'S NEW BLOGSITE!!!!!
HELP CHIE AS SHE BATTLES BACK DOWN THAT LONG AND TEDIOUS ROAD TO RECOVERY
FOR GATHERED SUPPORT, UPDATES, AND NEWS
Well, after much time and much support from the ICC (Thanks) I am going to give this a try in hopes that it will allow me to update everybody with a little more frequency than my current rate of update.
A MUCH DESERVED THANK YOU
Let me begin by saying thanks to so many of you for all your help and continued support without which Chie and I would not have made it this far. We are just over the year mark and when I think back one year ago and who was there and who helped me keep my sanity, gave me direction and the support to push on at a time when I was so lost and overwhelmed with shock and emotions. I break out in tears just thinking about it but do want you to know it is not forgotten; Our families here and in Japan. My sister,Bao and Steph for all the long evenings at the hospital, Trotta and Mel, Lauren, Bubba, Kev, Rosetta and all the McCreas, Catherine for the essential, Mike at Campissis, Bill from After Hour Services for home repair and making sure we had light and could use the bathroom when relatives flew in, Delton for the advice, Friends old and new for the long hours on the phone in the middle of the night, from BT up on the Alaskan North Slope, Timmy way down under in Oz, Petey in England, JOJO in Osaka and frends all over the world thanks for the ear, The Richland Family Noelli, David, Bao, Kathy, Flor, Pablo, Babs, Mary, Diane, All, all of you at Richland for the auction and all that you do, the Aschners /Sitrins for the many wonderful meals and rock solid support, Kayla for gathering support, OPAQUE for the musical support Nicholly Craig thanks, Ricky for the clothes, Hiroe & Aunt Pammy for the long luch visits to Kindred, All KINDRED STAFF and DR PERIJOC, the stars at Silberstein, Debbie and Ron at the STring Bean, Tamako and Ino at Ino, Masudasan Sensei for Osechi Riori and her students Keiko and Akiko for giving us our second wind, Japan America Society, Akiko & YurIka at Ichijo for our steady japanese diet (anta ichiban yo), Kazuko and ... uh.. ger.. main... RAYMOND! Keiko Shimoida, the kind staff at Po' Melvin's, Chubby's, Sheila Mayfield, Ernestien, New Orleans & Laura at CNS who are worth their weight in gold, Tim & Kaori, Jean Antoine, Yukimi, Noriko, Barry& Jun, Yasushi, Yoshi, Saori at Develop, Ayami, Gonchan, Hattasan. the Coker's, Julia Keith, Tim & Kaori and all continuing to come, AND the ICC for getting this going and giving us a breath of hope.
There is really no way for me to put in words how much it means and how greatful I am for all that you have and are doing for us. As I have said before, it is the kinds hearts of people like you that we owe this recovery to. You are our heroes. We are eternally indebted to you for making this possible.
Thank You,
David Blumenthal.
WELCOME EVERYBODY
TO
CHIE'S NEW BLOGSITE!!!!!
HELP CHIE AS SHE BATTLES BACK DOWN THAT LONG AND TEDIOUS ROAD TO RECOVERY
FOR GATHERED SUPPORT, UPDATES, AND NEWS
Well, after much time and much support from the ICC (Thanks) I am going to give this a try in hopes that it will allow me to update everybody with a little more frequency than my current rate of update.
A MUCH DESERVED THANK YOU
Let me begin by saying thanks to so many of you for all your help and continued support without which Chie and I would not have made it this far. We are just over the year mark and when I think back one year ago and who was there and who helped me keep my sanity, gave me direction and the support to push on at a time when I was so lost and overwhelmed with shock and emotions. I break out in tears just thinking about it but do want you to know it is not forgotten; Our families here and in Japan. My sister,Bao and Steph for all the long evenings at the hospital, Trotta and Mel, Lauren, Bubba, Kev, Rosetta and all the McCreas, Catherine for the essential, Mike at Campissis, Bill from After Hour Services for home repair and making sure we had light and could use the bathroom when relatives flew in, Delton for the advice, Friends old and new for the long hours on the phone in the middle of the night, from BT up on the Alaskan North Slope, Timmy way down under in Oz, Petey in England, JOJO in Osaka and frends all over the world thanks for the ear, The Richland Family Noelli, David, Bao, Kathy, Flor, Pablo, Babs, Mary, Diane, All, all of you at Richland for the auction and all that you do, the Aschners /Sitrins for the many wonderful meals and rock solid support, Kayla for gathering support, OPAQUE for the musical support Nicholly Craig thanks, Ricky for the clothes, Hiroe & Aunt Pammy for the long luch visits to Kindred, All KINDRED STAFF and DR PERIJOC, the stars at Silberstein, Debbie and Ron at the STring Bean, Tamako and Ino at Ino, Masudasan Sensei for Osechi Riori and her students Keiko and Akiko for giving us our second wind, Japan America Society, Akiko & YurIka at Ichijo for our steady japanese diet (anta ichiban yo), Kazuko and ... uh.. ger.. main... RAYMOND! Keiko Shimoida, the kind staff at Po' Melvin's, Chubby's, Sheila Mayfield, Ernestien, New Orleans & Laura at CNS who are worth their weight in gold, Tim & Kaori, Jean Antoine, Yukimi, Noriko, Barry& Jun, Yasushi, Yoshi, Saori at Develop, Ayami, Gonchan, Hattasan. the Coker's, Julia Keith, Tim & Kaori and all continuing to come, AND the ICC for getting this going and giving us a breath of hope.
There is really no way for me to put in words how much it means and how greatful I am for all that you have and are doing for us. As I have said before, it is the kinds hearts of people like you that we owe this recovery to. You are our heroes. We are eternally indebted to you for making this possible.
Thank You,
David Blumenthal.
1, 2, 1, 2 ARE WE ROLLIN' ???
WELCOME EVERYBODY
TO
CHIE'S NEW BLOGSITE!!!!!
- HELP CHIE AS SHE BATTLES BACK DOWN THAT LONG AND TEDIOUS ROAD TO RECOVERY
- FOR GATHERED SUPPORT, UPDATES, AND NEWS
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