Back to Rehab!!!

BACK TO REHAB

WELL, It looks like summer is over for Chie too. We received a call the other day that informed us all the paper work was complete and in order, so we are set to begin at Pate Rehabilitation on Tuesday the 2nd, YEA!!!! It kind of caught us off guard with school just starting, the party, setting up a home therapy routine for Chie etc.... We have been saying September 1st is when the funds will be dispursed and we are at the top of the list, but we did not know at what speed the process would move from when the funds were given out. We had heard some horror stories of people having to wait more than a month. We had some other distractions that kept us from realizing , its September already!

We are very happy to have been able to get into this rehab and we will receive 6 months of treatment thanks to DARS (disabled Assistive Rehabilitative Services). We have already toured the facility and Chie is very excited to go there. She knows many people who have gone to Pate. The schedule and program looks really good. Chie will take part in making her own schedule, planning activities or tasks that interest and pertain to her, managing her time to do such things, and planning outings. When we went to tour the place, Chie had worked out her own little test with Sheila to see whether or not this place was alright. I did not know about it since Chie went directly to Pate from Sheila's house where she had her first sleepover!! Anyways, Chie tells Sheila, "If this lady takes me to the bathroom when I ask, then they alright." Thankfully the lady did not even hesitate when Chie asked to use the restroom during the interview. That's all I needed was to have to have to go through a round of battling over who takes her to the bathroom, but I have to admit, I was proud of her. It seemed like valid test to me after some of the rotten things we have been through by some of the laziest, least inteligent people on the planet. I cringe just thinking about them and I pray I never run across them on the street.

So, now with Pate passing with flying colors we will begin Tuesday. I will be off this week getting her admitted and meeting with therapist, counselors, etc... As soon as we get settled I will find out the lunch procedure for those of you who bring food and eat with her. I do ask that everyone please wait a couple of weeks so that she can get settled into the routine without any distractions and focus on her work at hand. I'll be sure and update you all to let you know how she is doing and when she is ready to have visitors. I will be making sure she has a good breakfast, as I am sure she will be talking to her new found friends, a lot.

Would like to thank everyone who helped us through this little transition period. Bobby, I dont know what I would have done without your help. We are forever in your debts brother. Bobby got a real taste of what it is like to be with Chie 24/7 since he stayed for a total of 6 weeks to help out during summer school and until Chie got into Pate. He left with a whole new respect for the word patience and probaly one he has not had since raising kids. He didnt get a chance to meet everyone at the party, but he was responsible of all the good food coming off the grill. Thank you to the Junko, Akiko, and Megumi for making that long drive from Keller to check up on Chie in the Afternoons while I was at school.

It was no small task, but with all of your help we were able to keep Chie working over the summer and hopefully somewhat ready for Pate. She continued with her walker, making all the way to the stop sign and back, she used the grabber, finally, for the first time while playing with Udon in the yard, she has been reading a story a day from her Japanese folk tale book that Keiko sensei gave her, she beat both Bobby and me at Othello repeatedly, practiced piano (if you thought you were tired of hearing The Star Spangled Banner from the Olympics, you ought to drop by our house these days), treasure hunt, categories, boggle, family feud, Jeopardy (well, that was mainly Bobby and I), sorting medicines, washing the car, folding clothes, and whatever else we could think of that could be seen as therapy, she did it. We even got her to use the computer, FINALLY!!!! I have been trying for six months to get her to use the computer but she just hasnt had any interest in it. Now, after some minor repairs, we have it hooked up to the huge TV, as she calls it, and she can see it! I am guessing that was the problem with the other one we have. We played some games on the internet to keep her mind sharp and then she got a call from her old friends Shochan, Nagurian, and Nichan. I had the big keyboard out, the giant Mouse ready, and showed her an email with great big monsterous type that she could read with ease, and then came the words Ive been waiting to hear, "I want to write them back , on the computer" Finally! and so she did. Thank you girls for calling. Chie didnt mean to cry, but wanted to let you know she was just so excited to hear from you. Its been a while since anyone has contacted her from Japan. Anyways, We tried to make it a working holiday so to speak.

Well , I will keep you updated frequently as we make the transition, but I am going to stop now because Chie wants to TYPE her first blog entry right after this,,,,,,YEA!

Thank you all for making her recovery a success!

Thank You for Coming

Thank You for Coming

to our

Party!!!!!!

We just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came to the party , and to those who could not make it, we hope to see you at the next one. It was great to see and meet everybody. Its been such a long time since we last saw some of you. It was nice to catch up again. I know Chie enjoyed seeing everyone. She was "sooo happy" and it was "sooooo nice off everyone to come", and she wants to thank everyone "sooooo much." I think the day was a success. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves. It was truly our pleasure having you and we do hope to do it again soon.

I really want to thank Keiko for suggesting it and setting it up. Megumi for your endless help with our situation, Kaoru and the Ft. Worth crew, and last but not least, Beautiful Bobby for manning the Grill.

Thank you

Vacation At Last

GALVESTON VACATION

We did finally get to take a little bit of a vacation. Chie was longing for the beach and so was I. Aunt Pammy had a few days open for us to stay at the beach house so we took 'em. Fortunately for us, Beautiful Bobby was already down there and agreed to stay to help me out with Chie. It can be a bit, just a bit tedious managing Chie along with everything else going on. We are ever greatful for you both.


We somehow made it to the beach house in right around 4 hours, and we stopped twice! I guess we were just both excited to get back to the beach and the ocean water. Everybody needs that. A quick stop by the beach house to put on suits and pick up some fishing poles and right to the beach. We had a nice suprise when we got there and saw Keithly, like a big brother to me, making an appearance to celebrate his birthday.


When we got there it was just a bit cloudy, which is great seeings how it has been so hot these days. The water was unusually cool due to the cloud cover, yeah! I know some people think it unimaginable that we could take Chie swimming in the ocean, but I think the ocean water is some sort of cure all, it makes you feel alive, and heals mind body and soul. Nobody should be denied that and we havent had it a very long time.

We drove out onto the beach, unloaded the wheelchair, strapped on Chie's life jacket, rolled her right out into the water until it got to deep for the chair, stood her up walked her right out into the waves!!! Like it ain't no thing, Piece of cake.

As you all know, we are not too big on people telling Chie she cannot do something. We played in the waves for a couple of hours trying to body surf Chie in the waves on her back with the life jacket. It was fun and she was so excited, repeatedly saying "FEELS GOOD!!! FEELS GOOD!!!" We we would tell her "Go Find Balance Danielsan" like Mr. Miagi in Karate Kid. Then we got a little shallower so she could get on her hands and knees and balance against the littler waves. Nobody wanted to get out, except for more beer, but it was getting dark already so we had to call it a day. It turned out to be a pretty good day of therapy for Chie as she was working quite a bit out in the water. She also got a little work out climbing up and down the stairs of the beach house.

The next day the weather was turning so we only went to the beach for a little while and then down to the strand to see what was shakin'. We visited the stores and then went to get a little dinner and relax. It gets a little blurry after that, haha, but at some point, we weathered hurricane Eduard, which should have been called "light wind Eduard." It turned out to be nothing despite the hype of the news stations. Unable to take anymore news coverage of the "rain" and "no injuries, no calls to police or fire departments" we decided to head down the beach for a drive and see what was going on. Its hard to believe they could fill up 8 hours of constant broadcasting with so little to work with. Down on the strand, we saw the news reporters asking people what the thought about the weather and when we got home, we saw Chie on TV four times!! That was pretty cool.

We went out that night to our Mardi Gras watering hole, Slices. Didnt take long to make friends there,, I think it was all of about 15 seconds before Chie had two drunken pachanguerras at our table, Roslyn and Heather. They were both very kind to us and it was nice to meet them as the made the night fun and exciting. Found our hook Freddy in no time as well and also really great to have made his aquaintance, appreciate the hospitality (thank you Jason). It was probably one of the best nights we have had in a long time.

There were just a couple of things left that Chie wanted to do for it to be a perfect vacation; Stay at a hotel, Catch a Shark! Seemed easy enough, and probably would have been, but apparantly its the standard business practice of the hotel COMMODORE ON THE BEACH to cancel all reservations without letting any of there cusotmers know, when there is a hurricane or tropical deppression. I called to check our reservation and the lady informs me that they are closed??!!???!! How weird is that? I cant imagine if we had just driven 1,000 miles to get there and then the hotel says " oh sorry we are closed, we cancelled all reservations" Where would we go stay? What kind of hillbilly business practice is that? The lady said they made every attempt to contact all customers to let them know,,But "every attempt" does not include dialing all 10 digits of a phone number, as I held my phone up showing the call log asking "how hard did you try to contact me? Did you pick up the phone but forget to dial? or like maybe forget that there are 3 numbers prior to the seven of a phone number known as an area code that you need to dial as well?" I dont even think she could understand me as she stood there twirling her tongue around her only front tooth and asking me if we wanted to stay that night. I asked her if that was a rhetorical question to which she responded "what?" I just said "never mind" and walked out. Surely she didnt think I was gonna spend any money there. I want to take this moment to encourage all the kids on the island to stay in school.

We booked a room on the flagship over the water and it was great! We had a balcony and could watch the dolphins and surfers and feed our Honeycomb cereal to the seagulls. It was a lot of fun and made for a change of scenery appeasing Chie, who got to have a long hot bath like she wanted. They also had a great pool for us to swi m in.

Now we only had to catch a shark. We catch sharks all the time in the surf by Aunt Pammy's but this time we wanted to go BIGGER! Though we were all on vacation, it is sometimes work trying to manage Chie all the time and we all needed a break, so I figured if you gonna do somethin, do it right! I felt like my father as I looked at Chie and said "What say old Dabito blow a little coin on a kick ass drag boat? eh Chie, a little "eat my wake" sharkin trip? I rememberred Dan Akroyd saying that in the Great Outdoors. Chie was clueless. Never the less, We would like to thank Captain Chad and First Mate Brad of Extreme Island AdventureThanks for cutting us a deal on a SHARKIN' TRIP!!! I called Aunt Pammy just to let her know that if they got a wild hair, that we had chartered a 32' scarab to go shark fishin in the morning just in case Mr. McCrea wanted to go. She called back about 20 minutes later saying 'David, Mr. McCrea is coming." and so they did. Right ON! I knew he wouldnt get soft on me. It was a blast! We caught 7 Sharks in under 3 hours and all the sharks were 5 feet or bigger!! How great is that!!! After the seventh one the captain looked at me and said "you wanna catch another?" to which I replied "Nope, its hot as hades out here, I think we are all good. Lets get out of here." 7sharks in 3 hours, its like a dream . I dont want sit out there all day trying to chase that, it doesnt get any better! Thank for a great trip guys. We will see you next time down, and for anyone reading this who may want to go get on some sharks in Galveston , its;

Captain Chad

Extreme Island Adventures

281 827 0740

That was the icing on the cake for our summer vacation and I cant believe the summer has already come and gone, so sad

See you all soon

End of Summer Celebration

End of Summer Celebration

August 23rd 2pm-6pm

1121 Atlanta Dr.

Garland Tx 75041

The end of summer has finally come for us. Chie has graduated from CNS. We have taken a little time off and are adjusting to being at home full time. We would like to invite you all to our house to thank you for your continued support and celebrate the the many things we have to be greatful for as we step into the next stage of Chie's recovery.
I know we have not seen many of you in quite a while as we have stayed pretty busy preparing for our departure from CNS after almost two years. It is a little frightening for us as we sit in limbo waiting to see if or when funds will come through for Chie to resume therapy at Pate Rehabilitation. Unsure and insecure, we do not want to fall into a downward spiral of our fears, so Lets take this opportunity to boost Chie's spirits by getting together and show Chie the support she has behind her.
I will have some snacks and refreshments. You all know the level of my culinary skills, so if you want to bring something good, that is great! Really, your presence is enough, just come, relax, and enjoy!

We look forward to seeing you all

A NEW FAMILY MEMBER

A NEW FAMILY MEMBER

IT HAS NOW BEEN ABOUT 2 WEEKS SINCE WE GOT A CALL FROM OUR OLD FRIEND, CAPTAIN TIM. HE CALLED TO SAY THAT HE HAD A GROUP CANCEL THEIR FISHING TRIP AND FOR ME TO GET CHIE UP THERE SO WE COULD TAKE HER OUT FOR A RIDE ON THE LAKE. CHIE ASKED IF HIS DOG, BO, COULD COME AND HE SAID "SURE," SO WE PACKED A FEW BAGS AND OFF WE WENT FOR A BOAT RIDE ON TEXOMA!!

TIM SAID THE STRIPER WERE HITTIN'. HE CAUGHT FOUR 10 POUNDERS THE DAY BEFORE AND WE READ ON THE INTERNET THAT ANOTHER GROUP HAD TO THROW BACK 13 AND 15 POUND FISH. SOUNDED GOOD TO US AND TIM SAID WE COULD STAY IN HIS CABIN FOR THE NIGHT SO WE PACKED A SOMETHING TO EAT AND LEFT RIGHT AWAY!! IT WAS A FUN NIGHT RELAXING AND CHIE PLAYING WITH BO DIDDLEY.

WE GOT UP EARLY AND HIT THE WATER AT THE CRACK OF DAWN. IT WAS NICE AND COOL AND THE SUN WAS GORGEOUS RISING OVER THE WATER. THE FISH WERE THERE AND CAPTAIN TIM PUT US ON 'EM. WE GOT INTO THEM ON TOP WATERS FOR A WHILE. IT WAS EXCITING AND FUN, JUST CRUISING ON THE BOAT WAS ENOUGH, EVERYTING ELSE WAS GRAVY. IM SURE A MORE EXPERIENCED FISHERMAN COULD HAVE CAUGHT MORE, BUT THE EXCITEMENT OF SO MANY FISH HAD MY GAME OFF. I POPPED MY LURE SO HARD ONCE IS SHOT OUT OF THE FISH'S MOUTH AND SMACKED TIM SQUARE IN THE HEAD,( SORRY ABOUT THAT. DONT GUESS WE WILL BE GOING BACK ANYTIME SOON).

BACK AT THE DOCK WE WATCHED TIM FILLET THE BOUNTY AND GOT READY TO HEAD HOME. RIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT THOUGH, TIM ASKED IF WE COULD RUN BY THE HOUSE, HE HAD SOMETHING FOR CHIE. WE RODE OVER TO THE HOUSE AND TIM GOT OUT OF HIS CAR AND WALKED OVER TO HIS WORKSHOP, HE LOOKED BACK WITH AN ODD GRIN ON HIS FACE AND LEANED DOWN OPENING A DOG KENNEL. OUT POPPED A VERY CUTE LITTLE RED LAB PUPPY. I ABOUT HAD A HEART ATTACK, KNOWING I HAVE TOO MUCH ON MY PLATE AS IS. I WAS SHAKING MY HEAD "NO", TIM WAS SMILING AND LAUGHING TELLING ME THAT IT WILL BE GOOD FOR CHIE, AND BY THAT TIME IT WAS TOO LATE.

CHIE, NOW, HAD THE DOG IN HER LAP KISSING IT AND LOVIN ON IT, SO WHAT COULD I DO? WHAT COULD I DO? ASIDE FROM WANTING TO STRANGLE TIM, I GUESS I COULD JUST GO AHEAD AND TAKE IN A COUPLE OF GERIATRICS TO CARE FOR IN MY SPARE TIME. NOTHING IS TOO MUCH, IM FEELING INVINCIBLE NOW! THE WHOLE RIDE HOME I SPENT TRYING TO CONVINCE MYSELF THAT I AM NOT HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN WHILE OUR FRIEND BOBBY INFORMS US THAT THE DOG IS COVERED IN FLEAS.

WE SPENT THE REST OF THE RIDE HOME THINKING OF NAMES. SASSY WAS WHAT TIM'S GIRLS NAMED IT, BUT CHIE WANTED TO GIVE IT ANOTHER NAME. AFTER CONVINCING HER THAT, YOSHIKO, HER MOTHER'S NAME, WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA DUE TO THE FACT THAT SHE IS STILL , LIVING!!! CHIE HAD IT SET IN HER MIND THAT IT HAD TO BE NAMED BY THE TIME WE GOT HOME, NO MATTER WHAT. SHE SHOT DOWN ALL OF OUR SUGGESTIONS IN NO TIME FLAT AND FINALLY SETTLED ON "SASSY UDON BEBE." WE CALL IT JUST, "UDON" AFTE HER FAVORITE NOODLE.

FOUR BATHES AND HUNDRED BUCKS OF FLEA SHAMPOO, SPRAY, COLLAR, ETC..... AND THE THING WAS STILL SCRATCHIN', ALMOST AS MUCH AS ME. ALL I HAD TO DO WAS HEAR THE WORD "FLEA" AND i WAS SCRATCHIN AND FEELING THEM ALL OVER ME. BOBBY ASSURED ME THAT I WAS JUST PARANOID AS HE WATCHED ME THE WHOLE RIDE HOME AND NEVER SAW ANY ON ME DESPITE MY CONSTANT SWATTING , RUBBING AND SCRATCHING.

TIM CALLED THAT NIGHT, ABOUT TWO DAYS TOO EARLY. HE ASKED HOW THE DOG WAS AND I EXPLAINED ABOUT THE FLEAS , ME HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, HE CUT ME OFF THERE AND SAID HE WOULD HAVE TO CALL ME BACK, WISE CHOICE. IT WAS A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER BEFORE WE GOT BACK TO HIM AND LET HIM KNOW WE WERE OK AND ADJUSTING. HE TOLD US THAT IT WAS REALLY HIS GIRL'S DECISION. HE HAD TO ASK THEM IF THEY WOULD GIVE IT TO CHIE, AS IT WAS THEIR DOG, AND IT TOOK SOME CONVINCING BUT THEY AGREED THAT IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR CHIE TO HAVE. WE THANK YOU GIRLS. CHIE LOVES THE DOG AND HAS BEEN WORKING HARD TO TRAIN IT AND FEED IT. ITS REALLY SMART AND LOVES THE WATER.

SO NOW WE HAVE A DOG, OH JOY. CHIE HAS BEEN DOING WELL WITH IT AND REALLY LOVES IT. I DO HOPE WE WILL BE PLEASANTLY SUPRISED AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE THE BEST DOG EVER! I REALLY DONT WANT IT TO RUN AWAY AND NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN.

**** I DO HOPE TIM WILL LET US KNOW WHEN THE GIRLS BIRTHDAYS ARE. WE WANT TO GET THEM SOMETHING SPECIAL TO SAY THANKS, REAL SPECIAL!!

TALK TO YOU ALL SOON AND THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.