Year: 2013

UPDATE ON PETER:

Yesterday he walked 25 feet with a crutch but no other assistance. This is yet another big step in his recovery. They have also upped the number of hours that he is in rehab therapy, which is a good thing indeed. He also finished a script for a project I can talk about shortly. So he is working on getting back to us and is just working on various projects. Dragon Dictate is working for him and what he needs to do at this
time.

UPDATE ON THE SITES:

Yeah, we got hit pretty badly with some malicious code that really screwed up the system but Glenn and his team have been working on the sites and getting things back up. My web log is still down so just remember I am Puppetmaker40 in live journal and I copy what I do in my other weblog.

Until I know things are stable, I am not doing the Phluzzie Raffle.
And since I have been asked here are what Phluzzies are

These are my signature puppets. I can do all kinds of colors for them. They are hand puppets big enough for adults. They are not for small children as they do have small parts but bigger kids love them.

Caroline was wondering if anyone might be interested in an original Caroline drawing to help her Daddy.

Crazy 8 Press is still the place to send people to get Peter’s books. The momentum has been amazing and the further we get this out on the net, the better for Peter and us. You all need to take a moment and pat yourself on the back for all the help you have been in this.

I know the donate button is still pending. It is a combination of a couple of things that have to be sorted out before we can put it up and actually get the money. If you haven’t heard what happened to author Jay Lake recently (and we send him many good wishes for his battle again a very aggressive cancer) and Paypal, you might want to give this a read.

Ariel wants to organize an online auction, which she is at the beginnings of. She will be posting about it here once that is sorted out.

JK Woodward is organizing an art auction for Peter. JK and Peter have worked together on Fallen Angel and other projects for a number of years. More on that when I have the details.

UPDATE ON THE REST OF THE FAMILY

Shana is being a good daughter and keeping an eye on her dad and his care while he is rehabbing. I couldn’t be as calm as I am now if it weren’t for Shana.

Gwen got to see her dad last week and Peter really enjoyed her visit.

Ariel is back at college and ramping up for the next semester. She has a good support system up there that is helping her with various things she needs help with.

Caroline is getting back into her groove at school and her after school activities. She does have some sad moments and some sad dreams but that is to be expected. She is use to having both her Daddy and her Mommy around the house all the time. Right now she is dealing with a Daddy sized hole in her life. They talk every day via Facetime so she can see him.

I am doing OK. There are moments when things seem overwhelming but I can get back to just being whelmed pretty quickly. I am going to the gym to keep my body moving and get my exercise mood up-tic to counter some of the rest of this mess. I am eating and taking care of myself. As I have stated before, I am so grateful for all your good wishes and kind thoughts. Knowing people have my back in this is such a big help for both me and Peter.

I am grateful for every piece of paperwork that gets done.

Fezzig: You just wiggled your finger. That’s wonderful!
Wesley: I’ve always been a quick healer. -The Princess Bride

I have learned or relearned more about how our muscular system and nerve system works in the past two weeks than I have in years. After one has a stroke, there can be a couple of days of aftershocks as the body and the brain sort out what happened to it. The total effect of the stroke might not be known for a while.

Where Peter had his stroke is where the motor control of the body really routes to the rest of the spine and through out the body. In his case, the right side of his body was severely affected. From the time he got to the hospital on Saturday and till New Years Eve, we weren’t sure about a lot of things except he was alive which for me was the important thing and that they were working on keeping him that way.

By News Years Eve the crisis had passed and the damage was done. As we watched the ball drop in Time Square, we seem to turn a corner. He never lost sensation in any of his limbs but he didn’t have any motor control. As the New Year rang in, he was able for the first time in a couple of days to move his hand to close it around the fingers of Ariel who was holding his hand. He then light gripped my hand as well.

From that point he has been working on that grip which has been getting a little bit every day. However if he wanted to extend the fingers, he had to help the hand to flatten out. We all worked hard to keep the tendons from tightening up on him making it harder for him to spread his hand flat. Once the tendons either lengthen or shorten, it makes it just that much harder to get range of motion back in that part of the body. So we have been fighting his body to keep him where he was before the stroke.

Yesterday he could open his hand on his own. Not with his other hand or someone else spreading his fingers, his right hand responded to his brain’s command to flatten out. Now he has to work at it, but he can start to do it. The more of this he can do without assistance, the better it will be for him in the long run.

He still has a long road but he keeps moving forward with determination.

He also started getting back to work again. He had the time and energy to conduct some business and answer some e-mail that I really didn’t have the answers for. His replies seem a little more terse than usual but that has more to do with trying to get things done so he is short with his wording to get the idea across. He is doing what he can to get himself back to where he was.

I am grateful for every finger wiggle and toe twitch.

First off, Caroline and I are home. The trip was as uneventful as trips go and that was a good thing. The TSA staff in Atlanta did a really good job of keeping the line moving in an efficient manner with a good dose of Southern Hospitality. The Delta staff was helpful to us getting us on and off the plane. We had a very nice seatmate, a Delta Pilot, which always makes the trip easier. And the guy in front of me didn’t move his seat back so my knees were comfortable the whole trip. The car service picked us up and got us home. The cats were so happy to see us. Caroline’s cat, Fig, attached herself to Caroline once she came through the door and spent most of the rest of the evening within arms reach of her.

The only thing that was missing was Peter. Caroline really noticed it when we were going through security. She kept looking to her left. I asked her why and she thought about it for a minute and said that’s always where Dad is when we go through security. Her lower lip quivered for a minute but she took in a breath and slowly let it out and we went on.

As of today, I am moving back to my web log for the day to day about daily life and what is going on. I will be posting here on Peter’s site with an update on Peter probably about once a week or more if there is something big to talk about. On my web log I will be talking pretty much daily about life, the universe and everything which long time readers will tell you that is pretty much what that web log has been. If you are on live journal, I am Puppetmaker40 and have been for many years now.

UPDATE ON PETER:
He is now, with assistance, walking both forwards and backwards. He is working on balance and trying to get the right leg to cooperate with what he wants it to do. There was a minor set back with the arm that is being worked on. He does have a better range of motion than he has had since all this started so we are cautiously happy about it but he has a long way to go.

We were fortunate that they started working his body before he left Florida hospital. They managed to keep him to a point that he could start rehabbing. There are still some issues that just occurred because he lost muscle control on the right side of his body. He never lost feeling on the right side so that is seen as a positive. However there is only so much that can be done and he is working back from that.

UPDATE 1.0 On How You Can Help Peter
A number of you have asked where you can send cards, well wishes, etc to Peter.
Send them to his PO Box and I will be sending things onto him at the rehab center once or twice a week.
The address is
Peter David
c/o Second Age, Inc.,
P.O. Box 239,
Bayport, NY 11705.

By Monday we will have the donate button up and running.

There will also shortly be announcements about an online auction and a few other activities that will help Peter. I have to be a bit vague because we are still trying to get all our ducks in a row.

I cannot thank you enough for promoting the Crazy 8 Books. It has been a great comfort to us. And I am glad to read that people are enjoying these books.

I am thinking of making a couple of my Phluzzie puppets and doing a raffle for them online. I am working the details out on that one. My question for the group is “Is there any interest in this?”
EDIT HERE IS A PHOTO OF SOME PHLUZZIES

So please check by on Monday where I will have more things in place and clearer ideas of other plans to help us help Peter.

Again thank you for all your positive energy and help. I really have no idea how I would be making through this as sanely as I am without y’all.

I have been taking a Tai Chi class for a while now. It has helped balance, joints, and body awareness. One of the things I have learned is how important it is to breathe and how not breathing correctly is not great for the body over all. I haven’t been the best about breathing normally recently. I find myself breathing very shallowly or holding my breath without realizing it. I have to pause and consciously remind myself to breath normally.

Part of this I think comes form all the recent unknown that has dropped into our lives. Waiting for Doctors to tell me news both good and bad and hoping that the good will out weigh the bad. Getting almost to the next step and then being stopped by various things. Not knowing when I will be able to go home and pet my cats. Not knowing when things will return to normal and knowing that they never really will but I would like to know what the new normal is.

Caroline wants to go back to school. She wants the routine and seeing her friends and teachers. I would like to get back to the house and some of the sort of routine that I have.

Now we know when we are going home. We have plane tickets tomorrow to fly back tomorrow. She wants to go back to school on Friday.

Peter is adjusting to the routine at rehab. He likes that he is wearing clothes rather than hospital gown and that he is being allowed and encouraged to do as much for himself as he can. He knows it is the beginning but at least it is beginning rather than sitting around wondering what he is going to do next.

We slowly are picking up the pieces of our lives and figuring out how they fit together. We are remembering how to breathe.

Yesterday morning was more exciting that I would have liked. We had to get one more Doctor clear Peter for rehab. There was then a slight hold-up on the other end of things at the rehab who were waiting for clearance from the hospital on the white cell count. Once everyone was satisfied that he was OK, we started the process of getting him from point A to point B which had a lot of hurry up and wait attached to it.

In the middle of all this I got Ariel to the train station to take the train from Orlando to Bridgeport CT. I am happy to report that she made it back to her college and made a new friend on the train as well.

Eventually we did get him to his current location. I like the rehab center and how they do things. This is probably the best fit for him and will get him back to us as soon as possible. They outlined the plan for his recovery and told us what a typical day was for him. Caroline got her questions answered as well.

But this is still the beginning of a very uncertain journey

Eventually we had to say our good-byes to Peter. Caroline didn’t take the parting well. Today she is a little off her game and a bit sad which is nothing unexpected.

Today Caroline and I drove to Atlanta and returned the rental car which was more of an adventure that I would have liked but the person at the counter was amazingly helpful and did everything she could to get the price down.

Now I get to check in daily with various people on staff and with Peter about how things are going. Today was mostly evaluation and the beginning of the game plan to return Current Peter David to pre-stroke Peter David. They did having him walking again.

I want to say again how much I appreciate all the support you have been giving us. It really helps to know that people have your back. I have read every comment, e-mail, message that has come across our e-mails and am touched by how many people have Peter in their thoughts. Y’all (I can use it, I grew up in the south) are a great group of folks and I will never be able to thank you enough.

We are waiting for transport to get him to rehab. He has been released by the doctors for rehab.

Just wanted to update this.

Kath