Gary & Shelly

Gary is doing really well also.  His personality seems to coming out more.  He is making more jokes that he use too & is laughing more.  We are leaving here on the 20th & our cruise starts on the 24th.  We plan on soaking up as much sun as possible during our time away.

Please continue with all your prayers & good thoughts.

Working out isn’t the only thing I’m doing to help my health.  I’ve been reading about bio-identical hormones.  Unfortunately I’m at the menopause stage of my life & don’t want to take hormone replacements because I’ve heard that’s worse than not taking them.  Plus they are synthetic animal hormones.  I’m going to see a Dr. who will take all my hormone levels with saliva testing, and blood work and he will find out which of my hormones are outta whack & by how much.  Then instead of synthetic animal hormones in a pill he is suppose to make up a creme that is identical to human hormones in just the right dose to get all my hormones back to the proper levels.  I’ll let you know more about that in March after all my testing is over & I’m using the bio-identical hormone replacement.

Gary is still really well, nothing new or exciting to tell you about, but also no sickness to tell you about so life is good and normal.

Please continue with all your prayers & good thoughts.

Looking back over the past several years which hospitals had the best food, which nurses were better, who had the cleanest rooms, how long did it take me to get to the hospital and who needed me more Gary or the kids were all at the front of my thought processes.  Not fun things to think about but they were all a part of my daily life since March 2006.  I missed out on so much of Dakota’s high school life because of having to be at the hospital so often, but this year was different.  I feel like I actually got to be a part of her Senior year.  Of course she doesn’t want me around as much as she use too but that’s OK I actually got to be here & she knew I was at home for her if she needed me.  Something else different from past years was I actually had to take Gary in for a wellness check-up.  We weren’t at the Dr. for a follow-up hospital stay, it was great!!!  This year seemed to go by faster than the previous years because we actually got to spend it doing fun, normal things instead of going back & forth to a hospital.  Yes, we had a very blessed year health wise in 2010.

Also this year I finally figured out that I’m only 1 person & it takes 2 people to care for someone with Gary’s particular issues.  So in February I hired Frank.  What a god send he has been.  He has taken over Gary’s daily care during the week leaving me free to do other things.  He gets Gary out of bed, cleans him up, watches him and makes sure he has his medicine.  He also washes Gary’s stuff & helps me around the house.  He allowed me the freedom to take a couple of vacations & to get some much-needed R & R.  I have started thinking about what I need instead of what does Gary or one of the kids need.  I am beginning to become proactive about things instead of reactive to a situation.  I am once again making plans instead of bracing for what happens next.  Finally as you all know I am working on getting myself back into shape so I can be the healthiest me I can be.  I feel like I am living life once again and how fantastic is that!!  What a blessing of a year I have had.

Since having help with Gary it gave me more time figure out that we needed to be able to get Gary in & out of this house easier.  For the past several years I have had temporary  ramps in the front of the house, then last year I had a permanent one put in the back.  With all these ramps I still had to walk Gary out in the weather, rain, snow, whatever in order to get him to our van and then I had to load him in the van.  The past several winters I have been digging out of the snow trying to keep the walkways clear for Gary’s wheelchair, which was not an easy task.  This year I had a lift put in our garage & I park the van right beside it so Gary doesn’t have to be out in the weather.  It has made our life so much easier & loading Gary is now a breeze.  And just this month I finally broke down & bought a lift to get Gary in & out of bed.  We had been manually transferring him & were getting sore backs & necks.  No more, I have a lift system that not only works here at our home, but can travel with us.  Having the new lift for this month I am feeling stronger & my neck doesn’t bother me like it use to because of Gary is no longer tugging on it when I would put him to bed every  night.  I no longer worry that if I hurt my back I won’t be able to get Gary to bed and he told me that he feels safer getting in and out of bed.  Thank you Lord for allowing me to able to afford such luxuries.

Finally this year as you all know we added to our family.  On Mothers Day we felt that Como needed a little brother or sister so we went in search of one and found Argo.  It has been a trying year because we finally had Como out of his puppy stages and now we had to start all over again with Argo, what was I thinking.  But overall it has been wonderful having the 2 of them.  Argo is settling in nicely & is definitely the more timid of the 2 dogs.  And of course we can’t forget the most important addition to our family was our grandson, Rowan Robert Merrick!!  What a grand & special little guy he is.  I got travel to Scotland just after he was born to meet him & then Allison & James brought him here for a visit to meet the rest of his family just a month later.  The greatest blessing is Allison, James & Rowan have now moved back to the U.S. and instead of getting on a plane and spending thousands of dollars we can get into our van drive about 5 hours & see them.  How great is that!!

2010 what a banner year it has been for us, even though it’s been almost 5 years since that fateful day in March our journey is still in its early stages.  But now we are looking forward to living life with tbi instead of dealing with life after tbi.  The Lord has been with us on our journey and has been faithful in Gary’s healing.  Gary continues to get better & that has been documented by Drs. that’s not just our opinion.  Please continue with us as we begin a new phase of our lives in 2011.  It should be an even better year than 2010.  We have 2 trips planned & of course you never know what the Lord has in store for us, but I pray we are up for the challenge & that this new journey will touch your hearts as it does ours.

Please continue with all your prayers & good thoughts and I wish everyone out there blessings in the new year.

This second week has been so much smoother than the first week.  Monday Niki worked my core a lot more & by the end my lower back was hurting, but I still did my 20 minute cardio after my weights.  Tuesday I went to the pool & swam 1/2 mile.  When I first got into the water is took my breath away it was so cold, but as I started swimming it then felt refreshing.  I didn’t swim fast, just a slow to moderate pace since I’m just starting to workout again.  It also helped with my sore back muscles.  Yesterday when I woke up my back was really hurting.  Somehow during the night I had to turn Gary, like every night, & when I moved him there was a sharp pain in the middle of my back & it took my breath away.  So now my entire back is hurting not just the lower back like before, but I know if I would have called off my training I would be more likely to quit, so I went in for my session.  I’m glad I did.  I told Niki about my back & we still did weights but she made sure my back was supported so it would not get hurt anymore.  She also told me stretch it & use a heating pad, 2 things I already knew to do, but it felt good to know that someone trained told me I was doing the right stuff.  After weights I did my cardio only this time it seemed easier so I upped the resistance and made it through with flying colors!  After that I came home, felt my back tightening so I put a heating pad on it right away, got is loosened up then climbed into a nice tub to stretch the muscles in my back while still having them nice & warm.  This morning my back feels a little tight, but nothing like it did.  I will go back to the pool this afternoon & hopefully do another 1/2 mile swim.

As far as my eating goes, somehow I’m keeping within my calorie count, but because I kinda make-up my own foods I’m not sure of the protein, carb & fat breakdown to know if I’m eating the correct amount of each.  Hopefully in keeping my calorie count within its limits means that I am losing weight & inches.  I’m working very hard not to get on the scales everyday because that’s no good.  Niki said we will be weighing & measuring me soon to see if I’m keeping on track.  I certainly hope so, it would be very disheartening to be working so hard & not see results soon.

On to Gary, he seems to be getting a little better, mentally.  He is using new words all the time which is great.  We went to the Quick Solutions Christmas party the 3rd and played some blackjack.  We had a lot of fun & now that we no longer own the company we got to get in on the prize drawings and won a $50.00 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory.  That will come in handy with my upcoming birthday.

Every year we go back to the Christmas party we know fewer & fewer people.  This year we only knew a handful of the employees which was a very odd feeling.  It really hit home that we are no longer the owners of the company and have very little to do with it anymore.  Gary & I have talked & we’re not sure we will go back next year.  While we’re very happy that the company is doing well & continues to grow we no longer feel a part of what is happening there anymore.  We kinda felt like the 3rd wheel on a date with friends, it’s a bittersweet feeling.  The good thing is Quick continues to do well, just like Gary always wanted.

Please continue with all your prayers & good thoughts

What am going to do to fix this problem?  The trainer told me I could eat 1,466 per days, in a combination of 109 grams of protein, 164 grams of carbohydrates & 40 grams of fat per day.  My first goal is to get down to 153 lbs in 1 month.  My goal is to be 140 lbs or less by the Buckeye Cruise Feb. 24th.  The Ultimate goal is to be the size I was before Gary’s accident and to be in shape so I can take care of him & have more energy.  Also diabetes & heart problems run in my family because they didn’t take care of themselves so I’m hopefully changing my family history.

What else did I do today besides get the ugly truth about how bad my body is, well we did some squats with weights, step-ups with weights & something else I can’t remember the name of.  So we start I have 2, 10 lb weights and had to do 15 squats holding them just under my chin.  Then I had to start with one leg on a 24 inch bench, step up with the other foot do a chest press and step down with the same foot.  I had to do 5 of these with each foot then doing the same step up I then had to do bicep curls, 5 on each leg.  Then I had to 30 seconds of holding onto that bench and do running in place.  After this I had to stop & breath because I was light-headed my chest was pounding & I was sick to my stomach.  After I caught my breath I had to do this all over again, the difference is she allowed my to do my step-ups on a lower bench.  It took everything I had to get through this second set but then I got light-headed dizzy & sick again.  They ended up laying me down on the ground & elevating my feet.  I didn’t have to do the third set because they were worried to have me do it again.  They said I need to eat better balanced meals & they think it was because my blood sugar levels dropped so low that I couldn’t finish.

So that was my first day of working out.  I go back Wed & Fri. this week.  I hope those sessions go better.

Gary is doing really well.  We are about 1/2 way through one of his hyperbaric chamber sessions.

We had a good thanksgiving, Dakota, Cameron & his girlfriend Kylee & Jared & Hanna were here.  Gary wanted to be the first to tell us what he was thankful for & he also said the prayer.  He as so excited to do those things.

Please continue with all the prayers & good thoughts.

I don’t know why, the only thing I can figure is the Lord helped me with this one, I decided to stop into Urban Active on a whim yesterday.  It’s close to our house and while I have all the equipment I need in our basement, what I didn’t have was someone to make me accountable.  Gary always use to play that role before his accident.  He would remind me that we needed to stay in shape so we could live a long life together.  So even though I didn’t like working out I loved the way it made me look & feel, so we both worked out 5 – 6 times a week for about an hour.  Every other day was cardio and the other days were weights.  As I said before I’ve known I needed to start working out again so I can stay healthy & strong in order to take care of Gary for as long as I possible can.  Yesterday I signed up with a personal trainer at Urban Active.  Someone who is going to hold me accountable for the crap I eat & missing workouts.  I will workout with them 3 days a week.

Why am I telling you folks about this?  Because I am going to make myself even more accountable by writing about it in my blog.  I am going to tell you what is hopefully the worst of it by telling my current weight & measurements.  I’ve taken pictures of myself in a bikini so the whole ugly truth is out there for all to see.  I’m not proud that I’ve let myself go the way I have, but I’ve had more important things on my mind.  Now it’s time to get back into fighting shape.  This will not be easy, I figure it will take close to a year to get back to where I was because I want to do it right and healthy.  I begin my program the Monday after Thanksgiving.  They will weigh & measure me then so I can post those numbers for you then.  I will also post the pictures of my current body in a bikini at that time.  You may want to check out the blog on an empty stomach.

Please continue with all your prayers & good thoughts as I will be needing them to help me get going on this new journey.  Gary was excited when I told him yesterday & he pumped his fist & said “yeahoo” for me.  He told me he is happy that I’m going to get back into shape.  Even though he would love me no matter what he would like to see my body back in shape again.  He told me he has been worried about me gaining so much weight.  So this is as much for him as for myself.

Thanks to all of you out there who followed our journey everywhere it has taken us, I hope I’ve helped some people & I hope I inspire some of you on this new journey.

Onto other October happenings. As some of you may know at the end of October there is a little thing known as Halloween that happens.  A lot of people feel the need to dress in costumes for this and Gary & I were no exceptions.  We went to Quaker Steak & Lubes halloween bike night.  The last bike night of the season.  We had a good time with it.  We went as a dead bride & groom.

I guess that covers the highlights of the month of October.  I like not having to post about a bunch of illnesses & hospital stays.  I pray we continue to stay healthy and have a normal life.  Please continue with all the prayers & good thoughts.

As some of you may know our oldest daughter, Allison, had a baby this summer, and I went over to Scotland for a week in July and then they came to the states visiting many family members in lots of different locations so Allison, James & Rowan have been very busy.  While I was in Scotland visiting we had to go to the US Consulate in Edinburgh to get Rowan’s passport, over seas birth certificate & his social security number.  Also they do not circumcise in the UK so we went had to take Rowan to a “mohel” a jewish Dr. in Newcastle in order to have this little procedure done.  Allison & James were so cute while this was going on.  They seemed to handle it fine until they heard their little one crying and then they didn’t like it as well.  Rowan was quite a little trooper about the whole thing and was only fussy about it the one night.  On our way back to Aberdeen we went by St. Andrews & the British Open was going on at the time.  I got Gary a golf shirt from the open which he really likes.  In the week I was there I got to see many amazing sights & had a great visit with the kids.  Rowan just loves his “Grandma Shelly”.  I’m glad I could be there to help Allison & James with Rowan during this time.

Then a few weeks later they made it to the US.  They started East & worked their way west & back again.  James family is from PA. so they flew into PA and stayed with James family for a while then they drove west and stayed here for a week.  Gary was so overcome with joy that he cried when he first held “Little Cookie” as he calls Rowan.  It was a beautiful sight.  Then they went to Allison’s Mom’s place for a few days and we had all the kids here for a few hours on Labor Day.  Gary just loved it.  From here Allison & James went to Chicago & then to Oregon.  Then they worked their way back.  They were again for several days last week & Rowan had grown sooooo much in that short amount of time.  They left Sunday evening for PA & they are now getting ready to head back to Aberdeen.  We will miss them immensely.

Finally yesterday I took Gary to see his rehab Dr., Dr. Mysw, and he couldn’t believe how much better Gary is.  It’s been a while since we had been to see Dr. Mysw as he is the best at what he does & it’s hard to get in to see him.  Yesterday Gary & Dr. Mysw carried on a conversation.  The Dr. couldn’t believe how much better Gary had gotten.  He said that more than 2 years out from the initial injury is when healing pretty much stops, but Gary has shown extreme improvement from the last time he saw them.  What was funny is Frank was with us, of course, & he said that the Dr. was speechless at times because of the improvement in Gary.  The Dr. didn’t know why Gary continues the get better other than we have always thought outside the box and we have never stopped thinking he could get better.  What ever we are doing he said to keep doing it and he wants to see Gary back in 6 months.  He also mentioned that the last time he saw Gary that he wouldn’t have been a candidate for a new research study that he is starting because Gary wasn’t recovered enough from his brain injury, but now he feels Gary might be a good candidate.  The only reason he wouldn’t include him in his research study is because Gary is still getting better and he wouldn’t want to do anything that could stop his forward motion, but if Gary every stops getting better he explained the study to me and if we wanted to put Gary in it he would see about getting him into it.  That was music to my ears to know that a Dr. who deals with TBI patients thinks that my therapy methods are working.  He said he doesn’t know if it’s the stem cells, the hyperbaric chamber, the fact that we have never stopped working with him or just his DNA but whatever we are doing something is working.  That was great news.

Anyway I guess that catches you up on just about everything.  Please continue with all your prayers and good thoughts as it is obviously working.  Gary continues to get better.  I post pictures soon.

The  dogs are getting along very well and we’re still working on getting Argo to potty outside all the time.  He gets excited when someone comes over and wee, wees on the floor from excitement.  The vet told me to inform all guest not to pay attention to him until he settles down and then they can  pet him.  This is supposed to stop that problem.  I hope their right.

I’m cleaning my house really well, getting carpets cleaned, windows and all the other deep cleaning that needs done from time to time getting ready for our new grand baby to come visit.  We still haven’t heard when that may because of the paperwork issues.  Hopefully everything will go through smoothly and they can be here by the end of this month.  If things don’t go smoothly it could be closer to September before they make it over.  Rowan is doing very well and his parent think they might keep him (LOL).

So far Gary is doing really well and has fought off a couple of colds, unfortunately his allergies seem to be getting worse so we have to give him more allergy medicine to control them.  Other than that all is about the same as usual.

Please continue with all your prayers and good thoughts.