Celebrating an 80th Year

Some of us celebrate our birthdays for a day, and others of us for a whole week. We are encouraging Isabel to celebrate hers for the next few months.

This is Mum's 80th year and her milestone birthday is December 30, 2008 - smack in the middle of holiday celebrations and an unpredictable Saskatchewan winter.

Thus we are helping Mum celebrate all autumn. We have no plans for a big birthday party. And besides, Isabel's "head nurse" says that Wascana doesn't have a room large enough to accommodate all of Isabel's fans!

We are inviting friends and family to consider acknowledging this special birthday throughout the next few months (rather than at the end of December) when you visit, phone or drop her a line. No gifts please! Your greetings of encouragement and best wishes are gift enough.

The Robertson Family Gathering in Wascana Park in August kicked off this celebration time. Other friends have been acknowledging Isabel's milestone birthday since then in individual visits and party-like group times. Either are most welcome.

So you can't believe that Isabel is in her 80th year? As her daughters, neither can we! We have far more grey hair than she does (especially after the last 14 months!).

Thanks for your ongoing support and good cheer!

Janet, Nancy and Catherine

A Creative Act of Kindness

We continue to be grateful for the many acts of kindness that have come Isabel's way during the last fourteen months.

Visits and phone calls and letters.

Autumn flowers and bouquets of ripened grain.

Humorous stories and news clippings from various newspapers.

And just recently a creative gift from one of Isabel's friends at Abernethy.

Mum has maintained her Abernethy involvement by reading news reports, asking questions, giving advice to committees-!!, and inquiring about the health and whereabouts of everyone she knows.

She has missed seeing all the building and renovation projects at home. Last week, one of her friends filmed a 10-minute video of all the external renovations and building projects in Aber. He then travelled to Regina with his laptop to show Isabel what's been happening at home in the last 14 months. Mum asked him to play the video again as she studied new colours of paint and new garages, and saw construction add-ons and inquired after the owners. Twenty-two projects in all!

Mum spelled out CHEERS to all the fine work in sprucing up the village.

With gratitude for the many creative ways that kindness continues to come into our lives,
Isabel and Her Girls

Marking Accomplishments

It's been a good couple of weeks!

Along with visits from Cousin Joy and almost daily physiotherapy and occupational therapy, Isabel's grand-daughter Megan dropped in from Luther College at the University of Regina just five minutes away from Wascana. Meg and her Grannie discussed their experiences of leaving home for University. For Meg that was just three weeks ago; for Isabel that was 60 years ago.

Last Friday, grand-kids Mary and Josh decorated their Grannie's room with fall leaves and streamers ~ the same streamers that we had hung in Isabel's hospital room last September. How far we have come since then!

And on Friday, Amanda came to visit her Grand-Aunt Isabel and to show her yet another First Place Medal for being the fastest female runner at the recent Queen City Marathon. We remember writing about Amanda last September as we compared her win to the marathon that had become part of Isabel's life.

Mum ~ What amazing accomplishments you have made since last September! As your hand flew across the letterboard asking Cousin Joy about friends and family in Scotland and England, Joy remarked over and over again about your physical and communication progress since she last saw you in January 2008.

A medal for you, Mum! And gratitude to Grannie's B's grand-kids who sweep into her room full of energy and stories. And thanks also, to Isabel's friends from Abernethy who visited last week and this week bringing tales of the village, summer holidays, harvest, beautiful September weather (at last!) and the corn and apple crops........

"Will Ye No Come Back Again?"

During Isabel's many visits to Scotland during the past 36 years, she frequently heard friends and relatives sing the refrain: "Will ye no' come back again?" This familiar farewell inviting a guest to return has been turned around to Isabel's great delight!

Cousin Joy from the West Highlands of Scotland has returned for a harvest visit. Joy is Isabel's second cousin, and she spent a month with Mum in January during the Robbie Burns' celebration and Mum's transition to Wascana. As a retired Occupational Therapist, Joy's helpful ideas supported Mum through the winter. When Joy left to return home, Isabel told her COME AGAIN.

Joy arrived last Monday to help with the harvest at the Froehlich-Robertson Farm at Bradwell (Isabel's birth-home east of Saskatoon). However, Joy's Air Canada landing in Regina enabled her to spend two full days visiting Isabel so they could both catch up on news. Joy went to therapy with Mum, and they visited on the sunny terrace amid all the still-blooming summer flowers. Hot weather --- a far cry from the 40 below zero temperatures of last January -- eventually brought them back into Isabel's room.

With gratitude for travelling cousins who do "come back again" and bring stories of Scottish friends and relatives....

A Summer of Rehab

A number of our readers have inquired about how Isabel's physical well-being has progressed as the result of Rehab Therapy. We had reported in the spring that Mum had "leaped the fence" to Rehab Therapy -- a rarity for those that live in Extended Care at Wascana, and virtually unheard of for those who live with the support of a ventilator. We are grateful that Isabel was granted nearly three months of therapy in the Rehab Department of Wascana.

Isabel's considerable strength of gain in her upper body helps her posture and her breathing. She alternated between standing in a standing frame with help from therapists and doing exercises on a sitting mat. She thus has gained strength in her legs as well. Contracture in her ankle joints and feet continues to be a stumbling block in making standing an easier activity. Mum describes her feet as being like cement. On her letterboard, she quipped to one of her specialists: "How about some WD-40?" Then she inquired about duct tape to hold her feet in proper position!

Isabel is now the owner of two new flexi-joint foot splints that are adjustable with an Allen wrench. We were told that she is only the second person at Wascana to be fitted with these custom-made adjustable splints by the Orthodics Department. Therapists continue to problem-solve.

Over the course of 6 five-day weeks, the Rehab Occupational Therapy Team worked with Isabel's hands and arms. For 10 months, Mum could not move her right (dominant) wrist out of its contractured position. With a little arm massage, Isabel can now move her right wrist to open her right hand. She holds a one-inch thick dowel in her hand many hours each day to help keep her fingers open. She can now lift a one pound weight with that hand when provided with some guiding support. Think about lifting a pound of butter ten times up and down beside you. That's what she is doing. Isabel could not move that hand and arm in May. This is progress!

Isabel can also move that hand back and forth on "a skateboard" on her wheelchair table to strengthen her arm. Who ever said that Isabel couldn't take up a new sport at this stage of her life?!?!?

Three times a week during September, Isabel will continue to receive help from a physio-assistant to stretch her muscles and keep her joints strong and flexible. In addition, her volunteer and Extended Care physio-therapists will work with her in standing and mat positions two times a week. Her Extended Care Occupational Therapist will continue to work with Isabel's hands and arms three times a week with the hope that Isabel can drive her own power wheel-chair when it arrives.

"Oh, such slow progress!" you may say! Yes, the progress is slow. This is no surprise to any of us given the utter devastation of West Nile Neurological Syndrome, and that Isabel was one of the most ill of the survivors. When her neurologist admitted her to hospital in August 2007, he indicated that progress would be very very slow over two years. Isabel's rehab physiotherapist said to her this month that she fully believes that Isabel will always continue to make progress -- albeit slow -- as Isabel is so determined and has made measurable gains this summer.

One therapist said, "Isabel -- I wish I could 'can' your motivation and share it with others."

During the recent Olympics, one of our readers wrote: "Cheers to your Mom - she is a Gold Medal winner in the Olympics of Life!"

Mum -- we concur!

"Life After the Bite"

During the week that Canada experienced the first confirmed cases of West Nile for 2008, Isabel has gone public with her story of survival.

The Saturday August 16 edition of The Globe and Mail has a three-part presentation on West Nile that features Isabel and her new WN survivor friend, Don Bell, a cattle rancher from Dubuc, SK. Isabel and we are grateful to our family-friend and journalist, Wendy Stueck and her colleagues for their sensitive and hard-hitting portrayal of West Nile. The Focus section of the Globe contained a one page feature with large photos. The Globe web site features an online article that has the same words as the print article. In addition, a 10 minute video tells some of the experiences of Isabel and Don.

Here are two links to the video and online article.

Denial is no defense against West Nile

Life After the Bite

If either link does not work, go to The Globe and Mail web site and then search "West Nile" to find both the article and video. You are looking for these two titles: the article: "Denial is no defence against West Nile" and the video "Life After the Bite".

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Isabel's decision to go public with her story reflects her desire to continue to be of use to her community and to the world. We applaud your courage, Mum! And in the meantime, we know you were cheering on that Canadian Equestrian Team when they won those silver medals for team jumping on Tuesday! Yea Canada!

One Year Later

August 8, 2007: Isabel woke up, had her breakfast, and felt nauseous
yet went to help a friend rehang a door on an old one-room school.
She felt increasingly unwell as the day wore on...... and her West
Nile journey had begun.....

August 7, 2008: Twenty-seven members of the Robertson family gathered
at Wascana for a picnic in the park with Isabel co-hosting the
event. We hoped for three hours of visiting. At the five-hour mark
following an afternoon of conversation, laughter, messages from
cousins in Scotland and Los Angeles, games of catch, walks at the
lake, and a group photo.... Mum was one of the last to close the
party down. She has spoken on her letterboard with each individual
present.

At one point, she asked an older cousin if he had chosen dessert.
This led to another cousin asking Mum if she missed the tastes of
favourite foods, and Mum replied on her letterboard NO USE
PINING.... GET ON WITH LIFE and on she went with her next question.
A day previous Mum had told a respiratory specialist that one
advantage of receiving nutrition through a food peg is that there are
NO DISHES to wash and dry.

When Isabel got back to her room (two hours late!) she asked to read
what everyone had written in her Guest Book (Visitors' Book). She
then asked that we write her name as well. When we looked at her
quizzically, she responded emphatically I WAS AT THE PARTY.

Yes, Mum you were! And party you did! And among several honourable
mentions of generations past and present, we toasted you -- your
determination, interest in others and the world around you, and your
sense of humour. You continue to inspire us all.

This weekend Isabel is resting up and getting down to some serious
Olympics spectating. She hopes the equestrian and track and field
events (her specialities) will all be shown on TV.

We are ever grateful... and today particularly to our Robertson and
Froehlich cousins who have been faithful visitors, phoners, and
letter writers and who all travelled 2-3 hours for our gathering --
one year later.