UPDATES March 17, 2008

UPDATE
March 17, 2008

Life has created a certain routine now that is somewhat predictable. Jack continues to be challenged with his lack of ability to move as he has been so used to for all of his life. One of our good engineering feats is to find ways to navigate that provides the greatest opportunity for Jack with the most safety.

One of the more acute recent changes has been that Jack has begun having a lot of apprehension as he calls it. I prefer to call it panic like attacks that can be very debilitating even for those with no other issues. Jack says that when I am around that they either do not exist or they are lessened. One of the charming and funny things he did this week was with his calendar. I got him a day by day calendar so that he can know each day and date. It also has a Bible verse on it to help him focus his mind. I encourage him to memorize these verses as a way to keep his mind active. Jack has always had a great ability for memorization. Last Tuesday, he decided he would remove all of the pages to Saturday/Sunday. He knows that I am around most of those two days and he decided to fast forward the week. We all chuckled at his creativity and strong ingenuity. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

We visited three of his medical team this last week per Jack’s request. We saw his primary care Dr. Diamond as well as his neuro-oncologist, Dr. Alderson, and neuro-surgeon, Dr.Cosgrove. Everyone has agreed on several things. The most important one is that Jack needs to get out of the house more doing things of interest, even going to his company an afternoon a week for now and increasing it as he feels like it. We also are about to be discharged from physical therapy coming to the house, so creating an outpatient program will be important. There is a company near us called “PeopleFit” that is owned by 2 brothers who are physical therapists. They specialize in working with individuals who have incapacity in some regard. Thankfully, in Boston, we have wonderful transportation options for handicapped individuals. One is sponsored by public transportation called “The Ride”. Jack was approved for this service last fall. We schedule a pickup at both destinations, and they come with a chair car and deliver him where he wants to go. It allows for independence which is most important psychologically. Annette would go with him for any assistance he might need. The other things his oncology team decided to do was to give him an anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication to help his overall spirits. Some of the medications that he takes such as the steroids and anti-seizure medication can cause some of the anxiety. I also suspect that Jack is very sensitive to all of these drugs since he has never been one to take anything, not even an aspirin unless he was told to do it.

Jack’s next MRI scan is in mid-April. We are trying to reschedule this for an earlier time to satisfy Jack’s anxiety and questions that he has. As you can see, we are challenged at all levels. By the grace of our Lord, we are given the necessary grace each day as needed.

It would be very easy, given how difficult each task has become, to sit around and do nothing. This mode of operation is not part of what Jack and I have ever done so it is not what we are planning to do now, by God’s grace. On Saturday evening, Jack, Courtenay, and I went to our little local Italian coffee house. It was already evening, so with a porch light, Jack was able with assistance to get to the sidewalk. From there, we got him into his wheelchair and wheeled him to the car which he can get into with help. He later admitted that he would not have done this activity but that it was a very good one and was glad that we had the determination to make it happen. Needless to say, he slept very well.

The Lord certainly knows how to keep me distracted. Last Friday, a week ago, Bloomberg Finance, was in my office filming a special with a client of ours and myself on “Managing a Financial Windfall”. I was the feature Financial Planner. It will be aired sometime this Spring on cable channels, in 750,000 hotels around the country, and assorted other places as an “On Demand” program. So the “reality TV” thing keeps happening. My company was recently named as one of Boston’s Top 10 investment advisors among women owned companies here as well. We are always thankful for the press since our hope is that it may bring hope and value to someone that may need it. Also, Jonathan edited a History Channel program called “Journey to 10,000 BC” that was aired on March 9, 2008. Megan was one of the actors in it. Jonathan is now working on a program series for the History Channel about battles of the Old Testament. I will keep you posted when that will be aired. Given the scope of the project, I will guess it will be aired late this year or early next year. It is an eight part series.

Our wonderful friends and neighbors continue to bring us wonderful food and comfort. Our neighbors, Mary and J.P. Barger and our dear friends, Judy and Josh Morris brought us food in the last two weeks. Another dear MIT friend, Jane Cohen, brought us a delicious dinner last Friday. Just when I think I cannot think anymore about what to cook, the Lord provides us with these delicious meals. Our dear German friend, Benno Wersborg, came through Boston on Saturday and had lunch with us. It is always such a pleasure to see him. You may recall, he was Jack’s first PhD student. We also want to thank Prof. Bob Dibble, from ME UC Berkeley and Prof. Greg Macrae, from MIT for their recent emails and blog comments.

I have included in this blog, a story from one of Jack’s cousins about Jack’s growing up years. Here it is:
I visited with mom yesterday and she wants to send her a card. Evans was also there. Tell Jack that Evans had just been to Joe Billy Bowman's to get his hair cut. They were both recalling - and laughing about how our families did not allow us to have comic books but Hugh and Opal did....so everyone loved coming to their house and "slipping upstairs" to read their comics.....those comics were probably the inspiration of Jack's great intelligence - and the creativity that Jonathan now has! (Just think of the value of those books if anyone still had them!!)Rosalie (Jack’s 1st cousin on his Dad’s side)
“Her” refers to Jack’s Mom, Opal, who will be 96 on March 18. She is in remarkably good physical condition but not strong mentally anymore for memory issues. She does not know about Jack. If we told her, she has no capacity to remember it so we have decided she will not know about him.
Evans, is Rosalie’s brother and Joe Billy Bowman is another cousin. You can tell they had a good time remembering childhood.

As the journey continues, we cling to the verse in Isaiah 58:11 which says:
“The Lord will guide you continually….and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.” Regardless of our weaknesses and failings, we are trusting with great confidence in Him, that our Lord never fails. We rest in the shadow of His wings.
Blessings,
Carolyn