March 31, 2006

  • Michael in Stephenville.  We have been running circles all week, so I have not gotten to blog.  Our phone bill this week will be wonderful news for all the phone company investors... 


    Wednesday, we called Tepic about ten times.  Each time, we either encountered technical difficulties (no international connection or no answer) or Lorena was in therapy and Rainey was out.  We finally got through to Tepic after several attempts Thursday only to find Lorena in therapy once again and Rainey out of the house, but just as we were giving up, Rainey came in so so we got to talk to her.


    Lorraine reports that Mom is looking great and is in very good spirits.  She said that Lorena is trying desperately to talk, and that she mouths the prayers that the family meets each evening to pray.  We still joke (especially when Lorena is on the phone) that when she starts talking, the result will be a verbal tsunami -- and, of course, she laughs very hard.  I cannot imagine not being able to talk for such an extended period, especially when I could not move and had cramps and charley horses, itches, wrong positions, and other discomforts.


    We still don't know what to do regarding Lorena.  Martha suggested for us to bring her back to the States, but if we do that, then she must go back into a nursing home, and she will definitely not get the care there that she has grown accustomed to -- and that has contributed to her incredible progress.  There is no way that we could afford private nurses here, and we would have to have hired help to care for her.  Martha was aghast when I told her that, saying that Lorena has already almost succumbed to nursing home care.  I also pointed out to her that if she were here in the nursing home, I and some of her closest friends would kill ourselves trying to stay with her 24 hours per day because we know that since she cannot ask for anything, she will tend to get minimal care.  The greasy wheel syndrome is certainly the norm in the nursing home and the rehab hospitals she was in before.


    I was just about to call right now because we had set up a call appointment yesterday with Rainey, but she just emailed me that it would be better to call at 9:00 p.m. CST instead, so I will try later.  I will update as quickly as I can.


    I am having to attend a math conference tomorrow, so Kathleen Stripling had volunteered to pick Rainey up.  Kathleen was having to go to DFW tomorrow to change her ticket to Saudi for later in the summer, so my quandary for getting Rainey back home was solved, but then we discovered that Rainey will be able to ride home with Ben Aguilar.  Chris will be staying in Tepic.  She had really hoped to stay here for awhile, but...