TheRuths.net

It has been a little over two weeks since Linda came to tarantula. She is adjusting to living in a house again but she has to learn to drive the chair without hitting walls and doors. We’ve touched up a few spots so far but she is doing well. Linda has had a chance to meet her two new family doctors as one came on a house call and the other met her at the hospital Thursday when she spent a good portion of the day in Sandy’s emergency department as a result of some serious dizziness and vomiting. After a couple doses of antiviral she is doing a lot better. On Wednesday she went on her first shopping trip to KMart. On Friday she had her first trip to see the spinal doctor at Bryn Mawr Rehab. We did not learn too much more than we already knew about her situation and there has been no set time that she will start in the day program. Currently she is getting some rehab in home but that will stop when she starts out patient rehab. We are learning something new each day and are looking at every resource we can to find aid for Linda and money to make changes in her environment and the house that will help her do for herself. Her right eye is opening more often and wider than before but her facial droop has not changed much. Her side pain is a little less than before and that means the medicine is probably working for that. She is always cold however and there is a limit to how high we can turn up the heat. In time her metabolism should get back to normal and she will start feeling warm again. On sunny days she sits in the windows for hours to stay warm. Keep those cards and letters coming as Linda truly enjoys them.

Well the day has finally come and Linda was discharged from Spaulding in Boston and flew to Philadelphia (go Eagles) last night. There were delays due to a ground hold in Philly (go Eagles)but she got to the airport around 6:30PM. To that point it had been a long day for Linda and Shane. When we got her bags we had the job of getting her into the van and strapped down for the first time. The trip to Thorndale was uneventful and Linda arrived at her new residence around 9:00PM. After a cup of tea and some cake we got her into bed. Since everything is new on this end it all takes a little adjusting. It looks like we will have to make some additional changes to the rooms but we expected that to a degree. She handled the long day very well but she also fell asleep quickly and slept through the night. She has already had her first cup of coffee this morning and is ready to get the day started. You can write to Linda at:

3300 Edge Lane, Thorndale, PA. 19372.

Email her at; lrileydane40@msn.com. (It may be a few days till we get her computer set up.)

Phone number is 610-383-7812.

We hope you will keep in touch and perhaps the next update to this website will be done by Linda herself. Thank you everyone for everything you did, all your prayers, all your well wishes, for coming out to Steve’s memorial on a snowy but beautiful day, and for paying attention to this website. Eric thanks you for the compliments on the website and hopes you will come back. Anyone is invited to come down to visit Linda at anytime. We have two extra quest rooms and Philly (go Eagles) and Lancaster are only 40 miles east and 30 miles west respectively. ASIDE: I realize the Eagles are up against a pretty great team in the Patriots but we just gotta have hope and pray for a good game.

My Dad’s service has come and gone. It was in the middle of a blizzard, as he planned it to be. Some of my father’s ashes lay above his parents grave in Amesbury, the rest of him now back to Mother Earth as he always wished. The music was beautiful and the eulogies simply perfect!
As for Grams, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron, they are safely back in PA. Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron spent most of their trip up here with mom learning her daily routine. Afterall in about three weeks she will be making the tranisition down to their house to live with them for 3-6 months.
Mom has been doing well. As always she has her good days and bad. She has been thinking about Dad alot and often misses him. Tuesday was an especially good day - mom put on both her shoes and tied them herself:) Today she traveled to Mass General to have a ‘permanent cath.’ put in. She is doing fine.
Overall the Riley Family is pulling through with the love and support of our wonderful family and friends. As always keep the email and mail coming to mom, it seems as if it’s almost like magic potion…. appluading the tiniest victories and hugging the biggest hurts!

January 1, 2005 and a new year starts. We hope this year is a safe and healthy year for all. As for Linda she is making steady progressions forward. Her right eye is tracking to the left and that shows that the eye is improving. It is also opening a little and tingling. Her left eye is starting to tear a little which it did not do before. She is getting saliva production which she also did not have before. Obviously this is very important for eating. Linda had a bout of severe constriction of her chest and they will start some stretching excercises to help eleviate this band that causes her pain and breathing problems. Her spirits are good but she knows the memorial service is approaching and she knows that will be difficult. She is also anxious about how others will see her as she doesn’t look like she did a few months ago. Linda is on some new antibiotics for her urinary tract infection as the “little buggers” are particularly tenacious and much more resistant to antibiotics. Linda has been on antibiotics quite often since she was hospitalized in October. This can in itself be a health problem as her infections become more and more resistant. Eric and I have begun the search for a wheelchair van in the area. On Monday we are going to visit a lot that has a bunch of vans to see what’s available. We would like to have one here by the time Linda arrives so that we can pick her up at the airport instead of hiring a transport to bring her to Thorndale.

Christmas for the Riley’s went well this year. Grams, Shane and I spent the day with Mom. We opened presents and enjoyed the day together. Although it wasn’t like our “normal” Christmas with the family, it was still nice. Hey, Christmas comes once a year…. We have many more! Well, here is a pic of the family on Christmas Day! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Yay for Mom, she has finally graduated to ‘regular food’ !!! Meaning she can now have things like toast, nuts, and raw vegetables. She also gets her meat or chicken as a whole and is required to cut it on her own. Mom continues to be in high spirits about her recovery but like everyone, has some down days. She is mostly concerned with her eye sight and frustrated that they aren’t healing as fast as she would like. Her therapists continue to work her hard and even on the tired days her goal to achieve independence gets her through that one last session.
This holiday season has come so quickly and soon enough the hospital will need it’s own mailroom for my mother. She has recieved so many wonderful letters and emails from people! As for Shane, Grams and I, we will be spending Christmas day with mom at the hospital. Although Christmas may be a little difficult this year…. we still have each other, and that’s what the holiday season is truly about!..
The new year is right around the corner and that means Dad’s service will be here before we know it. For those who do not yet know or would like a quick reminder, the service is January 8, 2005 at the First Church in Ipswich at 2:00 pm. There will be desserts provided after the service at the church.
My apologies for the delays in updates but life is quite busy for us all. I hope everyone enjoys the holidays! Merry Christmas!!

**** If anyone is interested in brinigng a baked good for after the service feel free to do so. If anyone has any more questions about the service you can email me at MusicianSR@Hotmail.com .

Article in the Ipswich Chronicle

Two days before Christmas and it certainly going to be a different Christmas for most of us. We are certainly going to miss Steve. Linda and Steve often came to PA for a few days and Sandy and I have talked about some of the funny stories that Steve related about his senior friends at work. Linda went out of the hospital for the first time today. She was accompanied by two therapists and another patient on a trip to a pizza parlor. She didn’t want to go but did because she felt she had to go to make everybody happy. She did ultimately have a good time. We didn’t want her to have her first outing to be the memorial on the 8th. Currently she feels that she is not making progress at the pace she did earlier. She is concerned that they are pushing her to get her out by Feb. 1. They told her that they would not push her out if she wasn’t ready. This was comforting to her but she still feels that she needs to be further down the road. We have been told that we will be trained over a period of 4 days in January on those things that we need to know in order to bring Linda to Thorndale. To say the least we are looking forward to Linda coming but we are scared. We are looking for a wheel chair van so we can go places with Linda. If anyone knows of one available let me know. The rehab. is ordering all the medical equipment and having it sent here so we can figure out what we need to do to accomodate Linda. Sandy and I will be having a quiet Christmas with Kevin and Jess, Eric and Jill. We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year.

I am sorry this website has not been updated for awhile but Linda got a new room and a new phone number but it wasn’t working for a few days and we did not talk to her for about four days. Linda tends to spend a lot of time running around in her wheel chair and is not in her room too often. Her new room number is 702. She continues to make slow but steady progress. Most of the progress that is visible is her face and the paralysis therein. She was able to make her right eye open a little today and was able to see her lap and for some of us seeing our laps is a big deal. She is still hoping to get more from the eye specialist. She can feel her eye blinking a little. She is swallowing better and is one step down from a regular diet, eating cold cereal, meats and other such delicacies. She is learning to turn side to side with the momentum of her shoulders. She is looking into a wheelchair van, a Hoya Lift and other medical paraphenalia that she will need when she comes to Pennsylyvania. She gets a lot of pain in her ribcage and still has the pain caused by the “tight band” around her chest. This is a common sensation for people with thoracic paralysis which should eventually go away. A reminder about the memorial service. It will be on January 8th at 2:00PM at the UCC church in Ipswich. Let’s hope the weather is cooperative. Sandy and I are going up to Boston on January 6th and staying until the 11th when we fly home with Ruth. Ruth will be back in Boston on December 18th.

So Mom, Shane and I have finally set up a date for Dad’s memorial service. It will be Saturday the 8 of January, 2005 at 2:00 pm at The First Church in Ipswich, 1 Meeting House Green, Ipswich, MA, 01938.
As for today, mom was up and about working as hard as usual. Today is her second day eating ’soft’ foods, such as pancakes, french toast, eggs and meatloaf…. which of course she is enjoying VERY much! She loves the visitors and mail she is getting, very happy to have a visit from the minister that married her and Steve. She’s maintaining a positive attitude and although times can be hard for her she continues to keep on fighting.