Medicare 2011 : What if Rapid Recovery isn't Rapid Enough ? April 9, 2011

Well we have lots to report on from Manhattan.

First on Tal:

We asked that they lower the amount of pain medication that he was getting. "Synthetic heroin" Bruce called it! So you can imagine why he saw his friend Hall and Johnny Cash having lunch with him. Hopefully this will help him be more alert, be able to work better with his team of physical therapists.

We are learning quite alot about right sided strokes from Melia, his speech therapist. That ornery quality he affects is all part of the game she says.

The two hours that it takes to convince him that yes, he must tell her what the pictures are of on her page: tree, star,apple, piano...turns out he can identify quite a few but coming to the bottom he becomes very left brain and abstract. A clock becomes a "boy in a field flying a kite" and finally "an onion" cut in half. A lamp becomes a banana.

Questions all soooo beneath him he says!"You think I'm an idiot he says!" But we learn that he CAN see and recognize quite a bit but sometimes can't find the word describing it!

Sheila, another physical therapy nurse and one that has had the most difficulty with him, got the big prize two nights ago. A drawing of the Dragon Stair sculpture, in front of the National Museum in Korea! Yes! There was the building behind it, the tall pine tree to the righthand side and the way the piece sits drawn with care and precision. And he signed it. "Tal" with a little moon.

Wouldn't you have liked to be the recipient of one of those ? I certainly would have ! I hope she understands what she was given ! 

We are trying to lengthen the time that he keeps his eyes open. So far his record is 40 seconds. It has to be 3 minutes by the end of the month they tell us or Pop's Medicare wont foot the bill for all of this "Rapid Recovery". That's a reality to deal with too. If he doesn't make enough visible progress every month. They will stop the therapies because Medicare will no longer cover squat all. 

Tal Streeter at The Beach Museum, Manhattan, KS: April

As we get closer to the opening of Pop's show at the Beach, help comes! Bruce George, Uko and Hideko Morita . 

Bruce George was the first. Bruce, who had done total restorations on all of this work as well as constructing the new pieces, came to install the show with Lindsay Smith, installations designer at the Beach. What an exciting moment when we started to get the pieces unpacked and Bruce situated them in the space of that enormous hall.

Most of these were simple red sculptures made in the late sixties and seventies. Then Bruce had smaller "floating "ghosts" of these pieces in flat white composite polymer that floated above nearby...Elegant and graceful, they totally inhabited the space. We think Tal will be thrilled when he is finally able to visit this installation.

I'll try to get a pix of that up here for those of you unable to travel to see it yourselves. We certainly welcome all of his friends to Manhattan to see it, those of you that live nearer!

Bruce spent time every night with Tal, the night owl, describing the days events. This was incredibly uplifting for him! And we recommend that his local visitors visit the show before visiting him. It will be as uplifting for you as it is for him when he hears it described by a friend with a fresh pair of eyes!

Bruce's visit was totally manna from heaven for all of us here. Good humored, impeccable sense of space and flow, he and Lindsay and a bit me, Lissa (!!!)got the show at the Beach up and installed on time and most importantly, really beautifully!

I think I will leave it there for now. Uko and Hideko Morita have arrived from New York to be with Tal this weekend.

Uko Morita and his wife Hideko arrived yesterday ! So we continue the positive stimulation for Tal!

I'll let Uko describe himself how he found Tal:

I was so lucky that I came on one of his good days.Certainly there is the problem for moving his limbs. As far as his mind goes, it is there and clear. We had quite a lengthy conversation. When I asked him I had lots of questions (about life, about work, about business, to ask him, he replied "Any time!"

Museum Show was wonderful and none of the pieces looks old! Certainly the space was limited, long and thin, but it fills it so well!

Hideko brought a kaleidoscope and brightly colored cookies for which he was interested in trying a few! He still has a sweet tooth, Tal Streeter!
When she was leaving she said "Well, we are leaving Tal!" He answered: "Don't go far!"

From Manhattan,

Lissa

Tal's Reality : April 7, 2011

On some days Pop seems easier to engage, enjoys talking for a few seconds, and seems quite aware of his situation. Those moments are few and far between.

The reality is : 99.9 % of the time his eyes are closed and he sleeps, even when sitting up. He shuts down, closes his eyes after a few seconds, when asked to do the therapies. No amount of encouragement or anything really (!!!)can get him to do something that he doesn't want to do. Jason, his nurse and helper (wearing red scrubs) says the best thing to do is to try and distract him towards thinking about something else. Then to retry the shower, the speech therapy etc.

He has made some progress in holding his mouth shut, in holding his head up and ...in feeding himself! That means judging where the plate is, aiming the spoon for his favorite part, mashed potatoes, then getting that up to his mouth, chewed and swallowed. Then reaching for the cup and getting that up to his lips and taking a small sip.

Another positive thing or two: he asked for a pencil and paper and made his first forays in that department. He made little drawing gestures in the air before finding the paper and making a mark or two. Drawing a hesitant line or two. To that end we have gotten him large sharpie markers and a good sketchbook with a hard cover. So that if he asks for that, even in the middle of the night, it is at hand.

His first trys with Hall's CD player also gave him great enjoyment! About the Harry James that he was listening to he said:"Certainly gets you going!"

So we will be including more music in the future. And hopefully trying out the drawing pens!

Mom seems to be doing well. She has really gotten herself organized and has such a circle of folks surrounding her with good steady support! met a young woman R, an Art History major at the college, at the coffee shop where Mom often goes to just get away from it all, to be surrounded with life and lovely faces!

Bruce arrives tonite from Pennsylvania to help them set up the show at the Beach Museum. It's going to be quite a whirlwind.

Lissa (in Manhattan)

Slowly but Surely ? March 17, 2011

Friday 25 March Tal has been really working hard on all of the various forms of physical therapy that he is offered. 

He has come to a turning point in his physical therapy sessions we think. He understands that it isn't about doing the particular movement that they are asking, it islearning to use that part of the body again via the movements that they are asking him to do. 

Pretty long winded description but hope it is clear! 

I had to read Moms description several times myself to get at what she was describing! 

Poppy is feeding himself, still pretty much all groundup stuff as chewing is still a difficult task. 

He has great sense of humor. This stroke hasn't diminished his sense of humour it seems. 

The most recent: "Would you please bring me a back scratcher ? Not a fancy one ! Just one of those black plastic Chinese ones with the white plastic hand. It's the white plastic hand ones that work the best. Something that they put in that plastic " 

-Lissa (I'll be in Manhattan next Tuesday the 29th and staying for about a month until the 26th!

So hopefully I'll be able to offer more detail and updates in the near future. 

Big dates in the month of April? 

Moms birthday on the 22nd! 

LS

Eating, Visitors and the tragedies in Japan, March 7, 2011

Poppy has many a visitor. High School friends from Manhattan, Kansas City. Monday the 12th, his beloved godson Tiger and parents David and Fiona will be visiting for a few days.

Eating is still kind of a chore but one that Tal is getting better and better at. He has now started eating with others in the dining room. Things like tuna fish sandwiches and Diet Dr Pepper, altho for the moment no straws etc as puckering his mouth is still difficult. All of his food is ground up and practically in liquid form for easy swallowing.

Mom has learned how to use her cell phone and is able to both receive and make calls! We don't know if she can yet listen to her messages but she has several friends at Radio Shack that are helping her with the basics.

For the moment that is all the news I have. We are all pretty tired and communication is sparse. Hopefully things will continue to improuve as spring brings softer weather.

No, Tal has heard nothing of the situation in Japan. I have been trying to find word of his friend Kuniyoshi Munakata but as yet, have not heard back from Mihou, his son living in the UK. Kuniyoshi lives in Atami, quite aways below Tokyo so I think and hope that he is all right. From what I have been able to gather, this part of Japan sustained no damage anywhere devastating as that in northern Japan.

Tal has always been a very emotional fellow. he feels things deeply, cries easily. No that isn't a bad thing! It is my hope that his friends will wait a bit to tell him this.

I haven't discussed it with Mom either, nor she with me.

How does the Brain "Relearn" ? March 5, 2011

Posted Mar 5, 2011 3:43am

Quite an adventure, how our brain processes information. Relearning how to write and read will be poppy's great challenge in addition to walking, sitting up, chewing eating and swallowing normally. We all will want to hear this tale from a talented storyteller!

There are some perception/reading problems associated with these kinds of stokes. The good news is that the therapy staff all know about this and thankfully know what to do about this phenomena!

Mom described what it was like to see him working for the first time with the reading therapist: "She would show him a word like "timeline". He would be able to read and say outloud the "time" part on the left hand side of the page but wouldn't see the "line" part on the right hand side. By asking him to follow a red line underneath lefthand side "time" that slowly included the righthand "line", his brain was able to compensate and see that there was "timeline" there and not just "time"! This left /right perception problem is par for the course and is something they know exactly what to do about! Creative, creative, creative these therapists!

Mom also said that Margy reported that "He threw his kleenex in the basket: meaning aim, shoot and dunk!" He could see it, aim for it and hit it! Great therapy right there and I'm going to look for some soft balls for him to have around to "play" as often as he feels up to it!

Many thanks to his all of his visiting friends in Manhattan that keep him up with our messages of love and life and leave word of his daily progress for those of us far away.

Best to you all, Lissa

Tal's New Program : "BrainWord" March 2, 2011

Wed March 2 : Just what IS he doing while resting there in Manhattan?

Posted Mar 3, 2011 2:30am

Very short update as Mom has made it to Santa Fe...

We will rely on the messages left by his visiting Manhattan friends for the up to date stuff!

Janet has left one down there in messages that you all can read by clicking on the "Your Community"," Messages", "View All" and they will all come up! Thanks Janet and friends! Great to read that he can carry a good conversation now! That his voice is strong!Very reassuring! Lets hope we can keep his moral up too !

Mom recounted yesterday, in the course of a long conversation with Poppy, that in answer to her question : "what are you thinking about, Tal? ", Poppy replied, and i quote:

"I am composing letters to Tiger (his godson) on a screen in my head."

So Tal eh!?