Observations

Last Sunday I stopped by to see Martha. She was just getting ready to watch TV but the remote wasn't working for her. Fairly annoyed, she handed it to me to see if I could make it work (pretty funny because I normally hand the remote to Linda to sort out). Anyway, I got the remote to pull up a menu on the TV, and then started clicking through to find football. Martha knew when I hit the list of NFL channels!

I don't know how or how many, but I think she recognizes some words. Chloe says she's noticed the same thing. I asked Martha and she said yes. I think the disconnect is in her ability to process and/or communicate what she saw/read.

Mo and Bob also stopped by and brought Martha a lottery ticket. Interestingly enough, she knew she was supposed to scratch off the gray stuff. That's hard to do one-handed, so she handed it to me to finish. She won $8. Bob wanted to look at the ticket (yeah, right) but she was not going to give it up. And we were treated to a couple of rounds of "I won, I won, I won."

P.S. She liked the chili I made. I'm guessing, but I imagine she liked the ice cream Bob and Mo brought as well. ;-) Coming up this Sunday -- scalloped potatoes.

Sense of humor 2

It's football season, so guess what was on TV at the Deshong's yesterday? Martha was watching the Indy game when Linda and I stopped over. We brought presents from our trip to Charleston. I think Martha liked her Charleston Riverdogs shirt and baseball because I saw her looking at the shirt even while the game was on. Normally she's very focused when there's a game on.

Chloe decided she was going to make chili for the first time and pulled a recipe off the internet. While Chloe was in the kitchen, Linda asked Martha if she missed cooking and being in the kitchen. Martha glanced toward the kitchen, more than once, rolled her eyes and said "yes." We knew exactly what she meant and everyone had a good laugh. We all decided we didn't really like the recipe but she ate a bowl of chili as well as some of the kettle corn we brought from the Clothesline Festival. Earlier she had some of the swiss cheese pie Chloe made, so her sense of taste is coming back.

As we were getting ready to leave, since she'd had some of the chili Chloe made, I said I'd bring the chili next week. Martha glanced toward the kitchen, grinned, and said "thank you."

Short visit -- big news

Linda and I visited Martha and Chloe today and brought dessert. We sat in the breakfast area and had bread pudding with caramel sauce -- not as good as our family makes, but passable. ;-) Martha ate most of hers, so her taste is indeed changing. First she was stuck on waffles and now it's potatoes.

I commented that we'd posted about attending the Park Ave festival a couple of weeks ago. When I mentioned the crab cake, Martha's face lit up and she licked her lips. Her short-term memory isn't always too good, but in this case it was totally fine.

Big news is that Martha's surgery has finally been scheduled: Oct. 13. Don't ask why the delay. A couple of weeks ago Dave said he thought Martha would be in the hospital for 4 to 5 days while the doctors get the blood thinner details worked out. If that changes, we'll let you know.

I asked Martha about football season. She won't be cooking this year or sending out her weekly commentary. but she says OK to having us visit on Sunday afternoon.

As we were getting ready to leave, Martha wheeled herself to the family room. I was amazed at how easily she moves between the wheelchair and the couch. She also had no problem finding baseball on TV. Once baseball is on, that's what Martha tunes into, so we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Enjoyed the Park Ave Festival

Martha went to the Park Avenue Festival with Bronte, Linda and me this morning. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself. Any time she wanted to stop at a booth, all she had to do was put her foot down and that certainly would stop the wheelchair. For some time now we've thought she had lost her sense of smell, but she had absolutely no problem today locating the booth with crabcakes. She had part of a crabcake and saved room for some Abbott's ice cream as well. It's good to see her outside and enjoying herself.

Slowly but surely ...

I spent some time with Martha Sunday afternoon. We sat on the deck out back. Martha's more verbal than she has been, and I understand her taste in food has expanded to include baked potatoes and crackers. While we were on the deck, I stood up for a while and Martha got her point across that I should sit down and pull my chair closer to her. She also wheeled herself over to a small table that had a plate with grapes and crackers, picked up the plate and offered it to me. I've heard she's taken a liking to baseball. She and Dave attended a Red Wings game recently and Dave said she grinned the whole time. She'll find it on TV if it's on, but she's watching the Yankees! Sisterly affection only goes so far ...

Lunch and laughs with a few D&C friends

Karen Magnuson and I had a wonderful lunch visit with Martha today! Her face just lit up as we walked in with a special delivery ... and that would be Pizza from Guida's. In Martha fashion, believe it or not, she wasn't too thrilled with our food selection. We just blamed Bronte who was leaving for her college orientation trip. Martha was actually craving waffles with gobs of syrup. Chloe reminded us of her taste buds liking sweet foods and drinks. Speaking of drinks, Martha was sipping on a sweet tea on the rocks, and when I asked if it had vodka in it, I received a quick NO, but was told she snuck a gulp from somebody's beer last week. Custom Brew Crafters here we come. We did guilt her into having a slice of Pizza with us though. : ) Martha was in great spirits, and followed each one of our conversations pretty closely. Her speech and choice of words are becoming much clearer and we also noticed her right arm and hand much more relaxed. I guess the therapy at the Jewish Center is really paying off! Priceless: We asked Martha if she was gearing up for this coming NFL season and Sunday Funday Football and as clear as a bell Martha replied, PARTY!
Love ya, mean it... Karen and Jim-

Sense of humor still intact

Saturday I attended Bronte's graduation with the family and stayed for dinner afterwards. Martha was sitting in the kitchen with us, and I noticed she was fiddling with her right hand. I thought maybe it was bothering her. She pulled her jacket sleeve down over her hand and then looked at it in surprise and said very loud "Oh no!" as if her hand disappeared. Of course, that got everyone's attention, which made Martha laugh. When we realized what she'd done, we all laughed too, which made her laugh all the more. So she's playing the "made you look" game, and that's good.