January 20, 2006
Update #22
Happy New Year!!!

Let me start this update by wishing you a Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! It’s been awhile, I know…

All is well in sunny Arizona, as well as expected. The weather has been great except our 90 + day dry spell, seeing the sun everyday though, is motivating.

Our holiday season went well, had a good time with the kids for Halloween, and attended an “annual neighborhood block party” at one of Mom and Dads neighbor’s houses. We had just our immediate family for Thanksgiving at Loris house, Mom and Dad hosted Christmas Eve and Lisa had Christmas. The day after Christmas, Dads sisters flew in and surprised him, an emotional event as usual. Spent New Years at Lisa’s house with friends…had a hot poker game going (Bob acted as Dads “hands”); don’t think they won much money. Just had Ohio State fans/friends here for the Fiesta Bowl, Lucy & Jim Slagle from Virginia and our cousins Susie, John and Sage were here (Sage was running the PF Changs Marathon). We had day visitors this past Saturday…Gary Daters & Deb (Gary was on the bike in front of Dad the day of the accident) and Nancy Marlin & Fred Kolkhorst, former colleagues, from San Diego. Last week Elton and June Green from Cedar Falls stop by for an afternoon and Sandy & John Golz and Bob & Linda Anderson were here this Fall. It has been a busy time for visitors…we love it!

In October we decided to pursue a new a direction in Dads therapy hiring a Clinical Exercise Physiologist from Los Angeles. His name is Taylor Kevin Isaacs. Taylor is originally from South Africa and came to the US on a soccer scholarship. (I have posted a bio on him in the update section of Dads website.) Taylor spent 7 years as a professor of Kinesiology at Cal State Northridge and decided his real love was working one on one with patients. We found him through an article in Woman’s Day magazine about a kid named Aaron Baker who was in a motocross accident and was given a 1 in a million chance of walking, today he walks with a cane and he dedicates a great deal of his recovery to Taylor and his pursuit of Aaron’s ultimate goal, to walk again!!

During Taylor’s initial visit, he spent a week here with our family. His initial goal was to absolutely observe EVERY move “we” (kids, Mom, nurses, therapists, doctors etc…) make with Dad and do a full assessment of his condition. He then wrote a game plan for where we are headed and the important changes that needed to be made. We continue to follow his plan, he comes every six weeks for 3 days and does a complete evaluation on Dad and I must say we are seeing changes. Dad still cannot do anything for himself, but we are working hard to obtain that goal. He continues therapy and acupuncture six days a week, Mon-Sat, Sundays off! (He is still at The Neuro Institute in Tempe)

In an earlier picture I posted Dad in a walking machine, Taylor changed that!! The upright walking machine proved to be too much for Dads pain tolerance level. Taylor’s mantra is “NO PAIN, NO PAIN”, a long way from Coaches mantra of “No Pain, No Gain.” We’ve struggled to change Dads mind set, but its working and he is seeing better results with Taylor’s “No Pain” theory. The “pain” part of Dads injury hasn’t changed: daily, constant pain and stiffness. He has a stretching routine twice a day; in the am it’s performed by his day nurse and in the pm, after therapy, always done by someone in the family. It seems to be helping somewhat!

He now stands up in a “standing machine” 4 days a week. You can see in one of the pictures (with Taylor in October) his posture is not good, because he has minimal trunk control, I took a recent picture so you can see the progress. By standing upright he is improving circulation, preventing bone loss (reducing his risk for fractures and breaks), improving posture and truck functioning, increasing overall strength, improving his breathing and voice control and decreasing fatigue. PLUS, its just nice to be upright for a few minutes a day, something most of us never think about when you aren’t confined to a wheelchair.

We are down to one “day nurse” and one “evening nurse” who covers a few overnights a week. Lance still covers Friday overnights and Mom does the rest.

How about those Panthers!! We are never very far from the UNI campus with the Internet. Congrats to UNI for a great sports season, we look forward to Dad getting to watch them in person in the very near future.

Our family continues to be strong and committed. We appreciate the love, support, prayers and correspondence from so many friends and family. We hope all of you are happy and healthy and we think of you all often.

Please continue to visit the “Send Your Thoughts” on the website, Dad loves to hear from you. (www.glenhenry.com)

10+ NEW PHOTOS HAVE BEEN POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!

Be well,
The Dream Team

Heres who is in the photos: **Several with Dad and his Therapist, Dewayne (Differrent shots of Dad in the stand up machine)

**Dad w/Taylor Kevin Isaacs (in the hat with ponytail)

**Dad w/night nurse, Dixie (green sweatshirt)

**Dad w/his two sisters, Faye and Maggie

**Mom and Dad with Jackson & Taylor around Halloween (that is not Dads Corona Beer)

**Dad and the "Boys of Neuro": Chris(asst), Arnie(owner), Jim(PT asst) DeWayne (Dads PT)