thomas Arrives from Oregon to help

brothers & Fred

Fred stans with Kim

Fred connects to internet

today Fred received assistance from the librarian and tech support getting his laptop to connect to the internet so he's reading ALTERNET righ now. I am posting . we are in the EMMC library again. it is 4:30 , dinner at 5:00... movies tonight. we checked out about 10 which hopefully will get us through the night. last night was 3 hours deep drugged sleep and the rest in fits and starts with bogey monsters arriving to spend the dark hours. I am always most grateful to see the light of day .tonight we'll stay up late perhaps as Thomas arrives at 6:30 from Portland, Oregon via Portland, Maine. Drew will leave monday or so to return to Brooklyn.

todays PT was amazing. Fred took his first post stroke steps, stood straingt and held his own weight. he has homework which he so enjoys , to squeeze a hand held device to make his left hand stronger and extend the arm. we(Drew, Pat, Fred) played volleyball in the hall last night with a yellow baloon....

ok i'll load todays photos

reconnected

ANNIE O

I am fortunate to be honored by having friends like you. I am presently in a limbo state. I have trouble typing, dealing with the simplest tasks. This is a good hospital and the staff has been wonderful. My PT has been fun and helpful. I enjoy it. The delay in response to all the wonderful emails and cards is due to my current condition. heartfelt thanks
love J.Fred

drew assists Fred

march 27, 2008

thurs. march 27, 2008
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO MEG and huge thanks for getting us through the worst weeks of our lives together
mom & Fred

Fred's left hand is actually now getting some direction from Fred's brain. it had remained strong but Fred was unable to get it to go where he wanted it and it was tight against his chest. Today's session he had control over the right and left hand. not perfect but hey remarkable! we are grateful again. Stephanie Lee was the night nurse last night and did some yoga exercises with Fred during the night when he would awaken. he is sleeping better and is awake today for his terapy sessions. Drew is with him now. Thomas arrives tomorrow. again thanks for all the love and support it really is working. We are told we will be moving to Blue Hill hosp. rehab. April 8. we will be so happy to be closer to home. then we will evaluate the situation for visitors.

pat

MEG HAS RETURNED TO L.A.

Seroquel sleep

Seroquel sleep...
into mid-morning
not perfect, but providing rest in the storm
Keith Jarred...playing Bach
while Fred breathes deeply, in and out of sleep
Spring Snow last night
Crows seem to fly, soar, circle, dive to the concert, the grey sky as backdrop
the blessed sound of snoring
Dud kept vigil last night
protecting, watching, witness
Pat slept the night at Riverside Inn & soaked in lavendar bath early
returning to find progress & to evaluate, confer with vigilant nurse/ therapy team...for today Wed. Mar. 26, 2008
marked on my calendar as the final day of my residency at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, OTIS , Oregon
Thomas and lalena have collected my paintings...the series SEVEN STOPPING PLACES, PAINTINGS, VIDEO & GRANARIES
T&L will deliver them to Arthur DeBow at OCAC Centrum Gallery for my June Exhibition

Kim enters for OT

FRED LIBRARY

library

From Fred in the Library, escaped from the floor (with permission! actually)"sitting in the hospital library with my georgeous wife, whose idea I credit to her for the blog and much much more. I've discovered the sound of ONE HAND CLAPPING as my left hand doesn't respond to the right hand, but I am hoping that will be improved upon. the good people at this facilityseem to love their ork and those they treat. so despite my frustrations getting back on my feet and hopefully towaqrds normal. their sense of humor and joy has made this unplesant experience bearable.It goes without saying everyone's emails , cards and letters have overwhelmed me. so much love is a bit hard to comprehend. BUT , THANKS
J. FRED

pt

fred cycle

Fred goes to Physical Therapy daily and is determined. his use of the left side is coming back so well. he is still very exhausted and not sleeping well at night but makes steady progress non the less...and with humor Amy & Greg do PT as a team in the afternoon . they are really beautiful souls and gifted with people and are most skilled. we feel blessed to have them working with Fred. the whole rehab wing here is extrordinary.

Fred's river

sunday morning

hello!note to all of you! with love!

image of an inventor-adventurer that reminds us of Fred...

Fred's drawing of his left hand, with some notes to Betty. We said goodbye to her this morning.

Fred was eager to get back on the bicycle this morning so we went up after breakfaast and he rode for about 10 minutes.
and
he's been flirting with the nurses today.

in motion

yesterday was a very good day.
Fred was up out of the wheelchair and with assistance from the physical therapists, he took a few steps,
they also had him on a bicycle-like machine, so he can get motion back into his legs. so Fred got a good confidence boost from these accomplishments.

thank you everyone for your continued support and love, it means so much to receive your messages and postcards!

more later,

1st day of Spring - last night long nights journey into day

Fred is making significant progress. Days are still reversed with nights sleep-wise, so that is a problem the team is working on...
Drew and Meg are both with Pat & Fred now. that is an odd reunion and very sacred for us all. we expected a family reunion on the west coast at the beach...instead it is in EMMC hospital rehab.

We are grateful.
Fred is having his second Reiki sesion with Howard - a marvelous human being. It REALLY helps.

much love to you all for your thoughts ,letters, love and acts of kindness.

March 19, 2008

Fred is having a good day today... much more alert, able to do all of his physical therapy and speech therapy, and his left hand is moving more, he was up out of bed in the wheelchair all morning and able to operate it himself.

Reiki sessions today, for both Fred and Pat...from volunteer Howard Welden, who turns out to be a close friend of our friends Nance Hill and Phil Brazee!
he talks about the principle of attraction, how we attract the energy we put out.... so knowing our desired outcome is critical. Our feelings are our guides to our vibrations... look for better healing thoughts... draw a circle, think of each hour and at that position attach a thought that gives relief from the situation.
I talked long with Howard and it relaxed me incredibly.... Fred said he could totally feel his good energy and power of touch. Fred's awarenes of other's energies is heightened.
Fred wants to get back to his creative work and wishes for wellness.

5th anniversary of the Iraq War...

BULLETIN BOARD REHAB

3/18/08

Keith Jarrett, quietly in the night

Fred saw the occupation therapist this morning. today it is one week since his stroke. he is making progess...slow but really good progress.he could stand with weight on both legs if only for a moment it is remarkable . his left side was effected so it's most important that his left leg could hold his weight. h'ell see the physical therapist and spech therapist this afternoon and the OT as well. speech is excellent, circular as always and abstract. meg had him writing poetry last night he wrote"still here...here still...blue pencil almost invisible like I feel my life is fading, slipping way before me...BUT a stroke is new to me, it is a mystery .... Kieth Jarred piano concert, Koln , quietly in the background...and I don't know what to do and how this will work out."

Fred & John Cogswell at ACA, jan. 2008

eagles and olympia

ok I was taking Fred out in the wheelchair for a visual break and to see his blog.
this required leaving rehab and going down to the lobby to pick up wireless. I showed him the blog, we read people's entries, Fred was moved by it but exhausted. each small task is exhausting. so i brought him up to third floor but said to him do you want to see the river?...yes....so we visited the river.
I spoke about the Salmon River Estuary in Oregon and now this river with the ice flows breaking up for spring and I thought of the Eagle and told him about the eagle who flew over my head with the other 3 artist/writers on our hike last week (can that be possible)up the mountain, Cascade Head or Bald Mountain as the Indians named it. so i asked him to remember our hike last year up that same mountain and to close our eyes and pray to the eagle spirit or great spirit or whatever is sacred ...to pray for the returned use of his beautiful left hand, so like the eagles ...strong usually like a vice grip...then i talked about Deepak Chopra and his insistence that there are no coincidences that everything is ripe with meaning....I don't know why i was saying that but nance and I had been talking about that and the interesting things we had been told by Buzz from the woman in NM....balance, trust etc.the breaking open of the heart chakra... with that i see an eagle fly down the river and land on the bank. i pointed and said well there you go. that eagle is telling us something...
so we moved on in search of art supplies from occupational therapy. the nurse at the desk took us down the hall and found a few supplies. fred wants to draw.....and there were 3 people in that room chatting together privately...one, an elderly woman in wheelchair with lovely and lively eyes the other two were Olympia Snowe and her husband. the older woman is his aunt who shares rehab!!!!with Fred....chew on that!!!!!!!! i of course greeted the senator reminding her that she may remember me as I spend a great deal of time in her office. said in a non threatening way...then I told her about Fred, there with me in the wheelchair and we proceeded to converse in a most kind way. her husband is very nice. she was easy.....so god what is going on!!!!

Meg called, she is in Portland making her way north. Tom called will arrange to fly east to overlap with Meg who will be with us for 10 days. they will xray Fred to see if he fractured anything when he fell he has great pain in the hip now.

pat

meg arrives to assist from LA

glad to be here! I'm looking for some movies for Fred, they have an old vhs player... I found the Truman Show and Dr. Strangelove, maybe we'll look at them later...

Meg

2 heart chakra

Fred's started to do a little bit of drawing. His hands need to be busy! He was feeling under the tray table and noticed that a screw needed to be tightened...

Acts of Kindness for Fred

dear friends and family,

I would love for you to take a moment to perform an act of kindness today, and dedicate it to Fred.

hello and welcome to Fred's page!

hi dear friends,
It's been a bit of a challenge to keep up with all the emails coming in, so thought we would try this as a way to stay in touch and keep you updated about Fred.

(He's gone out to get some air and feeling a bit stronger today).

Thank you so much for the outpouring of support and love!