Friday, October 30

TGIF! What a week. Seems as though all of a sudden our weekly schedule has become a lot busier! Mr. B was subbing on Tuesday and Thursday and open gyms have begun. We've been pretty busy trying to keep up with the leaves, too. Any way it feels good to be busy with ordinary things. Amazingly, Mr. Bichler seems to be doing much better the busier he becomes.

Congratulations to the West Jeff football team for their big win against Liberty Union and the volleyball girls for defeating Newark Catholic. We hope to make it to the volleyball district finals tomorrow against Heath.

The pic is Fluffy, my adopted outdoor cat that showed up on my doorstep last January. If you are looking for a cat, she is a sweetie, and available.

Wednesday, October 28

I just love fall mornings. They are beautifully quiet and serene. Mr. Bichler and I talked a lot this morning about the results of the accident. He really feels that he is getting back to his old self. He confided that the most difficult part of recovery is regaining his confidence. I'm pretty sure that his day working the stream table on the field trip and his first day substituting have gone a long way in reinforcing how well he really is doing. We did get some pretty disappointing news today from OSU College of Optometry. Mr. B had to take a Goldman visual field test and the results showed that with his visual field cut he will most likely never be able to drive. It's pretty hard news to hear but as Mr. Bichler said, "there isn't too much that we can do to change the situation". When considering all that has transpired this year this certainly is not the end of the world. We will continue to count our many blessings as we begin a new chapter in our lives. We are very fortunate that we can still do all of the things we enjoy, together.

Tuesday, October 27

Thumbs up! Mr. Bichler went to work today for the first time since his accident last December. He was substituting for Mrs. Kitchen in 8th grade science. When he got home he talked non-stop about his day. He said it was a little boring but he enjoyed seeing all of his students from last year and the staff stopped in all day long to see if the rookie sub needed any help. He was glad to hear that Tuesday is still pizza day and he enjoyed seeing the friendly lunch ladies again. He felt the day went really good for his first time back. I was amazed that when he got home after subbing and staying after school for open gym he still had the energy to head out to blow leaves. Thankfully it started raining before he got the blower started. I think he will sleep very good tonight! Very important vision test tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed!

Monday, October 26

Our busy day began with a visit to my friendly dentist. We had to cancel Mr. Bichler's appointment so we could get to his driving rehabilitation program at OSU by 11:30. When we arrived, they began testing his memory, cognitive abilities and visual scanning. He did really good on all of those tests. Then came the vision test, not so good. We found out that the optometrist didn't give him the correct field of vision test so we have to go to the OSU College of Optometry to take the Goldman visual field test. When I called to make the appointment they explained that they were booked through December but they would do all they could to get him in as soon as possible.
A friend of ours picked Mr. B up from the rehab center to take him home so I could go on to the zoo to do a Talk. We took animals to a community center on Sunbury Rd. near Easton and talked to about 15 adults and about that many children ranging in age from 3-10. They really enjoyed the program. The talks program visits pre-schools, assisted living, classrooms and community groups to promote the zoo and teach about animals that they might not have the opportunity to see. Today we took an African pygmy hedgehog, a three-banded armadillo, a screech owl, a skink and a Savanah water monitor.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Mr. Bichler's first day as a substitute. I know he is pretty excited and I hope everything goes well for him. He also has open gym after school so I imagine he will be a pretty tired puppy when he gets home.
PS Later this afternoon, I got a phone call from OSU and they had a cancellation in the vision clinic so we now have an appointment for the vision test on Wednesday. God answered that prayer faster than I return most phone calls!! Hallelujah!!!

Sunday, October 25

This week may be a mile stone in our journey this year. We received a call on Friday from the driving program at Martha Morehouse and they had an opening for Monday. So at 11:30 Mr. Bichler will begin getting re-certified to drive. He also has been called to substitute on Tuesday and Thursday at the middle school. And if that isn't enough, he has basketball open gyms on Tuesday and Friday. Guess we will find out how much stamina he really has. Keep us in your prayers throughout the week. It should be exciting!!

Wednesday, October 21

What a beautiful day and a very special day at that. Today, Mr. Bichler worked a full day as a presenter at an outdoor education field trip for the West Jeff 6th graders. He taught six 40 minute sessions at the stream table explaining erosion. The field trip was held at Converse Park. I think the last time we were there was for Sara's softball games nearly 20 years ago. What a fabulous resource this is for the community. The wetland area and surrounding trails are awesome as well as all the new athletic fields. When I went back to get Mr. B at 2:00 he was absolutely beat.....but extremely satisfied with how the day went. Like I said, it was a beautiful day!

Monday, October 19

The cooler weather has Mr. Bichler working as hard as the many squirrels we have in our yard. Friday he spent the day mowing in an effort to push the leaves together. Saturday and Sunday he was pushing the blower to blow the leaves into the creek. Not an easy task and I am so proud of all his hard work. He is looking forward to working the stream table on the 6th grade field trip Wednesday. This should be a good gauge of his stamina on his first school day schedule since last December. I can honestly say that there were many times this year that I doubted if Mr. B would ever be able to get back into the class room or to coach. Definitely a testament to all the hard work and long hours of therapy. The next goal is to get back to driving.

Thursday, October 15

Brrrrr, it is really cold here today. We drained some of the outdoor hoses today and moved some things into the garage getting ready for winter. Yesterday, Mr. Bichler mowed a little to try and get the leaves off the grass. Last night we met with friends at Buca de Bepo downtown and had a great time. We reminisced about the "good ole days" when teaching seemed to be a lot more fun and we listened to all the pranks that Mr. B has pulled on people through the years. Mr. B really seemed to enjoy sharing these crazy pranks with everyone and had us laughing all through dinner. We ended the night with a dessert platter that should be illegal, it was that sinfully delicious. Mr. Bichler found out today that he was approved as the 8th grade girls basketball coach for the upcoming season. Girls, if you are trying out, you better start running!

Tuesday, October 13

I must say that the weather in Dover, Delaware was much warmer and dryer than the weather in Ohio. When we arrived in Philadelphia it was extremely windy, which actually delayed our flight, but it was about 75 degrees all week until yesterday. We had a wonderful visit and especially enjoyed listening to Luke talk. He calls me Gammaw and Mr. Bichler is Gam'pop. He is so cute and becoming very independent, trying to do everything all by himself. We visited the Philadelphia Zoo, went to the farm to feed the horses carrots and spent some time at Chuck E. Cheese. We sure did hate to leave, but look forward to our next visit. Besides, Mr. Bichler has to start getting ready for his basketball season. I told him he needs to start getting into shape before practice starts.

Monday, October 12

Well, today our grandson Luke is 2 years old. I must say, a lot has happened in those two years, but he certainly is the best. He celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a party, complete with a backyard "moon walk" and lots of presents. I think he is still recovering from all of the non-stop activity! ( and Grandma has learned that she may be a little too old to be jumping around in the moon walk, but we still had a great time!!) I will post more pictures when I get home. The weather has been really nice until today when it got quite a bit cooler. But Saturday it was in the 70's and very pleasant.

Friday, October 2

Other than the torrential rains this morning, today was a great day. Lee Woodruff is a phenomenal speaker. She addressed a room full of 300+ brain injury survivors, care givers and health professionals with humor, energy and compassion. She shared a few excerpts from her newest book, Perfectly Imperfect, A Life in Progress and advocated support for the military troops affected by traumatic brain injuries. The conference was all about raising awareness to the "silent epidemic" of brain injury. Often called the invisible injury, people of all ages are affected through athletic injuries, the military, automobile accidents, falls and stroke. Every individual injury unique to the survivor and many times not visually obvious to the outside world. Now it is up to us to educate those around us to recognize this epidemic and effectively help those affected by it. Lee left us with much to think about and this advice. "Be in the moment" she urged. Take time each day to simply reflect on your life at that moment without all the external white noise. And a favorite quote that sums up what many of us have come to learn on our most difficult journey, "there's almost no pain that can't be erased by humor". And with that I will wish everyone a wonderful week end. Go Bucks!

Thursday, October 1

Today, I attended my first brain injury conference. It is sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of Ohio and was held at the Double Tree Hotel in Worthington. The keynote speaker today was Mr. B's rehabilitation doctor, Dr. Mysiw from Ohio State Medical Center. He spoke about new imaging techniques used to better diagnose brain function and in a break away session he addressed the prevalence of depression after traumatic brain injury. I also attended a session on concussion and post concussion syndrome that I found fascinating and would be a great inservice for coaches or parents of athletes or even the athletes themselves. At the end of the day, tomorrow's keynote speaker, Lee Woodruff was signing autographs. I have been reading her book In An Instant, co-authored with her husband Bob. Bob Woodruff is the ABC correspondent that sustained a serious brain injury from an exploding IED while on assignment in Iraq in 2006. The book is written from both the view point of Lee the spouse and caregiver and that of Bob after the brain injury. Did you know that the quilters club from West Jeff provided the quilt that Bob got when he left the military hospital in Germany? I am really looking forward to Lee's talk tomorrow morning. She was so warm and engaging at the book signing and I have heard she is a wonderful public speaker.