Friday, April 15, 2016

Home is where the heart is…...

Matt is getting settled in to the nursing home. 
Bellevue Care Center
1 Aldrich Sq.
Bellevue, OH 4481
(Corner of Flatrock and Gardner Roads)
He would love visitors!
It reminded me tonite of how social Matt has always been.  Our brother Paul was leaving when I got there, his neighbor across the hall a young girl (29) came by and I got to meet her and then our old neighborhood and one of our dad’s closest friends Jim Yantz came by to visit. Matt thoroughly enjoyed that!  They talked about people they know and life in Bay View! (Where we grew up) It’s amazing the names he remembers when I can not! 

More importantly…..we had ice cream! Butter Pecan - Toft’s the best!  He loved it!
And he took a selfie with me :)
Matt said everyone at the care center has been so nice and he’s getting to know people and know his way around.  He said he knows life as he once knew it is over, but he will make the best of this. He likes the stimulation it provides and it’s motivating to keep moving. He said again how he didn’t ask for this disease, and he can’t help how much has been taken away from him (vision, ability to walk and be independent)… 
We don’t understand the “why” but can’t dwell on it, it is what it is. Acceptance would be a good word for it. The “new normal” is something he will adjust to. He does love seeing people and talking to them. He’s getting to know people and I saw signs of Matt O from high school - caring and compassionate to the other residents, chatting, listening to their story and sharing his own. If you knew Matt in high school, he was super popular and I can totally see that happening here!
He also said he’s feeling good and he was very upbeat! 
He was very excited about seeing all his kids last night and is really looking forward to the grandchildren that are due in July and October! One of Matt’s tag lines “It was pretty cool!”  He’s very proud of his kids and he gets a little spark when he talks about them. 

When I left he was watching the Indians and we left each other with a “Go Tribe
He loves hearing the comments people people leave… a LOT and he’d love for his friends to visit him! He’s in room 107.

The MS Walk is coming up May 7 - if you haven’t donated or if you want to walk….. Info is HERE 
and if you aren’t on our Facebook Group - it is here


Monday, April 4, 2016

MS has taught me…...

I recently found a Facebook post on a page I like called Lift MS.

They asked you to fill in the blank. MS Has taught me…..

I was touched by some of the comments I read from others with MS and shared some with Matt and also asked him to fill in the blank.
He said MS has taught him “To Live”….
Even though he lives in a much different way than he ever imagined and there are days he wants to give up…. He said “It’s hard, ya know?”
And he thought it was very cool to hear what others had to say and he said he can relate to it all.
He also said there are times he wishes he could “blame somebody” -- but it’s "nobody’s fault.”
He said all he can do is his best and he tries, and he doesn’t “want to be a pain in the butt.”

Matt is also very excited about Team O and the MS Walk. We have raised over $1300 for our Team and have 26 registered team members!  At our Coffee Hour at church we raised over $200 and Matt is VERY Thankful to all who came and all who donated either online or at coffee hour. (Our church family is amazing!)
March was MS awareness month and he can’t stress enough how important it is to raise awareness.
He said it’s “So cool” that so many people are rallying around him!
You can Join Team O. HERE 

MS is hard he said, “it sucks”. He said he’s really does’t have any pain like others do, but he’s tired all of the time and the lack of mobility is just hard.  When eating,  he said he chokes a lot and he doesn’t like that he make a mess, but he really can’t help it, and he feels bad, even embarrassed by it.
He said “just everything is hard”.  He said he knows it’s important to do his exercises and even though he can’t do a lot, he knows it helps keep his joints loose and can only do what he can but to everyone it’s important to “keep moving!”

Just a reminder you can keep up with Matt O. at our Facebook page “A Chat with Matt” 
Just hit “Join Group” and we will add you.

As always Matt looks forward to hearing comments either here or on the Facebook page and if you can’t do any of that, you can email me, kelliekenniston@yahoo.com and I will be sure to share them with him!

Thank you for your support! (Special Thanks to Melanie Boyd for the decorations at coffee hour!)