Evenings With Juliana
September 26, 2007 11:35 AM

There has been another short update (video clip) about Juliana on First Coast News. If you go to www.firstcoastnews.com you should be able to locate the video section. If not, just type in "Juliana Wetmore" in the search window and it will pull up all the updates they've done on her. They did a good job on this one. You even get to hear her sweet angel voice.

Since they filmed the update Juliana's "headdress" has been partially removed. The screws are out of her scalp, but the mouthpiece is still in and will stay in until next month. Then she goes to Miami for a bit more work to be done.

Back in August when Juliana was sick and receiving IV antibiotics the insurance company approved 10 hours of nursing for her instead of her usual 8 hours. So instead of working from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. I was approved to work 9 p.m. to 7a.m.—2 additional hours a night. When she recuperated from that infection the hours returned to 11 to 7. But Juliana had become accustomed to having me arrive at 9, and expected me to be there at 9, so that's when I get there.

I'm told she begins to watch for me as 9 o'clock approaches, signing, "Where's My Party?" (Her name for me remains "My Party.") She often runs out onto the porch to greet me, and then announces to everyone present, "My Party"!—emphasizing the "My." Then we go upstairs together and follow our routine. I've mentioned several times how much she loves routine. It's not so much that Juliana is eagerly waiting to see me, but that she loves our routine. She goes to the closet and gets my slippers. She gets my clipboards and my pencil box. She gets my magazines and puts them by my chair. She gets three cans of tube feedings and puts them beside the bed. She gets the crayons and coloring books and puts them on her bed, and her stack of Dora books, and her Dora dolls. Then she puts a disk into the DVD player and gets into bed. She then tries to "multi-task," coloring and reading and singing and dancing with the Wiggles on the DVD, and usually is asleep within a few minutes.

Whew!

So I get there earlier than I have to, and will continue to do so, as long as Juliana expects her "Party" to be there before she goes to sleep. It's a privilege to be Juliana's "Party".

—Jeanne ("Party")