Things have changed since the last posting about Grandma. My step-dad made another trip to see Grandma last weekend. I sent him a few communication boards to try and use with her, and my mom had sent a music box for Dad to play for her.
He felt that when he saw her on Friday, she responded well to the music box which I believe plays "Amazing Grace". He also used a communication board her speech pathologist has given her, and he felt that while she could not POINT to the appropriate answers,
I don't have alot of new information on Grandma, but here is as much of an update as I can give:
Grandma has been moved from the hospital to a nursing home. Aunt *B* still believes Grandma isn't "in there". Her eyes are "black holes" as she put it and she believes the hand squeezes are random.
Dad is going to fly back to see her next weekend, and luckily *B* will be in Florida during that time. Dad will be able to spend some time with Grandma alone, and he plans on seeing if he can ge
That is what it boils down to. We- Grandma most of all- are all at her (the aunt's- I'll call her *B*) mercy right now. Apparently, mercy is in short supply.
I am livid with *B* for the way she is treating my mom, and greatly saddened by the way she has given up on Grandma without even TRYING to get all the facts. She is basing all her opinions of Grandma's recovery on what the INTERN is saying and not even on what the doctor is saying.
My mom, dad and Grandma's sister all believe that
My family got some bad news Tuesday. My 87 year old step-grandmother had a stroke early that morning. While she may be 87, she was very active and still enjoying life.
It appears that the damage was on the left side of the brain, and she has not spoken and has failed the swollow test she was given yesterday.
She has been very sleepy and has shown nerve sensitivity on her right side. These, as we all here know, are both common reactions to the brain trauma.
My mom and step-dad
Patrick has had an eventful autumn this year. At the end of October he started a two week study at UNC using constraint induced therapy. It was hard for him to follow the program of wearing the mitt while at home, and hard for me to fill out his daily diary of activities, as many nights of the week I was at work while he was home. We both did our best to do what was needed. There were also days where he wasn't in the mood to go in the morning (he had to work HARD!) but I was able to convince him
Like Bonnie, I haven't blogged since October, so I feel it's time for an update. While I don't feel like there has been HUGE changes since I last blogged, I have decided to do several blogs (I hope, anyway) over the next week or so focusing on different aspects of my life.
This one will be for Asha, who usually likes to hear my war stories from work. Here you go Asha:
The first update about work that I should mention is: I DON'T THINK MY BOSS HATES ME ANYMORE!!! Yippee!!! I think she i
I would like to personally say thank you to Robin and Trina for responding to my very drepressed blog entry shortly after my birthday. It DID help. I had to delete it though- I just couldn't handle looking at my own irrational feelings. I wasn't able to face them.
I have always been a stiff upper lip kinda girl. I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe I developed it in elementary school when I had such a hard time fitting in. I don't often remember those early years with much happiness.
At any
Sue and Asha reminded me tonight that my blog is getting moldy on page two or three so I thought I'd brush it off and bring it back to page one for a while. Here's what going on in my neck of the mountains:
Patrick began his Rhythm Study- therapy today. His brother took him because I had a meeting at work that I couldn't escape. He came home with homework, which is what he is working on as we speak. I am manning the timer for him.
What this therapy consists of, is a desk-sized poster
I love him, don't get me wrong. But I have been secretly contemplating on ways I could kill him. Okay, kill is a bit strong. Mame would work...
We are in the process of getting OUR first house. Overall this has been allot of fun, looking at what is on the market, and finding out what our tastes are, what our needs are, and what out wants are. It has been a challenging process, as Patrick and I have different ideas on what will work for us. Thankfully though, we have found our "perfect house"
I feel so down today. So does Patrick. While gathering ourselves to leave OT and go to Speech, Patrick had another mini-seizure. It only lasted two or three seconds, but it was what it was. He was sitting on the mat and just slowly slumped over on his side. I was sitting in a chair next to him in the direction he slumped, so I was able to catch him before he fell completely over. No sooner had I started to upright him than he came out of it, unaware what had just happened. He felt fine, so we de
It has been a while since my last blog, so I figured it was time to add a new one. I always think I should wait to blog until something interesting happens or I have something useful to say, but since that rarely happens, I thought I'd just go for it.
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We have been out here in Colorado for almost two months. Patrick and I are really liking the climate and surroundings. I have not missed Illinois at all. Our son, who will be starting his first year of high school soon, is not ready t
Yesterday was a good day. I had Friday off and had planned to do our first deep clean of our new apartment since getting all unpacked. Saturday I am also off, and I had told Patrick and Brandon we would go up in the mountains for the day.
Things didn't go as planned. We got up Friday and started getting ready for the day, and by lunchtime both of my guys decided they wanted to go up Friday instead of Saturday. Well, I comptemplated it a bit and decided, what the heck, I can clean tomorrow,
Well, we finally made it. The move is over, the miles behind us, and a new frontier lays ahead.
It seems many of us here on Strokenet are making changes in our personal lives. I would call this, "The Summer of Change". For me, the location of where we live is the smallest of the changes I want to make this year. The real change I want to make, IS me.
I have been thinking for quite some time about my personality traits, or "character flaws" and there are some things I really want to ov
Hi All,
Thought I'd give a little update in the thrilling saga known as "Kristen's Life". Okay, so it's not so thrilling. But here it is anyway.
On the work front, as you may remember, the general manager of my restaurant has been out since Feb 10th. They finally figured out what was wrong with him, a condition known as meniere's disease. Basically, fluid builds up in the inner ear causing the balance issues and vertigo. He had surgury on it last week, and so far things are good. He will
If you have ever worked in a restaurant, you are probably aware, they are a drama factory. It's been so long since I've worked in the real world that I don't know if all work places are like this- but restaurants are notorious for it. Alot of it is fueled because restaurant workers are also notorious for their after-work social life. (ok, a big majority like to party together, and they can be pretty wild at times.) Friendships and relationships form, and some fall apart.
As a manager I am
Hi guys,
You may or may not have noticed, but I haven't been blogging or replying as much as normal lately. I still have been reading posts and blogs though! I Breeze in- I breeze out.
Things have been pretty busy with me- where to start.
1)Work- my General Manager is STILL OUT (since Feb 10th), so there is definately an element of "who's in charge" here. No matter who is "acting GM", there is still that element of not being able to really have the
respect that that title holds fr
Once again today, I heard the phrase that everytime someone says it to Patrick, sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me: But you're too young to have had a stroke!
I always smile, and stay positive, after all, they are merely expressing their ignorance of strokes and stroke survivors. Oh, I'm sorry- I said I 'stay positive'. What I meant to say was, they are just trying to say they are shocked someone who is not 'elderly' suffered a stroke. They mean no harm, so thats why I put on my colg
I have said it before, but I will say it again; For me, music is the soul of life. It helps a reserved person like myself release emotions that sometimes I push down. Without music...well... I just don't think I could survive.
I had always been moved by this song, but when Patrick had the stroke, it echoed through my brain. When I knew I needed to cry-but the tears wouldn't come- all I had to do was listen to this song and the tears fell like rain. It was bittersweet relief.
I put a l
makes Kristen a dull girl.
I haven't been able to be here much lately, and even when I do make it, I only have a few minutes. Thought I'd better blog an update on the work situation, so here it is.
My GM is still out, and will be out the rest of the month. If you recall, his last day of actual work was Feb. 10th. He apparently has a sinus infection that won't go away and may have to have surgery later this month. The infection is causing vertigo, and amusingly enough, his wife tells us
Patrick and I share a love of music, it is the soul of our lives. Melodies and lyrics can bring me to tears or lift me up. Tonight while on the road this Gerry Rafferty song came on the radio. It's an oldie but one that I find truly beautiful. While it was playing, Patrick sang some of the words "to me". It was very touching.
(I highly recommend giving him a listen if you don't know/remember his songs. Baker Street was another one of his biggest hits- it gets me all emotional too.)
Ri
One night while Patrick was still in the rehab unit of the hospital, a nurse came in to take his vitals. This was her first (and only) time she took care of him as she usually worked in another unit of the hospital. She saw him, this young man who had suffered such a severe stroke, and tried to give him some "encouraging words".
She told him that she had a friend who was a lawyer, and had also suffered a stroke. She proceeded to tell Patrick how this lawyer-friend was back to work in six mo
When Patrick has his stroke last Feb, I knew he had siezure and stroke-like symptoms, but neither seemed possible to me. There had to be a different explanation, such as dehydration. (He had a hot shower running when he colapsed, and had just ran several miles on the treadmill.)
When the EMTs arrived, they asked me if I had a specific hospital I wanted him taken to. I couldn't think of which hospital was within our network, but I did remember the hospital which is listed on our worker's ac
I've been on vacation all week and feel like I haven't accomplished a damn thing. I get up every morning and get Brandon off to school, then I go back to bed. That ultimately kills me, because my body feels like it's starting the sleep cycle over from stage 1. I wake up again around 11am, try to get out of bed, and yell at the dog who is dancing around and verbally harrassing me.
From there I try to gather myself, look at the calendar and figure out what appointment(s) I have to take Patri
I have been working my butt off the last few weeks. The weekend before Valentines Day is always busy, and of course Valentines Day itself is nutty, and we have been short staffed. This does not make life any easier.
My last day off was last Thursday. I had to work 8 days in a row after that because I requested my days off this week to be Saturday and Sunday. I was suppose to start a vacation on Monday, so the weekend off before my vacation was stretching it out a bit longer.
Unfortuna
I decided to call Patrick's parents, give them an "update" on tomorrow's plan, and ask his dad about the conversation with the professor.
He mentioned that he initially had concerns about Patrick becoming dependent on a speaking device or slowing his speech progress. After reading studies and literature about the different devices used, he understood the purpose of them for Patrick. He also had always believed that knowing Patrick, it would not be in his nature to use a device to replace
