I just received a call. Tuesday, I will get trained on the macine that will be a finger stick monitor for William PT-INR. I am so glad. This will cut down a visit to the lab.
Today is Sunday, WE got up at 7AM and went to service then sunday School. We were finished by 11AM. I suggested going out to lunch because I wanted to go to the YMCA afterwards. It did not open until noon. We had lunch and then made it to the warm pool.
Needless to say, William was exhausted by the time
William's complaining yesterday...won him another trip to the pool at noon. Twice in one day ....Complaining too much gets you more of the same. I am a mean task master.
Actually I was going to go swimming myself at noon and asked William if he wanted to come. He said yes. I told him that this is like the movie Groundhog's day. Everything keeps repeating. William had gotten up and went to the pool. Came home and had a nap. Got up again and had another go at the pool.
Today, we
William finally got my goat this morning. I get him up at 6AM and to the pool. He starts in ....with the complaining. I am pushing him too hard. The water is too cold. This is an assault on him immune system.
I put a short wet suit on him. because he complains about the temperature of the water. WE get to the YMCA and the first thing he says is that he need to use the restroom. This means pulling the wet suit off. This is not a fun job. I had just managed to pull it on 15 min ago
I was reading the heartache of caregivers. A reoccurring theme is the lack of motivation. I wonder if the stroke is responsible for this. I had read that it takes twice as much energy for a stroke surivivor to do the same thing as a person that has not suffered a stroke. it could have been 10's as much. Whatever,,,,way too much is expended to do the same thing.
Yes, William , like many others was not one to sit around. He was always moving. This is due partly to ADHD (attent
We made it on another YMCA outing. The painted churches of Schulenberg, Texas. It was a great day. We go off and on the bus for every church. the Czech and German churches. They are amazing.!!! I took some wonderful pictures.
We had a long day. We are both exhausted. I tried to download the pictures...I lost them all. I don't know how i erased them??
I took William off the bus and pushed him into the YMCA. I was going to take him into the pool but changed my mind and just g
We have had the new agency for 1 week. So good so far.
Had a little crisis on Sunday. William was cranky. He and the caretaker called me in crisis mode at noon. Evidently William got confused and turned around in church. This caused stress and confusion. Not a good combination. Anyway he became rather short with his new caretaker. He had her in tears.
Somehow things go better and they made it home. I said just William go to bed to bed and then he be better. William sai
We went on a bus trip with the YMCA. It was a long day. We went to Smithville, Texas the site of the Movie "Hope Floats". We had not
seen the movie. But. it was interesting. They have since had 3 other films made in that little town. They do not have 5,000 residents yet.
The next movie is the "everlasting Tree" starring Brad Pitt. It is amazing! They rent out the house and then rent out a block of houses
around that one. They use the extra houses as wardrobe, resting
We had our assessment today. It was good. Much better than the other one. She was really on the ball. I was impressed.
I will need to call and cancel my current provider tomorrow. I need to see how much notice they need. I am hoping to start Monday with the new service.
The new service went over things in detail. This could be that i was more aware of what I need. The first time with William just out of the hospital. I was like a deer in the headlights. I didn't comprehend al
We went to visit with the square dance club. William was tapping to the music. He loved everybody coming up and hugging and greeting him.. He really wants to walk just to dance again.
I told him in order to get there...we need to work really hard. It has taken us 16 months to get to where we are now. That is walking with
assistance. He needs to work with me consistently and go to the pool as often as I can get him there. He really has motivation to get
moving up and walking.
Finally six weeks of therapy are done. This is a day to be excited. We celebrated by eating at Sweet Tomatoe. I decided that people love to celebrate by going out to eat.
The assessment was done by a physical therapist. She found that William was able to move his foot and could do much more by himself. But, you have to remember that we also got the AFO back today. We had adjustments done. The adjustments help.
William was grouchy with the PT. He didn't like her telling him what to do.
Wehad the wheelchair assessment. It is amazing! We were there for 3 hours. The rep from the wheelchair company and the therapist were there. They measure and weigh William. From head to toe and chest and legs and arms. This chair is going to fit. We tried 3 different backs and 2 different types of cushions. We are going to have a seatbelt. William says that this makes him feel safer. We got to choose a color. William was opting for black. I said try again. He chose copper. Their i
William was tired at church. This is a first. he has never been tired at church. This is the result of getting up every 1-1/2 last night. I don't know why he had to pee every 1-1/2 all night long. We have nights like that every so often. This means that neither one of us got much rest.
At the beginning of service, William lets me know that he now need to go to the restroom. I ask if he has to go now. He says no. But, I know better. WE need to go now. So, I quitely take us out of service. WE
I went with William yesterday to lokomat. But, it was not the best day. the day before he had a grreat day. Perhaps it was because i was there. William decided to be argumentative. this does not work with therapist. I must say that his therpaist handled it very well.
William is going at 2MPH for about 15 min and putting more pressure on his legs. He is complaining that the harness is squeezing hisballs. It is rather uncomfortable to say the least. He has two day to recover. he tells me tha
the Lokomat is truly an experience. I cannnot believe how fast time has flown. 12 days of therapy. We have devised leg wraps for Williams
legs. I have cut the feet off a couple of pairs of socks and use them as layers under the long sock. He has 3 layers protecting his legs from
the straps that hold his legs in. I have suggested that he not hold on to the bar. The Lokomat suspends you in the air and holds you
upright ...there is no possiblity of falling. He is 1.86 mile
We just had our baseline study done today. Tirr is the 3rd rated rehab place in the US per Dr. Noser. She said that it is good but not as good as it should be.
They tested the strength of the leg. Could William hold it up in the air while lying on the bed. No. Then can you push the leg out and behind you while lyig on your side on the bed. Can you tap your toes? No. Willliam walked back and forth 3 times about 10 feet. This was timed. Then he had to walk for 6 minutes. This is just a pilot
:ChristmasTree: :santasmiley: :fireplace: :reigndeer: Tis the season. I tried to cajole William into swimming today after I got off work, but he would not have anything to do
with it. So I settled down to veg out in front of the TV. At 7:45PM William announces that he is ready to go to the pool. Well, I say yes
let's go. We get there at 8PM. I ask how long they are open. They close at 8:30M. That gives us 25 minutes. So, we put in a mighty effort.
We drive around the neighbor
The motorized mini bicycle arrived today. This is a little pedal machine that is motorized. I had purchased one that is manual. It was too much work for William. This motorized one has William excited. He used it for two 15 min. trials. That means 30 min of cycling. This is absolutely fantastic.
This will work on the assumption that moving the leg helps. Sometimes WIllima can help the machine and push. But, if he gets tired the machine moves the legs.
The clinical trial that
William is still sleeping. We are usually at church now. But, William had a very restless night last night.
It seems that he was up every hour or two. So, now he is sleeping.
I shall let him sleep. WE don't have Sunday school today. Too many people are out of town for the holidays.
We will be going to the pool at noon. I am trying to build up William's stamina.
The blood pressure was perfect this morning. that extra 10mg lisinopril is doing the trick.
I had just p
We went to the pool at 10:00AM this morning. THe swim lessons had been cancelled, because of Thanksgiving. This means that we got our walk in the water done early. We were fiinished by 11:30AM.
Next we went to the library to return some CD's that I had borrowed. I also had to stop by CVS to pick up a new mop.
Well, we were starving by this time. So Whataburger, here we come. William and I ordered and ate in. William had a vanilla milkshake with his lunch. He loves Milkshakes.
William managed to stay at work with me for 6 hours. But, he was up 2 hours earlier. That means that he was up for 8 whole hours. He has not done that since before his stroke. He rambled around the store in his electric wheelchair and sat in one of the lobby chairs at time. The only problem was that his bottom was really sore. I should have put the ROHO cushion on the electric wheelchair. We really love that ROHO cushion. It is filled with airbubbles and you can sit all day and not get a sore be
Well, William now thinks that I am the bloodpressure natzi. I have been pestering about the readings. I take them 3-4 times a day. It just seems that they run high. I called the cardiologist and we will be seeing him this week. I need an adjustment so that we can get into the clinical study.
Ruth
William and I will have a nice quite dinner at Luby's. They are open on Thanksgiving. I will be working from 8-2. As soon as I get off I will pick William up and we will go for dinner. I hope that there is lots of football on TV to keep William occupied while I am gone.
Unfortunately neither William or myself have much in the way of family.
I am looking forward to the turkey dinner at Luby's. Then I have the weekend off.
I can't believe it. William really wanted to stay for senior Yoga. After our swim and shower, we wandered the YMCA and watched a little of seniorize and then stayed for senior yoga.
It was good. Lots of stretching and balance. William enjoyed it. I was there and moved the left arm and shoulder. It is amazing!! the arm and shoulder were much more pliable after all of the stretching.
We shall try again next Monday.
Well, off to the pool again. WE have an appointment with t
I made a list of meds and blood pressure readings to bring to the rehab doc tomorrow. We have a visit with him for Tues. So I thought why not ask him about the blood pressure readings and the clinical trial. I will keep you posted. Yesterday the bp was good expect in the AM. For some reason the AM reading is usually a bit high.
William is slowly learning how to use the control for direct TV. Yes, we have too many channels. WE have decided to make a favorites file and limit our select
I am back. I just got the computer fixed. It had a virus, trojan horse..etc. 4 in 1 infection.
I finally relented and got direct TV. WIlliam is thrilled. He says that it his moment of luxury. We were using rabbit ears before. The transition to digital came when William was in the hospital. I didn't feel that he was ready for so much TV. But, he loves the history channel and Nova and etc. He just needs to learn how to play with the remote control.
We had an initial evaluati
