Deenie

good for you and Ray..Just have faith in him and keep encouraging him ..If you have faith in him and he knows he can get better it will give him a real reason to keep on trying, In the mean time take advantage of the time you have and get in touch with yourself so you can be rested when Ray comes home.. You go girl...Lots of luck to Ray

Bonnie I extend my sympathies to you.. We are also experiencing a decline in my motherinlaw's health.. She has no circulation in her little toe and it is black.. The Dr. thinks it will fall off soon and then infection will set in and spread to the rest of her foot.. She is 93 and only 92 lbs, and can't undergo an amputation. It is just a matter of time for us too.. Take care Deenie

Sue good to hear Ray is coming along and doesn't have to have surgery.. Now all you have to do is be there for him and encourage him to do his exercises which he seems to be doing.. Take care of yourself and try and have a bit of a rest... I'll be thinking of you and wiil keep you in my thoughts and prayers....

Sue.. I hope you can get some one to do the surgery and the hip will heal properly... I too could not put my hubby in a nursing home unless it was the only resource left.. Don't feel guilty about taking time for yourself as if you are not well you can not take care of Ray either.. I send you hugs and you will be in my thoughts and prayers...

Mel.. I wish you luck with you upcoming surgery.. and hope you will feel better after all is over.. I send you my love and prayers.. we are all here for you... chin up ... Deenie

Sue sorry to hear Ray is in the hospital. Try and use this time for some opportunity to relax as you will once again have your hands full when Ray returns home... My thoughts and prayers are with you and I hope things go well.. My computor is cutting of the last part of each sentence so I have to read between the lines. Take care of yourself...Deenie

Way to go Sue.. We too have just gone and done a few things post stroke as you say, it just takes a bit more time and patience. We went on a house boat last summer and really enjoyed it and are planning a few more trips if possible this year.. Hope our passports come soon and then we can plan need some repreive from this weather.Keep on trocking and don't wear yourself out... Our sunsets are beautiful here too... we can watch them from our deck of dining room..

great to hear you back at work and enjoying it...

glad to hear about your son's continuing recovery . he is doing so well that it is just going to get better in leaps in bounds.. my hubby was 64 when he had his stroke and it is now four and a half years and he is still improving.. kind of like he was in a twilight zone for a couple of them.. he now can enjoy what is going on around him and join in on conversations ... I am sure that your son will be fine and it just takes time to heal remember it takes baby steps on at a time.. keep us posted..

Sue we have a brass head board on our bed and it is a god send as hubby couldn't turn over without it.. I too would like to get a new bed but hesitate as I think it would be quite hard for him to adjust to it so just got some memory foam and put it on the existing mattress.. I realize in your case it was a case of no rest and you can not carry on as you do, without it. We are trying to get in the Christmas spirit but it is very hard to forget that things are not the same and we must adjust to the changes..I know my situation is different than yours as my hubby wants to do so much but has to be supervised in order for a project to turn out... tell me what man wants that? It causes a lot of frustation on his part and I am too sensitive to his angry outbursts of aphasic temperment... So will try and carry on for a while and hope he improves... I wish there was something I could say to cheer you up, as I can see that you have a very big job taking care of Ray.. I hope he adjusts to the new bed , just tell him now he can have the whole bed to himself and snore all he wants..

All I can say is what a day!!!! I too catch a few ZZZ's when waiting for appointments ,but I see nothing wrong as long as one doesn't snore too loud, just kidding. Again hope your stay with the family goes great,and talk to you again...

My hubby same as your 's was also a very good carpenter, and was very knowledgeble of all the other trades that were involved with a contractor's life... There was nothing that he wouldn't attempt to tackle and usually was successful.. Now he has a hard time dealing with the loss of his prior ability to accomplish anything he set his mind to do.. I have to try and help him see that he still can't do things like he would have done had he not had the stroke... Like measuring and keeping things square, this has caused a lot of problems in his attempts to try and regain what he lost. I try to do it with discretion but that is not always possible as in order to have a proper fit and things have to be fairly level and on square etc...You carpenters will know what I mean. He also had done so much for people and was a very giving person and now very few have returned the favor.. He still want's to do things for others but can not cause this ability has been taken away from him.. very sad and I also love him for how he tries when he is able to find something that he can do... I think that I will get him to make some Xmas goodies as he likes being in the kitchen.. Hope the weather warms up as there is lots os lites to put up but it is too cold now to be outside for very long.. Got love him for trying...

So happy to hear that you are home safe and sound.. Have some rest as four Drs. apointments will be very tiring..Hope everything goes well. will be waiting for your report from Drs. .. Have a good time at your son's wedding and will wait for your blog...

kind of lucky that I have son who had to have the newest in appliances so I ended up buying his for a good price.. It is aslo a front loading one and had to get used to it first as it takes a special soap that has less suds , but I now like it and want to try and wash my comforter which they say works good...so hope it last me for the rest of the time I need it in this house as we will not be able to stay here as long as we had planned now that my hubby is not able to do the maintenance and the upkeep is too expensive.. so now that we all have new laundry equipment we should all be squeeky clean and our therapist can consentrate on getting us well and not smelling our new perfumes or what ever it is that they may get a whiff of.

I like your description of Christmas clutter....as that is what it gets to be after a while. we all try and decorate as best we know how but some people just can put things together better than others but it's the attempt we make that counts... I must start looking in my cook books for some simple recipies and attempt to find the energy to make some of our favorites.. wish you luck with your endevorors and seasons greetings

You bet attitude is everything and after seeing one of our friends in the hosp yesterday and seeing his attitude towards pending heart surgery. I can see that my hubby has to change his outlook on life but I know that is due to his brain injury and hope it can be helped.. I am so happy that your hubby was ok after such a terrible accicident the Gods must have been with him that day .. Great to hear things are better now...

I attended a memorial service in our town school gym where my nephew laid a wreath for the town and my friend was the minister who delivered the message. Never having gone to a remembrance day service before I found the service quite touching as all of us think of our loved ones fighting over in countries we only found on the map when they were called to duty. I pray that this war will end soon and the countries can resolve their diferences so once again our loved ones can return to their homes and families. I think we are trying to recognize our veterans more now than before and it is about time.. For now all we can do is hope and pray.

congrats on your progress. I think that is fantastic Remember you never walked all in one day so take baby steps and it will come.. one step at a time, deenie

We saw them on the beach in Hawaii.. Some buns !! they had quite a party on the beach till the lifeguard spoiled their fun, ours too.

Good luck in your future surgerys.. Will keep you in my prayers..

Sue I know that mental stress is a very difficult thing to deal with and I also know that the survivor's mental capabilities are not easy to understand.. You remember him as being able to talk to you and carry on a conversation and now he may not be aware of the actual meaning of what you speaking about... I commend you on all you are doing for Ray and I am sure he appreciates it too...Hang in there and enjoy you time off..hugs Deenie

I found my hubby got discouged very fast and was scared to make a mistake..You must assure him it's ok to make a mistake and he can try again when he is up to it.. He wil learn by his misakes and if he is not afraid he will keep on trying . It's a slow road but the brain has to make a new trail and it can, in time... hugs Deenie

my hubby had a bad stroke in june of 2002, was in rehab for a month and came home and had a bit more therapy here.. The rest we did on our own and it was not easy to try and teach an unwilling, uncooperative adult to learn the basic skills in life... He progressed faster at first and then slowed down and got very discouraged but we kept on a truckin and now he is able to do some of the basic things in building that he did prior to his stroke ..He was a carpenter by trade and contracted a lot of big jobs of which he was owner operator of his own company and responsible for up to twenty twenty five men at a time.. This was a big blow to his self esteme as well.. communication is still a problem with us but I am learning to decode the messages as he still sometimes gets things reversed..I am so proud of him but he still does not give himself enough praise cause it is not what he used to do... hang in there and I know all will turn out well in time cause the will is there to get better and fight for what you want....hugs Deenie

Sue take your respite and don't feel guilty.. You know you deserve it. As for Ray he doesn't seem to mind, but get some of the things done and then take time for yourself and rest or go to a spa... Have some me time.. Hubby worked all by himself today and seemed to make out ok...hope same happens tommorow...

congrats on your third anniversary... and many more they will just continue to improve..... :Clap-Hands: :cheer: : :beer: :cheer: