Yes a long time has gone by since I've been on strokenet. Guilt creeps in that I need to give back to the people and site that was so instrumental in the first months and more after Rob's stroke. I feel the need to give back with the same caring support I received - that was so helpful in our journey forward. Okay I'll try and log in more often .... that said I'll just blog a little about how things are going for us. My job is still going well, I HATE being away from home, but that is life i
Oh my, it has been so long since I made an entry. An email from Sue prompted me to post and keep in touch. Rob's rehab and recovery this go has been slow. It has been hard. His PT shakes her head at him because he has the ability to make some movements but he gets used to taking the path of least resistance to sometimes just get things done. I started a new job last week. I am back on the North Slope working a two week on two week off schedule. I always wanted to go back after Elias was r
Since Rob has been home (about a week) from the hospital I noticed it must be hard for him to close doors behind him, because so often he doesn't. I would find the front door open, and that was a clue he had gone outside. I won't talk about other doors that were also left open I didn't think much about it, except that it must have been a difficult task, that he wasn't able to take on. Today I saw why he has been leaving the doors open. I watched him leave the house, he was managing the doo
Rob is home after a week of in-patient rehab. Staying in the hospital a few days, gave him some intensive therapy, which was really helpful because we drive over a hundred miles one-way for his out-patient therapy. His PT said that his leg is so weak, that most people wouldn't be able to walk on a leg as weak as his.... he's done this before, so he figured out how to do it. We aren't back to square one with this stroke, we've done this before. No sense complaining, we're just getting to work
Rob wasn't feeling well in Kodiak and he came home early. By the time I saw him he was walking really slow and lost quite a bit of use of his arm. We thought it was because he had been sick with the flu, and stuck in the tent at camp, that immobilized him for almost ten days. Shortly after he came home I went to SFO for a couple days and when I got back he had made improvements, however not significant. I also noticed when I got back that he had some very slight cognitive changes - and I cou
Rob went flying today for the first time since his stroke 19 months ago. He went with a friend in his friends plane. See the gallery photos for the picture of two happy guys!
Since he hasn't been able to fly, Rob started to collect boats last year, and then one of the boats turned into a snowmachine this winter (the black cat). This is the time of year we used to fly out and do winter camping and spring bird hunting. It was always a special trip and my favorite. We have never been "mot
I'm in Mexico - came down for a Spanish immersion class. I'm amazed, and believe this would be a great rehabilitation method for stroke survivors. Building new pathways to learn a language. I think I have Rob talked in to coming down next year.... Probably only because he doesn't like being home alone.
My class was one week long, and I spent three hours a day in class and another hour and a half at least studying. The method to learn was to listen to the spanish, read the words in spa
I did a modified version of black Friday shopping, for the very first time, ever. On Thursday night, we needed to leave my brother in-laws in Anchorage and drive north and stay at one of my sister
Okay - so I'll start my movie list, and unlike Jean's, it will NOT be alphabetized - there will be no rhyme or reason other than - as it pops in my brain!
Apocalypse Now
Finding Nemo
Love Actually
Pulp Fiction
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Thank You For Smoking
The Italian Job
After seeing Tina's list I had to add these:
Office Space
Fried Green Tomatoes
My son and I finally got the yard winterized yesterday. Moved all the things out of the way of the plow, and all things we didn't want to be hidden for the next six months. The weather was pretty generous to us this year, as we could have had snow in late September. We pushed it a bit. Heard we're going to have a mild winter, another El Nino. Never know if this will bring more snow or less. Well what ever shows up, we're ready!
I saw the funniest thing last night. Our son let our turtle (a red eared slider) out of his cage to run around the house (he's about six inches wide). We don't do this too often because he is small enough to get in things we can't get him out of - so we had to watch him. We've never done this around the dog, and when she saw the turtle she thought it was something for her to play with, or eat. Our son sent her back to her bed, where she stayed on alert and watched the turtle "Jaws". The tur
Couple days ago, Rob was upstairs and yelled down to ask if I could find his long underware in the dryer and throw them upstairs for him (our house is that small, and yes it's that season).
So I opened the dryer, and pulled out the first black item I found. It was my shirt, okay, similar fabric to his long underware, but a little different shaped. I searched again among the towels and such, and pulled out another black item - oh, yet another of my shirts, yes similar to the first. With g
We decided to indulge in a cup of coffee tonight - something I rarely do because it can keep me from getting to sleep at a decent hour. But it was something we decided to enjoy together. Rob can move his right arm, it isn't easy for him, he has to think about it. I really believe the more he uses it, the better it will get. Maybe I'm in la la land, but I can't help but believe that. So, when I see him take his left hand, to move his right arm, I usually give him a "look". I also believe he
So it is time to tell you all about the "lucky wives club". Many of you belong, and just haven't acknowledged it yet. You are nominated by another women usually in this way: "You're lucky, Rob is so...... and then she can fill in the blank with "nice", "talented", "funny", "good at doing things around the house". Any thing that another woman values in your husband.
So it was a few years ago, that I too realized I belong to the "lucky wives club". Lucky to be married to one of the nices
I've been asking Rob for over ten years - maybe twenty.... that all I want for Christmas is for him to quit doing my laundry. I want my clothes washed in cold water, and many of them are hung dry because I like the stiffness associated with hung clothes. It also prevents those little balls from getting on your clothes in the dryer AND most important, it keeps the clothes the same size (and color) as when you buy them.
I even hide my dirty clothes in the bottom of the hamper -- he still fi
A couple weeks ago, we had some friends fell a couple trees in the yard that were dying and we were going to loose anyway in a strong wind. The wood has been stacked neatly in the round, in the front yard, waiting for somebody to attend to it. We only heat with wood for secondary purposes, during power outages, so the wood isn
I was born here when Alaska was still a Territory, prior to statehood. My dad was instrumental in developing Alaska; he was a pioneer who built numerous runways, roads, and bridges from Southeast, the Alaska Peninsula to the Interior. I grew up in a time when nobody even considered hunting regulations and bag limits. My Dad usually traveled with his rifle in his pickup (not in the back window mind you) and when the freezer started to get low, he would look harder for the opportunity at fillin
I LOVE my house cleaner. Feel so fortunate to find somebody that will clean the house -- just a little weekly event -- she comes by for two hours once a week and tidys the bathroom, kitchen, and cleans the floors. It is amazing how much less stressed I feel when the thought of having to clean on my day off - is gone.
Today she asked me "where does all your dust come from"? Guess I have more dust than other houses she cleans. I think it's because we have forced air heat, and the ducts ne
Greetings for Labor Day weekend. We've had some fun company off and on over the past couple weeks. Couple of friends that have work to do in the area are camped in our yard. It has been a lot of fun having them here. Week or so ago, they took some time off work and went moose hunting. Rob went one day, and declined the second day, said he was too busy. I do know that one long physical day can really knock the wind out of him. So after the guys didn't come back - by noon. I told Rob they
I've been thinking about the prospect of - the strokenet book club. It is actually consuming more of my thoughts, than I am going to guess it may consume the thoughts of others. This is why.
I live in a very small community - much smaller than Haines (the town that #2 on the book club list is written about). It is a community, of good people. We are known to come to the aid of any local community member in time of need, regardless of ones politics. We are a community known for hundred
Since Jean posted my blog in the community forum - I'll give better details of what we did with Rob's constraint therapy.
It's important to know that Rob is not right handed, so being forced to use an affected hand, that is not dominate was especially difficult for him.
He started by having a cast put on his left arm on a Monday - see the pictures in the Gallary that I posted to see how they casted him. He had the cast on for five days. We found the best way to measure improvement w
We're done with constraint therapy for a bit. Rob was suppose to have his cast removed Tuesday - and just couldn't wait. He took it off himself on Monday. I can't really get it out of him how he managed to get it off. He said he used a grinder (which I know he has several of different sizes). That may be a story I never know.
Every day he had his cast on, he improved with his right arm, and his attitude got worse. By Sunday I had never in 26 years of hanging out with him, ever saw him
Rob got his cast on yesterday afternoon. His elbow is in about a 45 degree angle and he has full use of his hand. We ended the day sitting on the porch, laughing, having a drink and going to bed early.
Day two, and I'm so impressed with how well he does with this cast. He can get dressed, brush his teeth, and tie his shoes. Eating is the hardest activity. We decided on pizza tonight - it took about an hour and a half to eat three pieces.
He sent his OT an email and told her he was
Rob was evaluated Friday to establish a baseline to measure the affects of constraint therapy. Next week (probably Wednesday) he will have his left arm/hand casted. I think we are both a bit anxious.
