It has been since May that I have taken time to blog about our lives. Many of you have sent messages to check in on us and let me know that you have thought of us and were missing me on the site. It was heart warming to receive those messages. Thank you for caring enough to lure me back.
So, what has happened in the past year....there is so much to tell that I don't know where to start. Our lives have changed in so many ways. The most joyful change was the birth of our beautiful grand
Denny has continued with his letter writing campaign. Wow - is he ever getting some interesting replies. I have thought many times to jump in and "help" explain things to the recipients, but then decided I would let it ride out and see what the responses look like. It seems as though some people really care and try to connect and decipher what he is saying. Those that don't, just don't reply. Or they reply with an email that has "?????????????? Sorry - don't know what you are saying."
Denny has always been a community activist and environmentalist. As a person who made his living by photographing nature, exploring nature and helping others discover nature, he is keenly protective of wild places and human propelled methods (bikes, hiking, kayaking, etc) of discovery.
One of his major goals in the past was to document bike paths and rate how pedestrian friendly a community was as we traveled through them. Then he would use the good ones as ammunition when we returned hom
Denny has such a great sense of humor and is genuinely proud when he accomplishes a new skill. I replied to one of Jean's posts about Denny's response to anyone telling him what a great job he did - he grins and says, "Pat me back" while patting himself on the back. I love when he recognizes how hard he is working. Tonight, he recognized how hard I was working.
The past few weeks have been crazy at our house. I have had landscapers in to help me clean up the yard that hasn't been atte
It has been one year and a few days since Denny's stroke on New Year's Eve 2005. What a roller coaster ride it has been. I started New Year's Eve this year like a CNN broadcast with a day and year in review, complete with pictures, videos and memories - all in my mind of course. When it got too painful to relive I headed to the New Year's Eve party on the chat site here. It was good to visit with the survivors and caregivers and know that life does go on. Determined to not sit and stew in my
Bonnie got me started on this by encouraging me to hid my guilt monster along with the dust bunnies. I did a needle work piece of the original poem when my daughter was little. After Bonnie's post, I decided to resurrect it and revise it for this new time of my life.
Blessings I Reap
Caregiver, oh Caregiver, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the Caregiver whos
I was just reading Sue's blog about marking time and noticed her's began with a reference to Heather's comments. I love how interdependent we are with each other on the site to help us "talk" out what we are feeling.
I understand how you feel Sue, and most times I can be happy marking time. But some days or moments I find myself longing for things to be different. It is usually after we have attempted to do something in the "new normal" way that we used to do with ease. Or after visiti
We made it to New Mexico and back. Driving the motor home went well and I even towed a little 4 x 4 car for us to run around in when we arrived. We stopped at farm stands and bought fresh vegetables and just picked apples for our dinner. When we arrived at the camp site it started to pour rain. So, I hurried to unhitch the tow car and get the RV hooked up to electric, water and sewer. Walked the dogs and cleaned the mud off them and then fixed Denny a quick snack. Then I finished setting u
I wasn't going to blog again until we got back from New Mexico and I had something to write about. Since I am here again, obviously that changed.
As you all know we have been enjoying Denny's increasing language skills. Some things are coming out pretty humorous. For instance when I asked him what he wanted to eat the other night, he replied, "Itchy Knees." Took a while and with his help pulling his eye back into a small slit and saying, "Ah So" I figured out he wanted Chinese food. We
Denny has been out of therapy (speech, ot & pt) since the day before his PFO closure on July 12. Prior to the closure, his standard speech consisted of a few words and not more that two together with regularity. We noticed during our camping trip that he was finding more words. His speech has consistently improved over the past few weeks. Even he has noticed. Tonight while we were at dinner I asked him if he realized how many new words he had and how often his "sentences" were three or
:party: We are both thrilled with our new (used) motor home. We got a later start than we had hoped, but managed to get up the hills and around the curves to the campground. The first place we stopped was full so we drove another 40 miles and camped at Fool Hollow Lake State Park. I must admit I was a bit skeptical about making my first camping trip at a place called Fool Hollow, but what the heck, I have made a fool of myself many times before.
Denny really enjoyed the ride up and I did
:tired: The last two weeks have been full of planning, purchasing, packing and praying! I have read the manual for the motor home - several times. Turned things on, turned things off, put water in, drained water out, cleaned, rearranged and have just about worn myself out. Denny desperately wants to help so I have worked hard to identify things that he can do without falling. So far his favorite thing has been sitting under the awning (which I just figured out how to open today) with a cold
:Clap-Hands: We have decided to hit the road and get out of this Arizona heat. Denny had a successful PFO Closure last week so we are no longer tied to Coumadin and the requisite blood tests. He also has a break from six months of physical, occupational and speech therapy.
We sold our beloved sailboat because it was no longer an option for us. While I was fine at the helm and trimming sails - I was worried about single handing a big boat in an emergency. It was also extremely difficult
