Hi Everybody!!! It's been a while since I've written but my computer was down and I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Anyway, I;m back and have been checking things out to see how everyone is doing.
September 4 was my husbands first anniversary of his stroke. It was sort of weird for me because I sort of kept waiting for the other shoe to fall and Thank God it didn't! Jim wasn't even aware that it was his anniversary but my son and I both knew and both had the same worries about it. I know i
Well, it's been a very long time since I wrote a blog. There have been a lot of things happening around here (some good, some not so good) and I've been just too tired from riding this rollercoaster to do more than just pop in and read sometimes.
Today is Jim's birthday so I am baking him a birthday cake while I write this. The whole family went to the Outback for dinner last night and that was a real big thing. Jim doesn't like to go anywhere to eat because he is embarrassed that I need to
Well, I haven't blogged for a while so I thought I'd just drop in and say "Hi". I got laid off from my job for a bit due to health reasons so have been spending some quality time with Jim. Since I've been home we have been involved is taking care of some projects that needed doing around here and I have gotten Jim involved in all of it. He really seems to be enjoying getting involved in life again (around here at least). It angers him that he is stuck in that wheelchair which makes it hard to ge
Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything in my blog but there has been so much going on around here that it's no surprise to me. However now, I just needed to write in because I thought it might help me get my head on straight.
See, I went to the doctor because I had this bump gtowing on my head. I figured it was a cyst or something like that ans he would send me to someone to have it taken off. However, the doc looked at it and said it was a tumor. GOD I hate that word. Then he said
Today, April 25, is my Dad's birthday! Ordinarily a family birthday is a family birthday, right? What makes this one so special is that Dad is 102 years old today. Yup, that's right, 102. He was twenty years older than my Mother. Anyway, I spent yesterday thinking about all the things he must have done and seen in his liferime and oll the things we have done, seen and learned from him in our time together. You see, he is my stepfather technically but has been part of my life since I was a kid an
I haven't blogged for a while, but this is sort of interesting so I thought I'd tell you about it. We bought this house about 9 years ago I guess. Shortly after we moved in, we became aware that this house had a ghost in it. It isn't a bad ghost, it just wanted to let us know that it was here so we would see someone go by out of the corner of our eye but when we turned to look there was no one there. Then, when Jim changed jobs and I started spending many evenings all alone, the apparition would
Well, it's been a little while since I've written so I just thought I'd givr you a little update on things at my house. Our son came over with the grandkidsand that was enough to perk Jim right up. Then Dane (our son) tweaked the little helicopter and got it flying really well and Jim figured out how to fly the darned thing one handed. It's kept Jim busy for hoirs. The only problem is that we have two 70 lb boxers who think the helicopter is big ole dragonfly or something. They chase after yhe t
Well, shoot, it seems like I'm taking one step forward and two steps backward and that's just me. No matter how hard I try to take care of the house, yard, car, doctors, meds, rehab etc. I turn around and something has gone to h--- Really needs my attention! Then I go to one of my own docs and find out that I'm in worse shape than I knew I was in before I went in. LOL Sooo I came home and decided that nothing needed me that badly and I was just going to ignore the whole thing for today. Tomorr
Well, this is nothing short of a miracle if you ask me. I got Jim to come out in the back yard and actually do a lettle work with me. We have small holes in the yard that our dogs have given us for a present so Jim went around in his chair pulling some topsoil on a 4 wheel dolly and was filling in the holes for me. See, Jim has become quite the couch potato. He will lay there and watch racing for hours and it just drives me crazy so I sort of guilted him into going outside and getting a little f
It's been a while since I wrote anything and I just felt like it tonight so here it is. I've been so busy the last couple of weeks! The part of Arizona where I live had one night with a freezing temperature and now everywhere you look there are dead bushes and trees. I've been spending a lot of time pruning dead branches away and seeing what's going to come back. The rest of the time I've been planting tomatoes and new flowers and bushes to replace what won't come back. Between taking care of Ji
Well, I called Jim's neuro 3 days in a row to try to get some sort of pain medicine for him. Since Jim's arm has started to move a bit he has been complaining about quite a bit of pain and all he had been given before was two amytriptyline at night for pain. Jim doesn't want to do rehab because there is too much painfor him and I can't have that. I needed something that would give him continuous pain coverage throughout the day so I told them I wanted to try Neurontin. After 3 days of calling th
Well, it's been a very busy time for me. I had to fix the clothes dryer, cut back all the plants and bushes that the one night of freeze we got ruined, plant some new plants and start to get my tomato garden ready for the plants. They just have to be planted tomorrow! In the meantime, I've been working with Jim's arm and hand to keep a good idea going. He says it hurts him too much so I'm going to call his neuro tomorrow and ask for a different med for him. Jim is only on amytriptyline at night
Well, today I am celebrating! Jim can move his left arm a little bit on demand! It's just a little bit but it's a start and I'm so excited about it! The part that bugs me is that he says that he has been able to do it for a little bit now and hasn't told me. He is upset because he thought that when they operated and opened up his left carotid artery it was going to be an instant fix and all of a sudden everything was going to work just like it did before. Well, that didn't happen so now even thi
Well, today is our 39th anniversary. Such a long time and mostly what I think about is how close I came to not having this anniversary with him. The thing is, it seems like Jim is almost emotionless now. I know that he loves me but sometimes he looks at me like I'm his next door neighbor or something. The stroke must have affected that part of his brain I guess. I don't expect much from him but a gentle touch of his good hand on my face would be nice or an "I Love You" without me saying it first
I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have commented on my blogs so far. This last one was difficult to comment on and a couple of you did anyway and I appreciate that very much. That whole story is very bizarre and I'm quite sure that what happened to me would never be allowed to happen in this day and age but that's not a story for here. My whole point in writing that was because it just came to me all of a sudden that I had been where my husband is now and maybe I could use my experienc
Well, I've had a bit of a surprising thought and I thought I'd share it with you. Years ago I was hit by a car, flew 65ft through the air and landed on my head. Fractured my skull in two places front to back and had brain damage of course not to mention the other injuries a person gets from an accident like that. Anyway, the ambulance called me in DOA and the hospital left me in the hall with a sheet over my face for 4hrs. When they finally had time to get to the dead people they discovered that
Well, we had a pretty good day today. Yesterday Jim was pretty tired after going to the hospital to have those tests done. We haven't heard from the doc yet but I do know there is a deficit in his left leg. It isn't very bad, though and I doubt that surgery will be called for. I think part of the problem is because Jim has a malocclusion of the bones in his lower left leg (a whole nuther story) and I think the arteries may be getting constricted by the bone. The carotid looked very good, though
Well, I seem to have lost track of time. I thought it was last week so I missed my appt with my neuro. Oh well. The good thing is that I figured out what day it really was and will not miss Jim's appt at the hospital for his ultrasound and his doppler scans on his legs which is tomorrow. I can always make another appt with my neuro, it will just cost me some bucks for missing this one.
Had to go to the store and that's always a fun time for me. I'm 5ft tall and a lot of the stuff I need is
Well, this is my first try at making a blog and by the way, can anyone tell me why they are called blogs? Anyway, I hope I get this right but if I don't, well, I'll try again later.
Anyway, I'm a 57yr old sole caregiver to my 58yr old husband. He had a massive right brain stroke in Sept. which the doctors all told me that most people just die from. They were all amazed that Jim even survived and now at how far he has come but it has had some serious repercussions for Jim and for me as well
