William is intently watching the Movie "Band of Brothers" A WWII series. He is really enjoying it. Our pastor used a clip our of it for Men's life and that got William into wanting to watch it. So I ordered it from Netflex. I have missed alot of it since I am doing other things while William is occupied.
William is really doing so much better in the pool. I told him that we will be going at 1PM. I have the day off today. It has been cooler in the pool. So today I will let him wear
I am taking William's blood pressure 3 times a day. I want to get it down. It has been running high. I went to lunch with a couple of friends and they shared that they post the BP readings on the calendar every day. I have started doing the same. I have noticed that William's before meds in the morning readings are high. 140/100. We added a coreg dose. Now at 9.625mg twice daily. But the AM reading is still high. I have decided to give the last dose at 8 or 8:30PM to cover the evening a
William went to church on Sunday with the caretaker and ended up needing to use the bathroom. He usually does all that stuff before he leaves for church. Well, you know how that it is. They managed. I think that this is good. Now, William can feel comfortable that his caretaker can actually handle a bathroom situation. That is usually my realm.
William and his trusty cell phone. He calls to let me know that this is happening.
I read alot of wonderful blogs. Yes everybody keep i
We went to have the PT INR at the lab. When we got there we were informed that the order had expired. So, I called the doctor and asked them to fax over a new order. Well, they faxed over the same old expired order. I had to call them again and asked them to put a new date on the order.
I need to thank Jeannie, I did not realize that I had disabled others from reading the comments. I hope that I have corrected that problem. Let me know. Thank you Jeannie.
Well, we waited and w
William is a clock watcher. He watches the clock when we get in the pool. He knows that I want an hour workout. At least he has learned this. It seems to take an hour for the hydrotherapy and an hour for the shower.
We went out to lunch with another stroke survivor and caregiver today. William enjoyed our lunch. It is nice to have the cyber world and the virtual world. William is ready for a nice long nap. I have had him up and running since 7AM. He still gets easily fatigued. As
Can you believe my almost vegetarian husband, William. I could not believe it. We are exercising in the pool. WIlliam is hungry. We woke up and had his meds and went directly to church. Got home at noon and went directly to the pool. No breakfast today. No wonder he was hungry. But, we never go to Whataburger. Where in he world is one?? Well, I found one the burgers were fantastic. But, we were also famished. You know how anything tastes good when you are hungry. William had to have
We had our appointment today. This orthotic place had both the walkaide and the bioness. They prefer the bioness from what they have seen so far. They have had more experience with the walkaide. We tried them both out.
The bioness was first. It works by sensing that weight has been removed from the left (weak) leg and points the toe up so that you can easily move the leg. I supported William's left side while he walked. He did quite well. The only drawback is cost. $6,100 and $200.0
William had to complain about the water in the pool. I did not put his short wet suit on today. That was a mistake. He was upset that I said the water was ok. He insisted that it was too cold. We stayed in for 10 min. But, that is ok. I had him bicycle for 15 min this morning. That is the pedal thing that we have at home. He did really well on that. The leg was able to stay in position. It used to fall out to the left and I would hold it in. I strap the foot on with velcro straps th
I cannot belive it. I didn't start blogging until July 09. Six months after Willliam's stroke. That just goes to show you how much more time I have now. I was really busy the first few months of the stroke. But, it is good to reflect back and see that time goes on and gets better.
Yes life post stroke is slower. My son was asking how William is feeling emotionally and I can honestly say that he is doing amazingly well. Much better than I would expect to be doing myself.
Perhaps
We were halfway to the orthotics place when my cell phone rang. I don't always answer the phone when I am driving. It is difficult to delve into the bottomless pit called my purse. But, somehow I managed to get the phone before it clicked off. I am just calling to reschedule your appt. It was supposed to be at 9AM. the orthotist called in sick. Can we reschedule for....Friday?? What choice do we have? Friday it will be. I am rather excited about this evaluation. I wonder if William wil
We had the cardiologist visit on Friday. Increased the coreg. I am supposed to take his blood pressure more often. I asked him about the digoxin. This is a lifetime med. That was my impression. HIs ejection fraction is 35-40%. That is good. normal is 55%. He started with 20% ..
Congestive heart failure.
William went to church with his caregiver. They attended Sunday school and service. They had a good day.
Today is Monday, I have the day off. Went swimming this morning.
Ambien works for well. William loves to have Ambien at bedtime. I ask him why. He says that this way he doesn't have to worry about falling asleep. It just happens. I actually get 10mg Ambien tablets. I cut them in half and give William 5 mg at bedtime. Sometimes on the weekends when I am home. I tell him to try sleeping without taking a pill. He manages. I think that he is using it just as a safety feature. If I am able to keep him up most of the day then he does not need the pill.
We had an appointment with the primary care physician today. William blood pressure is still a little high. The doctor said that maybe he didn't need his digoxin anymore. He wanted to know what is ejection fraction was. I told him that the cardiologist had just taken is a couple of months ago. and it was still low. The digoxin is for congestive heart failure. Anyway...I came home and made an appointment with the cardiologist. I think that he should be able to answer some of the questions
Well, our special day. William is always up early on days that he has a trip or Sunday. He is so excited about church. He gets up at 4AM 6AM I finally say please we don't need to get up until 7AM. But, it is great to see such excitement. He is ready for the service and the bible study. At the beginning ....5 months ago...WIlliam complained about not understanding the sermon and not understanding the bible study lesson. BUt, now he is able to participate and know the lesson. I read t
The dinner theater was fun. Actually we had lunch...I didn't solve the murder mystery. I cannot believe that. I love murder mysteries. But, William thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was a bit of downer that the regular older adult program director just lost her position due to budget cuts. She was the best. this recession is hitting everybody. But the food was delicious. William had fish, shrimp, ribs, fruit salad, chocolate cake, coffee and iced tea. Pretty good for William. The day wa
I cannot believe that I did that. But, as I was filling out the pill box. I found that Sat and Sun evening was still full. This is outrageous. The evening has the warfarin doses. also blood pressure. That means days in a row. This is because I changed caretaker times. I have them leave earlier and did not write in my notes to have them give the evening meds. ANy other night they do that. I will have them do that earlier. So the bloodwork levels were low as to be expected. 2 skipped
I hear a voice calling out for me at 3AM in the morning. William has decided that he should practice walking. I tell him that it is really early and ask he could possibly try to go back to sleep. But, we have a trip with the YMCA planned today. I know that he is excited about that and is probably up because of excitement. So, I make myself get up and we practice walking. This is a first. At any other time of day...I would have been ecstatic. But,...3AM. I am still sleepy. But, We walk
We tried a wet suit on to get into the pool. It is colder now. They have changed the water and it is not warm. But, the wet suit was not a piece of cake to put on. Can you imagine...the left side does not help. William said that he felt all tied up...I was trying to pull the thing up over his torso and then the arms. It was difficult. Finally got it on. William was able to stay in the pool because of the set suit. I will probably have to go thru this again tomorrow. Getting it off was a
Up at 7AM meds and breakfast and brush teeth and bathroom duties. William is tired so he is sleeping until the dental appointment. I went outside and pulled weeds and watered and cut and pruned. I am tired again. I need to clean and get us ready for dentist then I will take us to the pool for swimming.
To be followed by lunch then work for me. I love today. It is so cool. Only supposed to get to 91degrees today. That is fall weather for us here in Houston. It actually feels cool beca
Tomorrow we have a dental appointment. William has a cleaning scheduled. I will take him to the pool afterwards. I think that we will have to wear a short wet suit. He complained that the water was too cold today ....Could only stay in for 10 min. I hope that we can stay longer tomorrow. I think that I need to work in some blood work at the lab too. Maybe, I will put that off for Wed.
We had a nice quite day. I kept working the left hand. I noticed that it becomes alot more pliable
Sundays are the highlight of William's week. He loves them. Early church service. A caregiver comes and picks William up and takes him to church. Then to Bible study. THey had all church lunch today. So he and Monica had lunch at church. Then home...William said that he stayed up all day today. That was nice. I came home from work and found William watching TV. I am in the process of teaching William how to operate NEtflex on the computer. WE watched the OX Bow incident. It was good.
Got up early today. Wanted to make it to the pool before the rain comes in. It is supposed to rain this afternoon. We went to the Clay road YMCA. The senior class was just finishing...good timing for me. William was anxious to get in and try again. He likes this pool because it is warmer that our regualr pool. I didn't even watch the time. WE walked back and forth. William was able to walk by himself. I wasn't pushing or supporting. This water has to be about 5 feet deep to accomplis
Family changing room for families or handicapped persons only.
All single users please use locker rooms or lobby restrooms.
This is the best sign ever. Our local YMCA is closed for a week. William and I went to one on Clay Road which is a little drive down the beltday. They have a
therapy pool. This pool is kept a little bit warmer than our regular YMCA. THey had the perfect sign on the door. IT addressed all of the issues. Especially
the one regarding single users. The f
Today we had our home therapy intro. I will be working with William at home for a month or so and then reschedule some more PT and OT.
I am told that the following exercises will help to re-educate the leg muscles.
Start the exercises lying down. Next do them sitting up and Finally do them standing up.
Start on the back---supine.
1. Bend left leg (the weak leg). Place it on the bed.
Right leg is straight.
Push the left hip up then over as if starting to turn onto your righ
On the way home from church I asked William where he would like to go for lunch. He said lets have a Rhueban sandwich at Jason's deli. My mouth almost fell open. But, yes. I am game. I did not mention anything about this not being vegetarian. I'm not stupid. I drive us there as fast as possible before William can change his mind. As we are driving into the parking lot..He mentions a salad. I suggest that I get a salad and he get a sandwich and we split. Great idea!! Well, I end up wi
