Cya CVA!

A blog by erobertson in General

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About this blog

The story of J.J.'s recovery from the stroke (CVA) he had on 2/15/09 at 33 years of age.

Entries in this blog

Stress

(Originally posted May 27, 2009)   Things can change so much in a day. J.J. is in significant pain today and has spent the day hopped up on Vicodin and dosing in an armchair downstairs with an ice pack on his knee. Here in a minute I will go down and rouse him enough to feed him some more Vicodin. When it has kicked in, I'll get him up for a shower. He's supposed to have his neuropsychologist appointment tomorrow, but honestly, I think it may be a waste of time for him to go. Because he's in
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Surgery

(Originally posted May 26, 2009)   We're home and I've napped, so I may actually make it through the rest of the day. In case anyone was wondering, getting home from vacation then having to get up at 4:00 the next day is no picnic and should be discouraged.   Okay, so J.J. did have a lateral tear of his meniscus that was repaired. What wasn't anticipated is that his gout has spread into his knee and had left a number of deposits behind, so as many as possible were shaved off the bone. Thi
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Stuff

(Originally posted May 22, 2009)   1. J.J.'s surgery has been moved to 8:00 on Tuesday morning, which means we have to be there at 6:00 a.m. Which would be bad enough, but our day care doesn't open until 6:00, which means I have to figure out once again how to pierce the time-space continuum to make this work. 2. J.J. is retaining fluid in his legs again, which most likely means his ejection fraction is diminished again. His furosemide (Lasix, a water pill) was increased up to 60 mg long en
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Finding balance

(Originally posted May 17, 2009)   Since the stroke, I have several distinct lives that I'm struggling to integrate. There's Erin the mother, Erin the wife, Erin the friend, Erin the worker, Erin the stroke wife (which encompasses the role of Erin the advocate), Erin the author and Erin the nonprofit founder. Not to mention Erin the photography business owner, which has totally been pushed to the background. Aside from a few shots of the kids, I haven't taken any photos at all since J.J.'s st
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Surgery scheduled

(Originally posted May 12, 2009)   After much hoopla, J.J.'s knee surgery has finally been scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 26. Thank goodness it's not before, since we're going to St. Louis for Memorial Day and will be doing lots of walking.   In other news, J.J. lost 3.5 pounds last week. That brings his total to some really unreasonably high number. I'm not at home so I can't tell you with complete accuracy, but I think he broke the 100 lbs. mark. If not, he's within a hair of i
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Reason #15,982,602 why I'm proud of J.J....

(Originally posted May 11, 2009)   Last night as we were lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, we realized that J.J.'s last speech therapy session was scheduled for today. This is not because he's so much better he doesn't need more therapy, it's just because our insurance will only pay for a certain number of sessions. The way to get around this, from what I've heard, is to join a clinical study of some nature; many will provide extra therapy. Anyway, I've been looking into one in Cinci
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Email response

(Originally posted May 6, 2009)   So I decided to email the presenter from the FPA meeting I attended on May 1, just to do my little part toward stroke advocacy....   My email this morning:   Dr. Johnson,   I was an attendee at the FPA meeting in Indianapolis last week where you spoke. I have been struggling with whether or not to write you since that meeting, but I do believe that I need to address one topic you touched on.   In your talk, you discussed how men
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Wednesday update

(Originally posted May 6, 2009)   We went to our family doctor yesterday, and she said we have to obtain clearance from J.J.'s cardiologist and neurologist to have the surgery. She has apparently forwarded the information to their offices. Good luck with getting anything from Dr. Acula, though--I have a feeling I may have to call his nurse again to see if she can help. Why did I expect this to be easy? History has proven that NOTHING has been easy since the stroke. Every day is like a string
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Since we haven't been to the hospital for a while...

(Originally posted May 4, 2009)   it's obviously time to go back. The orthopedist confirmed this morning that J.J. has torn the outer meniscus in his right knee and has recommended a surgical repair to take place as soon as possible, probably within the next week to 10 days. This is complicated by the fact that J.J. is on a couple of different blood thinners to lower his risk of having another stroke; obviously, in a surgical scenario they want him not to be on these. So he's been referred ba
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Proud

(Originally posted May 3, 2009)   I love my husband. Not to sound all Hallmark card-ish, but I knew from the instant I met him that he was going to be important in my life. I didn't know how important, or that I would end up sharing my life with him and choosing him as the father of my children, but I knew he was special. I've loved him forever, and I will love him forever.   I will admit, though, that there were times that I've not been proud of him. Whether it was showing up with mustard
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Update on our week

(Originally posted May 1, 2009)   1. Monday, J.J. had a visit with an orthopedist to check out his right knee, which is still bothering him. The doctor felt it was a good idea to at least MRI it to see what's going on. So J.J. had an MRI Wednesday morning, and he has a follow up visit with the orthopedist on Monday. I'll keep you posted on the results.   2. Also on Monday, J.J. stopped by our family doctor's office to have his blood pressure checked. It had creeped back up to 150/80. Our d
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People say the stupidest things

(Originally posted May 1, 2009)   I sat down to give you an update blog entry about all of the appointments and stuff that we've done this week, but I'm too angry to concentrate on that, so you get this instead. I'll do the other in a minute.   This morning I attended a meeting of the local chapter of the Financial Planning Association. One of the speakers invited to this meeting was a psychologist/sales coach whose presentation focused on the differences in the communication styles (and t
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10 Weeks

(Originally posted April 26, 2009)   In about a half an hour, ten weeks will have passed since J.J.'s stroke. He's made a lot of progress during that ten weeks. I've made a lot of progress in that ten weeks. Our marriage has made a lot of progress in that ten weeks. I feel like a completely different person now than I was then.   This weekend has been kind of challenging. First of all, yesterday was my sweet baby boy's birthday. Eli is 9! I'll post his birthday slideshow tomorrow; I've bee
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Recap

(Originally posted April 23, 2009)   I've been so drained lately by work and this frackin' cold that doesn't seem to want to leave me alone that blogging has been slightly beyond my abilities. Don't give up on me, I'll try to do better.   Today J.J. went to see our family doctor alone (the first time since his stroke that I've not tagged along to a doctor visit). He's still having trouble with his knee, so he had another round of scans and will be seeing an orthopedic specialist on Monday.
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Waste of time

(Originally posted April 20, 2009)   So, the Voc. Rehab appointment this morning? They herded us into a room with 13 of our closest friends, read a handout to us word for word, then sent us back to the front desk where they handed us paperwork with individual assessment appointments already pre-set. The appointment was at 9:00, they didn't bring us back until 9:20, and I got back in my car at 9:38. And the office staff? Let's just say that Dr. Acula's customer service skills were top-notch in
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Why my husband is the best husband

(Originally posted April 16, 2009)   It's now been two months since the stroke (as of yesterday at around 8:45 p.m.). That's not why I didn't post; that was a function of the fact that I worked 13.5 hours and still am struggling with a head cold. But instead of doing yet another repetitive update (everything's fine, although we're still both struggling to get used to J.J.'s CPAP), I thought I'd take this opportunity to convince everyone that I have the most awesomely incredible husband ever.
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Late post

(Originally posted April 13, 2009)   I meant to post after J.J.'s appointment this morning, but the day has gotten away from me. So anyway, here's the rundown:   1. The appointment this morning yielded less than desirable results. J.J.'s sleep study (conducted on 2/27/09, remember) was abnormal. J.J. had about 8-12 episodes per hour in the lab of either apnea or hypoxia. While the doctor said this is actually considered pretty mild, with J.J.'s history of stroke, he recommended utilizing a
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Cleaning out email

(Originally posted April 12, 2009)   And came across this one from J.J. dated 10/24/07. Not sure I ever even saw this one before. But it made me smile:   I LOVE YOU!   Sitting here, working and thinking that I love you very much, and that I'm sorry things have been so busy. Looking forward to seeing you tonight and getting to hold you for a little while.You make me happy. You make me feel good. You make everything better. Much like thin mints, only without the nasty minty taste.   Lo
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Easter

(Originally posted April 12, 2009)   And so we've come to the first holiday since J.J.'s stroke. I expected this to be hard to deal with. But it was a complete non-issue. First of all, it's hard to be sad while watching your children tear around the house hunting eggs. Secondly (and I can't believe I'm saying this already!), J.J. has made so much progress over the last week or so that it's really not that different than holidays we've spent together as a family in the past. Yes, his speech st
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Driving Mr. J.J.

(Originally posted April 9, 2009)   J.J. is officially driving again! We got him down the the BMV at about 12:45 and he called me about 10 minutes ago to say that they decided to renew his license while he was there so he's waiting for it to be printed.   Life is about to get soooo much easier!
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The big day

(Originally posted April 8, 2009)   This is THE morning. At 9:00, we'll be going to the Neuro Rehab Center at RHI to start J.J.'s driving evaluation. Please, please, PLEASE be thinking good thoughts. If J.J. can drive again, it will make everything so much easier. Not to mention that it will go a long way toward making J.J. feel more independent.   Yesterday was another bad day in terms of my mental state. I finally sat down with J.J. after the kids were in bed and told him what I was thin
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April showers

(Originally posted April 6, 2009)   bring May Flowers. Or something. At least, that's what my friend Palak told me today. I told her that was just too cheesy and that I'd have to use it as the title of my blog entry today. And so, here it is.   Not much news to report today, unfortunately. That's the bad thing about all of this. It's just unrelenting, bone-numbing, spirit-crushing slow pace of recovery that eventually takes a toll. I'm asked at least ten times a day how J.J. is. The answer
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Technology bites

(Originally posted April 2, 2009)   I got a message a few days ago from our IT guy that I needed to clean out my work email (mostly my sent/deleted items mailboxes). Just started working on it this morning. Of course, there are all kinds of little messages from J.J. about mundane little everyday things, like that he needs to stop to pick up bread on the way home or that I need to stop by the bank to get cash for Eli's field trip, etc.   Even worse were the voicemails (we have unified mess
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Lucky

(Originally posted April 2, 2009)   Every so often I just have to step back and remember how incredible it is that J.J. is still alive and how lucky we are to have him around. It's easy to lose sight of this fact while dealing with all the changes we've had to make.   J.J.'s voice is different. It's softer and more hoarse and frustrates him to no end because he can't sing.   but...   He's still able to communicate. And his softer voice means that I need to slow down and focus complet
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Stages of grief

(Originally posted March 29, 2009)   I've been having kind of a rough weekend. It's amazing to me that every time I think I'm doing really well and that I'm vaguely in control of the situation, a new wave of grief slaps me upside the head and I go spiralling off into self-pity. Make no mistake, I'm grieving just as surely as I would have if I had lost J.J. After all, in some ways, I have.   It's interesting how many stages of grief I can embody simultaneously. Today I've caught myself in b
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