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

Answer to prayer

(Originally posted March 26, 2009)   Around 11:00 this morning, J.J. called me at work. This is unusual these days, which is ironic since pre-stroke I used to complain to my coworkers about how often J.J. called (never to talk for long, but he called at least two or three times a day. I used to call him Incessant Calling Boy). Anyway, his lead in--"All of a sudden, I can read". I'm waiting until we get the kids to bed to test him out on this, but he says his reading is a lot more effortless t
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The cardiologist missed his calling...

(Originally posted March 19, 2009)   I know I do a lot of complaining about medical personnel. It's not that I am not grateful to them for saving my husband's life, because I am. I feel that he has received very good care from people who are very knowledgeable in their field.   My complaint has more to do with the extreme lack of compassion some of these people (mostly the physicians) show. The cardiologist is a prime example. I told J.J. that I feel this guy has missed his calling. He REA
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Stroke coordinator appointment

(Originally posted March 18, 2009)   I'm sorry for not updating last night. I got absorbed in some INHP work I was doing and didn't get the time to update the blog.   Anyway, the appointment was awesome. First of all, J.J.'s blood pressure is very well controlled now. It was 126/79 yesterday. We also got numbers from his cholesterol panel that was done shortly before he was released from RHI. I'm a little confused by these, so I will be calling his doctor this morning. Anyway, his total ch
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Zing!

(Originally posted March 18, 2009)   J.J. has the misfortune of having a wife who absorbs everything his therapists tell her and thus he is never safe from having to do therapy exercises. Last night just before we went to bed I was quizzing him on colors. Shortly after he had correctly answered what color our sheets are (red) and what his favorite color is (blue) I asked him what color my hair is.   A little background is in order here--my natural hair color is a very dark brown. The back
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One month later

(Originally posted March 15, 2009)   One month ago, I had just left INHP to travel back to the hospital, where my husband was confined to ICU room 6. His smile was crooked, the right side of his face was slack. His right eye didn't track with the other eye. He could wiggle his toes on his right foot but couldn't lift his heel off the bed. His right arm didn't move reliably and his fine motor control was almost non-existent. He communicated primarily through nodding/shaking his head and verbal
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Tonight

(Originally posted March 12, 2009)   It just struck me that today will be the first day since J.J.'s stroke that I will put in a full day of work in the office AND not have any kid-activities to attend this evening. So when I get home at 6:00ish, I'm off duty for the rest of the night! What a relief!   (I suppose I'm not really off duty because I'll still need to do some cleaning and laundry, but considering that I'm usually trying to squeeze these in while my work computer is booting up o
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Hello from the car dealership waiting room!

(Originally posted March 9, 2009)   My car is getting an oil change and some recall work done (something having to do with the air conditioner, so nothing real critical) so I'm trying to multitask. That's like the story of my life these days.   I promised an update about the optometrist's appointment. J.J.'s vision has changed very slightly since the stroke, so that his current glasses correct him to 20/25 rather than 20/20. However, his peripheral vision doesn't appear to be impacted at a
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Friday

(Originally posted March 6, 2009)   Thank goodness it's Friday! For the first time since this all happened, the fact that we're coming up on a weekend actually means something.   Eli has a really awful cough and doesn't have ISTEP testing today, so he's going to be staying home. Well, he's going to be staying home after we drop Leah off at preschool, drop J.J. off at physical therapy, go get my allergy shot, pick J.J. back up and drop the guys back off at home. I'm hopeful that I'll make
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Assessment results

(Originally posted March 3, 2009)   Today we had assessments with both physical therapy and speech therapy to begin J.J.'s outpatient treatment. The physical therapy assessment was pretty odd, actually. J.J. is definitely far beyond the level of function that most of the other patients in the gym are at. His assessment had him doing things like time tests of how far he could walk in a certain time frame or how many stairs he could climb in two minutes. The therapist also tested the strength
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Aphasiac help desk support

(Originally posted March 2, 2009)   I started running a scan on my system this morning because I'm getting more pop-ups than usual and I know from watching J.J. often enough that this is the first step he takes. Of course, he's all over this--it's finally something he can do to be helpful!--and as long as he isn't trying to explain what he's doing, he's functioning pretty well. When he tries to explain, though, well...   "The stuff you have running...it has a thing...it's putting the thing
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Overprotective

(Originally posted March 1, 2009)   It's so hard not to hover around J.J. right now. He's shown that he can make it up and down the stairs easily, but it scares me half to death to let him do it alone. He made his own breakfast (granted, it was only microwave pancakes, but he still had to figure out how long to put them in and which buttons to press in which sequence on the microwave) and I had to resist the urge to watch as he did it to make sure he wasn't going to burn the whole place down.
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Settling in

(Originally posted February 28, 2009)   I swear today feels like Christmas. It's so incredibly awesome to have J.J. back home. We've spent most of the day resting, catching up on our very full DVR and holding one another. And I've been reading my binder from rehab, learning how to take care of J.J. He's on seven different prescriptions which need to be administered at different times, resulting in four different times per day at which J.J. needs to be taking something. He's got four doctor ap
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Tomorrow

(Originally posted February 27, 2009)   Will be the big day. I just talked to J.J.'s neurologist (who is awesome and thus doesn't need a nickname). She feels J.J. will be fine to be at home, although she would recommend that I be home with him at all times for the first week to make sure he is safe to be alone. He will not need oxygen therapy, so I don't have to mess with that, thank goodness. He will be receiving Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy on an outpatient basis, so I need to work t
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Love

(Originally posted February 27, 2009)   Last night's cutest moment was when Leah was playing in the kids' area with another little girl. The other little girl's mother came over to check on her daughter. Leah stood up and introduced herself, then said, "You see that wheelchair over there?" and pointed to us. "That's my dad, and he's holding hands with my mom. They have love."   She's right
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Homecomings

(Originally posted February 26, 2009)   Today around 1:30 I was taken by surprise when I received a call from the case worker at RHI. "No emergencies," he said, "just needed to talk to you about arrangements for J.J. to come home. I don't think we're going to be able to justify keeping him inpatient much longer." I nod, thinking he'll say J.J. will probably be in the hospital for only another week or so. "Probably late Friday evening or first thing in the morning on Saturday, he will be disch
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Yes, I'm still out here...

(Originally posted February 26, 2009)   I don't have much news to report but I haven't written at all today yet! If I keep this up, I'll lose my readership...   So anyway, I'm getting a lot of questions about how I'm doing. I'm incredibly exhausted and overwhelmed, but otherwise alright. I mean, I have a lot on my plate. To give you an idea, here's what yesterday looked like--and this was probably the most low-key day I've had since this all happened:   5:35: Alarm goes off. Stumble out
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The sweetest sound I've ever heard...

(Originally posted February 25, 2009)   ...is J.J. saying my name. He actually got the kids' names back today too. Thank you, God. I needed to hear that.   In other news, he walked 120 feet today (at one stretch, not total--that was far more) without any assistive device. He's received the okay to shower alone and is dressing himself in his super baggy pants (this happens when you lose 35 lbs. in a little over a week!) without any help. PT is working with him on fine motor activities. I st
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Nothing's wrong

(Originally posted February 24, 2009)   If you see me today and notice my bloodshot eyes and streaked makeup, don't think anything is wrong with J.J. (well, nothing new, anyway). I'm just having a bad day. I'm overwhelmed and really want to be able to discuss it with my husband without resorting to Charades. I want to hear him say my name, our kids' names, his name--heck, much of anything. I'm not picky.   This is harder than I ever would have imagined.
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Down

(Originally posted February 23, 2009)   I just finished filling out J.J.'s Short Term Disability paperwork. All over it are questions regarding J.J.'s expected return to work date. All I'm thinking is, hey, paperwork, nobody wants to know when things will be back to normal around here more than I do. But anyway, it's all very real now.   I also received the first claim paperwork from our insurance company today. So far nothing is wrong but I have faith in Anthem that something will be scre
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My husband is NOT in the hospital!

(Originally posted February 23, 2009)   I had a whole post typed out and Blogger ate it. Darn it. Oh well...   Anyway, I know it's still a medical facility, but having J.J. in rehab feels like we've taken a giant step toward getting him well. He came in around 1:30 and has been working on getting settled in. He was able to walk from the gurney to his bed; no limp, nothing. He's getting some real street clothes on for the first time and having his therapy assessments this afternoon. And he
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Sunday wrap up

(Originally posted February 22, 2009)   I just got Eli to bed (Leah's been in bed for 45 minutes or so), thus ending my first day of single motherhood. It's so awesome to be able to give my babies a snuggle when I want, although everything just got about ten times harder. And oh, the look on J.J.'s face when he saw them! They both catapulted into his bed and just cuddled with him for a good long while. Both the kids seemed to handle seeing J.J. pretty well and I think it helped settle some of
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End of day post

(Originally posted February 21, 2009)   The longer I watch J.J. endure what's happening to him, the more I am irritated about the fact that anyone has to go through this. This stroke has stripped away every last shred of dignity from my proud, stubborn, self-sufficient husband.   Another thing that bothers me (and why I spend so much time at the hospital) is that J.J. is viewed by the medical personnel as only another stroke patient. No one cares that his favorite color is midnight blue,
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No move today

(Originally posted February 21, 2009)   J.J.'s right foot is bothering him, so he's going to have an x-ray and an ultrasound this afternoon. Dr. Acula thinks it's either a stress fracture or cellulitis. Either way, they'll treat him before they street him. They also have scheduled J.J. to have a sleep study tomorrow night (good luck with that--he's not really sleeping much at all) so it'll be Monday before he's moved.   He's in pretty good spirits today and the language is coming better an
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End of day wrap up

(Originally posted February 20, 2009)   Okay, so J.J. will be moving to the rehab place sometime tomorrow afternoon (RHI will be ready for him anytime after 3:00 p.m.). I've spent most of the evening running around getting stuff together to pack him for rehab--I swear I look like I'm getting a kid ready for summer camp. I also have finally hit the wall in terms of my energy level. I realized shortly after I left the hospital that I forgot to help J.J. order breakfast for tomorrow, and I won't
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