Will try to hit the high points of just a few things. Bob started OT for his hand/arm May 21. We do have to travel a little to get there, so it's a bit of a hardship, but his fantastic insurance runs out Aug 1, and he goes on medicare. She seemed very positive and we'll see where it goes. I have recently gotten him a very light hand 'brace' which mostly keeps his index and little finger from flopping over sideways and going under the 2 middle fingers. It has really helped the look of his ha
As many of you know, after Bob's massive stroke Feb 2012, he suffered from several things that caused him to not be able to read.
1. not being able to follow a line across and his eye kept picking up words from all over the page
2. latching onto one word in a sentence and repeating it every 3 words (an aphasia thing)
3. cognition issues of trying to think how to force his brain into working and following directions
4. visual cut which causes you to miss what's on the right side
5. nearly
WELL! I am so honked. Sometime before tax day I called H & R blocked and asked about getting an extension, because I was missing lots of receipts from when there was a house flood and everything was thrown into boxes and moved all over the house/garage. No problem, they said. When I asked how long the extension was good for, reply was till October! You know what's making me soooo mad right now? Because they are a business, and they should be giving you the detail. Compare thes
I've been having major problems with staying online. When Bob's 2 year anniversary rolled around, I didn't really blog here about it, because this seems to be the place that I have the most problems posting something when my connection is acting up. Not to mention the house flood from stopped up main drain) We did have a low key day, just glad to sit and rest after the flood commotion, but very aware of our blessings. Here's my catch-up here for others to read how we are doing after 2
It's been so long since I've blogged. So much happening, and even Bob's 2nd year stroke survivor anniversary. Due to the plumbing backup/flood in our home, we were happy to just have a low key day and feel content.
Anyway, so his old boss called last week and wondered if we could make it to lunch Wed (today), as a couple of guys that Bob used to work with were up from another state (they transfered to). So, we went and then his boss says, "Well, Bob, I had an alterior reason for inv
I'm going to cheat and copy & paste an email I sent my son. After our house was flooded (see previous posts on my blog) I had 2 minor repairs that I needed to do before even thinking about starting the big hard stuff.
1. Replace a small amount of rug padding in the study that got wet. That would allow me to put back the chair and bookcase against the wall and restack all the stuff that came out of the bkcase that is now clogging up the study (where Bob's bike is) and all the open
I think what makes this SOOOOOO hard, is I have 3 rooms that need new flooring. Let me break it down.
We are a ranch on slab. Originally, there was armstrong sheet vinyl in the kitchen, tv room, dining room & master bath. All the same. It's kinda old and the floor shows uneven places underneath it, as no one bothered to try to even anything out when this was put in, probably around 1985. Laminate was put over the conjoining tv room & dining room. Since the washer is located in
The laminate flooring that was continuous thru 2 rooms (dining & TV) is torn out thru the middle of both rooms. The carpet in the bedroom and my walk in closet is partially cut out (what had sewage in it). The pad is torn out, just a little, in the study, which I had hoped to get replaced and put that room back together. I discovered that the hot water to my bathroom sink was about to blow that pipe, so now that is shut off... I have not replaced the cabinet drawers with my stuff in it, be
Yesterday started with me in fine spirits, planning lots of work to get done. Bob had to poop right out of bed, so we went to my bath room off the bedroom, instead of his. I wonder if we'd made it to the other bathroom, would the day have went differently? Afterward, figured I'd get him in the shower, since my bathroom is where we do that, and he was already half naked. Seemed too much water on the floor. I usually only have 3 towels to sop up, but needed a lot more... what's happening...
I have read this book every year for quite a few... I can't remember how many by now. It's not a novel. It's more like a daily read. I tend to be kinda goofy, and it has really been a blessing to me, and helped to center me in crazy times. I have not been able to find it since Bob's stroke and finally gave up and looked on amazon.com for it recently. It's worth mentioning that amazon has a free kindle ap that you can download to your computer and read right on your computer or other dev
So Bob has sequencing problems. This makes it hard for him to do just about everything, needing prompting. Some of his speech therapy papers had him drawing different things, and it became evident that he could no longer make a star. The thing about stars is that there is a series of sequences that we follow to get the shape. It only takes 5 seconds, because it's so fast and easy, unless your brain forgot the sequence. I was trying to find old papers where we had tried to practice and pr
We are expecting low temps with wind chills of -20 one night and -40 the next. (farenheit) So, did my BIG shopping today. First went thru and bought $80 worth of depends, bedpads, wipes and then hauled that all out to the car. Filled the front seat. Went back in and bought $244 worth of groceries of all types, including 2hr fire logs, never know when the electric will go off. On the way out with that load, I stopped at the Subway at the entry way and got us a subway to split. Driving
Bob has some cognitive issues. The neighbor came home with one hand working and immediately started trying to figure out how to peel a potato with one hand. Not so for Bob, he doesn't think things thru and figure out ways to do things with one hand... usually. Imagine when I go into his room to check on him, and see him with this 'cat who ate the canary' look of satisfaction. It only took a second to see he had gotten on his sweater he'd found while rummaging thru clothes in there. T
Wishing everyone a Happy & Healthy New Year! We are going to be snug as a bug in a rug tonight, at home Hee, hee,.. sorry for the confusion! this is not our home, it's the lodge where we had Christmas dinner!
We are ragged from our efforts to clean and go out with son & fiance. It was a great week and tonight was the last, as they go home early tomorrow morning. We are prepared to fall on our faces and do nothing - ahhhh!
Wed 19th, I went to Walmart and got a bunch of stuff, and also had 2 keys made. I worry that I could lose my keys or have my purse stolen, and I wouldn't be able to get back into the house. I actually had an incidence once before when someone locked all my keys in the car and I couldn't get in the house. We had to call a locksmith to open the car, but I was frantic till we could get home and in to Bob. I usually go to the store once he is down for a nap. So, I got a new set to put in a
Last Wednesday, Dec 4, we went to a stroke group meeting where the subject being discussed would be bladder and bowel control. It has been a real pain and hinderance to not be able to go anywhere to speak of because of the 2.5 hr window of time before he needed to be changed. Most places it took nearly an hour just to get there, and the only option once there was a multi stall women's room. This lead to us missing many things. So, we seemed to be the only people interested in the extern
Seems like it always hitting the fan here. Last night I was trying to catch up on dishes about 2am when I heard Bob call HEL...! The "P" in help didn't make it out, as that's when he started vomiting. I will keep the details of just how much got hit, so you all don't turn green... let's just say, I was up washing 3 loads of laundry all night, and had to bathe him completely. We were pooped today and took a nap, I got up before him and went to Walmart, as my perpectual Christmas tree had the au
ok, so here's the background story. 2011, we were to go see son in another state, and I managed to ruin myself right before the trip, trying to move furniture and drag out our Christmas tree the week before we left. So, my hip joint was acutely inflamed and I could hardly move without screaming. So, we ended up having to switch our car rental to a SUV, because I was not able to lower myselft to get into the compact car, but could slide ride across, from a standing position into a SUV. That was
Oh no, Bob had this cousin who called and wanted to come see him. I told Bob and he was so excited, he went on for days about how his cousin was going to come see him. I kept trying to contact him on facebook to set a date, I don't know if he never bothered to check facebook or just felt too bad to follow thru because of his own health problems. Anyway, just found out he died today, and I am sooooo dreading telling Bob tomorrow. I don't even know if I will be able to get him to the next
OK, so I finally quit hedging and bought the no fees system here:
https://www.freedomalert-911.com
with an extra button (for me) and a lock box to put keys in.
I have had a lot of worry about ME since this happened to him, because he would not be able to help me, and he would himself be helpless if I went down. So, mine will dial straight to 911, incase I go down. His will dial to me, which he'll need if I go out. He can use the phone, if it is in reach and he hasn't dropped my pho
You know, since I started Bob on the Hot Dot's reading cards and the 6 sequence cards, I think I noticed a little more thought processing on his part. I thought he was now ready to do more than just "O" out in front a football game. I mean, yea, guys like football and he watches his share, but not all games and then those guys who sit around talking about football all day, when a game isn't on. I told him, "you know, Bob, how those sequence cards are causing you to follow the line of a st
Bob was sent to a vascular surgeon because his latest carotid ultrasound showed between 50-69% blockage on his GOOD side - the other side is 100% blocked from his stroke. So, the vascular surgeon ordered a 3D cat scan of his carotid, which is a more precise measurement. The test results showed under 50% blockage on the good side. No surgery necessary at this time, which carries it's own risk of a blood clot getting loose. WOOT! :jig:
I can't remember if I mentioned this or not... we decided to cut back to one day of therapy a week. After some careful consideration, we realized that our whole lives were about doctors and therapy, and that left no time for real living. I'll have to add that I have fibro and he is only awake 8 hours a day, divided by a nap! What if he dies this year...or me? and we had never taken time for doing things again? We needed to start actually living, rather than being like the fat person that i
I have gotten Bob some new things to work with and wanted to share them, incase they would be appropriate for anyone else. Bob has trouble reading, as you might remember. First he has visual cut, then he has the problem with his brain inserting 'logical next words' and he also has some cognitive problems. When he started, he could barely read 2 words together, and somehow he'd also pick up words from anywhere else close on the page and they would become part of the sentence he would struggle
