The thing is, after Bob's stroke, he didn't want to be seen in public, ever. Then a friend's husband died and he did want to go to the visitation. Then someone retired, and he wanted to go to the little get together. Then there was the time we went to the lake and watched boats, and the walk in the woods. Well, we have another hallmark to celebrate!
Sunday, Sept 15, 2013 Our son & fiancee will come for Christmas and are staying at a very close state park lodge, so we decided
Something odd happened this morning. When Bob had just gotten up to sit on the side of the bed, his head had a little tick in it, right, left, right, left, right, left. I asked why he was jerking his head, he said he wasn't. I sat on the bed beside him, watching for a few minutes, and it stopped, but I could see his eyes were still going back & forth. He asked me what I was waiting for (as far as getting him up and start changing/dressing).
I'm sure you all know what I'm afrai
Well... my niece is getting married Saturday. Unfortunately, it is about 45 minutes away, so going & coming back will take 1.5 hours just in the car. Then there is the wedding itself... hmmmm... how long are weddings? 30 min? 60 min?
I think it would be too hard to drag Bob along with me, and he would not last long, wilting quickly. He has about a 2 hour window. He would be good a few hours in the evening, considering all is set up right and no issues.
The next proble
Wanted to add some things I see different with Bob lately. He is a little over 1.5 years since his massive stroke. He is changing a lot lately.
1. He is talking a lot more. He may still get hung up on the noun, but he is making more effort to say what he is thinking, which shows me he is actually doing more thinking. I think he sat more in a daze from exhaustion before. He seems brighter now, and I see thoughts and things he wants to say coming to the surface. He's getting ide
With ball games on everyday, Bob is spending way too much time watching them or listening to them on the radio. I decided we needed an outing. As some of you might remember, Bob used to hike, bike 50-100 miles a day, zipline, etc. I remember when _I_ was the one who was feeble and weak, and he took me down the road to this small little trail, where I could get a 'taste of it', without killing myself. He took these pics of me, in the clearing when the short trail ends:
So....
Bob wanted to clip the front hedge in front of the porch last week, but I couldn't find the clippers anywhere. In a few days, I said that maybe we should just break down and buy another pair. He didn't think so, but in a few more days, he began to really want those clippers. So after therapy Tuesday, we went to Walmart and found the last pair of clippers they had. I didn't realize it when I bought them, but they have a rotating head so you can have the clippers face anyway, like scizzor li
I remember about a week ago, when thought of my crafts, reading, things I used to do, began to appear in my brain again. My life has been pretty absent of anything about me, since Bob's stroke, so this was a surprise.
Bob tells me I'm singing more again.
And tonight, I told him my body was begging me for an orange, so I cut one up, and nearly swooned while we ate it. I looked at Bob and said, 'you know... I know don't why I wasted time eating those cookies, I'm enjoying this SO muc
Having a little trouble adjusting to the next phase of my life and how I will attack it. Much work to do, but it is all HERE, don't have to go to the other house.. well, there are 2 lockers... we won't go there. Today I finally decided to get back the meals on wheels. I had thought when the house was done, I'd be able to cook like before and go back to my vegetarian diet, however, the last 2 weeks I've spent most of my time in the kitchen and still manage to have so many dishes I can't keep
So, playing a little catch up here. One day, we went to therapy... I was wearing a red top and black uni-sex jogging pants. Bob was wearing a black top and black shorts with red trim. We get there, and as soon as we get out of the car, he says, "I'm wet". hmmmmm..... we are just in time to not be late for therapy.... so we go in. We go to the bathroom and when we come out, he is wearing the black jogging pants and I am wearing the black with red trim shorts. Fortunately, these are
Well, before I was going to the house 2-3 times a week, but when we got the bid on it at the end of May, I began going everyday, staying around 4 hours. Toward the middle of June, I'd come home to find Bob had managed to stuff his feet in his jogging shoes and get out of bed and to the porch, in his depends and t-shirt, fortunately, no one can really see him out there and the weather was still pleasant. I knew something had to give because he was not sleeping as long as I was working, and I co
I've been getting about 3-4 hours sleep a night, as I have too much to do, and there is no help for it. Closing is coming on the house, whether I'm ready or not, and they want me out on closing day. The therapist told me she had a doctor's appt Tues at 11, but she could make it by 3, and she had canceled all her other appts, but was coming in just for us, because she knew his insurance worked by days of therapy, not sessions, so she knew we had to take them both together. So let me see, I had
So much going on here. My house had many showings, but no one made an offer. I had a bad feeling that the $500 paint job I paid to paint the garage door and window frames, that had went really bad, flaking up in 3 months, was the problem. I think as soon as people saw it they decided the home was not taken care of. So, I had went and scraped it all off and repainted (in my free time). First people who looked at it after I re-painted it, put in an offer. After some dickering, we accepted an o
Litterally, it's a blur. With so much to do, one day bleeds into the next and I forget how long it's been since I blogged.
AIR CONDITIONER: I have been trying to get an air conditioner/furnace installed for weeks, and delays keep happening. Everyday for 3 weeks I've been expecting them and ready, only to get a phone call with another problem. Maybe tomorrow. It will be installed in the attic (no basement) and the access is in the garage. I had to move a lot into the kitchen to make
I can no longer remember what my life was like before the stroke.... I can't remember what HE was like before the stroke. Maybe it's because he was gone so much, traveling for work, that there really are not lots of days with him in them..... ? Yet, every once in awhile, I drive home from Walmart, and see his car sitting in the driveway, and my heart skips a beat, thinking, what's he doing home already? A tear falls, as I remember.....
The last few days have been a whirlwind. The real estate person I talked to initially, gave me another call and I had told her before, I needed her to come over and look at things and give me some ideas on how much she thought to list it for. She knows our situation, so didn't really bother to give me ideas on things to do to make it more valuable, which would require more time and energy from me. Well she came and looked and I thought it was going to be just that, but somehow I got a 'wha
Bob has many days, when he just can't get 2 words together, so hard for him to not be able to express one idea. Fortunately for him, I know him well.
However, last night he wasn't watching anything in particular, so I put on something I was interested in, and he pointed to go back to his room, where he likes to goof off, look at hot wheels, sort things.
Later that night, he says, "I hope it didn't feel offensive, that I didn't stay for your program".... HUH?
I tried not to look
Dear Friends, I have taken some steps, thanks for all the advice, keep it coming on the elder lawyer situation!
I will list the things that are helping me improve my stress:
1. Got to old house and was able to get more work done (always helps me feel better)
2. Took lever know off storm door = cat can no longer hang there and tear the screen
3. Made appt to have aircond/furnace man come out
4. Made appt to have foundation looked at
5. Located elder lawyer & he wa
I am officially crazy now and the entire fleet has turned out to give me an honorary medal into the navy, since I have surpassed the requirements to be able to 'curse like a sailor'. No, it's not Bob who I'm cursing at, it's me, it's everytime I nearly break my toes off AGAIN, it's the cat that has torn a hole in the screen door, and the stray cat that sprayed same door, which seeped into the cracks of the metal door (did I mention this stray is not a fixed cat, so has full tomcat odor?) and I c
Bob is very upset with himself, cranky, and down. He is now back to where he was when he first came home. Me helping him stand onto one leg by lifting with his gait belt. Me pivoting him to sit from the bed to the wheelchair (and vice versa). He was to the point where he could walk with a cane, from room to room, with me spotting him and holding his gait belt. Now he has lost that freedom of movement as he can't really lift the bad leg again, and feels miserable. Please pray that he is out of th
Bob fell last night and as stroke people do when hurt or sick, became disoriented and confused and was unable to respond well.
I have worked just a tiny bit with him on taking steps with no cane at all, and walking toward me as I held out my hands incase he stumbled. They are like Frankenstein steps. Well, guess who KNOWS not to do that alone, and got back in his room and decided he would? So when I hear him call for help, I run in there and one of the things I notice is his office chair
Bob started being more aware and trying to help do things about a month ago. Like helping pull up his pants. So around the beginning of this week, I noticed he sent down to about 12" from the ground and pulled up his side. I was like WOOO HOOooOoOOoOOo! Do you realize what you just did?!?! You reached all the way down and helped pull up! So, I've added a new exercise to his balance exercises, to help develope this new ability. I put a kleenex box on the groun, end up. Then whi
Well, as I've mentioned before, every few weeks I have a dream that I see my husband move his hand and do something small, without thinking about it, and without even realizing it. This is encouraging to me, because I've had dreams thru-out my life that were predictive.(word?)
Anyway, so Monday he calls to me, with my REAL name (Sandra, instead of Mom) and I go running to him, alarmed. He said something's happening. I asked if he was sick or felt pain, he said, no, not like that. The
Yesterday, Bob tells me "he's back!" - he feels like himself again, and feels like he could do anything, if not for the stroke parts that can't work! Today I was working in the bedroom and heard a strange clanking noise. Having a suspicion it had something to do with Bob, I rushed out. Sure enough, he had lifted the walker from behind his wheel chair's front wheels and was walking toward the bedroom to see what I was doing! He has not used a walker before, because of his only having one w
We went to PT 5x a week and speech 2x a week during Nov & Dec, trying to get in all our 60 allotted therapy days. Due to the holidays in those months, then weather toward the end of Dec, we probably made about 50 of them. Our last therapy day was Dec 20, we've been on our own since then, but will still have 60 this year, whenever we want to use them.
Bob's had a couple of new things I'd like to share:
1. Our cordless phones have an intercom system, that I usually use to find a lost o
So many things going on... finally, a break from it, the end of the year and quite possibly we won't make it back to therapy THIS year, due to bad weather. Thursday, it was raining badly, due to snow Friday. I was thinking I'd HAVE to cancel Friday, but maybe Thursday, too. I told Bob I was considering canceling PT & speech and he watched me keep checking the weather hour by hour report on the internet, and looking out the window. After about 2 hours, he looked at me and said, "I thi
