Well, Bruce has had two falls this week. He is fine and I guess it just comes with getting back into therapy and getting used to movement again.

Sunday night he had to shower. Monday was an early day to therapy and he had put it off all day until bedtime. This was my fault in that coming out of the shower, he needed the toilet and I tried to help him transfer but had not dried the floor. He sat down. We were able to inch to a grip bar, but there was not enough room for him to get his left foot down and bend his knee for push up, so ended up with the Firemen. Our local guys are terrific. Dispatcher knows when I say lift assist, I do not need an ambulance as well. They keep good records and are just so pleasant and gentle.

Bruce was assigned a new PT on Wednesday. His beloved Annette has pool duty for the next month, so Bruce was assigned to Lexi-very young, very beautiful, tall. She had worked with Annette and Bruce on Monday and understood the game plan for Bruce. I was asked to leave therapy-lol and a story for another time. But apparently Lexi had difficulty with Bruce on the stairs and Bruce insisted she come and get me. He got up for me and I got him down the stairs and then had to talk him into continuing. He must have caught the right foot on the stair, couldn't regain balance and fell onto the landing.

But I was reflecting on Dyan's post tonight with Cayden being out of routine. I realized that Bruce is also off routine. Part of his response to falling was the "new" person. Bruce has always held off "connecting" with people. He allows himself time to analyze and reflect. Bruce is an extremely good listener and always asks the right questions. Part of this is not having to reveal himself-a survival instinct he learned early on in life.

Today was a down day. I had housework-company coming for dinner tomorrow and paperwork. Bruce got his shower, grooming. He helped with the paperwork and did his cards, but I could tell he was off. And it wasn't until tonight, when I read Dyan's blog that I realized that even a 60 year old, post stroke 2 1/2 years, making great progress gets thrown off kilter.

So I will take a page out of my dear Sue's advice on stroke recovery and just take it one step at a time, deal with the issue and move on. When I get home from work tomorrow, he will have had his swim with Jen. Apparently there is some problem with the showers at the pool, so maybe a shower. But then preparation for our dinner with Carl and a quiet week coming up. No therapy until next Friday. He will still have pool with Jen two days.

With the improvement in Bruce's cognitive recovery over the past few months, it just took adding therapy and a new routine to confuse him. He will get through this, that I know. But just a little reminder-as stroke tends to do-that recovery is always one step forward-two back. He is still unable to coordinate too many things. I think I will always test his ability to take on more, but also have to learn to accept that there may be set backs at the same time.

Thank you Dyan and Sue. Always have my back and reminders that there are learning experiences in all that is offered here, just have to apply it to your situation but also that there are ways of dealing with it.

Happy Holidays to all. Debbie