July 26 was Chris' birthday and also the 1st anniversary of his stroke. I was alittle concerned as to how he was going to be emotionally. So when I got up Tuesday morning, went downstairs, put on the coffee and then went over to his bed to wake him up and wish him a Happy Birthday he was his old chipper self. He didn't mention anything about his stroke.

That morning nothing was really different, my Dad stopped in to "devil" Chris as usual, wished him a HB and Dad brought up the fact of the anniversary of the stroke. The only thing Chris said was "Thank God I'm Alive." Around 12 noon, Chris' sister and her husband arrived from Maryland. As usual she comes in with about $200 worth of groceries and about 10 containers of food that she had made for the freezer. They brought lunch, a birthday cake and several presents for Chris. He had a really great time with them. The evening was kinda layed back, we just watched the baseball game and turned in early.

Today (Wednesday) Chris went to the eye doctor. First time since his stroke. I knew he had lost some or all of the vision in his left eye. His examination took 2 hours between the nurse and the doctor. We where told that the stroke did damage his eye, he has no peripheral vision in his left eye and the vision in his right eye has gotten worse.The doctor also told us that he probably will have no sight return in the left eye, if the sight would have returned it usually does so within 3 -4 months after the stroke. Chris was exhausted when we got home.

Tonight I had a small family get together for his birthday. Very low key, just ice-cream and cake. Chris was dozing on and off all evening and unfortunately he started getting severe pain in his legs and feet again.

Thursday is going to be another busy day. Chris needs to be at out-patient PT/OT by 12:30pm. We are going to be there for 2 1/2 hours. He's gonna come home and crash.

Friday will probably be a very sleepy day for him. I'll bet he will eat lunch and sleep for the rest of the afternoon.