Tired.....that describes everything. I am just constantly tired. I never seem to get the sleep I need but yet I wake up without a alarm everyday around 6:30 a.m. whether I need to or not. Today was a therapy day. I was up at the usual....6:30 but today unlike some days I actually needed to be up at that time because I have to have myself and Mike ready by 8:00 am for therapy that isn't scheduled until 9:00 am and is just 5 to 10 minutes away from our house. Why do we have to be ready so early????? Well we still do not have our own transportation and since Mikes wheelchair is not able to be folded down to fit in a car, we have to use our local public transportation that is wheelchair accessable. They are great and have always gotten us there on time, but to the point that we're there an hour before we need to be and very early in the morning, although I have found that early is the best time for Mike to go. He definatley has more energy in the morning. OT has stopped so he just had PT and Speech today and he is scheduled for those twice a week until the end of October. They have worked wonders with Mike, he walked today with his walker 380 feet, we came up with this number by counting all the ceiling tiles in the ceiling above the hallway that he walked down, its a long hallway that runs through the middle of the hospital and starts at the therapy department. I will never forget the first time he walked without someone guiding his foot, I cried like a baby. Today he asked for his walker at home for the first time. He has been walking at home but I always have to ask him if he's going to use his walker or his chair because he hasn't always been thrilled to walk from point A to point B because its hard for him but he is coming around to walking at home more and more so hopefully he will get comfortable with it enough to put the chair away when we're at home.

Speech is going well too, we still need to work on memory and we could use some behavioral strategies because he is still very disinhibited....he will say anything that comes to mind.....I guess I shouldn't say that that hasn't gotten better, at least now sometimes he will whisper :-) but he forgets that other people our in the room and I constantly have to remind him.....most of the time its funny though, just maybe a little inappropriate for where we're at at the moment.....doctors offices in front of staff, things said in front of family that would be better left between just me and him, very comical things said in front of his speech therapist and whats really bad is most of the time its so funny that we just have to laugh to the point that we're (speech therapist and myself) are in tears. His personality is very much the same (always saying and doing things for a laugh) and he says alot of things that he would have said to be funny before only now he doesn't care who's around to hear it, where he use to maybe say things under his breath that only i would hear and we would just giggle to ourselves, now he lets the whole room know sometimes.

So, I've kind of went off subject here.....started out talking about being tired, but getting to the therapies and the therapies themselves are part of why I'm tired along with the therapies at home, the total care needed, and all the other day to day activities that go along with being caregiver to Mike and mother to three young children and one college student.....but I can honestly say that no matter how tired I am there isn't a day that goes by that Mike doesn't make me smile and laugh and feel loved (even when he's grumpy) and I couldn't ask for four better children. They are so well adjusted to this new life and I am so proud of them......life is good :-)

Tina