(Originally posted March 12, 2009)

It just struck me that today will be the first day since J.J.'s stroke that I will put in a full day of work in the office AND not have any kid-activities to attend this evening. So when I get home at 6:00ish, I'm off duty for the rest of the night! What a relief!

(I suppose I'm not really off duty because I'll still need to do some cleaning and laundry, but considering that I'm usually trying to squeeze these in while my work computer is booting up or while some kid is getting dressed for lessons of one type or another, this will seem like a vacation!)

We haven't received the results of J.J.'s knee scans yet, but should have some info later today. You'll know as soon as I know.

J.J.'s still making improvements, particularly in his speech and reading. He spends hours each day working on both. I've been doing research on left Middle Cerebral Artery strokes (which are the most common type of stroke, by the way) and have found that J.J.'s deficits are very mild and completely in line with this type of stroke. Also, all of the factors that are associated with a positive prognosis are ones he's demonstrating. So that's encouraging, at least.

By the way, I've been receiving praise from our medical personnel for my research skillz. I know more about left MCA strokes than many of them know!

Last night J.J. and I had a conversation about what it felt like to have a stroke. He said he never had any pain, numbness, tingling, or anything like that. He said that when he collapsed on the stairs, it was because he suddenly had no energy, not even enough energy to stay upright. He said that the right side of his body felt normal until he tried to move it, then it felt like each limb weighed a ton. I thought this was very interesting. And I'm glad he wasn't in pain. He even said he really wasn't scared at all because everything still felt the same to him. I told him that I was scared enough for both of us that night. Looking back on it, I'm not sure how I made it through the time between when the ambulance took him away and when Mom arrived to sit with the kids without losing my mind. I can state unequivocably that this was probably the most anxiety-ridden hour of my life. Anyway, it was very healing to finally be able to discuss that night from both points of view and compare notes on what we remember. J.J.'s memory of several of the events seems a little sketchy, but to be honest, some of the things that happened actually occurred outside of his room (like the final conversation I had with the ER doctor about giving the clot-busting drugs, for instance) and I'm not sure if he doesn't remember because he didn't know it was happening or because his memory of that night is faulty. Either way, he's lucky; I know I will never forget.