(Originally posted June 3, 2009)

Sorry about the extended absence from the blog. I was following the old adage of saying nothing if you can't say anything nice.

The way things stand right now, J.J. is healing nicely from his knee surgery and is able to walk around more each day. The problem is that his speech is horrible since the surgery (well, it's been pretty bad since 2/15/09, but you get the drift...). I'd say he's probably been set back to about where he was this time last month. And even though to my rational mind, this makes sense when I stop to think about it (when he's focusing a lot of energy on physical recovery, be it when he's sick, tired or stressed or whatever, his speech gets much worse--it stands to reason this would impact him too), I really just want to scream. Didn't we do this once already, and weren't those some of the darkest days of my life? I used to console J.J. when he was having a bad day by telling him that we'd never have to live that day again. Apparently I was wrong.

The other bad thing about all of this is that it put me back into the role I was in right after the stroke--I've had to do all the cleaning, all the yard work, all the cooking (or mostly lack thereof; our diets have been pretty bad this week) and all the caring for children and for J.J., all on my own. Unfortunately I'm not as fresh as I was when I first started on this adventure, so it's been pretty draining. Today is the first day in a week that I haven't felt like just burying my head under the covers and trying to forget it all.

Anyway, here's the weekly recap and preview of what's to come:

1. J.J. was supposed to have his neuropsych assessment last Thursday, but he was in so much pain he was barely coherent, so we called it off. He's rescheduled for the END OF JULY. Sigh. But they do have us on the list to fill in for any cancellations they might have, so hopefully he'll get in sooner.

2. Friday was J.J.'s appointment with the ENT (Ear Nose Throat doctor--I believe the proper name is otolaryngology or something like that). His right vocal chord is not paralyzed, just weakened. He's going to be starting specialized physical therapy in the next couple of weeks specifically targeting that vocal chord. Or he could just yell at me and the kids. Whatever works.

3. Yesterday J.J. did his weekly blood pressure/weight check at our family doctor's office. His blood pressure was 118/78 and he's lost another 5 lbs.! I won't reveal his weight on this blog, since I'd die of embarassment if he revealed mine, but this brings him down below a major threshold mark he was trying to reach. He's the incredible shrinking man.

4. Tomorrow J.J. is scheduled to see his new cardiologist (remember, this is the most highly recommended cardiologist I could find in Indianapolis, even if he does take us out of the Hendricks Regional system and into St. Vincent's system). I'm crossing my fingers that this guy will take a more aggressive approach and will do some more tests to see what exactly is going on in there.

5. Also tomorrow, J.J. is scheduled to reunite with our old friend Dr. Acula (the neurologist, for our newer readers). He's progressed a lot since the last time Dr. Acula saw him, but darn it, I wish the good doctor could have seen him the way he was a little over a week ago.

6. We discovered the culprit on J.J.'s hair loss! It was a medication all along. Apparently it's his ACE inhibitor (lisinopril), so our family doctor is trying to figure out a drug in the same class that we might be able to try, while he still has some hair left.

I think that's all the news fit to print. As you can see, J.J.'s busy, especially since Eli is now out of school and spending the summer with his dad instead of going to day care (we have to keep Leah in because her full-time preschool spot might not be available in the fall if we take her out now, not to mention Eli waits much more patiently at doctor's offices than Leah does!) Eli and J.J. had a bonding day today over Eli's 4-H cookie workshop, and they brought home a pan of cookies to boot! What more can you ask for?