William finally got my goat this morning. I get him up at 6AM and to the pool. He starts in ....with the complaining. I am pushing him too hard. The water is too cold. This is an assault on him immune system.

I put a short wet suit on him. because he complains about the temperature of the water. WE get to the YMCA and the first thing he says is that he need to use the restroom. This means pulling the wet suit off. This is not a fun job. I had just managed to pull it on 15 min ago. Well, I take him in to the bathroom and pull down the wetsuit. lot of tugging. He complains that I am pulling him off balance. Well, as you can guess...No BM. This was just an act of futility. But, I had rather be safe than sorry.

Well I tug the suit back on and we are headed for the water. As usual. William needs to ask me. "How cold is the water?" It's not too bad, I manage to tell him. But it is colder that yesterday.

I get him in and then remember...I forgot the leg weight. I put weights on his weak leg. The weights pull the leg down as we walk in the water. Another fellow is swimming in our area of the pool. For some reason...people don't like to share the lap lanes and they come to the other area. William and I consider it to be our area of the pool. William really considers it be an invasion of his space. I need to explain to him that we share the pool.

We walked for 20 min and William kept nagging me the entire time about needing the hot shower. I finally gave in and brought him to the shower.

We had a long talk about neither one of us loving the outing. But, it only makes it worse for both of us if he gripes and carries on so. He agreed that yes, he wants to go to the pool and will stop being such a pill about the whole thing. I explained to him that I could be doing my own thing. I would swim rather than helping him. He does realize that it is helping him and wants to continue.

We went to the lab after the pool. I need to have his INR for coumadin checked. 2 weeks ago the dose was changed.

I am waiting for the home INR monitor to get to me. It has been authorized by the insurance. They sent me a DVD to watch. It is just like a diabetes monitor. But, the company insists that I go throught training. I am waiting for the trainer to call me to set up a session.

I get calls from the wheelchair place. They say that they are half way into the process of billing to the insurance. The paperwork must be astonomical.

The healthcare agency calls be regarding billing and the schedule.

The hospital calls regarding another program of OT/PT that William can participate in. This one is for students that need practice working with stroke patients. I agreed to participate. This is just a monthly program for 3 months. She will email me the information. The therapist that worked with William on the lokomat referred William. Anything that we can to do help therapist learn how to work with stroke patients. William is really difficult patient sometimes. If they can deal with him they can deal with anybody.

We came home. I gave William his morning meds and fixed breakfast. William is taking the Activia challenge. TV said that you money back satisfaction. I bought the activia yogurt yesterday after our pool excursion.

After breakfast, William got to have a siesta. He is still snoozing.

Now it is time for me to settle down with a book and read for awhile. My down time.

Ruth