I was explaining a strange analogy to Michael today. I feel like the right side of my body has been sewn together with the left side of someone else's body. I have to learn how to walk with someone's leg, and use their arm and hand. I can touch my left arm with my right hand, but since I can't feel it, it's like I might as well be touching someone else's arm. sooooo weird.
I tried an experiment today. I turned on a metronome to help me walk. It worked out great. It kept the beat for me and helped to keep my steps consistent. sounds funny, but it worked.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday April 25, 2007
I had my PT and OT today.
I was challenged to balance on my knees on a mat today while propping my hands on an exercise ball. My therapists had me do some stretching exercises too. I was amazed because I tend to "favor" my left side. Since I still can't feel it, I don't like to lay on my left side, or bear weight on it as much as I should. I've learned since the beginning of rehab therapy to stand and walk obviously using my left leg. But now I'm challenged to do more like bearing all my weight on my left arm, or left hand, or left knee etc...
Although I'm doing better everyday, I'm still challenged with perfecting everyday tasks. I can't say that I've perfected any one thing yet. But I still try new things everyday to challenge myself.
My therapists said today that it takes doing something at least 1,000 times before it will become "more natural". Whew! I've got a long way to go.
My left foot has been experiencing a pain. Odd since I can't feel it. My doctor and therapists said that it is not uncommon to feel pain. Although they say that if I feel pain, the pain in actuality is worse than what I can feel. So they take that I report pain very seriously.
I bought an orthotic to support the arch in my foot. It seems to have done the trick.
Meanwhile I am still working hard everyday, doing and folding laundry, dishes, making the bed and even flossing my teeth. At least I floss as many teeth as I can. I try to do more everyday. My laundry folding is getting better, although it makes me so tired. Michael says he can actually tell now the article of clothing that I folded. Before it looked like a controlled wad of clothing. hey, at least the clothes are clean!
I was challenged to balance on my knees on a mat today while propping my hands on an exercise ball. My therapists had me do some stretching exercises too. I was amazed because I tend to "favor" my left side. Since I still can't feel it, I don't like to lay on my left side, or bear weight on it as much as I should. I've learned since the beginning of rehab therapy to stand and walk obviously using my left leg. But now I'm challenged to do more like bearing all my weight on my left arm, or left hand, or left knee etc...
Although I'm doing better everyday, I'm still challenged with perfecting everyday tasks. I can't say that I've perfected any one thing yet. But I still try new things everyday to challenge myself.
My therapists said today that it takes doing something at least 1,000 times before it will become "more natural". Whew! I've got a long way to go.
My left foot has been experiencing a pain. Odd since I can't feel it. My doctor and therapists said that it is not uncommon to feel pain. Although they say that if I feel pain, the pain in actuality is worse than what I can feel. So they take that I report pain very seriously.
I bought an orthotic to support the arch in my foot. It seems to have done the trick.
Meanwhile I am still working hard everyday, doing and folding laundry, dishes, making the bed and even flossing my teeth. At least I floss as many teeth as I can. I try to do more everyday. My laundry folding is getting better, although it makes me so tired. Michael says he can actually tell now the article of clothing that I folded. Before it looked like a controlled wad of clothing. hey, at least the clothes are clean!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Friday April 20th
I had a follow up appointment today with my doctor from Good Sam, the rehab hospital where I was for a month.
We discussed the results from the angiogram done on Wed with the neurologist from Harborview (the first hospital where I was the first 10 days). .
Basically he said to consider it was good that the results were mxed as good/bad. Good they didn't find anything and bad that they didn't find anything.
We discussed that only 10% of strokes are hemmorhagic. And that the cause of most of those are due to hypertension. Sometimes, the cause is unknown, such as mine.
Since I don't have any of the other high risk factors such as diabetes or high cholesterol, I don't do drugs or take drugs etc... they don't know what to attribute the cause of the stroke to.
Meanwhile, he said to keep all stroke risk factors under control to minimize my risks of having another stroke. At this point, hypertension would be considered by me my greatest risk. Although i have been watching my blood pressure and it has been normal. Now to keep it that way.
He also explained that the most dangerous timeframe for someone to have another stroke is the first 30 days. That explains why he kept me in the hospital for a month. Even though I survived the first 30 days, I'm not off the hook for having another one. He said anyone could have another stroke but keeping risk factors under control would reduce my chances.
But he did feel that it was a malformed blood vessel that was in simple terms a ticking timebomb. It could have bled at anytime. The angiogram they did on Wed was to focus on the other blood vessels and look for any others that are potentially malformed. Since they couldn't finf any, that is what they considered good/bad. The doctor and I agreed to look at that as good.
Without giving a certain diagnosis, he felt that with things under control, I would have a less than 1% chance of another one.
That being said, he said just like the neurologist, go home, focus on rehab, keep risks under control and have a good life.
On a sidenote, his brother suffered from a hemmoraghic stroke last month. He bled twice more and passed away last week.
I'd say I am doing quite well. I am focusing on walking without a cane soon. I can do this, but I want to focus on "form" and good "gait". So time is ticking....I'll be ready by July....because I'm determined to.
We discussed the results from the angiogram done on Wed with the neurologist from Harborview (the first hospital where I was the first 10 days). .
Basically he said to consider it was good that the results were mxed as good/bad. Good they didn't find anything and bad that they didn't find anything.
We discussed that only 10% of strokes are hemmorhagic. And that the cause of most of those are due to hypertension. Sometimes, the cause is unknown, such as mine.
Since I don't have any of the other high risk factors such as diabetes or high cholesterol, I don't do drugs or take drugs etc... they don't know what to attribute the cause of the stroke to.
Meanwhile, he said to keep all stroke risk factors under control to minimize my risks of having another stroke. At this point, hypertension would be considered by me my greatest risk. Although i have been watching my blood pressure and it has been normal. Now to keep it that way.
He also explained that the most dangerous timeframe for someone to have another stroke is the first 30 days. That explains why he kept me in the hospital for a month. Even though I survived the first 30 days, I'm not off the hook for having another one. He said anyone could have another stroke but keeping risk factors under control would reduce my chances.
But he did feel that it was a malformed blood vessel that was in simple terms a ticking timebomb. It could have bled at anytime. The angiogram they did on Wed was to focus on the other blood vessels and look for any others that are potentially malformed. Since they couldn't finf any, that is what they considered good/bad. The doctor and I agreed to look at that as good.
Without giving a certain diagnosis, he felt that with things under control, I would have a less than 1% chance of another one.
That being said, he said just like the neurologist, go home, focus on rehab, keep risks under control and have a good life.
On a sidenote, his brother suffered from a hemmoraghic stroke last month. He bled twice more and passed away last week.
I'd say I am doing quite well. I am focusing on walking without a cane soon. I can do this, but I want to focus on "form" and good "gait". So time is ticking....I'll be ready by July....because I'm determined to.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Intracerebral hemorrhage Definition
A little background: There are two types of strokes:
1) 80-90% are ischemic or blood clots or
2) 10% are ICH or intracerbral hemorrhagic strokes.
I had an ICH or intracerebral hemmorhagic stroke (otherwise known as bleeding inside my brain) specifically around my thalamus.
Intracerebral hemorrhage Definition:
An intracerebral hemorrhage is bleeding in the brain caused by the rupture of a blood vessel within the head.
Intracerebral hemorrhage, or ICH, accounts for 10 to 15 percent of all strokes . It most frequently results from high blood pressure as found in people with hypertension. ICH has a mortality rate of 44 percent after 30 days, higher than ischemic stroke. The symptoms of intracerebral haemorrhage include a headache, nausea and vomiting, alertness changes, deficiencies in verbal skills, balance, swallowing, coordination, and focusing the eyes.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
Internal bleeding can occur in any part of the brain. Blood may accumulate in the brain tissues itself, or in the space between the brain and the membranes covering it. The bleeding may be isolated to part of one hemisphere (lobar intracerebral hemorrhage) or it may occur in other brain structures, such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, pons, or cerebellum (deep intracerebral hemorrhage).
An intracerebral hemorrhage can be caused by a traumatic brain injury or abnormalities of the blood vessels (aneurysm or angioma). When it is not caused by one of these conditions, it is most commonly associated with high blood pressure (hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage).
In some cases, no cause can be found.
Current day, Thursday April 19, 2007...
Well, I got a call from my neurologist this morning. The results of my angiogram yesterday were still inconclusive. Which means good and bad.
Good news
It was good as no abnormalities of the blood vessels were found (no AVM's) that needed to be treated, therefore, no intervention surgically is needed at this time.
I will have a follow up MRI once my braces come off.
Bad news
They still don't know what caused it to happen to begin with, just as stated above where no causes can be found.
Since I don't have high blood pressure or hypertension, I remain a rare medical mystery. She said in most cases of the 10% with hemmorhagic strokes, it points to hypertension, and I don't have that. My blood pressure has been pretty darn "normal" throughout this entire ordeal even in the most stressful of times.
If I had a choice of something "rare" happening to me, why couldn't it have been winning the lottery instead!!???
My doctors orders
Focus on rehabilitation, do my excercises and stretches at home, keep my stress and blood pressure under control and watch it carefully, no aspirin, and have a good life. A few other restrictions in there such as no flying or SCUBA diving...those may affect the pressure in my head and blood vessels where you need to "pop" your ears or "equalize" in scuba terms. So that is what I will do.
I take everyday one day at a time and try to live life to the fullest. I also celebrate every small success in my recovery. No matter how long it takes I will contine to work hard on me and get better. It could take a year or longer. Only God knows. My Grandma said "perfect practice makes perfect" so I try not to let myself get away with cheating on my home excercises too much.
My neurologist said that I still have an increased chance of having another stroke. Statistically, those who have had a stroke are at a higher risk than those who have not. But she could not give me a risk factor such as 1% or 5%, or 20% or 50% etc...since they don't know what caused it to begin with.
Back to planning a wedding. Hopefully with little to no stress. Is that possible? It has to be.
1) 80-90% are ischemic or blood clots or
2) 10% are ICH or intracerbral hemorrhagic strokes.
I had an ICH or intracerebral hemmorhagic stroke (otherwise known as bleeding inside my brain) specifically around my thalamus.
Intracerebral hemorrhage Definition:
An intracerebral hemorrhage is bleeding in the brain caused by the rupture of a blood vessel within the head.
Intracerebral hemorrhage, or ICH, accounts for 10 to 15 percent of all strokes . It most frequently results from high blood pressure as found in people with hypertension. ICH has a mortality rate of 44 percent after 30 days, higher than ischemic stroke. The symptoms of intracerebral haemorrhage include a headache, nausea and vomiting, alertness changes, deficiencies in verbal skills, balance, swallowing, coordination, and focusing the eyes.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
Internal bleeding can occur in any part of the brain. Blood may accumulate in the brain tissues itself, or in the space between the brain and the membranes covering it. The bleeding may be isolated to part of one hemisphere (lobar intracerebral hemorrhage) or it may occur in other brain structures, such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, pons, or cerebellum (deep intracerebral hemorrhage).
An intracerebral hemorrhage can be caused by a traumatic brain injury or abnormalities of the blood vessels (aneurysm or angioma). When it is not caused by one of these conditions, it is most commonly associated with high blood pressure (hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage).
In some cases, no cause can be found.
Current day, Thursday April 19, 2007...
Well, I got a call from my neurologist this morning. The results of my angiogram yesterday were still inconclusive. Which means good and bad.
Good news
It was good as no abnormalities of the blood vessels were found (no AVM's) that needed to be treated, therefore, no intervention surgically is needed at this time
I will have a follow up MRI once my braces come off.
Bad news
They still don't know what caused it to happen to begin with, just as stated above where no causes can be found.
Since I don't have high blood pressure or hypertension, I remain a rare medical mystery. She said in most cases of the 10% with hemmorhagic strokes, it points to hypertension, and I don't have that. My blood pressure has been pretty darn "normal" throughout this entire ordeal even in the most stressful of times.
If I had a choice of something "rare" happening to me, why couldn't it have been winning the lottery instead!!???
My doctors orders
Focus on rehabilitation, do my excercises and stretches at home, keep my stress and blood pressure under control and watch it carefully, no aspirin, and have a good life. A few other restrictions in there such as no flying or SCUBA diving...those may affect the pressure in my head and blood vessels where you need to "pop" your ears or "equalize" in scuba terms. So that is what I will do.
I take everyday one day at a time and try to live life to the fullest. I also celebrate every small success in my recovery. No matter how long it takes I will contine to work hard on me and get better. It could take a year or longer. Only God knows. My Grandma said "perfect practice makes perfect" so I try not to let myself get away with cheating on my home excercises too much.
My neurologist said that I still have an increased chance of having another stroke. Statistically, those who have had a stroke are at a higher risk than those who have not. But she could not give me a risk factor such as 1% or 5%, or 20% or 50% etc...since they don't know what caused it to begin with.
Back to planning a wedding. Hopefully with little to no stress. Is that possible? It has to be.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Terri said...
Karen, Hello from nurse Terri (ICUH/Harborview). Sounds like you continue to kick butt on the rehab. I am sorry that you have to come back for yet another round of medical tests, but if it is helpful to your recovery and your future health, then it will be well worth it. Sorry that I won't be around to pick on (I mean CARE) for you!! I will be working all week the PACU at Providence here in Everett. Keep up the GREAT work, lots of love and well wishes, Terri.
Friday the 13th...oooooooooo
I figured i better post an update so everyone wasn't worrying about me. I'm OK, I miss my black cat Sneakers on this Friday the 13th. i miss Saki, my Siamese too.
I did go to OT and PT this week. Both therapists were impressed with my progress in the week, but I still have a long way to go. in OT, she had me sit in a chair and had me close my eyes. She took my right arm and put it in a certain position, such as straight up in the air above my head. Without looking, she asked that I match the same position with my left arm. I was able to do this, or at least come close. She would then move my right arm to a different position such as bending my elbow. then asked me to match the movement without looking on my left side. I was able to do that or at least come close. This continued on for a few different movements.
Michael was there with me and suggested to the therapist to try putting my left arm into a position and match it with my right arm. That i could NOT do.
Without being able to see my left arm, hand or fingers, I have no way of determining if I am doing the movement. I would swear that my arm would be up in the air as of to stretch or reach for the sky....and it would be on the table.
My eyes are my only communication between my brain sending signals and the left side of my body to respond somewhat correctly. I can pick something up with my left hand, but without being able to feel it, I have no way of knowing I have it in my hand, unless I'm looking at it.
I can't explain why I would be better at moving my left arm if my right arm did the movement first. But there are alot of things about recovering from a stroke that are just too difficult to explain for me, or too difficult to understand for someone not recovering from a stroke.
Sometimes I don't have a strong enough grip on something and it will fall to the floor. I have to pick it up again and tell myself by sending a message to my left hand to hold onto it tighter. So I'm amazed when I can carry something across the room without dropping it a few times because I have to think about walking at the same time, think about carrying something with a tight enough grip not to drop it. That my friends is called multitasking!
My vision is coming back little by little...at least it is much better than it was. My eyes are no longer competing with each other on which one will focus as i look across the room.
That helped my balance and my ability to walk with a little more confidence.
So I have a few more weeks of therapy ahead of me. But still a long, long road to recovery.
Strange, for the past two weeks or so I will feel and itch on the left side of my body. For example, my left shoulder just had an itch. Instinctively, I went to scratch it. Funny, the itch goes away but I felt nothing when I scratched it.
My therapist suggested that I try to use my left hand for everything one day....or at least as much as I could with little assistance from my right hand. It already takes me forever to do things with my right hand.....this should be interesting. Better go find something to do....why not, I have a few hours to kill!
I did go to OT and PT this week. Both therapists were impressed with my progress in the week, but I still have a long way to go. in OT, she had me sit in a chair and had me close my eyes. She took my right arm and put it in a certain position, such as straight up in the air above my head. Without looking, she asked that I match the same position with my left arm. I was able to do this, or at least come close. She would then move my right arm to a different position such as bending my elbow. then asked me to match the movement without looking on my left side. I was able to do that or at least come close. This continued on for a few different movements.
Michael was there with me and suggested to the therapist to try putting my left arm into a position and match it with my right arm. That i could NOT do.
Without being able to see my left arm, hand or fingers, I have no way of determining if I am doing the movement. I would swear that my arm would be up in the air as of to stretch or reach for the sky....and it would be on the table.
My eyes are my only communication between my brain sending signals and the left side of my body to respond somewhat correctly. I can pick something up with my left hand, but without being able to feel it, I have no way of knowing I have it in my hand, unless I'm looking at it.
I can't explain why I would be better at moving my left arm if my right arm did the movement first. But there are alot of things about recovering from a stroke that are just too difficult to explain for me, or too difficult to understand for someone not recovering from a stroke.
Sometimes I don't have a strong enough grip on something and it will fall to the floor. I have to pick it up again and tell myself by sending a message to my left hand to hold onto it tighter. So I'm amazed when I can carry something across the room without dropping it a few times because I have to think about walking at the same time, think about carrying something with a tight enough grip not to drop it. That my friends is called multitasking!
My vision is coming back little by little...at least it is much better than it was. My eyes are no longer competing with each other on which one will focus as i look across the room.
That helped my balance and my ability to walk with a little more confidence.
So I have a few more weeks of therapy ahead of me. But still a long, long road to recovery.
Strange, for the past two weeks or so I will feel and itch on the left side of my body. For example, my left shoulder just had an itch. Instinctively, I went to scratch it. Funny, the itch goes away but I felt nothing when I scratched it.
My therapist suggested that I try to use my left hand for everything one day....or at least as much as I could with little assistance from my right hand. It already takes me forever to do things with my right hand.....this should be interesting. Better go find something to do....why not, I have a few hours to kill!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
4/11 Wed medical update
I forgot to mention, that the CT scan showed that the swelling of my brain has gone down and the blood from the hemorrhage absorbed. I have an angiogram scheduled next week with the neurologist back at Harborview in Seattle. It will be an all day procedure where they will inject a dye and track it through my blood vessels in my brain. They are going to focus on the blood vessels particularly in the area of the hemorrhage. They will look for any malformed blood vessels that are potentially dangerous foe future ruptures. This procedure is not something that I am looking forward to. It will be an all day event including the 6-hour recovery period. So, that is scheduled for next Wednesday.
4/11 Wed from Skippy
sorry for the delay in posts. for those of you really close to me, i know you understand why and thank you.
I've been catching up on much needed rest and feel really good. yesterday i was able to tie the drawstring on my pants using both hands. slowly but surely, right. everyday I've got to try something new just to prove to myself that i can do it.
mechanically, i feel like I'm learning to control my left arm a little bit more everyday but still so much more healing and re-learning is needed.
I'm more aware of my left shoulder and how it droops, so I'm trying to concentrate on raising that especially when i walk. there are so many other things that i need to focus on when i walk, but i will add this step and see how it goes.
I've been catching up on much needed rest and feel really good. yesterday i was able to tie the drawstring on my pants using both hands. slowly but surely, right. everyday I've got to try something new just to prove to myself that i can do it.
mechanically, i feel like I'm learning to control my left arm a little bit more everyday but still so much more healing and re-learning is needed.
I'm more aware of my left shoulder and how it droops, so I'm trying to concentrate on raising that especially when i walk. there are so many other things that i need to focus on when i walk, but i will add this step and see how it goes.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
day 6 1/2 update Thursday night
Well, I didn't get to finish flossing my teeth today. I find that I get distracted very easily. Between phone calls, emails, walking from room to room to do simple tasks, my day is full. Once I make it to the kitchen I find something to do such as put the dishes in the dishwasher, or take them out next time I'm in there. Or I will walk down the hallway to the bedroom and get distracted by the laundry room. If I'm not putting clothes in the washer, they are in the dryer. That is not the time consuming part. It is the gathering of the clothes to take to the laundry room, or heaven forbid I have to take them out and fold them. That is easily an hour distraction. Boy if the phone rings somewhere in there, I hope the phone is nearby. Because then I have to hunt that down! Which is a walk in itself. So, like I said, I never made it back to the dental floss. But I will get there.
Skippy - 6th day out - Thurs 4/5/07
Well we are nearing the one week mark. This morning I tried to floss my teeth. For those of you who know me well, I used to brush and floss my teeth all the time (pre-stroke), especially now with braces. So slowly but surely i was able to floss some of my teeth. I will attempt to floss them all today. Where's Alanna when I need her?? Not only is this a time consuming process, especially with braces pre-stroke, but to be able to hold the floss with my left fingers with enough grip is amazing! I still have to think about every bit of movement that I do with the left side of my body. I have to think about lifting my left arm to my mouth (each tooth because right now it is too tiring to hold my left arm up there), then think about opening my hand and fingers, then pinch my fingers on a small piece of dental floss that I can't feel, then try to hold onto it while I floss using my right hand. Then repeat the process on the next tooth.
By the end of each day i am very tired. Physically and mentally, everything I do requires so much time, patience and thought.
Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day here today. The sun is shining this morning, but all the heat is down in SoCal from what I understand. For all those who have asked what they can send me...send some heat up here!
By the end of each day i am very tired. Physically and mentally, everything I do requires so much time, patience and thought.
Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day here today. The sun is shining this morning, but all the heat is down in SoCal from what I understand. For all those who have asked what they can send me...send some heat up here!
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
from Kenny, Skippy's beta fish in CA
Kenny writes...
There has been some discussion around the office about me coming to visit you...some people (who shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent), suggested that I would be chauffeured to a place called Santa Monica, and then walked to the end of the Pier. Someone would give me a Yahoo map to your place...and then they would assist me on my way by throwing me into the cold Pacific Ocean.
Fortunately calmer heads prevailed and it the jury decided that I may not be up to the physical challenge, it's a really long swim and I'm such a little guy. Tough and feisty
but vulnerable just the same.
Waiting for you to come visit me.
Kenny
There has been some discussion around the office about me coming to visit you...some people (who shall remain nameless in order to protect the innocent), suggested that I would be chauffeured to a place called Santa Monica, and then walked to the end of the Pier. Someone would give me a Yahoo map to your place...and then they would assist me on my way by throwing me into the cold Pacific Ocean.
Fortunately calmer heads prevailed and it the jury decided that I may not be up to the physical challenge, it's a really long swim and I'm such a little guy. Tough and feisty
but vulnerable just the same.
Waiting for you to come visit me.
Kenny
Wed 4/4 update
Well my update today is not as adventurous as RJ's. Michael and I are praying for the best as we have walked down the dangerous path called Stroke Ave. (that sounds bad in more ways than one)
We had a very full day today complete with a visit to his Tacoma office in the morning prior to my neurologist appointment at noon back at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. I had another CT scan done. Sounds as if another MRI and angiogram are in my near future. The CT was done to determine the amount of blood still remains in my brain from the hemmorage. Originally, it was said it could take up to 3 months for all the blood to be absorbed back into my system. Once the blood is gone, (the CT scans would determine this) the MRI and angiogram would be able to remove the ? and provide answers as to why this happened. There was too much blood last month so my MRI and angiogram were inconclusive.
We did get to visit my nurse Julie from ICU holding today. She was impressed at my progress so far.
So now I wait for the results from the CT scann to determine the next step. I take it one day at a time now while this whole healing process runs its course.
Skippy
We had a very full day today complete with a visit to his Tacoma office in the morning prior to my neurologist appointment at noon back at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. I had another CT scan done. Sounds as if another MRI and angiogram are in my near future. The CT was done to determine the amount of blood still remains in my brain from the hemmorage. Originally, it was said it could take up to 3 months for all the blood to be absorbed back into my system. Once the blood is gone, (the CT scans would determine this) the MRI and angiogram would be able to remove the ? and provide answers as to why this happened. There was too much blood last month so my MRI and angiogram were inconclusive.
We did get to visit my nurse Julie from ICU holding today. She was impressed at my progress so far.
So now I wait for the results from the CT scann to determine the next step. I take it one day at a time now while this whole healing process runs its course.
Skippy
Monday, April 2, 2007
3rd day out - Monday update
well i found things to do today such as go through my clothes and hang things on a hanger that needed hanging. that was a first for me today. so a bit of organizing to help me get "settled". sounds strange but i really didnt know what clothes i had. a month ago i was packed for a business trip/tradeshow, not a month in the hospital. so i got to teach myself how to clip pants onto a hanger for pants, and hang shirts etc... its been a busy afterrnoon. in case you were wondering, i have plenty of sweat pants, t-shirts, socks, and sweatshirts now that i use for my rehab workouts. thanks to michael, his friend dawn and denys. good thing i had packed my tennis shoes a month ago. who knew? now for a well deserved rest....skippy
The IT Guy said...
Congratulations, Karen. I am very happy to see that you are regaining use of your arm. :):):):):) To get to bored today and try not to overdue everything with your regained abilities. Slow and easy. ;) I have moved into your luxurious cubicle this week and next during our wonderful orthodox passover program. hahahaha/ I will take care of your desk and carpet as best as possible. I have your Items boxed up for safe keeping. Well, back to the grind. Have fun today and the next and the next.
3rd day out - Monday
3rd day out and it's Monday. i'm here flying solo for the first time. it's about 8am, and i have all day to keep myself busy. time to get used to this schedule for a while. skippy
Sunday, April 1, 2007
T.G.I.A.
Well, the month of April has finally arrived, the dreaded month of March is OVER!!
Friday saw mom go through her surgery in a shorter amount of time than ever before. Curtis, Sharyl, and Cindy were doing hospital duty at Kaiser, since I was getting RJ home and settled, at the same time that Michael was getting Karen home and settled. Three hospital stays in this month - can you even believe it - and all three home the exact same day. Hooray for our side!
PS - Happy Birthday Dad
Friday saw mom go through her surgery in a shorter amount of time than ever before. Curtis, Sharyl, and Cindy were doing hospital duty at Kaiser, since I was getting RJ home and settled, at the same time that Michael was getting Karen home and settled. Three hospital stays in this month - can you even believe it - and all three home the exact same day. Hooray for our side!
PS - Happy Birthday Dad
2nd day out - Sunday
this morning, i was able to hold my brush in my left hand and raise my arm high enough to use the brush while blow-drying my hair. i was so excited! everyday i use my left arm, hand, fingers more and more.
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