Adjustments

10 days have passed since Dave's return home after his stay in rehab following his stroke. We have gone through a week of outpatient therapy that feels longer but has been fruitful. During the week he had 2 speech and 2 occupational therapies. On Thursday he met with his PT and did so well the therapist deemed it unnecessary for him to continue and we will proceed doing things at home on our own. He is taking daily walks for about 15 minutes to build his endurance and balance. Soon I hope to get him into the gym for some gentle biking.

Slowly I am beginning to feel a small glimmer of normalcy returning. Dave is back in charge of some of his past chores like retrieving the mail daily and pushing out the trash and recycle bins on pickup day. I try to include him in meal making because he is a good cook and before his stroke he had taken over most of the dinners in the past couple of years. But cutting with a sharp knife will have to wait until his fine motor skills have been more finely tuned. He will be on a blood thinning medication for life and it wouldn't do at all for him to get a cut!

We are learning how to communicate using his notebook we have filled with pictures, calendars, maps, etc. and on some days he can talk rather well. Others he gets frustrated and says "never mind" when the wrong words keep coming out. His speech therapist Kara is AWESOME!! She has driving passion for what she does and tremendous compassion for her patients. I have never missed a session and Dave's sister and good friend Steve also like to come when possible. In fact next Wed. Steve will be coming and after we plan on checking out the new Dick's in Edmonds for lunch! Most likely he will be in speech therapy for a very long time.

Dave is happy to be home but needs to get out at times. I bring him along on errands and we go to get acupuncture once or twice a week. Today I sensed he felt housebound and asked if he wanted to go for a drive. He was eager to do so and we drove down to Golden Gardens in the early evening as the sun was streaming from behind billowy clouds. Beautiful!!! We are blessed with the most amazing beaches and scenery in this city!!