Acceptance

This week is going much better than last! We have cycled through denial and anger and have come closer to acceptance. Acceptance does NOT mean we are rolling over and taking it. What it does mean is that we are no longer in DESPAIR over our future and working towards healing while also adjusting. “Change is good!” I proclaim with a cheesy smile!

 

Frustrations will come and go but we try to learn from each one and move forward. When it took 5 minutes for me to figure out that Dave was trying to tell me he had run out of clean underwear I got annoyed! After starting the laundry I went back to him and explained a much quicker way for him to convey this message rather than 20 questions and flat out guessing from his nonsensical words. We get mad, we get frustrated, we make adjustments and later we laugh about it!

A couple of big milestones this week:

• Dave was released from Occupational Therapy and no longer needs outpatient appts. ~ we continue to work on this area at home and I have him sewing on buttons and threading beads….a regular sweat shop atmosphere! He also made his famous homemade biscuits for dinner on Sunday….YUM YUM!! All these tasks require fine motor skills and I have donned the hat of therapist and devise torturous exercises for him to refine his movements.

• Dave was evaluated for driving and given the thumb’s up to get behind the wheel whenever feels comfortable with it. He has indicated to me that he isn’t ready just yet…but soon…and then we will approach it as if he were 15 with a fresh driver’s permit. Just for nostalgia reasons alone I intend to do all the typical parental maneuvers like grabbing the steering wheel in panic or stepping forcefully on an imaginary brake. In all seriousness, this is a monumental step!!! At first we were told it could be a year before he would drive and not long ago it was amended to 6 months. But at 5 weeks post stroke?!?!? Unbelievable! 

   

We may be finished with outpatient Physical and Occupation therapies, but Speech therapy continues and will most likely continue for an extended period of time. I am glad that this is the area that I find the most fascinating. When things don’t seem to go the way we would like them to I remind Dave that it could have been so much worse and he agrees. We are thankful for that!