Updates on David

Speed is in the eye of the beholder.

David has been exercising more now that his foot is feeling a little better and the goal is to walk with the walker as much as possible.  Monday he walked all around the deck and also rom the car to the restaurant (most of the way) and quite a few other plances as well.  He is not fast, and it would be faster in the wheelchair, but walking is walking and it’s still a great thing to witness.

It is frustrating for him.  He is exhausted a lot of the time and pushing hard to do better and better.  He wants to get out of the wheelchair and do more on his own, but even with the progress he knows he needs someone there all the time to make sure he is safe.  He knows it will be a long time before he can just get up and walk into the other room without help and supervision and this is very hard to deal with.

 
Today we were back at the dentist today for his teeth cleaning.  We’ll get to see them a few times in the next couple of months since with the stroke the cleaning has to be done in little sections for only short periods of time. He has his Edith Piaf IPOD to listen to so he’s happy.

One of the great things that walking does is expand David’s thinking about flying and dealing with things like travelling to New York or Paris.   There is a lot of planning and organizing to try to make that happen.

One step at a time.

Just back from two days at the doctor(s) and he’s walking again. The prosthetist fixed David’s foor brace by some grinding and padding in just the right places. He can wear the brace for a lot longer without his foot hurting now. While we were there David took a few laps around the parallel bars. It was so amazing watching him walk the parallel bars remembering how arduous it was for him to do the same thing in the hospital. He has come a long, long way.

His internist changed around some of his medications now that he is generally improving. The hope is that it will give him more energy during the day and help him sleep better through the night, mainly by changing the timing and cutting some that are not needed as much any more. I certainly know I will appreciate it if he can sleep through the night more often!

The big news on Monday was David was able to move his left arm from the torso. It’s not much of the arm itself actuallly doing any motion, but hsi being able to move the rtorso area on that side is still a big thing. If nothing else it’s encouraging. The arm therapist was here today and David did a couple of laps around the deck with the walker that has the formed hand hold to push on his left arm while he walks and force stimulation on the left side. The goal was to take steps one afer the other, which he did pretty well.

Then it was off to the doctor again for his flu shot and a facial. Yes, a facial. It was a great 2 hours for him and now his complexion is smooth and his face glows like the top of the Chrysler building (as they say). And he still smells so ‘herbal’ even hours later.

While all that was going on I was over at Home Depot buying pipes and fittings. After our visit to the foot guy we got inspired to build a hand rail in the back yard so that David could walk around and around in circles. After finding out that a set of real parallel bars are $1,400 (not happening) I went and bought a bunch of 1 inch pipe and fittings and built a 10 foot single bar setup and just bolted it to the deck for about $90 instead. Much better.

And the pinnacle of the day, a visit to Carl’s Jr and a huge hamburger and fries.

Tomorrow is more walking now that the brace fits better, and more PT, and then of course the trip back to the dentist for that filling. Feels like we’re back on course again. More in a few days.

Drew

It was a quiet Saturday (9/12).  Sorry, it’s been hectic these past two weeks and my week in NY flew past so here I am again on Saturday (9/19) with a few minutes to catch my breath.

The problem with David’s foot has not gotten better so he is not supposed to walk on it at all until the therapists can resolve the problem.  Last Saturday and all last week they did therapy to his foot to reduce the swelling and he was supposed to be doing hot and cold treatments all during the week.  This week coming is packed with doctor’s appointments so hopefully we will get this solved.  He is not very happy sitting on his rear all day. Last Thursday the arm therapist formed a special ‘holder’ for his left hand on the ‘two handed’ walker so that when walking there would be some pressure on his left arm and this will help his brain to see and communicate with his arm.  We are looking forward to using that once he is cleared to work on walking again.

Friday (11th) was Dentist day.  When David was in the hospital one of the doctors suggested he visit his dentist when he got home, and since I had just gone to have my teeth cleaned last week he got the idea and our dentist managed to squeeze him in at 8am.  It was a hurculean effort to get there so early but we made it on time.

Ever since his last root canal experience with some other dentist (what was the name of that Dustin Hoffman movie with the tooth drilling as torture?) he has avoided snything dental so it’s a good thing he wanted to go.  Anyway, he only needs one filling fixed and a cleaning and he has no cavities even though it has been 10+ years.  I am glad there is not more to do!

David was okay at home last week with his helper while I was in NY thanks to the help of several friends that came by and got them to the grocery store, etc.  I really appreciate everyone pitching in to help out.

David is tired of being sick and is very motivated to want to stand, walk, and do things more on his own.  We’re trying to plan a day to go back to Santa Clara to show off his progress and he really wants that progress to be even more than it is.  That is our goal for the next few weeks, so I will let you know how it is going.

Thanks again for all your help and support,

Drew

The only dog in town that nudges you to turn on the massage chair…

Turns out that Davfid’s mom had a massage chair at her house and this weekend I managed to get the massage chair into the truck and home. We managed to find a place for the chair in the living room, aimed towards the TV along with the exercise bike

The vibrating foot stool is the dog’s favorite (David is pretty happy about it too). The chair answers the problem of getting David’s leg elevated and the massager is a bonus. It is not quite as fantastic as the newer models, but it does a pretty good job at mashing and rolling ones spine and neck. It is quite a site, with David in the masasger and me in the overstuffed chair, both sharing the vibrating ottoman along with the dog.

Didn’t make it to the prosthetic doctor today, hopefully tomorrow.

Drew

So, we’re working on solving David’s foot problem. He’s not able to walk (very well) since Thursday because of some swelling in his affected (left) food that is perhaps related to the brace he wears.

Of course this all came about on Friday and it was too late to call the prosthetoligist. Before Friday I did not even know this was a real person. The Physical Therapist examined David’s foot and we’ll be calling for an appointment to get his foot brace adjusted to reduce the irritation, or something. In the meantime his foot is elevated, which means less exercise and a bit of accomdation to find a comfortable spot for him. With all that has happened this is just another little speed bump in the road.

More this week,.

Drew

Weekly updates seem to be about right now.  David continues to improve in small ways at about the speed that everyone expects.  He is gaining a little weight which helps. Not as much as I have though!

This past week was readjustment but we are finally settled in with David’s new assistant.  Takes some training on the various exercises and routine.  Also takes some getting used to David’s sense of humor. And of course I get to hear all the standard repetoire of jokes over again.  In the old days I would have groaned to hear the jokes again. These days I love to hear them of course, lets me know everythinbg is right in the world.

The hot weather certainly is nice but we’ll be glad to see it settle back down as it did earlier this week.

David has a new brace for his wrist, we’re hoping this helps with the shoulder therapy. He has a new exercise, sort of a rowing motion pushing and pulling with both his strong and weak arms since this gets his brain sending the right signals to his arm.  We’ll drag the Nordic Track out of the attic after he makes some progress.  I suppose he knew he would use it one day…

What also made the week fly by was the continual saga of the dog getting out of the yard, again.  We think we have it solved so I am sure he will figure out a way to outsmart us!
There was a great article in the Monterey Herald yesterday about a doctor in Kentucky or someplace that has a therapy for exactly the time of problem with David’s arm that seems to have some progress with cases whre there seems to be little progress otherwise. Luckily we are not at that point with David’s arm yet, but in case we need to find a way to try someting, we know thisw is working for others.  We’re going to check into it and if you hear we are on our way to Kentucky you will know it is not anything to do with Bourbon Whiskey.
Although that does sound good about now.

We passed the 6 month mark a week or so ago, not much fanfare.  I am planning my next trip to NY for work (already) and we’ve been talking about what goals David needs to meet if we want to try for a trip to Paris after Christmas.  It’s not that long away (retail speaking).

I will try to get another update in this weekend.

Thanks again for all your support.

Drew