Updates on David

Lots to write about. I will try to focus on David and how he is doing and keep the travel related stuff to a minimum except as it relates to David’s progress.

At last report we were pretty high on the stress-o-meter leading up to Christmas at the store and leaving for our trip. Some times David gives me a hard time for over-planning things but with perfect organization we managed to finish up the Christmas season, go to mass on Christmas eve, drive the rented car at 2 in the morning up to SFO to get on our 6 am flight with all the luggage, carry-on, the wheelchair, etc. David did great on the flight(s) and the rushing from gate to gate in both Chicago and Washington, DC. Great exercise for me too! We are lucky to have the opportunity to use miles for our trip and not have to fly Economy since otherwise I think it would really have been horrible!

A big scare on the airplane though, since the menu said the soup for dinner was artichoke bisque and instead they served seafood bisque. Luckily I had David’s antidote with me and we avoided a real disaster. United already has an earful from me by email. Other than that the trip went without a hitch and we arrived at the apartment around 8 am on Saturday just as planned. Whew!

Starting with the good news, David walked from the apartment to our favorite Italian restaurant (about 4 blocks in the rain) and back tonight. No wheelchair. It was not really fast, but it was a nice night out. This is especially good news since night before last we were in the emergency room all night after David’s first (and hopefully last ever) seizure. The doctors told me he may be susceptible to seizures after the stroke, but he had never had one. It was SCARY watching him flop around in the chair unconscious and foaming at the mouth. One minute everything was fine and then it was as though he was being electrocuted. I was here with him by myself and there he was unresponsive and stiff as a board. And in case you need to know, 9-1-1 is not that in Paris, its 1-5! The emergency doctors that came to the house were great and the hospital staff was too (with a few exceptions but one has to remember that the actual staff is on strike this week and these were the stand-ins, how very French).

For those of you that have been to our little apartment in Paris, you know it barely is big enough for the two of us, think of it with one doctor, two nurses, four firemen, Jean, and myself.

David is still resting most of the time while I take advantage of the time to get my work done online to my office in New York. He is really happy to be back in Paris, since he thought he may never get back here ever again.

More in a few days after New Years!

Drew

I’ve always wanted to start a letter that way.

Just three full days left before we start 24 hour journey on our trip. David was on his feet a LOT today, and (with the exception of dinner tonight) the wheelchair was in the truck all day. I felt a little guilty having him use the chair when he offered to walk, but we were late getting to the restaurant and had to park far away and I knew our friends would be hungry. As it was they were almost done with their soup when we got in (you thought I was kidding!).

Yesterday we stopped at Safeway on the way home and, for the first time, he walked in and walked up and down several aisles. He has been walking in our store and at home a lot but at Safeway and Costco we use the chair since the distances are long. We were practicing for Paris a bit, with me brining the chair up along the rear. I have sort of figured out how to have it follow me as I walk behind him. It made a great basket to carry stuff at Safeway until he got tired and the HE was in the chair and I had to CARRY the basket of stuff that was previously in the seat of the chair. We made it work though.

Nick is back this week from school and helping out with the Christmas rush. It was sort of an unexpected Christmas present for us since otherwise we would have been STRESSED out to the max, and having him there in the store to lend a hand is a tremendous relief for David (and me too).

My goal was to be packed by tonight, but I knew that was not going to happen. At least I am mostly done with the laundry and all the collecting of gifts and last minute stuff to take along. Every few minutes David reminds me of something to grab to take along with us. Hopefully that list gets shorter by Thursday!

The good news is that I finally DID find the keys to the apartment (as the organized one of us it bothered me a lot, even though I have a spare set). I knew they had to be here in the house somewhere, and Carol today at the store mentioned leaving her keys in the oranges at Star Market (a longer story), so for some reason that led me to think ‘outside the box’ and there the keys were in David’s jacket pocket (the jacket he last wore on our trip to Paris more than a year ago). Go figure! Now if I can just find where the battery charger is for the camera….

I do want to say a big thank you to all of you visiting in the store and wishing David well on his recovery in person. There are a lot of you reading the blog for the first time on learning of David’s stroke after seeing him while you are doing your holiday shopping. We are blessed to have so many friends and acquaintances and I know it helps David in his recovery to have all of your support.

Not sure if I will update before our trip on Christmas Day, so be well and have a great Christmas celebration.

Drew

Just waiting for David to finish his last OT and PT sessions of the year, then the countdown to vacation. David’s pain levels have been up and down and all over the place, depending on the day, so we’re working on trying to adjust the meds to suit. Not so easy, but he’s walking so that helps.

THings have been busy at the store and we try to be there as much as possible. Every night between now and Chrsitmas will be cleaning, laundry,cookie dough, and all the chores before we leave. We are trying to stabilize the meds and dosages before leaving so that I have all the prescriptions we need with us.

I suppose ‘no big news’ is good news for now. Of course we will update later this week and while on our trip. It will take some adjusting but he’ll do fine.

Thanks for listening and we’ll be in touch next week.

Drew

This past week has been quite a journey. Hopefully we’re back on a good track to David feeling better.

I think I have written before that one of David’s measure of improvement is whether he can reduce the number of different medicines he takes every day. By now he knows each pill by size, color, weight and frequency and the daily routine of pill taking is not his favorite thing, put lightly. Well the good news is that at as he passed the 6 month milestone (from leaving the hospital) and after some recent tests he has been able to drop almost half the medicines in the last few weeks.

Last week David worked out a plan to ‘test’ the effectiveness of the one of the nerve medicines with the stroke doctor since David felt that it was not working. By weaning off the medicine he could test the effectiveness. Well, last night he went back on the medicine after a few days of pretty significant nerve pain. This morning its clear that this medicine is the right one and we’re hoping that in a few days it will build up again and he’ll be back to his walking again, in time for our trip. Yea!

Yesterday we had Oldies 630 KIDD radio in the store for a live broadcast of music and interviews. We always enjoy these events and it was great to be ‘back in the swing of things’. Today there will be wine tasting from one of our favorite vintners and grape growers (this is the friend that has lent us the exercise bike that David is using to get stronger). It should be a busy day at the store and a great motivator for David with his leg feeling a bit better.

More tomorrow!

Slowly getting back into the swing of things.

David had PT and OT today and it was a lot better than Wednesday. The pain in his shoulder is pretty strong but the pain medicines make him sick so we’re trying to find a happy and comfortable middle ground for him. In the meantime, not so fun for him (ERRRP).

The OT session included a lot of pushing David to TRY to move his arm, and it does move a little, but it is of course very discouraging that it does not move much. We’ll keep pushing him to get past the hard work and to see the good side of even a little progress. He says it is depressing and if it were me I would be equally depressed. Makes for a little arguing and I told him I would not let him give up so get used to it. The therapist is using a machine that makes his fingers move that I have discussed before. I am going to try to find one on EBAY since at $5k it’s pretty expensive and we’re not sure the insurance would pay for it. We’ll start the paperwork and see if we can get it approved.

We’re trying to see if David can get back in the therapy pool before our trip and before they close for the holidays. Perhaps this week. The neurologist sees him this week for the first official checkup after leaving the hospital and I am expecting it to be good news which is really great.

That’s where he is this week.

Drew

A quick update. David’s arm pain number is ’0′ right now, so the medicines are working. He slept through the night soundly.

Our aide is coming back today for the day and will work on his shoulder and getting him walking again. The plan is a quiet day at home but getting him back on his feet and his confidence back, which should not be too hard to do. David is still very motivated.

He has PT and OT tomorrow and the plan is for him to not lose any ground in his therapy progress.

I will update you again tomorrow.

Drew

11:30p and Back from the ER and off to bed. Had a great day today up until about 4:30p and then the day went south. Thankfully it ended up okay but we had a scare.

David did the first visit to the warm therapy pool today and he had a great experience. He was a little hesitant at first since he is not a big swimmer, but the exercise therapist really made his arm and legs feel good and he really got ‘flexible’. By the time he finished he was really sorry that it wont be until February that he has the chance to return (until after their holiday hours and our trip).

David walked from there to the truck and then shortly later to the doctors office and back so he was feeling pretty good. From there we went to the store and he was doing some more walking and he was feeling good after having been to the therapy pool As he was going to his desk I turned my back for a minute and he lost his balance and fell down. As he puts it, slamming himself into the door frame and landing on his shoulder with a little bit on his head. He missed all the sharp pointed edges of desks and such. I suppose, just as in learning to ski, one expects to fall down every once in a while. It could have been much worse.

I spoke with the doctor on the phone and at first we decided no ER. On driving home however, he shock was over and this shoulder went in to max pain and I decided we needed to go to the ER then and not wait to 2 in the morning, so we called the doctor on the way. She agreed that things had changed and the ER it was. By then we were almost home so we went on to SVMH and from there it was a pretty busy 5 hours in the ER including the various tests and the x-ray of his shoulder. They did a good and thorough job and it went pretty smoothly so it did not seem like 5 hours but it was.

I will fill you in more tomorrow.

Drew