Updates on David

David is doing okay today, although it has been a long two weeks.

A couple of weeks ago we were getting ready to head to Chicago for the housewares show and everything seemed to be on schedule for our trip.

Unfortunately, we found out on Tuesday that week that my aunt Sally had passed away so we moved a few things around and drove to LA for the services on Thursday getting back in time for our flight to Chicago Friday morning.

I have been going over the sequence of events of those few days a hundred times to figure out what might have caused the seizure that David had on the plane to Chicago. As we were on approach to the airport David went blank and then started flopping around in his seat. The seizure was about the same as the seizure he had in Paris (frightening), lasted a minute or less and then took a few hours for him to ‘come out of it’. Thankfully there was a paramedic and some other doctors seated near us and they attended to David pretty quickly with oxygen, blood pressure, etc until we landed and the paramedics came on board to take David to the emergency room.

After a few hours of basic tests they released him and we headed back to the airport to get our luggage and then on to the hotel. Luckily we had planned an extra day for the Chicago celebration of St Patrick’s day so we spent Saturday resting in the hotel and a small dinner at the Irish Pub in the lobby. Yes, they really do die the river green in Chicago for St. Patrick’s day. I suppose it was just the ‘Luck of the Irish’ that it all turned out okay.

Our time at the show was a lot less than we had planned, since we were being really careful and the new medicine for seizures makes him more tired than normal. We did get to visit some suppliers that we don’t normally see during the year though and had some great meetings for the few days.

Luckily the trip home on Tuesday was uneventful and we got home to Monterey around 9pm without any problems,.

The last few days have been busy catching up. David is starting again at the therapy pool again, and is now getting exercise therapy once a week in addition. The doctor has adjusted his medicines to try to protect against the seizures without making him so sleepy and without all the other side affects from the medicines.

It’s was the one year anniversary of David’s stroke yesterday afternoon. As I write this it was one year ago that I got to the hospital to see him for the first time . Lets hope the next week is a good one.

Thanks for all your help and support.

Drew

Or, as David still quotes Kermit, time’s fun when you’re having flies.

No major progress, or issues since last month either thank goodness.

My schedule at work, and our time in the store covering for vacations and sick days have kept us more than busy, busy, busy. It’s tiring for David to be there all day, but he enjoys being involved as much as he can in the daily activity.

We’ve survived the rain and some vehicle issues too. The truck was sidelined with a brake issue and needed to be towed, so we were using David’s little car (no room for the wheelchair – or groceries) so we were limited to only going to the store (he has an extra wheelchair there) or places he could walk closely to. Then came the flat on David’s car (which luckily happened near enough to the airport last week as I was on the way there to meet David’s cousin Tim and Tim’s wife Janice who have been visiting us for the past week) which left us with no car at all!. His cousins had rented a car though and with some quick planning (and luckily some sunshine) we got both cars towed in and fixed so now we are back in business.

We’re planning for our trip to the Houseware show in Chicago next weekend, the show we were on our way to when David had his stroke last year. It will be a big event for David, seeing all our acquaintances and planning for the year to come. It will be more difficult this time since the planes from Monterey is a lot smaller, but each flight is only 2 hours so it should not be a problem.

We spent Sunday in the city (what a spectacular sunny day!) showing Tim and Janice the Golden Gate bridge, Chinatown, Lombard St, the Ferry Building and of course Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Café.

As for David’s therapy program, he is starting again with a couple of hours a week of having someone come to the house to work through an exercise program on his leg and arm. Once he gets back in the therapy pool and on a schedule of therapeutic massage hopefully he will see more improvement.

We had dinner at the Monterey Cookhouse with Tim and Janice on our 17th anniversary Saturday. The champagne (French) was fantastic! Got it at some cute little store in Del Rey Oaks that sells wine and kitchen stuff….

Tonight he will be in the kitchen for the first time in a long time making his traditional fried chicken mashed potatoes for our guests, so I had better get in there and start helping him.

I will promise to update from Chicago on our experiences there!

Drew

Our Favorite Onion Soup

David has been doing okay the past two weeks. We went to the doctor for his checkup and things are going about as she expects right now. There is still some concern about his seizure in Paris, so we are being careful and watching for any signs that may lead to a another occurrence. We’ve been at the store for a few hours most days getting caught up for the spring season and Valentines Day of course.

We’ve slowly been working on a few projects around the house and at his parent’s house. It’s hard for David because he wants to be involved and active in the work, and his arm and leg are keeping him from doing all that he would like to be doing. It is both motivating and depressing at the same time, so we just keep working on it.

David has another new doctor this week that specializes in sports medicine with the idea is that she can work on some of the aches and pains with a different angle of attack. His first visit was really helpful so we’ll be adding the new exercises to his regimen this week and hopefully we get him onto the therapy pool schedule soon.

Saturday night we celebrated Valentines Day with a delightful meal at the newly opened Le Normandie in Pacific Grove. The Onion Soup there reminds us of our time in Paris (it’s heavenly). The food is spectacular, as always (the chef is our friend from Bistro Christine). We’re looking forward to going back as often as we can afford (the calories that is).

The weather has been really nice and we sat outside at Tarpy’s today for lunch and caught up with Will, our very long time friend (landscape architect extraordinaire). It was almost nice enough to inspire us to stop by the garden center for some plants for the house, but instead we went to Carmel Valley looking at garden ornaments (big limestone pillars and fountains) with Will for a project he is doing in Pebble Beach. Reminiscent of our trip with Will to Madrid many, many years ago and the tour of the Spanish gardens of the relatives of Louis XIV. Maybe something a little less elaborate for our front yard this spring.

Thanks for keeping up to date.

Drew

Just got home from the store and settling in next to the fire for the evening. David is doing ‘okay’ since I got back from New York last weekend. The first week back from France was a little difficult, getting used to the time schedule, the rain, and the adjustment of being ‘back from vacation’.

Springtime is coming so there is a lot to do in the store, adjusting displays and getting the stock set up for some new merchandise that is just arriving now. The big housewares show in March is coming up (Chicago) which was the event last year that David was heading to (to meet me) when the stroke hit. We’ve got our tickets (paid for with the travel credits United gave us for their almost killing David on the flight to Paris) and the hotel (points) for the show so we’re ready to go! Hopefully it won’t be snowing in Chicago in March this year. We missed the big food show in San Francisco last month since it ended just before we got back so this show will be a busy event for us to go to.

David is hoping we can get to France for the opening, or at least the first season, of Pierre-Jean’s restaurant in Jard sur Mer this April/May. That all depends on my work schedule so we will have to see what can be arranged when the time is nearer.

The next month is pretty busy with followup visits with David’s doctors and getting restarted at the therapy pool. We have not figured out yet about starting his physical therapy again so that will take a little research and work with the insurance company.

David wants to do some work in his mother’s garden this year since it has gotten out of control in the last couple of years. We’ were going to start on that this weekend but mother nature isnt cooperating (its going to be raining).

Thanks for keeping up with the blog, more next week…

So, just exactly where have we been for four weeks?

A few times during the past few weeks I have thought about posting to the blog, but for one reason or another it just did not seem right. I did not want to just post a travelogue, since that isn’t what the blog is about, it’s about David’s recovery, the road he is on, and our experiences together. In this case, the road was not so clear while on the way, but for now, sitting on the plane headed home, the path seems a bit more meaningful looking back.

Technically, David is making physical progress, little by little. Some days less than others. Today, sitting on the plane while the purser was reading the safety announcement, there he was moving his left hand up and down with a big grin on his face. He is very motivated to get better, especially now after our trip to France. Some days it is hard for him to get up though and face it.

Our journey this past four weeks has been more than just half way around the world, it has been a journey into our past life in France with a realization that life goes on, only differently for now. He is very frustrated (and yes, depressed) that he can not just run down to the corner to the Boulanger and get a baguette, or head up to rue Croix Nivert to see what is in the antique shop this morning, like he used to. How about we just jump on the metro over to St Germain for dinner? Or leave me for a while, working on the computer usually, just to get out and about for an hour or two? Not happening right now. Everything is a journey and our ‘range’ is far less than it used to be.

What the trip did accomplish was for us to understand how life works for us in France, just as we learned at home since the stroke. For one thing, everything takes a lot more planning now which takes away a lot of the spontaneity, but not necessarily the fun. It is Paris, after all.

So, to backtrack and overlap a bit of the earlier posts, we arrived in Paris on Boxing Day (26th) around 7am and had a very quick trip through the airport and into the taxi. How we fit in that not-so-large taxi I will never know, but anyway we got to the apartment and rested most of that day (Saturday), just figuring out where things were when we left them more than a year ago when we thought we would be back in a month or two. Yes, the chair fit (just) and we learned how to do the “W” turn pretty well out of our bedroom, to the hallway, then in to the bathroom. The chair, David and I fit (with me in the shower usually) but hey, it worked. Learning the shower ‘orchestration of movements and locations’ to get David in the bathroom, on the shower chair, and the sequence of where the soap, shampoo, razor, towels, etc all go to make the process function was a work in progress, which we finally got working pretty well by the time we left.

Getting the computers set up (new WiFi box), going through the closet, unpacking all the bags and sorting through the gifts we brought, etc, took most of a day on Sunday, together with a quick trip to the street market and the grocery store for me. Bought two roasted chickens that day that we ate over the next few days. Can’t tell you how even a simple roast chicken that has real chicken taste changes the experience of life. That and some St Agur, a baguette, butter with chunks of fleur de sel from nourmoutiier, and just a little red wine. By the way, don’t ask me how much weight I gained this trip, but pushing the wheelchair around Paris only helped al little (not as much as I would have liked…)

By the 28th we had the big event, his seizure. He hardly remembers it except waking up in his underwear on the bed with a bunch of firemen in the room. I will leave that part of the story alone. Anyway, I guess the deal I made with someone or something out there while he was flailing around in my arms must have been accepted because he came through it in the end and after a few days of rest we were back where we started, just a little more frustrated at what we would have been doing ‘otherwise’. Then came New Years, and we rolled on down to the Eiffel Tower to see the grand display. We stopped off at one of our favorite restaurants, Pere Claude, for an ad-hoc New Year’s dinner. Turns out the had a fixed price holiday meal, 300e for the two of us, but hey, you only live once (or twice).

Our friend Alex flew in from Frankfurt for a few days and we met up with our friends Thierry, Francois, and Philippe for a few days. We had a great time and a couple of meals with them (one again at Pere Claude) and at Maison du Berger, a great fondue restaurant. The story here is that Maison du Berger is in St Germain and this is a metro ride for us, on a line with no elevators and luckily only two flights down. Well, with the 5 of us it was sort of comedic getting down the stairs, with the chair, through the bypass gates (to fit the chair), then back through the gates again since each person needs a validated ticket and when they let the chair bypass the gates somehow you have to end up with all the people on the other side, each with a validated ticket. Reminds me of the story trying to cross the river in a small boat with a the fox, the chicken, etc. (only interesting if you know the story, it’s one of those brain teasers). Well, we made it there, had a great dinner of cheese fondue, and made it back. Finding the place to keep the chair in this tiny restaurant, making our way to the bathrooms (worth a book of stories on its own) and getting home was quite a trip. And the restaurant is up a steep hill from the metro. A book of memories in that one meal, but we managed. Okay, on we go.

We went to the museum the next day with everyone. Quai Branly, near our apartment actually. Great exhibits of culture from around the world. Philippe came with his car which was a blessing. Parking was a challenge, even on Sunday, and luckily he did not have to park his car farther away from the museum than our apartment! We learned a lot about the power of the wheelchair though, as we were whisked to the front of the line and into the exhibit. I will take this moment to mention that all over Paris there was tremendous accommodation for accompanied persons in wheelchairs and once we learned what to do and where to go, it was somewhat easier. Not easy on your own though in a chair as the curbs are still a bit high and the cobblestones can rattle your teeth (not to mention the occasional pot hole). Being with Alex was at the same time fun and a little emotional, since this was his first chance to be with David since the stroke (and maybe even since David’s parents and our friend Muriel passed away a few years ago). It was sort of a ‘Sunday out’ and I know how important it was for David. It brought back so many old memories of David’s time together with Alex in the years before David and I even met. Later in our trip we went back for dinner with Philippe at his apartment with his partner Frederick and again Thierry and Francois. Their apartment is up high and has the most wonderful view of the Eifel Tower. You can never get enough of that stuff.

Next came our big reunion with Fred, Mireille, Noel (Fred’s mother) and young Pierre. Fred owned the bakery on our street when David was first in Paris and we have been friends ever since. Since then they opened an even bigger bakery near the Arch de Triumph in an even nicer neighborhood and have been having a good success there. We made our way to their apartment for a great reunion and swapping of gifts for the holidays, then off to a local restaurant for dinner. Their gift to us included a wonderfully HUGE black Perigord Truffle that we have been eating off ever since (what is left is in our suitcase packed in rice right now). They also gave us an immense fruit basket with some of the most wonderful fresh fruits (uh, January in Paris and the peaches and cherries were indescribably delicious) and an assortment of mustard and salts that we will cherish when we get home. Mireille is/was due with #2 (a boy, Pierre) and although we tried to see her in the hospital yesterday (19th) they were still in the delivery room when we had to get back to the apartment. Photos will have to do until we are back in Paris later this year.

We had planned to go south to visit Stan and Avril and to stay a few days at the Maison de la Reine (Charlotte’s 10 bedroom home she owns with Stan and Avril in Ligny le Chatel), but the snow and ice made me cancel the idea of renting a car and instead we booked the train to La Roche sur Yon to spend 4 days with Pierre Jean and his girlfriend Kristal at their cute new home (actually in Jard sur Mer). The train was both an adventure, and at the same time easy to deal with. The SNCF sales office is just around the corner from our apartment, so it was much easier than the internet (really) to book the train (direct) and organize the wheelchair seats. There is a phone number to call to reserve assistance in the train station at each end. My French teacher will be very happy to know I managed to organize the entire thing on the phone, in French. In theory it is not that hard, once you figure out the direction and scope of the conversation, and what exactly she was trying to ask. To me, after speaking for 20 minutes in that situation I felt a great accomplishment. At each point along the way there they were, the SNCF team, rolling him off the train using the manual ramp. On the way to see Pierre Jean David wanted to walk the length of the train to the snack car, but it was too rough at 200 MPH. On the trip back we did walk the long walk and had a snack. The food was not the issue, it was the walking on the train that was the success.

While with Pierre Jean we saw the outside of the summer resort restaurant they have just bought and will re-open this April. Our best wishes are with them. Lucky they are young is what we can say. The location is great and we are sure that with his determination they will do well. We had a big celebration lunch with all Pierre Jean’s family at their parents home, where we have visited before once or twice. Crackling fire in the dining room fireplace and a wonderful Gallette de Roi that his father, a retired baker, made. Nothing finer. And the ‘feve’ was in David’s portion, but he surrendered it so that Pierre Jean’s young nephew could ‘find it’ again and be the king. Sort of like re-hiding the afikomen at Passover to avoid family feuds (a Jewish family holiday thing, you have to be there to fully understand).

So on the way back to the train station to Paris from Pierre Jean’s, we stopped off at Metro (think Costco for the professional chef, only bigger). EVERY single thing a chef would buy for a restaurant in France is there, every ingredient, every little odd thing. Think kid in candy store. So, we filled up the suitcases and headed back to Paris. Well, the good thing about Pierre Jean having a summer resort restaurant is they have 6 months off in the winter and can come help us in California for Christmas at least!

Back in Paris and time to visit Le Cordon Bleu. I thought I would try a shortcut but we should have stuck with the route David walked all the time he was in Paris going to school. We did get there eventually, after stopping for a coffee of course. It was good for David to see the school and how busy it was with students. He is very proud of his accomplishments there and is looking forward to be back in the kitchen rolling out pastry some time in the future. The next day we (I) decided it was time to learn the buses of Paris. Completely different than the metro, with routes that use different streets depending on the direction of travel, so knowing where you got off of the bus is of NO help in knowing how to get back home (nor is that line necessarily the right one to get home efficiently since the place you get off going home is maybe not even on the same line as the one you use on the way there!) We did get a few trips under our belt though, and lots of lines have ramps that roll out for the wheelchair and it was very nice how helpful everyone was on the buses. If it were not so cold out the connections would have been a little easier to deal with.

A few days ago we headed out to G.Detou, A.Simon, and D.Hellerian, the finest in cooking shops in Paris. It was great to see everyone that knows David personally from our years of coming here and to have all of their encouragement and support. Any time I can get David out of there for only a few hundred euros I feel very lucky. We ended up at Le Pied de Cochon for the famous onion soup, and a bit more. Their cheese topping is more of a soufflé, what a treat. A week or two earlier Jean took us out for a dinner treat to Le Suffren, near the apartment and we had THEIR onion soup, which actually was better David thought, with a very rustic approach to the crouton using chunks of bread (think Rocky Road). I do not want to think how many sit-ups each will cost me.

Yesterday was another bus adventure to visit Mireille in the hospital to see the new baby. We had to go there also to try to settle the bill for the ambulance ride back in December, so we went even though Fred had not called us yet to say the baby had been born. We found her room, but she was in the delivery area, so we went to have a coffee, then dealt with the ambulance bill. By the time we got back to the room they were still not there, and we had to make our way to the Grand Epicerie de Paris to buy the last gifts on our list (it was getting late by then) so we had to bail on the hospital but we’ll see the pictures and visit them later this year. With bags full from the epicierie we managed to fight for a taxi (strangely easier with the wheelchair, sort of like the parting of the red sea at the taxi line up).

Then came the packing. Took me the better part of 6 hours to pack everything neatly and weight distributed into 5 suitcases stacked in the kitchen, and then straighten up the apartment for our departure this morning. I finally got to bed around 2am. Luckily Jean was there when the taxi arrived around 8am to help us load up for the airport. As we were leaving David said he could not believe we were leaving already. The past 4 weeks have been a big learning and adjustment period. David knows he CAN recover enough to be able to manage himself in Paris by himself once his arm is working and he can walk better. The risk of falling is much less once his left arm is working and he will be better able to do everything for himself that I know have to help him with. Having a left hand and stronger legs will also let him go to places where the toilet is down stairs with a winding staircase with only one rail (you would be surprised how many Paris restaurants are like this).

When we get to San Francisco there will be a few hours in the car, then at home tomorrow (Thursday) to get things put together, then I am off to New York on Friday for a week. David will be resting and recuperating at home with help for a week. Like any good vacation, you need a vacation afterwards to rest up.

Thanks again for all your support for David during this both physically and emotionally difficult time.

Drew

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