Everything Will Be Alright

 The car ride went well.  The plastic surgeon said all ok for now.  There's a 5mm area on the scalp scar that is very thin and may at some point require an alloderm graft to thicken it. Recheck in four months, sooner if the skin breaks down.  

Rie's plastic surgery appointment that we had had to postpone last week is today.  This appointment is to monitor a couple of slow healing spots on her scalp scar.  Please pray for an uneventful car ride and a good report from the surgeon. Love and blessings ❤️🙏

 Rie's upper respiratory infection is much better but we had to reschedule the plastic surgery appointment to next Monday because of it.  Please pray for continued healing❤️🙏.

 For a few days, Rie has had some upper respiratory symptoms: nasal congestion, sneezing and coughing.  No other cold or COVID symptoms. Tree pollen count has been very high here lately so I'm praying that that is the cause.  We're treating it with allergy medications and vaposteam inhalations. Hopefully we won't have to cancel the plastic surgeon appointment tomorrow. He wants to monitor Rie's scalp scar for a few month. Mia's cousin, Shaheen, is joining us today for our traditional annual celebration of Spring when we will thank the Lord for a New Day "NoRooz". Have a blessed Spring filled with His Love.❤️🙏

 Car ride went well. No motion sickness. Rie's internal medicine doctor "coincidentally happened" to walk by. He explained the cause of Rie's equilibrium issue and suggested a medication for a month that should settle it down.  Praise God for coincidences😉❤️🙏

 First outpatient speech therapy session at 11 today.  It will be our first car ride attempt since the last motion sickness episode.  We tested Dramamine yesterday. It didn't cause any noticeable sedation so we'll try it today for the car ride to the therapy clinic.  We ate a lot yesterday to see if we can skip breakfast this morning. Rie has had a great night and is currently sound asleep.  I woke up at 0420 with the kind of peaceful feeling that only comes from the Lord saying Everything Will Be Alright! Thank you for your prayers ❤️🙏

 Wednesday was the rough outpatient therapy day with all the nausea and vomiting and headaches which persisted late into the night. I had packed our bags for the ER just in case. Thursday was calm. Rie was a little sedated from the headache meds but gradually tolerated advancing her diet from clear liquids to bland.  Slept very well. Friday (yesterday) was a great day: regular diet, no pain or nausea, good interactions with our daughter Mia.  We thanked the Lord.  Rie asked for her Bible and read it for a while. Our plan for today is to rest a lot and retry some walker-walking. Love and blessings ❤️🙏

 Last December, Rie got sick on the way to our first outpatient rehab appointment so we turned around and cancelled.  Same thing happened yesterday, but once she felt better in the parking lot, we went inside and had a great initial visit without any nausea. On the way back she got sick again. Could have been a combination of stress and motion sickness.  Sleeping well now. We'll experiment with OTC Dramamine and Meclizine and a test drive in a few days before consulting her doctors.  Please pray for a better day for Rie today❤️🙏

 You might remember Rie has had several major setbacks along the way: a severe skull segment infection, then severe leg spasms due to "sunken scalp flap syndrome", then postoperative sub-implant hemorrhage, then a kidney infection, then COVID.  Each setback erased Rie's walking progress but the good Lord has blessed Rie with a never-give-up attitude.  She is much tougher than most, myself included!  Since our release from the rehab hospital on February 10th, I have cowardly dragged my feet in helping Rie get out of her wheelchair, fearing another round of unbearably painful spasms.  Finally, today Rie insisted so we tried the rolling walker.  She was stronger and better balanced than ever! Praise God!   I nervously held her gait belt and gave a bunch of instructions but I don't think any of it was needed!   I'm going to order her a fancy "Up-Walker" if the therapists approve on Wednesday.  The up-walker is designed to improve her walking post...

 Those of you with apple devices may have noticed that your texts, phone calls and FaceTime sessions with Rie were shared with my phone simultaneously.  My IT specialists (Mia & my nephew!) fixed that problem.

I thought it was strange that Walmart hadn't delivered Rie's rollator walker two weeks after the promised day.  So I requested cancellation thinking I would order it again.  While waiting for the approval of our cancellation request, a friend introduced us to an "upwalker" which is a lot better for Rie!  The irritating delay was a $100 blessing!  Praise God❤️🙏

 It was a calm day. We rested a lot and did some digging in the six-month-old stack of mail.  Some agencies are very generous in forgiving past-due fees when they hear about our situation.  Fewer spasms yesterday and not painful.  Praise God!💗🙏

 Rie had a busy day.  Got out of bed early for her weekly two hour long shower. The fancy tub transfer bench we found on Amazon really helped with comfort and safety.  The shower added two hours to her usual two hour long morning routine. A dear friend from South Padre Island was in town and came to visit over lunch.  We enjoyed reconnecting.  She said a beautiful prayer for us before she left. Rie's usual two hour long afternoon nap was aborted 30 minutes into it by my mistakenly pushing her SOS button on her room monitor app while I was trying to adjust the video settings. She then helped me tackle the six month old stack of overdue bills and taxes.  I think that was too unpleasant for her. By the time we finished the dinner and her bedtime routine, it was an hour past her usual bedtime.  She complained of moderately uncomfortable right leg spasms.  Stretching and massage didn't help much so for the first time since returning home we resorted to...