Everything Will Be Alright

It’s been one year since Rie’s stroke on 7/30/2021. We’re thankful for the steady progress despite so many complications. Every apparent set back has proven to be a set up for something better. Praise the Lord! ❤️🙏

 Outpatient therapy went well yesterday. Rie seemed less sedated and was able to keep up. Praise the Lord.  The therapist made her  assemble an IKEA step stool. We learned a lot. Lots of  “homework “! The therapists don’t want us to get bored at home!

Saw the plastic surgeon today: Scar is healing well. No open areas. Praise the Lord 🙏. Three thin spots to monitor. He may inject some fat under the skin in those 3 areas if they don’t thicken within the next year. We’re going to do a lot of home therapy today so we can say we did our homework when the therapists ask tomorrow! Therapy clinic tomorrow from 11 to 3.

Initial outpatient rehab visit yesterday went very well. Praise the Lord. It was exhausting for both of us as we’ve gotten out of the habit of sitting through structured meetings for four hours.  It felt like college days, having to sit thru four consecutive hours of lectures and tests. But it was highly profitable. We were approved for 36 hours of therapy to be done in three hour sessions over twelve days, to be done on Tuesdays and Fridays. I think we can handle it as the Lord provides the stamina for Rie🙏. Interestingly, yesterday, the Lord arranged for us to “happen” to run into Rie’s favorite internal medicine doctor in the parking lot during his lunch break. He made a valuable suggestion about changing Rie’s anti-seizure medication so that she might be less sedated.  We need to get it approved by a neurologist. With the time consuming wound care thankfully behind us, Rie and I are finding more & more blessed time to study our favorite Book together❤️🙏.

 Rie has been coughing more with meals since she was cleared for solid foods by her oral surgeon. So I did a cheap version of a swallow test that the speech pathologists have taught me to look for causes and to make sure there was not a new deficit in her swallow mechanism that would put her at risk for aspiration pneumonia. Thankfully, Rie passed the test. Praise the Lord 🙏.  She ate the entire test-meal without coughing. All I had to do was to remind her to slow down between bites. That should become automatic once she gets practice with solid foods again.  Passing that test was a big relief. The formal swallow tests by the speech pathologists are not comfortable and could have set Rie back to thick liquids diet again.  We drove Mia to a birthday party yesterday. That was our first family outing in 11.5 months!  Starting to feel like a family again.  What a blessing, never to be taken for granted. Love and Blessings to all❤️🙏.

 Oral surgery appointment went well. Dietary restrictions lifted. Praise God🙏. Follow up in two months for x-rays and dental implant eval.

We had a good day and night. Had blood drawn to check her liver. Thankfully all normal. Outpatient rehab authorized for next Wednesday, very likely we’ll get approved for ten to twenty sessions. Rie seems a little less sedated every day. Oral surgeon appointment this morning at 8 so I have to wake her up now. Hopefully the hole in the sinus from the tooth extraction has healed🙏.  Scalp scars seems completely healed. Her hair almost long enough to hide all the scars. Maybe I’ll figure out how to attach a picture someday. We’re focusing on catching up with Mia this summer and it’s working. The three of us are laughing a lot together. Praise the Lord.❤️🙏

 Rie is still quite sluggish, thought to be a side effect of the anti-seizure medication. Our morning routines are running into our evening routines!  Expected to get better within a month🙏.  A new but very tiny pinpoint sized opening on the scalp scar showed up two days ago but the surgeon is not concerned and told me to just keep it clean and apply antibiotic ointment twice a day. It already looks like it is filling up.🙏.  We’re spending a lot of time in Mia’s room, just chatting; a wonderful blessing; our favorite time!❤️🙏

 This is the first day since the initial surgery on 7/30/2021 that Rie’s scalp scar looks completely healed. Praise the Lord ❤️🙏.  Happy 4th!🇺🇸

 The anti seizure medication seems to be working but may be making Rie very slow and sleepy. Hopefully she will adjust. Spasms a little better. Appetite is coming back. Scalp wounds seem to have healed. I had to postpone the oral surgery follow up appointment due to the seizure. We resumed walker walking and did ten steps but she got tired.  Her past set backs have been set ups for new beginnings. ❤️🙏

 Rie and I had a spasm party from midnight to 4 am: heat, massage, stretching, repositioning, walking, extra doses of muscle relaxers. Hoping to nap a lot today if Rie’s stable. I’m thankful that she’s looking better right now: fewer spasms, no headache, no vomiting after taking her meds, hungry, and no seizures.🙏 just highly sedated from the extra antispasmodics.