StrokeSurvivorBlog

One week after Steve’s stroke, he was experiencing pain in his sciatica nerve, right arm, shoulder and elbow. This was a result of being confined to bed for so long, and from using his arm to support his weight.

On the weekend he was moved to the inpatient rehabilitation department of the hospital for intensive therapy. The next day the whole family came to the hospital to help Steve celebrate his 60th birthday. He was in good spirits and we were elated that he was doing so well.

Monday was his first full day of therapy. Every day he is scheduled for three 45-minute sessions of physical, occupational and speech therapy. The therapy is very good in the rehab unit, but also very strenuous. This intensive therapy results in more pain from those muscles he hasn’t used in a while.

When in bed, he still can’t roll to his side without help, so instead of calling for a nurse at night, he just suffers with the pain. He feels like such a bother to the nursing staff, but they told me that he’s their favorite patient.

He is very coherent and in good humor in spite of all this. There is no obvious cognitive damage that we can tell. His memory is very good too. And even though his speech is heavy and a little slow, it’s not slurred like it was when he first had the stroke.

Also, he has lost his appetite and is barely eating anything. He’s says it’s too much work to eat. I never thought I’d hear him say that, because he loved to eat. But it takes so much effort for him to chew his food when he can’t feel the left side of his mouth and tongue. He bites his tongue and cheek quite often. We need to keep his strength up, so he’s being given a chocolate protein shake which he likes. But he doesn’t consume more than 600-700 calories a day.

He’s very exhausted from the therapy sessions and the aftermath of the stroke. The pain he’s been experiencing hinders the therapy. Please pray that he will be strengthened to endure and not give up.

In the therapy sessions, he tends to become very distracted and is slow in focusing his attention on the therapist’s commands. The doctor has asked us not to go to rehab with him because it’s just another distraction for him. This is such huge change for him because he could always carry on a conversation, read the paper and watch TV at the same time. This is one of the consequences of a right brain injury. So please pray that he will become alert and attentive to carry out those directives.

In spite of the pain he’s enduring, we feel so blessed that Steve has his speech, mental capacity, memory and sense of humor. And we are so thankful to have a great prayer support system and appreciate all of your prayers.

Thank you for your continued prayers for me as well. I need strength and grace day by day to face the future, and I’m not even thinking about tomorrow because I know God’s grace will be sufficient for me then as it is for today.