StrokeSurvivorBlog

Last Thursday was Steve’s final day of home health care, and he started outpatient stroke therapy at the hospital. We felt home health care had run it’s course and that he’s ready for more aggressive therapy. Yesterday was his first full day of outpatient therapy at St. Vincent’s Hospital. It will be necessary to transport him back and forth to the hospital three times a week, (a 28 mile round trip) for 12 weeks. But the hospital has all the equipment that he needs for a full recovery, and they also have the qualified neurologically-trained therapists who specialize in stroke rehabilitation, so this is a huge plus. This was lacking with home health care.

The new occupational therapist Steve is working with will also help him recover his driving skills. During some testing on Monday, we found that he has some visual deficiencies that must be overcome before he can drive again, in addition to the hemiparesis (weakness on the left side). It will take time, and Steve gets frustrated with the slow progress. He’s anxious to get his life back, and come and go as he pleases. He feels trapped depending on me to cart him around instead of being able to do it himself.

The therapists developed a plan for exercises to be done at home on the days in between the scheduled outpatient therapy. This is where the challenge comes in, because it requires so much discipline. It’s easy to become lazy about it. Therapy takes a lot of time and everything else around the house and in our lives must be put on hold. That’s hard for me because I’m so work-oriented and I like things clean and organized, and I tend to want a lot of “me time”. So it means giving up the things I want to do to work with Steve a couple of hours a day. He doesn’t want to do the exercises either, so I really have to be firm about it, but then I feel like his mother. We have noticed that since he’s been at home, he hasn’t made a lot of progress due to our lack of discipline.

He is climbing the steps though, up at night and down in the morning. And he’s getting much better at showering by himself; I only have to help him a little bit. The dressing part is what’s difficult for him because of the leg brace he must wear. He can’t get it on by himself, and in order to walk he must have it on to support his leg. I still help him with with all transports from sitting to standing and walking. He has stumbled a few times and caught his toe on the carpet, so I don’t want him to fall and break something else. We were warned that falls often occur once a patient comes home, so I don’t want to take any chances. I am always assisting him and the gait belt is on him at all times.

It’s been 5 wks. since Steve has been home, but it feels much longer than that. We’re getting into a routine…our new normal, and the nursing home days seem long past. He’s lost a total of 39 lbs. since the day of the stroke on Feb. 23, 2008. We’re still trying to keep his blood pressure under control as it tends to run a little high. His diet determines how much it fluctuates day to day, so I must monitor closely what he eats.

He is gaining more independence, and he even cut the grass last week on the riding lawn mower. He was so persistent about doing it that I decided to give him a chance. I didn’t think it was safe, and I really didn’t think he was able to do it with only one functional arm and leg. But he proved me wrong. It took him longer than usual, but he did an excellent job.

After that he got in and out of the truck by himself and that was quite an accomplishment. It will be a long time before he’s able to drive…not safe for him or others…but he had to prove to himself that his body is regaining functionality in those areas. His brother John is letting us use a golf cart, so Steve’s been driving around on that, and that’s good practice to help him regain his reflexes and give attention to his left side for when he gets back on the road again.

As you can see, all of this involvement requires a lot of time. The days fly by and sometimes I stay up late after Steve is in bed just to get some housework done. I don’t know how my house gets so dirty with just the two of us, but when things are let go for a few days, it really piles up.

Your prayers are so powerful and God has been so faithful to answer them in the past, so I would really appreciate your prayers for:

• God’s continued grace, strength and energy to fill us
• Discipline to do the exercise plan and maintain a healthy diet
• Steve’s heart to be filled with encouragement, peace, joy and hope
• Full recovery of Steve’s hand, arm, leg and foot
• His visual deficiencies to be corrected

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers. You are a blessing to us.

When things get tough, I am reminded of the lyrics in the Steve Green song, He Who Began a Good Work. It’s taken from the verse found in Philippians 1:6. Listen to it here:

He who began a good work in you
He who began a good work in you
Will be faithful to complete it
He’ll be faithful to complete it
He who started the work
Will be faithful to complete it in you

If the struggle you’re facing
Is slowly replacing
Your hope with despair
Or the process is long
And you’re losing your song
In the night you can be sure
That the Lord has His hand on you
Safe and secure
He will never abandon you
You are His treasure
And He finds His pleasure in you