Things are going well. We just hit the FOUR year post-stroke mark last week. IN-FRICKING-CREDIBLE! Seems like a lifetime ago but other times it seems like last year. Michael continues to do well. He had a CT of the brain last month and all looks good. Doc just wants to repeat every few years to be sure blood flow is normal and the stent in the vertebral artery is holding up. Gym, twice a week and walking are our main activities. We went nearly 3 miles just today. M is strong and wonderful!! Most importantly he is happy and positive. Here he is on a recent walk in our neighborhood. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping. We LOVE our slice of paradise.
Had OT and PT back-to-back this morning. Good practice in getting M ready for the rigors of outpatient therapy. He was super tired, but did great. He got his Independence Day shirt today and got his photo taken and put on the wall with all of the others before him who got well enough to go home. But what was super exciting is the PT had him sign a photo release. I almost told her he could not sign, but instead just let him go for it. He started writing his name and had a nearly perfectly formed M (in the same style he had prior to the stroke) and you could recognize a C and an N. Won't be long until he will have that back to, I have a feeling! yay! In OT, with the adorable Whitney, he bounced a soft basketball off a net and caught it again. Over and over, sitting then standing! His reaction time was really great. Then he did his favorite hand over hand windmill exercise. We still have equilibrium issues and need to learn to straighten up while sitting and standing and not lean...
This afternoon while resting in bed I was reading my Kindle. M asked to see his. So I got it and turned it on for him. Then he asked for his reading glasses. I found those too. We adjusted the font size until it was just right. Then he asked me to go backward a few chapters in the book he was reading before the stroke (2 months ago). I asked him if he remembered what was going on in the book and he said he did. I didn't think much would come out of this reading try. I just figured it was good he was interested. Well, out of the corner of my eye I see him tapping to change pages. OMG...he was reading that book!! He read a couple of small chapters before deciding it was time to get up. Tonight, before bed, I set him up again and he is in there reading as I type this. I told him to let me know if he needed any help or ran into any problems. So far...silence. I am so totally happy about this! I feel like he can now do something he enjoyed in the past. (unlike my gardening post fr...