Stroke at 57. Our story of recovery.

We had a visit from Ben and Jake this weekend, so Michael had a cycling buddy along with his usual pace cart. After the ride Jake gave the trike a spin around the block and decided that it was much more difficult to ride than he thought it would be. He thought his dad was extra awesome. We've been swimming, walking, dining al fresco, riding the trike and cart and completely enjoying our beautiful weather this week. Oh, and watching our favorite basketball team, the Clippers, play against the two time defending champions in the playoffs. Just like Michael, odds don't matter to them. They are going to fight and compete and do the best job they can. #GoClippers We had an afternoon when it rained to the east of our house but the west was clear and sunny. Sure made for a beautiful photo of the double rainbow and our shiny house illuminated by the sun. View from the back yard. (I love rainbows)

Last April, Michael was in the hospital the entire month. So even though we are coming up on two years of living in Beaumont, it's his first early Spring here. We've been enjoying every day and it's difficult not to want to spend it outdoors. Walking, biking, cruising in the cart, we've kept busy despite our lack of appointments this week. NO appointments actually and that hasn't happened for as long as I can remember. It's been kind of nice and other than driving down to Hemet once to see my mom, we haven't traveled very far from home. That will change when M starts with a speech therapy place in the desert where Kaiser wants to send him to once a week for a half-hour. At that time we will also visit the Neuro Vitality Center in Palm Springs where they have drop-in stroke recovery activities. That is still probably a couple of weeks away yet as the referral has just been made. Here are a few of my favorite pics of the week:

Monday was Michael's final visit to Ballard Rehabilitation. He was an inpatient there for 35 days, and we have gone back 69 days of visits since he's been an outpatient. Finally Kaiser and Ballard agree that he no longer needs the intensive therapy they offer, but rather just keep practicing all he's learned to perfect his skills. We will also continue to receive 30 minutes of speech therapy once a week in the desert. PT and OT is all on us now. Saying goodbye to Ballard was bittersweet. Happy we do not have to drive to San Bernardino twice a week. Happy to be well enough to be "graduating" from therapy. Sad to no longer see some of the people who have been a big part of our lives for over one year now. Sad to not have a "regular" Monday & Thursday schedule. (I'll be sad to not have their salad bar twice a week for lunch...they had great food, believe it or not) So, to the Staff at Ballard we say, THANK YOU. We appreciate all the love and car...

This has been a really exciting week. For MONTH and MONTHS Michael has been hinting about wanting to get a recumbent trike. When he first mentioned it, he could barely walk straight, so I kept saying, "Around a year after your stroke we will take a look at what is available." Well, just a week after the one year anniversary, we went to a local bicycle shop and ordered a Sunseeker EZ Tadpole SX recumbent trike. We picked it up on Monday. As with all new things it took some adjustments. The first attempt up our steepish driveway was  difficult and he needed a push. So, I added Bicycle Mechanic to my ever growing resume and adjusted everything to his liking. We added the clip on pedals from his mountain bike and that really made a great difference in providing power. He took a few minutes figuring out his gears and now by the second day of riding, he is a pro!! So far I am following him in the cart to allow a buffer for cars and see how he is doing. He is AWESOME ...