Stroke at 57. Our story of recovery.

Having some fun with photo filters on Halloween.  :) This past month we spent a few days down at Dana Point and had a nice visit from Ben and Jake. They live only about 20 minutes away. We had a good time. (thanks Mom for the use of the condo) We continued our usual outdoor activities until the winds of the end of the month came around and cramped our style big time! We go out any time we can now. We just need to dress a bit warmer. But from one day to the next, who knows. Yesterday we got great news from Michael's Neurointerventionalist that his recent CT scan with dye in his veins showed that his stent in the left vertebral artery is holding up well and his other arteries in his head and neck look good. He will not have to be tested again for 2 years. That is good since the dye that is used can put stress on the kidneys. So they will get a break from having to filter that awful dye. We are not sure that M is going to be granted an extension for speech therapy, so we ...

I've always enjoyed this time of year. We are already getting a nip in the air here in Beaumont, so that's fun! September was a quick one for sure. We enjoyed our visit with the Ben and Jake. We went for our usual indoor swim with them. Michael swam a lap this time, since he's mastering his pool walking! He still has great form. We also took a moonlight cruise in the golf cart with the boys. It was awesome. (they are awesome) Our community has a summer concert series and the final show featured a band whose bass player grew up with Michael in New York. (I know, right?) We got to visit with Alex a little while before he took the stage for his high energy country band's performance. We are not country fans really, but the numbers were super fun (and not all country) so we had a good, toe-tapping time. We went to Palm Springs with my mom to her timeshare. We had a nice visit. Michael continues to work on his laptop a lot, writing another middle-grade novel. He does...

Enjoying the Summit view with Jake and Ben after a swim With Jake at Laguna Beach Computer Time M being amazing at Password August was a fun month. Early on we went to Irvine and spent the day with Jake after he returned from Japan. We went to lunch and Laguna Beach where we enjoyed the sand for a little while. It was a beautiful day there. One weekend, Ben and Jake came over for a couple of nights. We enjoyed a night cart ride, walking, & swimming. It's always fun to hang out with them. Michael has started being independent on his laptop. He's been resuming writing his book -- which was one of his favorite pastimes, pre-stroke -- and even though he's very slow, he can do it! He's patient with himself and tries so hard. It's super exciting to see this progress. We've made a lot of new friends recently here at Four Seasons. Everyone we've met has been so wonderful to us. We've been invited a several events in the past ...

Golf Cart Parade Wow! July was a quick month!  On Independence Day we participated in the Four Seasons Golf Cart parade. My mom was spending several days with us, recovering from knee replacement surgery, so she was able to come along. She and I wore red, white, and blue tiaras and sat in the front seat and M, with his Uncle Sam top hat, sat in the rear facing back seat. Along with around 30 other carts, we waved at everyone along the route and blasted John Philip Sousa marching band tunes from our cart stereo. It was so much fun.  Jake spent the month in Japan for work and so we constantly followed his adventures, mentally calculating the time difference. (16 hours ahead) We shared many texts where I was wishing him goodnight and he was wishing me good morning. He will be home on the 2nd after 4 full weeks. The people of Japan are very hospitable and treated him well. Mother is pleased. ❣ While Jake was gone we helped Ben and Steven move to their newly lea...

Today, we celebrate our 31st Wedding Anniversary. We met in August of 1986 and were married on July 1, 1988.  How'd we meet?  Michael had just gotten a job at the Menifee School District as a music teacher. He visited the doctor's office, where I worked, for his required TB test. He caught my eye, so I made sure I talked with him when he returned two days later to have his test read. (negative...I made sure...lol)  Since he had just moved here from New York, I offered my services as his personal So Cal tour guide. Being bold pays off, I guess. 😉 Anyway, the rest is history.   These past 15 months has been difficult, to say the least, but our love has grown stronger. We appreciate every moment now. We get to spend more time together than we ever thought possible. But truly, we like it that way. 💓 To celebrate, we took a bike ride around the neighborhood, (I rode my bike. I usually trail him in the cart) Then went out for an early dinner and took ...

Things are going well. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because there are not many changes, really. M continues to hone his skills and is still moving forward. He has not had any "plateauing" which sometimes happens. If plateauing should occur, be assured we will just up the goals. He is still determined to improve as much as possible and his attitude is amazing! It's been exciting to see his progress over these 15 months, so posting has been easy until now. Therefore, I will begin publishing an update on the first of the month and post photos and anything exciting that's happening. That way we can still keep updating our friends and family who continue to check this blog. In the meanwhile, feel free to email me if you'd like to check in.  ⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕ Father's Day with Ben and Jake was fun. Jake and M went to the putting green and I got this super cute pic of them.  Happy Summer to you all. 💗

For my birthday last weekend, Ben and Jake treated M and I to a movie and dinner in Newport Beach. The theater was very neat as it had fully reclining seats. We saw John Wick 3. It was awesome being with the guys and we had a great time. (thanks Ben & Jake!) M is walking quite a bit better recently. As a matter of fact we saw some neighborhood friends while out this week and they did not even recognize us. That's a huge compliment! Lol I haven't had to purchase liquid thickener now for about 6 months. M will still choke occasionally with water, or any other liquid when his head goes back too far or he swallows too much air. But it seems his swallowing issues in general are a thing of the past. Yay! Here is a pic of all of the measuring spoons we used for the thickener liquid. Each spoon was in a huge container. Wow! He was getting so sick of that stuff. I have been looking back at photos and blogs from a year ago. It's amazing how much progress he has made...