Today I arrived and David was between OT and ST, and I had a moment to talk to his Physiologist who told me that a meeting would be arranged next week for all the therapists and the doctors to talk about his progress, and what we are looking at for going home, etc.  During the down time, we did some work with the letters again, which was great.  I found it oddly funny that when I put the “S” in front of him, he looked at me funny, and turned it right side up.  Now some of you may be thinking, is there really such a thing as an upside down “S”?  There is, and David found this discomforting.  When the speech therapist came, I mentioned this, and she said he did the same thing with her, and she thought it was funny too, but, you know, that is just David.  We also had some funny moments when she was working on a “finish the sentence” exercise.  For reasons that should be clear if you have been reading the blog (and more on that later) he had a particular word on his mind, and was using to the finish many sentences.  My personal favorite was “God bless ________”.  You or I might have said, America or you, but David said toilet.  I am sorry to say, David was irritated by my laughing at that one so much, but I couldn’t help myself.

Then it was lunchtime, followed by PT where he walked again with the bars and a new knee brace and foot support.  He did quite well, and one of the other caregivers mentioned to me on the elevator that he was doing very well.  I asked how his wife was doing, and the story was not so promising.  At the end of the day, it really doesn’t make you feel better to know that there are other folks much worse off than you are.  After PT, Kathleen Stevenson came by again, and we went with David for his afternoon of beauty!  He finally got his hair cut again as well as getting it washed, and he looked great, and I think it made him feel better too.  We then went out the garden, and played some more word games – this time, I gave David tiles with letters and he was to rearrange them into words, and he did quite well.  Then, when asked to pronounce the words, he had more trouble, but practice, practice, practice.  Soon, we were joined by Mary Hall Surface who was in town to see a play.  It was great to see her and hear about how INTERSECTIONS is coming together.

Then we went inside, and during dinner, Susan and Barry Dratel came by.  Susan worked with David at Fieldston, and Barry had a stroke about 13 years ago, and their stories and insights were at once inspiring and daunting.  It is great to see folks who have survived and done well, but also difficult to hear their stories of struggle and work, and see what the lingering effects are.  Barry’s stroke was on the right side of his brain – the opposite of David’s – so his difficulties were very different.  He didn’t lose his speech, for instance, but lost the ability to put inflection in his speech.  Currently, he is able to walk, but has no use of his left arm.  Even with that, last year he got his degree from college.  Bravo!

I will end with just a brief update on the nurses aide situation.  It seems that the same nurses aide was on again last night, and still was not helpful.  I have spoken to them again, and if she is working again tonight, I will hit the roof tomorrow.