Hello everyone! Once again, it’s Carrie – not Jeff.
I wanted to share an update, because today is a significant day. Today, April 8th, is exactly six months since Jeff was diagnosed with his brain bleed, changing our life completely.
First, a couple of pieces of good news:
- Jeff recently had a CT scan with contrast. That test is nearly identical to the test that found the original bleed. This time, the test determined that he is completely stable and has no additional bleeding.
- Both of Jeff’s therapists have reported that he is progressing very well. He has improved in both speech and occupational skills. I’ve noticed the same.
- Jeff is doing all the physical activities he was doing before the bleed, including puttering in the garden (weather permitting), taking walks, doing his own laundry, and cooking.
Now, onto the continuing challenges (There’s no bad news – just challenges):
- It takes Jeff a long time to read the newspaper, because he has to read slowly to understand what’s he’s reading. The same can be said of articles in Science. I’m glad he’s reading.
- Jeff still has trouble finding the correct words at times. However, we both have learned how to work through that.
I was so proud of him this past Sunday. It was our 36th wedding anniversary, and he made a dinner reservation without any help from me. He gave great thought to setting the time, because we both wanted to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates’ afternoon game. Normally, there would have been no problem with a 5:15 reservation time after a 1:40 game start. But, this is the Pirates, and they are really good at complicating matters. They managed to blow a 4-1 lead in the top of the ninth. Luckily, they were able to walk it off in the bottom of the 11th, so we made dinner on time.
In the before times (prior to 10/8/24), I would have taken all the above for granted. But it’s now the after times, and small things like this are reasons for rejoicing, because it is real progress.
The journey continues . . .
Even A Broken Clock 