July 28, 2012

Hey everyone, I'm sorry it has been so long since an update.  We have been very busy, which really sounds good considering how far we have come.  We have made a trip to Jackson since the last update I think.  We will be getting more botox shots for the arm and hand and if there is any to spare maybe some for my turkey neck. HA! JUST KIDDING!  Since then we have found out we can get the shots in Tupelo.  All we will need is for the Dr. to request them and we are working on that now.  Dale is on a new seizure med. now that seems to be working really well.  He had another seizure on July 5th and I gave him the med. he had been on before and he slept for a day and a half only waking up mainly to go the bathroom and eat.  

 

We have gotten him started on out patient therapy in Tupelo 3 times a week.  All the therapist who were coming here said it would do him good to get out more and well, we have only been home 1 day this week or at least I have.  We went to the Dr. today to find out what was causing all the pain in his right shoulder and he has what they call a frozen shoulder.  Surgery is the main way they treat it but I have read some on it and exercise also works well.  The Dr. today was saying considering how the stroke had effected the right arm would it be worth putting him through the surgery if he might not get use of the hand back.  Now, you know me, I did cut the Dr. some slack and not just tell right out that Dale would get use of that arm and hand but did let him know that I believed we could get some use of it back.  We know he can move it from side to side because he moved it out once at lunch to hold Reagan's hand.  He surprised us all and himself.  He is always surprised at what he can do now and very proud.  

 

We were walking today and he was not taking a step and stopping and moving the other foot forward, he was walking normally. Whenever we go somewhere that we are just going in for a few min. or where he can sit down he walks in now and doesn't use his wheechair.  He walked into chucrh last Sunday night and this Wed. night. We went after the Dr. appointment today and got him walking shoes and he was like a kid with a new pair of shoes.  After he got ready for bed and was ready to put on his house shoes he pointed to his new walking shoes and wanted to wear them.  

 

In PT they are using a machine that they put around his leg right below the knee and then a pad in the heel of his shoe, then they turn it on by a keypad and it makes his foot lift up, then they start walking.  They walk for about 15 min. or more and then she will do balancing exercises with him and then he finishes up on the bike.  When he gets through on the bike he is sweating.  Each therapist works with him for an hour.  

 

In speech he is still progressing.  I'll give you a few examples of what he has learned to do.  Yesterday the therapist laid out the numbers from 1-12 all mixed up and he had to put them in order.  He did without any problem.  The same thing with the days of the week, he put them in the right order and then they said them together.  She was spelling out the word finger and after she had spelled it he said finger.  What she was trying to get him to do was to point to the fingers on a picture of a boy so she was spelling the word finger and he told her what she had spelled.  Then she got out a book that had a picture of a car with a flat tire and then there were 3 sentences to the left of the picture and she wanted to see if he should read them and match the right one with the picture.  He could!  It is amazing what he can understand but is having such a hard time expressing.  Neva, the therapist, told him yesterday that the things he does and seems to forget will get further & further apart and the things he is struggling with in memory and speech will get easier & easier, but that it will take a long time and a lot of hard work.  So, we covet your prayers for the rewiring of the brain and with he speech, for patience for him and for me as I try to understand what he is trying to tell me.  It is so hard for both of us at times when he is trying to tell me something and I don't have a clue as to what he is talking about. He still doesn't try to start a conversation but you can tell he wants to.  I really think he thinks he can't but I keep getting him to ask for things instead of pointing or saying yep. 

 

I go next week for my first visit with the oncologist and will probably start radiation treatments within the next few weeks.  School will be starting also, so I need lots of prayers for strength to get through all of this.  I know I can count on all of you for that and I know My God has given me the strength to make it this far and He is going to carry me through this. 

 

I will try to keep you updated more often,  Thank you, for your prayers and support.

We love you,

Doug & Dale 

"⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."  Romans 15:4-6


"¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:12-14