Sunday, February 5, 2012

Day 10 Post-Stroke

Here we are 10 days later.  Bill has been home from the hospital for 5 days.  We continue to be grateful that things were not more serious.  Things steadily improve each day.  Bill gets tired easily and when that happens, he has a moment where it seems like it is hard for him to get the words out--not that they aren't understandable and not that he cannot find the words, just that the act of speech seems tiring.  He then rests for a few minutes and is fine.  We have been going out for walks each day.  The library is a great destination because if he gets tired by the time we get there, we can go in and sit.  Bill reads a newspaper and I look at a magazine.  The other day I left him there and went grocery shopping.  I shoved about 25 pounds of food in my large backpack, went back to the library to tell him I was done, and off we went home.  Happily, the library and post office are right across the street from one another and the grocery store is a block away.  All of these things are close to home.  On Friday morning, Heather and I set out on foot with the dirty laundry--once again I had my large backpack stuffed and Heather had her things in a tote bag.  We put them in the washing machine and I crocheted for the half hour it took for the wash to be completed.  Then wet clothes got stuffed back into the backpack and hauled home to be hung on our drying rack.  I thought I was missing an alpaca sock, but discovered that it had never made it to the laundromat at all--it fell under the chair as I was moving the dirty clothes from the laundry back to the backpack.  I will either handwash it or put it in the next load. 

One of the interesting things about this whole experience now is that it requires both Bill and I to work on things that are hard for us.  For him, learning when to stop and rest is important.  He has a tendency to just keep going, even when he is tired.  He can't do that now.  I tend to want to jump in and fix things for people and I have to step back from that impulse now.  Bill does not need me to do everything for him--he needs to do it himself.  If I do everything it will actually hinder his progress.  So I have to learn to stand back and let him proceed.  Once in a while, things get annoying or too many things happen at once and he gets tired.  So I am getting practice with observing, understanding when I do need to help, and only then offering assistance. 
We each have an opportunity to work on improving skills!

Both of us are so grateful for the support we have received from people.  Our neighbor has been great--giving rides to and from the hopsital and offering other assistance.  A friend and her husband brought over supper the first day he was home.  People have gathered information, shared expertise, and offered words of encouragement and support.  It has all been so helpful and appreciated! 

No comments: