3/30

I showed up in the early morning today to an empty room. Mike was already up and sitting at the communal table eating breakfast. His first shower in a month had occurred two days previous and he now looks forward to them with a giddy pleasure-- even though they occur at 5AM. He proceeded to have a full day of therapy --although, he has figured out that claiming "dizziness" gives him a free ride back to his room even if the session is not done. We're hoping that the return of his regular OT and PT therapists will elicit a little more hard work. But there is solace in the fact that this is pure Clayton -- working the system as he is successfully doing.

Today was the first day I brought up household issues. He's clear enough to talk about things like Amelia's violin lessons and whether to keep two cars.

The kids are being delivered back to us tomorrow by my brother (have I mentioned my brother? My, what a stunning fellow he is...hand delivering those kids back to me and taking a few more days off to hang out and transition them smoothly). There should be some "re-entry" issues with them as they have undoubtedly been spoiled mercilessly by my sister for an entire week.

Mike's brother is due to arrive Wednesday and Mike's been looking forward to that.

3/28

Oops. Speech tells me that they haven't given him the green light for water yet. Consider it noted. He might move off of "mechanical soft" foods tomorrow, however. Good news for me because I've been bringing him daily McDonalds cheeseburger Happy Meals to replace the food the hospital offers -- and eating (or enabling someone to eat) Happy Meals goes against my every fiber of being. But mechanical soft they are. You could eat them without teeth.

Mike's hitting his benchmarks. He is now expected to eat one meal at a table in a wheelchair, as opposed to bed. He started that today. He's being asked to hold more of his weight during bed to wheelchair transfers which he is doing. His fine motor skills are getting better. He can manipulate his remote control much of the time and bring small foods from table to mouth. He is a natural in the wheelchair (maybe all that kayaking helped).

As promised, Mike is starting to "wake up." He is taking a combination of drugs that is supposed to reorient his circadian rhythm and it's having a dramatic effect. We all feel like Mike is returning to us from a dark fog.

3/27

The laughter I heard last night turned into a full day of uncontrollable cracking up. Between the vent and the stroke, Mike's laugh has turned into this insane, crazily modulated, very drawn out cackle and he spent much of the day amusing himself with reflections of a certain social gaffe I made earlier in the week and then progressed into just amusing himself with the sound of his own laugh. I'm sure we had people wandering by who suspected some serious frontal lobe damage. I did take some solace from the fact that he could control his laugh when absolutely necessary.

Mike had a great OT session early in the day. His OT claimed she had never seen a more flexible spine which led me to believe her other clients must be in pretty bad shape. In PT, he was harnessed into a waist support and stood for 2 ten minute sessions being coaxed the entire time to stand straighter, flex his muscles and do repetitions of toe standing. It's insanely hard work for him. Speech has graduated him to water drinking. Previously, he had been cleared only for "nectar" consistency drinks -- even water can be made thick in the hospital. All this is good news and means his swallowing reflex is coming back.

The kids are having a great time in San Diego. I was (cruelly) bombarded with pictures of Amelia and Winston running along the beach while the day started with snow for us in Portland.

3/26

Mike is making strides in rehab. His OT, who has been particularly gracious and kind with him, tells us she is excited with his progress. The goals she set out for him have proven too easy and she's going to have to make some tougher ones.

Mike is working on centering his core when sitting up and was up in a walker for a few (assisted) steps today. He is also keeping his eyes open for longer stretches of time. This indicates his eye muscles are getting stronger and that the double vision is abating.

Dr. Hoeflich has agreed to try taking his off a feeding tube to see if we can get enough calories in him by mouth.

Tonight, Mike and I shared a funny moment and I heard a hearty laugh come out of him for the first time in almost a month (with all due respect to Dr. Baxter who claims to have heard a hearty laugh while Mike was on a vent -- but that could have been anything...).

We are hoping for a great night of sleep so he can continue his progress.

3/25

The doctors are rearranging Mike's evening tube feedings because they are making him nauseous and interfering with his sleep. I told him a way to avoid this is to eat solids so they can stop the tube. Then a minor miracle appeared in the form of a bean and cheese burrito for dinner. The burrito is Mike's favorite meal, in or out of the hospital. It may have been the tiny, microwaved kind but it was beautiful compared with yesterday's tuna sandwich and other offerings which shall go unexplored in this blog. I was cutting it up into small, non-choking-hazard sized pieces when his hand reached through my cutlery faster than I've seen it move, ever. He grabbed the burrito and jammed half into his mouth. I proceeded to dance around the room screaming that he was going to aspirate and he tried to chew as much as he could before I returned to force him to give it back. I crouched down and looked him straight in the eye and asked, "are you having problems with impulse control?" to which he responded, "I was hungry." Oh, that makes sense.

3/24

We had a chance to watch a PT session yesterday and were impressed by Mike's strides. With a great deal of guidance and help, Mike sat up in bed, pivoted and made his way to a wheelchair. We wheeled him over to a stationary bike mechanism (he cycles and sits in the wheelchair) and did ten minutes on the bike. Then he wheeled himself around a bit more for fun.

The PT reminded us that when Mike "wakes up," which is to say when the swelling goes completely down and the lethargic state of mind lifts, he's going to be in a good place. He walked into this stroke physically fit and it will serve him well coming back out of it.

We are heading back out to watch and participate in another full day of rehab. It's a intense experience for Mike and he is understandably wiped out.

3/22

My forensic accountant (aka Mike's dad) went on a mission yesterday to find out more about the terms of the lease on one of our cars. He made an appointment with our salesperson, Kaz, and proceeded to lay out the bad news. Kaz wanted to know how old Mike was. He also wanted to know if we understood what the origin of the stroke was. When John told him Mike was just 38 and we didn't know where the stroke came from, Kaz leaned in conspiratorially to John and asked, "Was he having problems with his wife?"