Just a quick note --

So no one thinks I died!

I am up to my ears in packing boxes here and the new house, which was supposed to be completed next Monday is waaaaay behind schedule, and the guy who is buying our house is itching to get in here, but agreed to postpone closing for another week. So we will need to move before the 26th of Feb.

I took this week "off" meaning NO doctors, therapy, etc. so I could have time to pack and I'm still not anywhere near done.  Seems impossible to get in a whole day of packing in and also taking care of Bob.

On the upside, the new house is looking good!

On the downside, the contractor keeps finding more and more "unexpected" things I have to pay for and I feel as if I am bleeding money here. And I still need to get bids on painting etc....

I tell you, I am tearing my hair out. Stressed to the max. Prone to crying jags and inappropriate laughing. And I am losing sleep at night with worry about how much over budget this project is going...

BUT, taking it day by day....

And oh, on a lighter note, did I tell you our pizza delivery guy got robbed?

I kid you not, last week I ordered a pizza for Boomer and myself and the pizza never made it to the door. Someone approached the delivery guy who had parked in front of our house and said "That's my pizza, I ordered it." And when the delivery guy handed him the pizza box, the pizza thief grabbed it and ran down the street without paying!

Oh-kay. That's a first.

On the upside, however, Papa Johns sent us a new pizza for no charge.

4 Years Post Stroke and A Squeeze!

Yesterday, at therapy, the PT was trying to get Bob to squeeze his right hand. Now, most of you know, Bob has had no movement what-so-ever in that right hand/arm/shoulder since the stroke. So, I'm sort of sitting there, rolling my eyes, because man, we've done this a million times with about a million other therapists with no luck. And I, too, have tried this a million times...

So imagine my surprise when the PT states that he has felt Bob squeeze his hand! I tell you, I didn't believe him. So the PT had me take Bob's hand and he asked Bob to squeeze it.

And to my amazement, I felt a squeeze. A little squeeze. But a squeeze! It felt like an "inner squeeze" sort of coming from inside his hand. I couldn't believe it, I really thought I just imagined it, because I didn't see Bob's hand move, only felt this little squeeze. Then, Bob did it again, on command.

All I can say is "WOW!" After four years of no movement, this is nothing short of a small miracle!

The technique the PT used was this: He had Bob lean back as far as he could in the wheelchair, hold his head as upright as he could, shoulders back -- this position, the PT says, "opens the nerve pathways to the brain". He told Bob to visualize energy flowing from his brain and "zapping" his right hand. Then, he also had Bob visualize the actual activity of squeezing his hand. Here's a video I took after that first, phenomenal, squeeze:

The PT also used another technique which he refers to as a "distraction" technique. This method is to distract the brain from the activity you want to perform by adding other, easier movements, simultaneously. In this way, the brain has a more spontaneous response. In this video, the PT has Bob move his head from left to right then squeeze his hand.

This PT thinks that Bob can regain the use of that right hand/arm. Though I'm not holding my breath.... I guess, I don't want my hopes dashed. So we'll see what happens... 

Birthday Boy!

In other news, Bob celebrated his 56th birthday last week. I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate and he said "shopping!" So we spent another afternoon at an antique mall. Though I must say this antique mall had the steepest wheelchair ramp in the world. I had to get help to get him up and down....  grrr  But! We had fun and that's what counts!

Finally, The Power Chair! --- And then...

Finally, Bob's new wheelchair arrived!  And then, the delivery guy couldn't get it through the back door.... aargh!

So he had to take a portion of the armrests off and was able to just squeeze it through..... grrrr....

I tell you, this pissed me off because I told the guy (when we ordered the chair) that our back door was narrow and gave him the dimensions -- and he assured me it would fit....

But getting the thing out the back door was a complete bitch!

Anyway, Bob was able to try out the new chair...

And the twists and turns of the ramp was another difficulty....

But once on the road, he was tooling!

Vrrroooom!

And he pretty much passed me by -- so this was my view of him!

And we returned home only to get stuck on the back ramp, then stuck in the back door, then stuck between the fridge and door, then stuck in one of the interior doors and then hung up on the dog dishes and smashing into the oil heater and...

the brand new wheelchair is scratched to heck... grrr....

And it's now parked in my office.

I think we'll leave it there, until we move!

So Much to Blog About -- So Little Time!

I tell you, these past couple of weeks have been complete chaos. Not to mention the usual up-teen million doctors/therapy appointments, bills to pay, insurance company to argue with, etc. etc,, but the potential Buyer of our house sent over not only a home inspector but also a plumber, AC guy, roofer and termite guy.

Then paperwork back and forth, with the Buyer wanting Bob & me to PAY for a new roof, etc.  Well, I put my foot down on that -- even though my realtor warned we could lose this buyer -- but lo and behold, the Buyer still wants the house. So kudos to me for standing strong. And to Bob, who when I read him the Buyer's list of demands, said, and I quote, "Fuck him!" Ha!

Believe me, Bob may have aphasia, but he isn't about to be taken for a ride!

So we have a tentative closing date of Feb. 16th! And I gotta do some serious packing! And the new house is no-where near done! Or at least it seems so, to me. Plus there is taxes and transferring our homestead exemption and buying new appliances and ceiling fans and etc. etc. etc. Not to mention trying to find a painter and RIGHT shade of pink!! And the contractor calling nearly daily with dumb decisions like - "do you want the closet on the right side or left side of the tub???" and ga! Too many decisions to make --- And Bob has a half dozen doctor appts scheduled this month and twice weekly therapy plus a bone scan for his foot pain plus a peg tube replacement ---- argh!

I did cancel 3 doctors and cut out a couple therapy appts -- but still....

Today, I'm packing up the Christmas tree! Then, I need to pack up the rest of the house. How on earth have we accumulated so much stuff???? aaargh!

And I can't even find my desk -- under all this paperwork. And oh! Did I tell you about food stamps? Who way back in August, when we requested them to close our account, somehow never got the message -- ?? And now they want us to pay them $858! For money they credited to our account but we never used --- jeepers. So there is that mess to straighten away.... grrrrr....

So I'm outta here with about ten thousand things to do and I am majorly stressed out -- and if this blog is quiet, you know why!