Well another hurdle done, I got my license back today!! At least I can get to my doctors appointments without trying to have someone who can get me there.

It has been a bit since I've written so thought I'd let you all know how I'm doing.

My status has slowed down now since my stroke. Still doing my therapy at home and will return to out patient therapy in January. It will be a long road to go to recovery. Still can't drive which makes it seem harder in the winter and I don't feel like going out now that it has gotten colder outside.

There is still some difficulty communicating but I'm persevering but I do find it hard at night as I get more tired the words don't come easy as they do early in the day. I have to be careful if we decide to go out, to go to quiet places without a lot of background noise so I can focus on what is going on around me.

Other than that, things are good. Still keeping Auntie Joy in my prayers as she is not doing so well but she still is staying faithful and when I do talk to her, well you can imagine me with language barriers and her with pain medication how weird we must sound!

After 6 weeks of therapy at home, I'm done that portion of my rehab.

I was re-evaluated and file goes back to the Glenrose to determine what to take for the out patient therapy. I can see there is lot to do but I need to remember how far I've come. From the first day of the stroke where all I could say was "hi ya" (and not another word according to Terry Makarowski) to now being able to complete sentences (with some word searching for certain words), and close to full recovery of the right had side...all is good.

I go this month to the Stroke Rehab follow up and with any luck, will find out when I can go to my driver's test.

Thanks again for all the warm wishes and support when I needed them!

After a wonderful weekend to celebrate the wedding of Sarah and Sean MacDonald.

Big shout out to Richard, Zach, Ken, Terry, Sharon and Jackson - who made my first airplane (post stroke) easy and stress free. I couldn't have made it without all of you. I would have hated to miss it.

I am writing this from the Glenrose hospital, after just over three week there, I am being discharged! 

The recovery is still a ways away but will continue on from home. Thank you to all of you who have kept all of us in your thoughts and prayers and will continue to do so. I will continue to update you through here!

Woo Hoo!!!  Rae got to come home on a weekend pass. Picked her up Friday night with all her dirty laundry. We've been having a great visit. She brought her walker from the Glenrose but she hasn't needed it.

I've found out she does like to be waited on but we don't mind a bit. The nurses have been spoiling her. She goes back to the hospital on Sunday night for another week of rehab. They think she might be home for good around July 7th potentially.

They moved Rae to the Glenrose Tuesday. They took her to the U of A for a test and decided to save a trip so they took her to the Glenrose instead of the Grey Nuns. She is on the fourth floor in nursing station 4B room 202.  She finally gets a room to herself.

Today they will be assessing her and making a schedule for her rehab. They will probably keep her busy from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Visitors should be okay anytime after 4:00 pm. Her weekends will be free so anytime on weekends. She can get weekend passes but she needs to apply for those the Tuesday before so I will let everyone know if we are planning on taking her home for a weekend.

She arrived at the Glenrose around 4:00 yesterday. She talked to one of the evaluation staff there for a bit and they thought she should be out of the hospital in about three weeks if all goes according to plan. That was just a quick estimate and they might revise that goal but it sounds promising.

Rae had a good day today. Lots of hard work on the bike. She is real tired tonight though.
They are now saying she will move to the Glenrose on Wednesday. I'll let everyone know for sure when it happens.

She would rather not have any visitors tonight or Tuesday. She is getting really tired after her rehab which is a good thing because that means she's giving it her all.

Rae's improvements have slowed down this week. Or maybe it just seems that way. If she is well rested her comprehension and speech are really good. She still forgets a word or name every once in a while but she is doing great.

Her right side is still weak. She did a lot of work on that part of her body this week and it looks like it is working. She is walking well with a walker now. She thinks she'll be able to do stairs by next weekend.

They told her last week that she was was going to go to the Glenrose on Monday but they changed their mind. I'm guessing they needed the bed for someone else. It looks like she is on the top of the waiting list so it shouldn't be long before she moves there anyway. I'll let you all know when she moves.

Rae is in very good spirits. She is going to do her best to get back to 100%. I was mentioning to Aaron today that maybe I should cancel the insurance on her vehicle. She was in the washroom at the time. Her hearing works real good and she yelled to me "no way". I guess she'll be on the road before too long also.

Last night was not Rae's best. She thinks she only got 3 hours sleep. Her new room mate is very demanding.

She also had problems with her arm where they had the IV needle last week. It is a little bit infected and there is some pain that was keeping her up.

She is asking that there are no visitors today. I'll let you know how she is tomorrow. Hopefully better.

During the week she is busy with rehab until 3:00 so if you wish to visit it should be after that time.

Thanks to all the visitors that came today. Good to see her smiling and laughing. It really lifts Rae's spirits.

Finally had the test that she did not want to have. Had nothing to do with the stroke but they wanted to run it anyway. She had to be on clear liquid diet for almost 2 days. Not fun. Tests are done for now. Nothing to be worried about and if you ask Rae she will tell you she already knew that.

Lots of rehab now. She is working hard to get the signals back from her brain to her right side but it is going to take time. Still, everyday is an improvement.

Rae started her physio and they had her walking with assist from the parallel bars. They also had her standing on one leg. Both left and right.

Her speech is improving every day. Still forgetting a lot of stuff. She is talking real slow because she really has to think about what she wants to say. We are still seeing big improvements every day. They are still running a lot of tests on her and that is starting to frustrate her but she's hanging in there. Today was her first shower since Thursday. She was really looking forward to it.

They upgraded her food too. She can have anything on the menu with the exception of hard foods like raw carrots and nuts.

Rae has been moved to a different room today, 5212. She didn't get much rest last night. Hopefully her new roommate is quieter. If you are coming to visit her she is now doing her therapy. Every weekday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am and from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm she will be out of her room doing her exercises.

Today was not a good day for her. She had to fast until she had one of her tests so it's 5:00 pm and she still hasn't had anything to eat today. They put her to sleep for the test and she is still very groggy from that. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Today is another big step in the right direction for Rae. She is processing information a lot better now and she is having conversations that make complete sense. She has some tests still on Tuesday so she might not be available for visits. Wednesday would be better.

Rae has shown some improvement today. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. They are working. Please keep it up. She has a way to go yet but now we can see her little improvements and it is making us very happy. I have no doubt she is going to beat this.

After the Stroke.

I don't remember much of the actual stroke.  This is what I do remember and what my husband posted on Facebook...

I sit here in the Grey Nuns hospital writing this post. Something terrible has happened to my rock star, Rae. She had a stroke Thursday night.

We were at home watching television and she got up and went upstairs. When she didn't come down in 15 minutes I decided to go check on her for some reason. She had been fine before and didn't complain about not feeling well but for some reason I thought I should see what she was doing. I found her lying down in our bed. I asked her if she was okay and right away I noticed there was something wrong. She struggled to get up and could not form a sentence. Her face also looked like it was dropping. I told her I was calling an ambulance and she got very upset and insisted I "wait". But that was all she could say was wait and no.

I told her that either she gets up right now and we go to the hospital or I call 911. She was able to get dressed and walk out to the car. We only live about two miles from the hospital so I thought it would be faster than waiting for the ambulance. Thank God there was nobody in line at the triage station. As soon as I told them I thought she had a stroke they rushed her in and started treating her immediately.

Friday was a day of monitoring and running tests on her. She is in good spirits but being unable to express herself has frustrated her. She sleeps a lot. The first 24 hours they kept waking her up every hour to check her vitals and responses. She slept better last night.


Rae is probably the strongest woman I know. If anyone will get though this it will be her.
Please pray for her and keep her in your thoughts. She would like visitors but knows it's frustrating when she can't have a conversation right now. If you want to visit please do but probably plan on the visit being a short one.