Happy New Year!!!

My how time flies when you are having fun!!!  That's what this is isn't it?????

Over a month since I have posted and I'm not sure how that happened!!!  Maybe having 5 kids home and using the computer and running around, and trying to get to therapy 5 times a week, and going to a variety of doctor appts for Greg, my mom, my kids, my dogs, cait's cat and wrapping presents, baking cookies, decorating the tree and whatever else we have been doing for the last month!!

Hopefully you all figured out that no news is good news!?!!?

Greg started his therapy at Drake and they are really great there - and they have been working him just as hard as they were at Christ (just not as much).  He is expected to do more on his own and he has been.  We try to get to the Sports Mall every day for some cardio work (although Christmas kinda got in the way), and he is continuing to get better every day.

He can do a lot with his arm now - he can lift it above his head, and bend his elbow and make a fist (no boxing yet!!), he just has a little trouble doing all of those things at once!!  We know that will happen, and are being patient, taking every new movement as a great thing!!

Greg has been trying to do more and more by himself: he folds laundry - not always perfect and it can take him a really long time to fold a basket of clothes, but no one seems to mind how long it takes!  He even did a little plumbing with a little help from his sons!!

We have been having lots of fun with Aksel (our Danish exchange student from a few years ago) here - it took him three days and a few flight changes to get here!!  He spent Christmas in Charles de Galle and Boston airports which was a little sad - but we waited and had Christmas on the 26th!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday and has a wonderful 2011!!!

Ooops!! Guess I've Been Busy!!

Boy, it's almost been a week since Greg came home from the hospital!!

We had a great holiday weekend with the kids, they all felt better seeing their Dad home and doing okay.  He still doesn't have much use of his arm, but there has been little pieces of progress. -

On Saturday at the Philpott family Thanksgiving - we were in a circle saying Grace before dinner, and I was holding his right hand - and he squeezed my hand!!! Okay, it wasn't actual a squeeze, more of a gentle nudge with his thumb and first finger, but it felt like the biggest tightest grip possible.

Greg has his first therapy appointment on wednesday at Drake hospital - so we'll  see how that goes!!!

On another note - many of you know that my Aunt Charlotte has had poor health and was in the care unit at Hyde Park Health Center.  She died on Saturday afternoon, hospice was there and I'm told she was very peaceful.

Again thanks for all your kind thoughts!!

He's Home!!!

After waiting for the doctor to check him out (which took all of 1 minute) we managed to leave the hospital around 12:30!!!

We headed downtown to Macys, where we visited the 10th floor. It was great to see all the people he works with, and I think they were glad to see him.

Met up with the kids for lunch at Panera and then home to the dogs!!!  Boy were they happy to see him - it was a lick fest.

We'll have a few days off before therapy starts, which will be nice to just do not much for a few days.

Thanksgiving with the Krones tomorrow and saturday with the Philpotts!!

Gobble Gobble everybody.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Two weeks can go by really fast, or take a long time!!

What a long strange journey it has been!!  I can't believe it's been 2 weeks, it seems like only this morning he was telling me to take him to the hospital.  And it seems like months since he has been at home!  We have been working hard to make it easier for him to get around and do things.  Those of you who know him well, know Greg is a pack rat, and trying to move some of his piles is way easier said than done!!  It will be a good exercise for him to sort!!!


Tomorrow he goes home!!  Which is both exciting and scary all at once.  Having him home will help things feel more normal, but when he's at the hospital they can take care of anything he needs.  If his blood pressure goes up or down they know what to do!!  It wil be nice not to make the trip to Christ daily (sometimes 2x), but we'll be trading that for trips to Drake for outpatient therapy. According to everyone here, Drake has the most extensive therapy in the city, maybe even the state - so he will continue to get top notch therapy.

We are looking forward to the holidays with family!!  The kids will all be here and we will spend Thanksgiving at my mom's with my brother Bruce and his wife Libby (neither of their daughters are making the trip from the west coast), my cousin Taunia and her dad Jim.  Then Saturday will be Philpott Thanksgiving at the Chris Philpotts, the first holiday without either of Greg's parents.

Greg is finishing up his last physical therapy, and already did 3 sessions of occupational therapy today.  We will talk to the doctor a bit more today and tomorrow morning and then he is out of here!!  And guess where he wants to go?!?!?! work!!!  Crazy I know, actually he just needs to  pick up some things before the long weekend!!  So 10th floor don't be surprised if he pops his head in your door tomorrow!!

Thanks again for the good karma headed our way, it's really working!!

Well the Bearcats had a great weekend, not so much the Bengals!!

Today was a long day for Greg!!  Molly the OT got him up at 8:00am to do some Bione therapy and by 8:00pm he was tuckered.  It was probably good for him to see his limitations, he thinks he's superman (and secretly we do to), but even superman get's tired.

He had some great visitors, my French Teacher and one of his AV buddies,  Mr. McDirmid came after church.  And our friend Mo Dunne who had a stroke 4 years ago came to cheer him on.  Mo was completely paralyzed on her right side and today you would never know she had a stroke.  Mo was a patient on 2 west as well, actually they have a  plaque with her picture when you enter the wing.  She is an inspiration for us!!!

By the way, Greg's usher team did a great job in church today without their fearless leader!!  He'll be back next month - you only need one hand to pass the plate!!!      

It was a hard day at home to - there were just a lot of things that Cosmo and I had to do that Greg usually does.  Nothing major - it just takes something like this to realize how much someone does in a day!  I think it will be good to have all the kids home for a few days.  

Saturday - the Bearcats Basketball bring home a win!!

Two more UC games that Greg has missed.  Fortunately he could listen to the Basketball game on the radio (they won)  and watch the Football game on tv.  At press time, the Bearcats are beating Rutgers!!!

Today was an easy day - he only had about 45 minutes of E-Stem (electrodes shooting electricity through his arm).  The weekends are definitely the "B" team in therapy.  Sarah, a very nice girl had the hardest time getting the pads in the right place.  At one point she was only raising his middle finger, and although that may be how he feels about this stroke, I can't say I have seen Greg flip anyone the bird lately!! He is looking forward to Justin returning on Monday!!!

Charli got home today - and headed over to the hospital to see dear old dad.  We played a rousing game of Yahtzee - thanks to the Laws!!  Okay, Greg and Charli played a rousing game, I couldn't keep track of anything and they had to tell me what to do.  So the second game they didn't include me!!  By the way Greg won both games, he seems to be lucky lately.

Lucky you say?!?!? Things could have been so much worse, when we see some of the other people on the rehab floor, we thank our lucky stars.  He has all of his cognitive abilities, he can eat and swallow, he can dress himself, bathe himself, write pretty good with his left hand and walk with pretty much ease.  It certainly looks like if things progress the way they have, he will get full use of his hand back maybe 4 weeks, maybe 4 months. We can wait!!!

Just want to thank everyone again for the visits, the cards, the good thoughts and prayers!!  It really makes a difference in your recovery when you know how many people are pulling for you!!!

You can see he is up and around - the sling is to take some of the weight of the right side, he will be wearing it for a while when he is out.  The belt around his middle is for the therapist  to catch him if he falls, hasn't happened yet!!  I'm thinking of using it as a choke collar if he gets out of hand at home!!!

oops wrong video!!