It's been a long time since I last updated you.
Dad celebrated his 1 year anniversary on May 20 for being alive, strong and determined to get better. He's still going to his regular therapy sessions at St. Mary's and he's improving slowly but surely. We are slowly accepting the fact he may never be able to function his right side like before but that's okay. You may recall me writing about this last year after the first surgery (coil), the Dr. came out to tell us he couldn't save one small blood vessel near the aneurysm and he couldn't tell us what that particular vessel fed blood to. All he knew is that it would effect some part on his right side. We all have hopes of the brain repairing itself and who knows this may still happen. It may take just a little longer for the repair to occur. The good news is that he is walking down the long hallways at St. Mary's. He's doing this with his walker and the assistance of Lisa and the therapist. Once he gets a rhythm going, it's hard to slow him down.
He's still learning how to breath out, using his diaphragm, when speaking. He still thinks people can hear him when he's whispering. He thinks he's speaking out loud so when he begins to whisper, we have to remind him to breath out And of course my mother is yelling in the background, "Speak Louder Joel". We have to remind her to lower the volume on the TV when she wants to hear him. It's even harder when you have 2 parents hard of hearing to begin with.
We're now taking him out more often and he really looks forward to getting out the house and he loves to go out for lunch, to the mall, and to family functions. As a matter of fact, he's going to tonight's U of A, ASU baseball game with Lisa's family. He made sure we renewed his football season tickets because he's going this year. There's nothing that will hold him back. And adding to this, mom is starting to go out with all of us as well. Still not quite sure why she prefers to stay home. Time mends all wounds I guess. Tomorrow we're going to a birthday party and he can't wait.
We've gone out to lunch with some close friends. However, it's difficult because restaurants can be soooo noisy making it hard to concentrate, listen and speak.
As mentioned above, 1 year has passed so I thought I'd get a couple of recent photos up for all of you to smile, reflect and continue to pray for a full recovery.
We love you and thank you for continued love, support and prayers.
Don't they look great?
David
PS I will upload additional photos soon!
