Carrie's Recovery Blog

Bosley and Carrie

carrierecover — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:31:51 +0000

When Carrie moved in with her friend, Bosley and Keceph stayed with us. We kept thinking that Bosley, a terrier mix, needed more activity that we were giving. In December, her roomie Johnna said she thought that they could handle having him. Quinton, who just turned 13 would probably be able to have better play experiences with him. So we did a couple of short visits over there and then left him last Thursday night. Seems to be working out well. Bosley is a very strong dog and could easily knock me down. Q is a much better match for him. Now Carrie gets to have a dog at the foot of her bed again. Susan

Filed under: Recovery

Summer’s End

carrierecover — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:31:06 +0000

Summer is coming to a close; hope the heat diminishes with summer’s end. We’ve all had a good summer. Carrie nice and tan from time spent at Hawaiian Falls. She’s still using SPAN as main form a transportation, but occassionally I offer Taxi Service and then we can do lunch or brunch together. She had a follow-up EEG this summer and the results from it were positive. More neuro activity now showing on the stroke affected side. We don’t see Vallie quite as often. But she is a talker – makes Carrie proud. I do believe that she does talk about as much as Carrie did when she was little. Maybe more – if that’s possible. Susan

Filed under: Recovery

June 23, 2011

carrierecover — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:48:00 +0000

Ah, summer. Now I only go to Denton on Friday. So Carrie is trying out Span for her Wed. 10 am OT sessions up there. The first wed they picked her up around 9, but had so many other pick-ups/drop-offs she didn’t get there until 10:30. Then they picked her up at 11:15. Next week they picked her up around 7:30 and got her their at 8:30. At least she had plenty of time for therapy. Haven’t heard how this week is going. She and roommate situation seem to be doing well. We mostly see her on Fridays and Sundays now. Progress continues. Susan

Filed under: Recovery

May 1 The eaglet has left the nest

carrierecover — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:59:12 +0000

The nest is empty again (as long as you don’t count the two dogs). Its been almost 2 years since Carrie’s stroke. Yesterday we helped her move in with a good friend and her son who live just across town. In The Colony that means she is still close. Did I mention the son is finishing up the 6th grade. Now she gets the fun of being around a teenager. She will continue to ride with me to Denton 2 days a week for her physical therapy. And for this week at least, she will have the SPAN bus drop her off here afterwards so that she can spend time with her doggies. We are so happy that God provided this opportunity for her. She has gained much independence, and this should help her gain more. (Hmm. Sure is quiet here tonight.) Susan & Sterling

Filed under: Recovery

Tues, March 15, 2011

carrierecover — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 02:53:55 +0000

Carrie continues to make progress. Still does OT/PT twice a week. Botox helps. She can raise her leg and have her knee bent at a 90 degree angle. She also is doing well with lifting the left arm. Now if the fingers would just work. On the other hand, at least they are in a more relaxed position instead of being all curled up. One of the many benefits of the Botox. Had to have her brace adjusted today. Therapist mentioned it might be time for a new one. This is the one she got when her foot and leg were basically useless. When I think back to the early days, I am astounded again at the progress she has made. Truly amazing. Now we have to see if the is an Orthotics maker that uses her insurance. Hopefully her insurance would help with a new one; at least partially. Current place can no longer uses her insurance.
Carrie rides with me to Denton, that way she gets to see toddler Vallie. They enjoy each other. She has also gotten involved with a group of young adults at the church and that is of course a good thing. Her attitude and spirit is usually pretty good. Still does volunteer work two afternoons a week. Please continue to keep us posted on your family. Susan & Sterling

Filed under: Recovery

Feb 17, 2011

carrierecover — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:45:55 +0000

After two weeks of so much being shut down by snow and ice, Carrie finally had her 2 sessions of therapy a week. She also had new botox injections this week – on her Bday in fact. What a way to celebrate a birthday. Doc even hit a nerve this time, but she’s OK. Only hurt a little while. Also if you sign up to receive notices of new posts, don’t be surprised by the pic of the handsome young man. He was in Carrie’s youth group back and Beaumont and he is the one who actually set up this site for us. So once again- Hats off to Jason A for all his assistance. Carrie and I both did well with the enforced staying in the house. Neither of us want to slip and fall, although by the last day of it, we were both getting a good bit of cabin fever – along with the rest of the Dallas area. Susan

Filed under: Recovery

Carrie’s Blog – Jan 31st

carrierecover — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:53:13 +0000

OK. If any of you would like to be notified when I make a post, this is what you do. In the right hand column you will see “Subscribe for updates”. Click on the words RSS-Post. On the new screen that comes up you will see a little green arrow under the heading/date- just to the right of the words ‘carrierecover’. Click the green arrow, scroll down, add your name – can use nickname or 1st name and first letter of last name or whole name (whatever), put in your email and type in something under the comment section – such as “add post” and then click post comment. You will then get a notification in your email box (might be in the Spam/Junk box. Follow the instructions and that should work. I am not making post as frequently as i used to so this might be helpful-if you still want to follow along. Susan

Filed under: Recovery

Saturday, Jan 29,2011

carrierecover — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 03:14:50 +0000

Carrie continues with Therapy in Denton. Vallie now looks forward to her being there on a regular basis. They enjoy each other. We have decided we all needed help with the new wonder dog, Bosely. So for the past several Monday nights we’ve had a dog trainer come to the house to help us in helping Bosely to adjust. Always a fun thing, especially since Keceph thinks he should have all the treats. The Trainer’s wife has MS and is in wheelchair, so he has a good understanding of Carrie’s strength’s and weaknesses. I think he really wants to try and find a way for Bosely to walk with Carrie while she’s in her wheel chair. The problem is holding on to the dog and pushing the chair. We’ll see what happens. We are also hoping for Bosely to learn how to fetch so that Carrie can throw things for him to chase when they are outside together. I’ll probably be writing less often, but will try to get to this every week or so.

Susan & Sterling

Filed under: Recovery

End of year blog – being posted at the beginning of 2011.

carrierecover — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:29:33 +0000

Carrie had therapy the Monday after Christmas. I dutifully sat and made notes in my iPod (bugged her, but oh, well.) Then life got crazy again – actually
Sterling came down with an extreme case of Vertigo -labyrinthine. I had to take him to the doc on Tues and then he was home the rest of the week. He was still puny New Years Eve, but we did go ahead and keep Vallie for a sleep over. Carrie was and still is dog sitting at a friend’s house down in Dallas. There have been enough distractions to keep me from finishing this. Been wondering – for those of you who look at the blog, did you get any kind of notice when I make a post? That would be helpful, but don’t know if it is available on this site.
So anyway, back to the therapy session. Carrie had her right hand on a pole and her left foot on step stool; then she’d step up and down with her right ft making her left leg and knee be the support. Then she sat with the pole in her left hand and with the aid of the Therapist moved the pole forward and backward. Then with the staff still in her left hand she stood up, sat back down. Of course she is repeating these activities several times. Next she knelt on the therapy table and from that position stepped up w right leg, then back on knee keeping staff in left hand to help w balance and to make the left
hand work. She also sat on a medicine ball and had to do a variety of activities of either moving the left side on making the left side be a support and balance. All in all this is making her stronger, but still not getting the actually movement in the hand we’d like to see. Prayers are appreciated.

Filed under: Recovery

Bosely Bear

carrierecover — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:08:40 +0000

We all agreed that it would be best for Bosely Bear to come for an extended visit, rather than just a weekend. We felt the going back and forth would be more confusing & disturbing than helpful. For the most part things have worked out pretty well. He apparently was disturbed that Dad came home and was here for more than an hour before we, read that Carrie, came home. He chewed a corner of a couch cushion. (I think I can sort of mend it.) But he has redeemed himself. Carrie just called me in to see what she could do. She was sitting up in bed with Bosely at her feet and she was rubbing his back with her left hand. Yea!!!. Hopefully after next weeks Botox, she’ll be able to have her hand open while she does this. BTW the therapist is very pleased with her progress. Susan

Filed under: Recovery