WHAT'S UP WITH HUBBY?

Frustration!  Lots and lots of frustration.  Though all the tests at the hospital, and all the doctors and therapists who conducted them, agreed that my hubby had lost no strength in any of his muscles as a result of his stroke, and that his eyesight had not been affected in any way, we were still rather shocked when they didn't think he needed any physical therapy.  The truth is, he's still suffering from some numbness in his face, hand and foot, and it looked like nobody was going to do a thing about it!  Numbness which makes it just a wee bit harder to tell exactly where things are, which in turn makes it just a wee bit easier to trip on a rug, a threshold, or one's words, and just a bit easier to let something slip from your hand, because you only thought you had a good grip on it.  Of course, each time it happened, it pissed him off royally!  And, as if that isn't enough, his senses of taste and smell are a bit out of whack as well, so nothing tastes right.  As you can well imagine, the first few days home from the hospital were filled with colorful language.

Then we went to see John's own cardiologist, and the first words out of his mouth were "How's the therapy going?"  When we told him it wasn't going, at all, he was incensed.  "That's ridiculous!  You've got to start it as soon after the event as possible -- you can't delay!  It has to be an aggressive attack!"  I almost wept from relief.  John had his first session yesterday, primarily for evaluation purposes.  They are working on his hand coordination this week, and sent him home with some homework exercises and a big wad of silly putty.  Next week they will work on his balance.  They asked him to come in twice a week for a month, and then they will reevaluate.  Keep your fingers crossed!