feb 2012

It's now 1 year since Bev's accident and Bev is improving very slowly. The effects of her stroke and brain injury have left her with poor balance when walking and limited endurance, she can walk about 150 meters unaided before needing to sit and rest. Bev uses a walker for short trips and we take a light wheelchair if we are going anywhere that requires a lot of walking. Bev's hands have suffered from not moving for so long resulting in curled fingers. The right hand has recovered to a large extent and the left hand is slowly improving. Bev has permanently lost the sight in her right eye and the upper portion of the right side of her face feels numb all the time. This will probably never go away. Bev's right eye must be lubricated 10 to 12 times a day as the right eyelid does not close all the way when she blinks and the eye dries out, this may improve with time. Bev will probably need physiotherapy for another 2 years. Bev is also being treated by a neuropsychologist to address some lingering issues from the brain injury. During the healing process the 2 bones in her lower left arm have become fused with excess bone growth which stops any rotation of her lower arm. In May Bev will have an operation at St. Mikes to remove the excess bone buildup to restore the ability to rotate her arm.

On a brighter note her therapists are pleased with her progress and say that Bev can still expect a great deal of improvement with continued therapy. At the present time Bev gets therapy 5 days a week at home. Bev has started to get back to cooking meals, maybe 3 times a week. She has not resumed any housekeeping, she says she never liked doing it anyway. We keep busy with visits with friends and family, eucher nights etc. We leave for a 6 day cruise on Feb 20th. Bev is starting to get excited about that. Bev is also going for a girls weekend in March with some old friends.  Life is slowly returning to normal,or rather the new normal. Hopefully when the weather improves Bev will get out a lot more.

We would like to thank our many friends and family who have provided so much support over the last year.  You have made the last year easier to deal with.

Thank you all,

Bev & Dave

Bev-Sept

My mother, Bev and our oldest, Sherri

Just in case there is still anyone following the blog, I apologise for taking so long to update it.  Bev has been home for 2 months now and we are getting into some sort of a routine.  Bev's arms and hands are still weak, in particular her left arm and hand. Her walking is slowly improving but her balance still needs a lot of work.  Bev's short term memory is not very good but hopefully in time it will improve.  A physiotherapist has been coming to the house twice a week for 1 hour visits since mid July. Starting this week physiotherapy will be 4 times a week for an hour each time. An occupational therapist will be coming twice a week for an hour each time and Bev will have a once a week visit with a psychologist for the next ten weeks.  Physiotherapy and occupational therapy may last up to 3 years. Bev has permanently lost the sight of her right eye and the right side of her face feels numb.  She can play cards with the help of a card holder, she can read using a Kindle. Bev watches a lot of TV especially Criminal Minds. We do go out to visit people or go to a restaurant. We went to Balm Beach near Midland and stayed overnight. It looks like it will be a long slow haul from here on in. I don't expect any fast improvements like we saw during the first 4 months.  Considering that, this will be my last Blog for awhile.  I will try to do 1 final Blog in February, 1 year from the date of the accident. Thanks for the support from all the friends and family who followed this Blog.

Dave

11:45

Not much to report in the last little while. Bev finds it exhausting to use the keyboard so I guess you're stuck with me for awhile. Hopefully the physiotherapist will be able to get Bev's hands working better. Somehow she manages to use the keys on the TV converter though.  The physiotherapist will be coming to the house twice a week. We don't know the schedule for the occupational therapist yet. It seems to take forever to get these things sorted out. Bev can get in and out of the pool with help, getting in is a lot easier than getting out, she has been in a couple of times now.  The heat keeps us in the house most of the time. One of Kim's friends lent us a floor model air conditioner for the main floor and I installed a window air conditioner in the bedroom so we are surviving the heat OK.  It looks like we will have to finally break down and get central air. Bev goes back to St. Mikes this week for a neurophysiology test to determine the extent of nerve damage to the right side of her face from the blow to the head. Hopefully it will go OK. Her right eyelid is functioning better so the nerve damage there seems to be healing itself.

1:30

Bev doesn't feel up to doing the Blog just now. One of her lower right teeth was damaged in the accident and it started bothering her recently. She went to her own dentist last week. The dentist said it must be extracted but considering Bev's injuries and the long list of drugs she is on the dentist sent her to a dental surgeon in Newmarket. It was just supposed to be an evaluation visit but the dentist decided to remove the tooth immediately. At least Bev didn't have any time to get all worried about it. With the help of gas and some valium the whole thing was done before she knew it, she doesn't remember a thing.  It turns out that the receptionist is the wife of our car insurance agent so she knew all about Bev's accident. The new physiotherapist visited on Monday for an evaluation and will be back Thursday.  It looks like she will be coming to the house 2 days a week. No word on the occupational therapist yet. Bev is going back to St. Mikes tomorrow to have her eye looked at.  We went to Jack's 65th birthday party on Friday night and had a great time. On the weekend Sherri came down and kept Bev busy while I caught up on other things. Bev now has a Wii with the Fit program so Sherri set that up and Bev enjoyed it very much. Two friends from Bev's work dropped by for lunch today so we are keeping very busy.

7:30PM

Hi its me again (Bev). I’m home!! And believe it or not I’m home for good. It feels so good to wake up in my own bed with Dave beside me!!!!!!!!!!!! They took me by surprise when they said I could go home on June 30th but I wasn’t going to argue! Physio hasn’t started yet but it should be soon. They called today and she has someone in Aurora but nothing was said. We were out twice this weekend – once to my younger brother Ed’s for Christen’s birthday (on Sat) and once to Grace & Ron’s (on Sunday) for dinner. I may have been exhausted but it was worth it.

Message from Dave: Sorry about last weeks blog, or lack of it.  Somehow when I tried to post the blog it disapeared. I didn't realize it until we started this one. Hopefully Bev will be assessed and approved this week for physio and occupational therapy. Most of it should take place at home but we may have to travel once a week to Scarborough.  Our social life seems to be getting back in gear with invitations for dinners and people coming to our house to visit.  It sure beats driving to downtown Toronto every day.

8:30

Hi its me again (Bev).  Home for the weekend but have to go back to rehab in about an hour.  Dave had a good fathers day.  Both Lynne and Janice came to visit today, both on separate occasions, but it was nice to see them.  From what I gather nothing much is new so I guess things are carrying on without me.

 Update from Dave:  The weekend was very busy with many visitors plus someone from Rehab First who came to evaluate Bev's needs for ongoing care once she comes home.  Bev's discharge date has been moved from July 12th to June 30th.  Last week Bev went back to the eye doctor once again. The doctors are satisfied that Bev's right eye is in good condition but there is no indication that her sight in that eye will return.  Bev also went to a stroke clinic but the doctor put off any treatment until he could review Bev's MRI results from the Texas hospital. Bev goes to a Plastics Clinic today where a plastic surgeon will look at the scars on her arms.

6:30

Hi, this is Dave,

Bev wasn't up to doing the blog this weekend, nothing serious, just too many things got in the way and she ran out of time.  Hopefully she will be able to see to the unanswered e-mails using Toronto Rehab's computer during the week. I will try to get her back to doing the blog next weekend.  Thanks for sending her e-mails, she is always suprised when someone takes the time to send her one.  Answering them is good therapy for her hands, it takes some time for her to type in a reply so please be patient if she hasn't answered yet.

The therapists introduced a new clinic in Bev's list of therapies called a balance clinic. In controlled conditions they push her over to measure her reaction to prevent her fall and practice ways for Bev to retain her balance.  Bev also went back to St. Mikes last week to a fracture clinic where they confirmed that all her bones have healed, so physiotherapy can step up her exercises without fear of injury.  They also confirmed that Bev's left arm has some healing issues, apparently when serious fractures occur at the same time as a significant brain injury the body goes into overdrive when producing new bone material.  This excess bone material has fused the two bones in Bev's lower left arm and also produced an excessive amount of bone in Bev's upper left arm.  This stops Bev from being able to rotate her left hand as the two arm bones cannot move independently, also Bev cannot bend her left elbow any tighter than 90 degrees. The doctor explained that in about 1 year he could operate to remove all the plates in Bev's arm as well as the excess Bone material. This should return a greater range of movement to Bev's arm but would require a lot more physiotherapy. It will be up to Bev whether she wants to have it done or not.  This week we are off to St. Mikes on Wednesday to see the eye doctor again and on Friday for a stroke clinic.  Combining this with all the different therapy clinics makes the days go by faster. Bev comes home for good no later than July 12th so only one more month to go.  It feels like I haven't had a chance to catch my breath since the accident Feb 5.